The two boys studied the contents of the space. The room was an assortment of empty crates and boxes. The likes of which the family had no use for. The walls were grey, musty and damp. Surely, this wasn't the kind of place fit for a petite girl like Clarissa.
"Why would 'Risa be in some place like this? Maybe she isn't here after all…," Inuwa said, on edge.
"As if I'd know why! And also don't suggest the possibility she's outside. We both know that would be the worst outcome," Davee responded, criticising Inuwa.
"Well, how long has it been since you last saw her?" Inuwa asked intuitively. He knew his friend's habits, so it wasn't hard to predict his next response. Knowing him, it'd be up to around 5-10 minutes.
With a huff, the boy mumbled.
"1/2 an hour…"
A deadpan permeated throughout Inuwa's soft features; why was it that when he believed in his friend for once, he'd somehow manage to fail at the one thing he was good at?
Turning on his phone's flashlight, Inuwa absorbed the view of the room. 4 wardrobes lined the end of the room; they were somehow the only coherent thing in it.
A flurry of crude posters and drawings was scattered all across the ceiling and walls; many seemed to depict eyes. All the pupils depicted in the drawings seemed to be directly peering over at something in the centre.
In the middle of the ceiling, the phrase: 'I am forsaken, for I have sinned by betraying innocent blood', could be seen. The whole room emanated an air of derelict-ness as both boys stood idle– unable to understand.
This feeling was further amplified by the stench; this scent assaulted their senses with a blackened crispness, the kind you'd smell on pork; however, the stagnant, odorous, industrial air had replaced what was likely once the sterile smell of cardboard.
Why would Clarissa be here?
Acting first, Davee scrunched up his nose, pressing forward, he examined the room. An array of cardboard boxes was littered throughout the room; however, none were ever perpendicular to another.
Instead, they were stacked on top of each other, and as one would get closer to the centre of the room, it would be apparent that the number of boxes in each stack decreased. From 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 1. Both boys arrived at a consensus - It must be a ritual– they had stumbled upon a demonic summoning and were about to pay the price.
Something caught in Inuwa's throat as a part of him wrestled with the disbelief of the location. Quickly, he decided to turn up the brightness on his phone's flashlight.
Unfortunately, at that moment, Inuwa's phone had decided it no longer wanted to be a part of the rescue operation and died.
Now, it was completely dark.
Thankfully, they had already walked over to the centre of the circle. Making out the petite figure of Clarissa wasn't easy. At this point, Davee was wishing that she were as burly as him.
"Awwww... I wish she had inherited more of Father's genes. Even if it didn't align with her cute, blubbery face. And instead made her resemble that muscular dwarf, at least we'd find her easily. Instead, she was given those doll-like features of Mother. But I'm not complaining!" Davee finished, hugging himself and cooing. What a doting brother.
Inuwa found this to be an agreeable statement, however-
"Muscular Dwarf?"
"Oh, right, whenever you came round, Father and Mother weren't home. You remember, right?"
"No? I remember seeing a dark-haired, muscular man. That wasn't your father?" Inuwa asked, shocked.
"No, that's just Angel. He's my Dad's Bro. Ridiculously nice guy, but can be unsettling to the extreme sometimes. Hey, just like this room," Davee mused.
Inuwa could feel the bile rising in his oesophagus as he was forced to re-evaluate the surroundings.
"WHY'D YOU REMIND ME?!"
"Hey, now. I reminded myself as well, now we're both in the same boat."
Davee said while clasping his mouth, likely trying in vain to contain the sickness pooling in his mouth.
That logic didn't resonate with Inuwa at all; he was the one who did it, so he should be liable for the punishment for it, but an innocent bystander like Inuwa shouldn't suffer because of an idiot's words.
Inuwa resolved to give Davee a verbal admonishment when this was done.
Then, as if to distract him from that resolute and very justified goal, the door slammed shut. The sheer force of it closing forced a box to fall off the stacks– and then another– and then another.
Like dominoes, each box fell forward and into the next stack, leading all the way to the unknowing Inuwa and Davee. However, Inuwa had already understood that something was going to go wrong, so he hugged the corner of one of the walls.
Therefore, the unfortunate recipient of this attack was Davee, who tried to jump but was pelted in the face by several marbles. Tripping and falling onto the floor, he extended his arm.
However, upon seeing the floor, the intended neurons in his brain failed to connect, and he arrived at a foreign conclusion.
This is… this is my blood? It's so… pasty. I feel light, am I dying?
Davee had never experienced high blood loss. In a sense, his boundless natural strength and broad figure meant that most strangers wouldn't dare to antagonise him, and natural phenomena like wildlife rarely would harm the boy and break his thick skin.
However, it also made him rather unacquainted with his own blood and the feeling of a wound. As such, the following mistakes could be attributed to Davee's rather green attitude towards injury.
Unfortunately for Inuwa, the idiot had relayed his thoughts aloud. Subsequently, amplifying the fear that had taken root inside Inuwa's heart.
Ferociously, Inuwa's heart roared, pounding against the walls of his ribcage in an everlasting struggle; this room dialled up his sense of foreboding to the max.
The venomous anxiety clawing at his being threatened to consume him in his entirety. Just a room shouldn't be doing this. He was better than this. If he didn't pull himself together, then– how could he say he deserved to be at Anyasu's side? How could he say that Anyasu needed him?
"-GAH! Inuwa!"
Shifting Inuwa away from his thoughts (something that Inuwa would thank the man dubbed 'King of the Dimwits' for), they had uncovered the sleeping body of Clarissa at the centre of the summoning circle.
Her petite figure was adjacent to an object that made a bloody, squelching sound. Her beautiful and rosy blonde hair was polluted by the cruel, cold dark. Her face was contorted to one of pain, the world itself hissing at the boy for his failures.
But he pressed on. Of course, he was scared. Some demented, insane voice in his mind told him that the girl was dead yet, even if that was the case, he needed to be the version of himself that could stand at his brother's side.
Slowly, he shuffled down to the corpse, his breathing wretched, his insides jumbled, his vision weary.
Her golden irises were concealed behind her eyelids as her expression remained soiled by the misery of death. In this pitiable state, Inuwa could do nothing but stare. Staring, staring, staring.
Shifting his feet, he closely examined her face; it was pale. Her once rosy cheeks were an avalanche. The contrast between his warm, dark skin and her cold, snowy pale skin became apparent.
He leaned closer, to the point his breath was prickling her skin. If she truly was semi-conscious or even unconscious, then surely she'd feel it, right?
He hoped– no, prayed that the proof of his life would be enough for her to open her eyes and puckered her lips, but Life was never that merciful.
Her figure became misty, and his hands began to tremble. The same question and the only thought present in his shattering mind. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? WHY–
"Achoo…! Aah! That's enough, that's enough!" a light voice resounded. It carried soft undertones, but it was primarily raspy. In fact, the sourness reminded Inuwa of an annoying gremlin. Then, it clicked.
"Hu-huah?!"
"Inuwa! You found her! My sister!" Davee shouted.
Suddenly, Clarissa shot up. Pushing Inuwa away, her face flushed scarlet. Getting up to a defensive position, she prepared a stance. Coincidentally, at the same time, the lights turned on; Clarissa finally recognised the boy before her– Inuwa.
Her flush deepened; being caught in such a state by him was something she wanted to erase from her memory. But, he was so close! I could feel his breath! Did he want to? No one could blame her for arriving at such a conclusion, could they?
"Clarissa! Clarissa! Thank God! I'm happy you're alright!" He said, his voice practically cracking at the seams.
Caught by surprise from Inuwa's desperate concern, she had no time to ready a response, and so she uttered the thoughts she had tried to restrain.
"W-what do you mean! Weren't you trying to kiss me?!" She exclaimed.
It was Inuwa's turn to get flustered.
"Huuuuuuuh? Huh! Why would I-"
Before Inuwa could justify himself, Clarissa seemed to have arrived at her own conclusion.
"Silence! I didn't think you could do such a thing, seeing a boy leaning close to me like that…! Disgusting!" However, the deep blush on her face conveyed something different. But Inuwa was in such a state of shock that he failed to notice that detail.
At that moment, Inuwa's fragile heart had reached its limit.
"Shut up! I thought you were dead! Why would I ever, ever try to kiss someone as disgusting as you!" he replied, enraged and exasperated.
Clarissa recoiled in shock, her stern expression wavered slightly, tears budding at her eyes.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out myself! I hate you!"
The petite rose-blonde ran and stormed out of the room, stumbling over boxes and Davee as she left. Leaving the once pragmatic, worried boy to his own, wrenching thoughts.
"Well, I guess this was the wrong time to say… that this was a prank?" a foreign voice called out.
Standing at the entrance to the room was one of his friends, Larkins. As of right now, he was shrouded in a ghastly dark robe, while wearing a mask oddly reminiscent of the [Scream] killer. Because of this, Inuwa could only tell that it was him through his annoyingly snotty voice.
Usually, Inuwa would be glad for his presence in such a distressing environment, but the boy was grappling with the unfortunate interaction he had suffered with Clarissa.
Why did I say that? What's wrong with me? I usually don't react like this to anything she does… That was really shitty of me.
"It's probably just the feel of this particular one… wrong time to say? Cut the crap, it was the wrong time to do."
He said, muttering to himself. He really didn't like the unpleasant aftermath of the prank as well as the deviant nature of however, since he needed to chase after Clarissa and apologise, he held off the biting sensation that he was losing sight of something.
Upon lifting his left leg, Inuwa came to a realisation, he couldn't move it. It wouldn't budge. It was clasped around something rather wet and sticky. He decided to lift it with more force, but found himself almost tripping.
"What did you do… you numbskull…!"
Coming back from the dead, Davee had grappled with all his might onto Inuwa's left leg, his sweaty palms amassing more strength than anything Inuwa's noodle arms could muster. Davee was in a ridiculous state, his hair a mop, his palms wet and sticky, and his voice hoarse and ghastly. In this state, Inuwa could do nothing but provide a haunted expression.
It took less than a second for the boy to formulate a plan to deal with the creature. Hardening his expression for what was about to come, Inuwa exclaimed:
"Silence!"
Inuwa slapped the cardboard boxes down in a circular motion, surrounding the ghost and collapsing upon it. Tens and tens of boxes surrounding the flailing boy as he was submerged under the piles and piles, Inuwa gave one last defiant stare before rushing off to Clarissa.
Giving one last ghastly shriek, the beast that was Davee stirred and then lay still.
"What? What was that?! There's no way! Don't tell me you're already down and out for the count!
"Whatever you do, don't attack my Sissssssssss!"
"Can someone explain what just happened? You! What's up with Clairy? Inuwa?" then Larkins deadpanned. They had done this routine before. There was only one possible answer.
" …Inuwa," Davee responded with his last throes of tact.
Both 16-year-olds huffed and sighed. Younger siblings were so hard to deal with.
If only Anyasu were here, then they'd all be attentive and focused– especially Inuwa.
Davee ascended to his feet, making sure to expose his wide back and broad shoulders as much as possible to Larkins, to piss him off.
However, instigating with the scrawny prankster would do no good as he'd just call Edgar, who was infinitely more skilled in any sort of combat than he was; therefore, intimidation would be a reliable method of procuring an answer of sorts.
"Why? Why did you do that?"
He growled out, hoping that it would pressure Larkins into handing out information. He shouldn't have to do this to a friend, but by intimidating Larkins into regurgitating all the information.
He'd be able to figure out whether it was damning or not, and he could ascertain a greater scope of the situation.
"What? It was funny, seeing your reactions would've been amazing. Too bad I didn't arrive from the toilet in time," Larkins trailed off with a hint of blue on his face. Davee internally sympathised strongly with Larkins.
"You went to the toilet? Why'd you leave Clarissa there by herself, unconscious?"
At that, Larkins started.
"She was unconscious? It couldn't have been over 5 minutes since I left for the toilet, to think she'd fall asleep in that time, that doesn't sound like her at all."
"That's right," Davee nodded triumphantly, "As my little sister, she's always been vigilant, better than I in many metrics."
Clarissa from since she was a toddler, had always been a bit of a prodigy, putting in little effort to complete tasks, finding the whole process of revision interesting rather than boring. Naturally curious and extremely organised.
However, she used to be quite distant and aloof, something that had always worried Davee, who couldn't wake her out of her stupor. It got to the point that she'd lock herself in her room for days on end in the holidays.
Thankfully, around that time, she became friends with Anyasu and Inuwa, who both helped with breaking that mentality. Surprisingly, it was Inuwa who helped the most, going out with her, playing all day with her, teasing her and being there for her. It all contributed to her breaking out of her shell and exposing her genuine, outgoing, extroverted side. A side that Davee would treasure forever.
However, as of recently, Inuwa has become a lot more different. For one, he stopped smiling as often and seemed to always have his head either stuck in the clouds or in the books. It was like he was trying to grow up incredibly quickly. That was something that bothered Davee quite a lot, but Anyasu never seemed to be aware, so why should he?
Davee had finally begun surmising the whole situation; it appeared as though Clarissa and Larkins both wanted to prank the two boys.
However, the one thing that bothered him the most was Clarissa's unconsciousness. Why was she unconscious?
"Was it you? The one who set the room up?"
"Of course! We cleaned it up a little and added the cardboard boxes and summoning circle with Clarissa at the centre. Sorry about the smell, though… we tried to detox the room, but it wouldn't work!"
Davee grunted in understanding. Then he pointed up, towards the ceiling.
"So did you also write that on the ceiling?"
"Write what?" Larkins asked, intrigued.
Looking up, the boy held out his phone and turned on his flashlight.
Visible in red were the words: 'I am forsaken, for I have sinned by betraying innocent blood'. If he didn't know better, he was looking at a message that killers would send to victims in horror movies.
However, the way it was written eluded him. The letters were bold and wide, and at some points, upon further examination, little paint-like bumps were visible; however, there was no paint or signs of red colouring on the floor or on any of the boxes beneath it. So then that leaves the question: Who could've written it?
"Heeeey! Sorry for not being present. I heard the commotion while I was cutting the cake, you know how it is– people love recording their stories. It truly sucks that my little, adorable Inuwa wasn't here to see it. I thought he loved Ice cream cakes! At least I bought another one for our group!" exclaimed a warm voice, like that of flowing tropical seas. It was Anyasu.
With a shared smile, the two investigating boys exclaimed out loud. To them, Anyasu might as well have been [The hope of the universe]. As such, it was only natural that they responded in such a way.
"Anya!"
"Anyo…!"
It was Anyasu. Anyasu was the closest thing the friend group had to a leader. He was charismatic and commanded respect. He was also incredibly decisive.
It wasn't just for these things that he felt akin to a leader; it was also his unnatural ability to solve issues and arguments that helped him preserve their friendships over time and keep in touch. Otherwise, they would likely have all diffused into different sub-groups.
"Did Inu happen to pass by here?"
"He did, but don't try to meet up with him. I think he and Clarissa are finally settling something."
"Ah! I see, they're finally settling that thing!" Anyasu snapped his fingers together in realisation. A small grin crept its way upon his features.
"Yes, indeed, they are settling that thing," Davee replied.
A tick mark had appeared on Larkin's face. Seeing these two remain cryptic erred him to no end, and they knew it. They were just doing it to screw with him, weren't they?
"Yeah, our Inuwa may have made her mad, but he's got enough of a level head to work on that thing with her."
"Seems like it," Anyasu smiled.
Larkins became sick of this joke.
"What the hell is this _it_!?" Larkins exclaimed.
"Did you never notice?" Davee grinned mischievously, "Our Clarissa and Inuwa are particularly close!"
"What does that mean in this context?!" Larkins shouted.
"I bet they've already made up, Clarissa is just too easy on the guy…" Anyasu sighed.
"You'll have to teach Inuwa about sleaziness soon! We can't have him break her heart. If he does, he's dead!" Davee threatened. Anyasu deadpanned slightly, but it was true. His brother had incredible potential. With the way some of the party girls were speaking about him, Anyasu would have much preferred Inuwa outside the house.
"On it, but keep Clarissa in check too. Besides, doesn't Inuwa have to get through you before getting her? Why haven't you followed them?"
"Ooops-! I must've lost track of the time. Too bad. Guess I can't chase after them now," Davee shrugged, chortling.
"And here I thought you wanted to give Inuwa one last battle before she'd scold you to death," Anyasu smiled, "Don't worry if that happens, I'll make sure to berate you even more!"
"Aren't you supposed to be on my side?" Davee asked.
"What kind of person chooses the losing side?" said Larkins as he stood closer to the smiling Anyasu.
"Why… you!" screeched Davee.
With that, Davee, Anyasu and Larkins engaged in playful banter while awaiting Inuwa and Clarissa.