ghost world - OPEN

Seclusion suited him well, for the presence of others was something he sought to avoid on this particular day. The only company he wished to seek out was his own and he had been very successful thus far. The hustle and bustle of exam week was done and over with so all he needed was the sweet silence of nature to return him to a state of slight sanity (and a little bit of alcohol too).

Silas deviated from the forest trail he had walked on for so long now and found himself in a very peaceful part of the woods. His eyes took in the wonders of the world before succumbing to his sore heels. He slowly crumpled downward, running his lengthy fingers through the tall grasses that surrounded him. His slouching back rested heavily against the trunk of a maple tree, or at least that's what it appeared to be.

A noisy owl started to cry out above him. She seemed to enjoy repeating herself, asking over and over again, "Who? Who?" His eyes drifted upward and found the fauna resting on a branch just a few feet above his exhausted body. Silas let his eyelids slide shut, not for rest, to imagine a beast so terrifying that the owl would most certainly have to flee. Silas peered back to where the creature had been to find that it had departed in a hurry. He grinned at his handiwork before letting himself give in to the drowsiness that plagued him. Silas' eyes grew heavy, weary from such a long day of sweet nothingness and he fell into darkness.

What felt like moments of slumber were actually hours of fading in and out of sleep. He awoke sometime during the night, all alone save for the presence of another breathing beast. It was often that he accidentally created illusions in his sleep, so he waited for the vision to fade. The thing stood just so that its face was shapeless and it's body seemed incredibly strange; its arms reached down the where its knees would be and seemed to resemble a monster of fiction. He laughed awkwardly at his creative imagination before stretching. Silas rubbed his eyes once, twice, before realizing that it wasn't going anywhere. He gingerly jumped to his feet and watched it uneasily, surely this was a joke of some sort. His hand rose to wave at the thing and suddenly it was racing toward him, long arms outstretched in a terrifying manner. Silas screamed and scrambled to run from the creature. His feet pounded against the soft dirt as he ran deeper and deeper into the forest. 

Ashlynn tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep. She finally tangled herself up in such a mess she finally decided to give up. Untangling herself from her soft, warm blanket, she decided to go for a quick flight over the woods. She changed out of her nightgown into sweatpants and a soft t-shirt and headed out. Her bare feet padded along the hallways as she silently walked to the door. She tiptoed past several doors with light coming out. 

    Reaching it, she pulled it open and stepped out into the grass. She shivered a little, and jumped into the air, her small wings striving to get height. When she was about as high as the trees, she found a nice air current and glided. Lost in her own thoughts, she didn't realize she flew over someone until her tired mind registered it. She jolted back into reality and realized she was about to flip over in the air, and righted herself before turning around to see who it was. Do I want to know who it is? They will probably hate me anyway. She thought.

   

 It was a boy she hadn't met yet. I wonder if he wants to talk? She thought to herself as she landed behind a tree. Her tree was next to him, which let her see him, and she saw he was sleeping. She watched him for a bit before sitting down and getting lost in her own thoughts. She didn't see a tall shadow creeping up behind her until the boy woke up. She didn't think he saw her, but she edged around the tree just in case. She heard a scream and saw the boy take off through the trees. She spun around and saw the tall shadow creature advancing towards her, it's feet making deep footprints into the soft dirt. She opened her mouth to scream, but only air came out. She spun towards the boy and took off running. Her feet seemed to hit every stone and stick along the way, but she was used to it and continued running. She kicked some stones back on accident, and one of them hit the creature. It grunted and ran faster after them.

    She caught up to the boy, "What IS that thing?" She asked him breathlessly, her pace matching his as she looked over her shoulder. "It's catching up!" She yelled, speeding up. There seemed to be more rocks here, and she had to slow a bit. Even after slowing, her feet were still bleeding after a few moments. I should have just stayed in my dorm room and kept trying to sleep! She thought to herself. Or worn shoes. The more sensible part of her brain said. Ow! What even IS this thing? Why is it so FAST? She thought to herself as she continued sprinting. Her shirt got caught on a branch, and she struggled to get free as it got closer. She finally untangled her shirt just as it caught up to her. She sprinted away and felt it's hot breath on her neck.

    Never had he needed to run so far, so fast. His arms pumped vigorously at his sides with each pounding step he took. One moment he was alone with the beast and then suddenly someone else was running beside him. Silas wasn't able to get a good look but she seemed to be struggling with the same thing he was. Perhaps this creature wasn't solely in his head. The thought was reassuring until he remembered that they were both being chased by whatever it was. She shouted something to him and he was so out of breath that his answer came in painful spurts. "I don't... I don't know... don't stop... running."
    Silas was so focused on running that he hadn't noticed the girl's momentary disappearance. His skull turned ever so slightly and she was back, and so was the thing. His lungs produced just enough air to create a shrill screech before running into a tree. Arms slapped around it unconsciously before angrily pushing away and coming far too close to it for comfort. Instinctively he worked to create an illusion that would distract and potentially scare it away. Darkness enveloped everyone/thing within fifteen feet of him and the most gentle sounds of haunting whispers could be heard. Shapes and figures would jump out of the illusion toward the creature as Silas reached for the girl and yanked her away from the shadows. "This should give us a head start. I'm Silas." He flashed a quick smile and pushed back his curly blonde hair. The sweat plastered to his forehead slicked it back and held it from getting in his eyes. Looking back for a second he saw the illusion working perfectly; no signs of the monster were visible so there could be hope for them. They weren't far from campus and someone nocturnal could hear screams if they tried. Right? 

Ashlynn started thinking of a plan as she ran after the boy. I don't think I can fly us both, I can barely hold myself up in the air, especially with my bad wing. Maybe I could distract it until the boy gets to safety, then fly back to campus myself? That might actually work, if he agrees. 

    She stole a sideways look at the boy before everything around her went dark. She felt herself get tugged and jumped before seeing it was the boy. He mentioned his name and she smiled. "It might, but it also might smell us. I'm Ashlynn, but everyone calls me Lynn." She said, still looking around.
    She loathed being in the dark, she couldn't tell what lurking just out of her sight range. Especially since something was chasing them, and it could be anywhere. She tightened her ponytail, she always wore one when she was going flying.  
    "I have an idea. I can distract the creature until you get to the campus, and then fly there myself." As long as it can't jump super high or fly or something...

    Silas was slow to notice much other than the rapid beating of his heart. He didn't often find himself running for his life and this entire situation gave him the jitters. What was the thing that was chasing them? What would it do if it caught up to them? The pumping motion his arms made soothed him, it served as a reminder that he was running just as fast as it was, maybe faster. 
    The girl beside him threw out an idea that sounded splendid; let her potentially get caught by the beast while he dashed into the safety of some teacher's arms. The chances of them ever seeing each other again weren't terribly slim but it was a big campus so if things went south, she couldn't easily confront him on it. In response he simply nodded his head, as his energy supply was running on low anyways why waste breath on a reply?
    Without looking back to see what she did as a distraction, he shot forward and kept running until his cramps forced him to the ground. Silas fell with his knees holding him up, ragged breaths spurted from his lips before the dizziness in his skull faded. He could almost see the building from where he was and faint silhouettes filled his heart with joy. Was it really all this simple?  
    Silas leapt forward with a new kind of power, driven by hope. Perhaps there would be no injury or death today. Breaking through the forest and stumbling into an open field with the school so close, his eyes fell onto someone standing in the tall grass. Long arms, shapeless head. He started to panic. If this thing was here, what was back with Lynn? Were there...? His thoughts were cut short by the sudden spriting motion of the monster. Silas had no time to scream as he turned back to see what better luck he would have while taking the long way around. 
        

    Ashlynn smiled when he accepted her offer. She didn't think much about how quickly he accepted, instead focusing on not getting killed. She jumped into the air as the darkness around them faded a bit, before looking for the beast. To her horror, she found that two of them had been chasing them. 

    She tried to get to Silas, to warn him, but he had already run into one of the monsters. As he turned around, he unknowingly ran towards another. He was surrounded by the monsters. She couldn't fly very long with him, but it appeared to be his only hope. I could just fly away and leave him to fend for himself... The more evil part of her mind thought. She dismissed it immediately, she was his only hope. 

    She flew down and landed next to him, hoping to stop him from running straight into the monsters. "We're surrounded. Unless you have a better idea, which I would LOVE to  hear if you did, I have to either attempt flying with you or go get a teacher. If I go get a teacher, you would have to fend for yourself until they got here." She said, trying to be as logical as possible with her ideas so she wouldn't scare him.
    She had a sudden idea, if she could somehow get all of them to chase her than he could still run, and he could get to campus. Deciding to attempt this rather than her other horrible ideas, she took a deep breath. "New idea. When I tell you, run to campus. If I get caught I promise I won't haunt you." She smiled a bit before turning towards the monsters.
    Ashlynn ran to the first monster, barely evading it and running to the next one, getting them to chase her. She got a hole in the circle big enough for Silas to get through and not get caught. "Run!" She shouted, before running in the opposite direction.
    

    Is this how I'm going to die? What a good story. Silas's body had grown tired from spriting and he was running on fumes now. Apparently his eyes had lost their ability to see because one moment he was alone with the monster, and the next Lynn was in front of him. His hands shot into the air as he gasped at her appearance; it seemed their little plan didn't work out quite as nicely as they had hoped. Silas's head whipped around to see a shadowy silhouette approaching, and, tragically, another quite like it was coming from the direction Lynn had come. He wiped the sweat off with the back of his forearm before agreeing to her second idea. This didn't work last time but alright, let's try again for kicks.


    Breathing in deeply, he waited for the sound of her voice before running between the two figures as Lynn tried to steal their attention. With very little grace, he bolted. The dark figures seemed drawn to his partner in crime and he was presented the nice opportunity to escape hell's wrath. Silas dared to look back one he had gotten close enough to the building. There were no signs of life outside the castle and because it was so late there were likely no students wandering around campus. An illusion of light filtered over the areas he walked; fearful of the shadows he kept them well lit. Coming up to the front gates he let a sigh of relief pass his lips, he was safe for now. It can't be this easy...