Chapter 5

Jayden opened the door and Jacob was standing there. He was about to ring the bell.

"Thank goodness you are fine." Jacob was relieved to see Jayden.

"Hi! I was coming to your place. Get inside. I have stuff to tell."

"Mom I am not going to Jacob's. He's here." The boys went upstairs in Jayden's room.

"Now tell me, why did you call me in the first place?"Jacob asked.

"You will have to be patient."

"Fine. Speak up. Are you hurt?"

"No I am perfectly fine. You know the day you joined the school was not a very good day for me. We just came here and we barely went outside. So the before you joined, we were in the park and someone had slapped me on my back. Normal. But the pain was a bit long lasting and I didn't see anyone around. When we came back, I felt someone was in my room . But Dad checked and didn't find any one or anything. I was scared so I slept with mom and dad. I had this dream of a translucent boy. He was friendly and I wanted to meet him. The more I walked , the more the distance increased. Suddenly a cloaked figure appears behind the boy. His eyes are red and his hands are rotten. He grabs the boy and more of them start appearing. I didn't see what happened to the boy. But one of the cloaked figure was about to touch me when dad woke me up. He and mom were worried. And I had a feeling that they were going to harm my soul. I said this to Dad and he was alarmed. This ends here. I go to school next day, everything's fine until I hear someone whisper which is audible only to me. Then We meet each other and nothing else happens. Suddenly after 5 years, everything starts happening." This was the first time Jayden shared it all with anyone. Jacob was sitting on the chair. He was shocked and he was lost in deep thoughts.

"Not suddenly, Jay!" He said after sometime.

"What do you mean?"

"Can we go outside? To the mall or the park?" Jacob asked instead of replying.

"Sure, why not? Let's go."

Jacob remained silent until they reached the park and found a good place under shade to sit.

"It is not sudden. But tell me what happened last night and when you called me." Jayden said everything without missing anything. He said about the boy, he was the same. ahe saw him when he was 8 and then he saw him in his house and in his dream last night.

"No one was home except me. You were with me in the forest but you were acting weird. Then people in forest said. I mean one of them said that it wasn't the time and I woke up. I brushed my teeth and took a shower. I was waiting in the room when I felt someone was there in the room and I somehow knew that whoever it was it wasn't more than one. I called you and saw a shadow. I followed it and it was that boy. He said they will hurt me. And suddenly a deformed man who looked like he was decomposing, apparited behind the boy. The boy ran off and my left hand started burning again. But I wasn't asleep this time. It hurted for sure. That man smiled and said rip.. rip the soul. He started walking towards me and I moved back. I bumped into something, lost my balance and fell flat on my back. The man's smile widened. He came towards me and I guess he was hurt. He then said it's not the time and disappeared. He probably said about waiting. I m not sure." Jayden finished his story. Jacob was lost in thoughts.

"It's because of our so called adventure." Jacob spoke after a while. "You were exposed more than I was. You bumped into the gravestone, you were near the necklace and the amulet. Did you touch it? Accidently?"

"No. I don't remember touching. But someone was bumping into me and you said it wasn't you."

"I swear dude. I didn't."

"I believe you. Wish mom and dad would believe me." Jayden said with a sigh.

They sat there in silence for a long time. Both of them were lost in thoughts.

Jayden was thinking about the night's incident. Obviously it was more than a regular nightmare. It was like a reality. It was truth but not actually true. His thoughts always came back to the ghost boy. Who was he? Why was he willing to help him? Why did he run away when he saw the man? He wanted to talk to the ghost boy. He wanted to know his name. He felt like the boy was kind of his guardian angel. It was a ridiculous thought. But it seemed like he wants to protect him and warn him before hand. But he is not strong enough to protect him. They are stronger forces than him and these forces are definitely wicked.

Jacob's brain was also buzzing with thoughts. But he was thinking about the necklace. He knew that whatever was happening now, was related to the necklace. Jayden's left hand burning made him more confident because the tree was on their left. Jayden was about to touch it. He had pulled him away and maybe he touched it accidentally and wasn't even aware of it. If that was the case, then it was Jacob's fault that his friend was in the middle of paranormal activity. He remembered reading a story in which the cursed object caused possession and it had a different effect when someone just saw it. He wanted to let an adult know about this. But he was scared to speak about this matter. He was scared that his parents will start thinking that he was crazy. He had to save his friend from this. He had to find someone who would believe them and know what to do. Their parents were out of option even though he hadn't spoken with his parents. But he knew that they would react in a similar way.

"What are we doing here, eh boys?" A creepy voice brought them to the reality. Standing infront of them was the same creepy old man they met in the other park. He looked creepier in the light. His face was covered in wrinkles. His eyes were full of wickedness, his teeth were almost the colour of tree bark. His fingers and nails were bent in weird angles and his smile made him creepier 10 times.