SEBASTIEN BLACK

-

I shut my eyes open, with halting breathes.

Something thrusted me forward as i sat up, jolted up. Beads of swear clouded my forehead as my hands fell into the moist bed. Also of, sweat.

I couldn't figure out what was going on for the minute i sat there, the minute before i recognized the color across my pillow and damped with a towel.

Red.

I looked back, jerking my neck to the right so see it wasn't sweat that wet the bed. It was blood. My own blood and it was when i found out—

—a scream echoed from my lips.

I jumped down the bed, knowing full well my mother was going to show up, on hearing my yells. So i looked back to the bed and strained my head, for at least a memory of the last night.

My head was a blurry mess, in a migraine. And jumping off the bed made it ring alittle more, like a dumbbell against my temples. I clenched it with my pulsating hands that rhymed my thumping heart.

And this was all before i heard her. J was right when i said she was going to show up with her knuckles against the wooden door that hadn't been entirely furnished yet. "Sebastien" She called.

It was usually just Seb.

It was in serious moments she called my name in full, perhaps she might have known something from last night. My heart jackhammered against my chest. Perhaps i knew but it was somewhere buried in my thoughts alongside the trauma.

"Seb" Her risen tone penetrated my ears in fear. That particular echo rang in my head for some time, as if jolting me towards a particular memory—

—the last thing i remembered over the past days.

-

TWO DAYS EARLIER

She slammed the car door against its hinges. I heard it from my window upstairs and i could tell she was going to walk back in anger, yelling my name.

"Seb" She called, from beneath the stairs as i put my hands through my flannel and stumbled down with my bags in each hands.

"Mum, in your defense. You have been packing for awhile now and i only just knew two days ago" I said, spitefully. The realization hadn't hit me yet, the fact that we were moving across towns. Into a more remote one and away from the friends that i had made.

"Oaksdale" I said, in a mockery tone of her hometown. "And you haven't even said a word about why we are even leaving" I walked towards the car before dumping my bags into the backseat.

"I'll tell you on the journey. Besides it's not even that serious" She said. I couldn't tell if she was angry or just frustrated as she stared at me, walking back and forth into the house again.

"Seb, what is it this time?" She gritted her teeth.

"My bike. I can't leave without my bike. I'd just fit it into the booth" I said, with a lopsided smirk and i saw her roll her eyes from the side of my eyes.

"God" She muttered, leaning against the car. As i handed the bike in my hands, i looked up at the building in nostalgia and remembered some things about the chandelier and the fireplace that we'd sit on the Sunday nights after her busy shift.

My mother.

It had always been my mother and i, after my father left when i was young. And i barely asked questions because i was content. And also, so as not to overwhelm her with memories. The pictures already did that. "So this house, is it going to be smaller than this?" I looked at the load that weighed the car.

"Sebastien, will you just put the bike into the car?" She said, walking back from the door and my eyes caught the flaring curtains on my windows.

"Shit, i forgot to lock that" I cursed.

"Just—Just leave it" She paused. And that was when i knew we might never actually come back to this house. "But the rain and the storms and—"

"Just leave it, Seb" She whispered, running her hands through my hair before entering the car. No matter how much goodbye i had said to my friends the previous night, it would have been better to still have had then now. In this moment.

And that was when i sighted something in the grounds. A hard, silvery red cover laying in the silky warmth of the grass. I jogged, taking the book into my arms and looking across it's edges.

A smile crept to my lips, already knowing who had left it. And then i was okay, i couldn't have my friends here now but it was nice to think they were.

Moments and times like this, that were just normal would be what i'd miss. Simple moments that would be robbed of me the moment i step into that very dark and mysterious town. Oaksdale.

I ran my fingers through the crisp papers of my favorite book, Suzanne Wright's Feral sins. Our favorite book. And i still retained the smile as i stepped into the car before closing the door.

"Are you ready?" She heaved a sigh, closing the mirror above her head. And it took me a moment to click the seatbelts and look back to the house and the life we were leaving. "Are you ready?"

"I am, now" Holding the books steadfast in my hands, i replied with my eyes narrowed back on the roads. And it was i, who heaved a deep breath now.

-

NOW

Suzanne Wright's Feral sins.

The book laid on the counter in my room, with blood stained pages and pieces of papers across that area. I walked towards it as tears welled up in my eyes. It didn't last up to two days—

In my hands, i picked it up before flipping it over and the most gruesome sight beheld me. In the front was thin, dug out lines. Like a claw had grazed sharply against it. I narrowed my eyes at it, rubbing my hands against the destruction and there were these sharp haltings that flashed before my eyes.

From the sound of my bike to certain growls. It was all from last night, and these flashes were bright. The whole night was bright, illuminated by the fullest moon i'd seen. And then i opened my eyes.

But still to the call of my mother.

"Sebastien" She drifted me from my thoughts.

To be continued...