#tgad

So first of all. There’s no windows. Efrem can’t look outside to see the sun and they have no way of telling the time of the day. It’s always as bright, too. Or more like... it’s always as dim. There’s no real light, it seems like. Still, Efrem can see perfectly within their small little room.

Their new home, as Zey had so helpfully told Efrem. Not that they have any intention of staying here.

Or well. They aren't going to stay here, that is for sure. But even then...

There is no windows and...

There is no door. Not all the time, at least. The door seems to appear and disappear according to need. Though if Zey truly is a spirit, why does he need a door in the first place? There only seems to be one when he’s using it.

And most of the time Zey isn’t using the door. As for these few days Efrem has been in this room, Zey hasn’t... visited them much. They’ve banged at the walls. They screamed their voice hoarse at some point – their throat still hurt from that. They tried to reason to the walls, hoping Zey would hear them.

They told him they were cold and Zey promised they’ll just get used to it.

Well, Efrem hasn’t. They very much don’t want to, either. Get used to it? They could see their own fucking breath. They were hungry and cold and they were trapped in some fucking insane person’s - Efrem doesn’t know, this could be some kind of a weird basement for all they know.

They don’t know. They’ve thought and thought and thought about it and at this point they’re ready to believe they’ve been abducted by a spirit being to who the fuck knows where.

At first they thought about the mundane – their plants, who is going to water their plants? Or fuck, who’s gonna take care of their snails? Okay, to be fair, they’d probably survive for a while without eating at least. But that doesn’t mean they’d be okay without Efrem taking care of them!

What would Kieron think of their disappearance? They never just disappeared without notice. They talked with Kieron daily, had for years now. Fuck, he’s probably worried senseless at this point!

Efrem doesn’t stop thinking about that stuff – about who takes care of their house, their studies, their comic that’s going to go dormant, their siblings, Kieron... No, they just fall to the background. As it turns out, Efrem has more pressing issues bothering them.

Well first, there is the hunger. Efrem can’t be certain of how long they’re been here and they haven’t eaten anything for the entire time. Actually, they haven’t even had anything to drink. They’re already starting to feel weak, dizzy with how their stomach grumbled and head hurting from the lack of food and hydration. Second, the temperature is starting to be a real issue.

Efrem doesn’t know if it’s actively dropping. They don’t think it was this cold when they arrived, but they can’t be sure. They were disoriented that first day, barely present. It doesn’t matter, anyway. What matters is that it’s cold and Efrem is pretty sure that the lack of warmth is starting to pose them a real threat.

First Efrem tried walking around to keep warm. There’s the bed – they took the blanket off it, wearing it over their body and walked around the small room. As it had turned out, walking around with nothing to feed them lead to Efrem getting exhausted way too fast.

So now they’re just on the bed, tucked under the soft blanket. Yesterday, Efrem actually felt like it did help. Now, they’re cold again. Maybe the temperature really is dropping. The cold seems to penetrate under the blanket, getting to Efrem’s skin through the fabric of it and Efrem’s clothes. They curl to themself, trying to keep warm, but it’s hardly any use. No matter what Efrem tries, it’s cold.

It’s really, really cold.

Efrem is actually shivering. Their stomach grumbles and they groan, lips trembling. This is the fucking worst, they decide. This fucking – spirit thing – captures them, takes them to this weird room without food – or a bathroom, for that matter – and there’s no heating! Does the spirit maybe not know that humans need warmth to survive? They have to, right?

Wait, Efrem isn’t in danger. They’re going to survive this, they know as much. It’s stupid to start thinking about surviving and not surviving. Their jaw clenches as they grit their teeth together to stop them from clacking against each other. Fuck, they’re shaking. Thinking is starting to become hard – there's a very prominent sense of dull fear somewhere in Efrem’s gut and it grows with every passing moment.

Or maybe that’s the hunger. It’s difficult to tell, at this point.

Fuck. Their skin is cold, even under the pretty-thick blanket. How can it be this cold in here? Where is ‘here’, anyway? Efrem can’t think about that now. Their fingers are starting to feel numb. So are their toes. This can’t be safe in any way – they're going to get frostbites if this keeps up! Actually, with every winter, there’s those warnings to keep your ankles covered and your gloves on to prevent damage from the cold. Efrem is sufficiently covered but they’re still cold! That can’t be good! What if they get a frostbite and it evolves into a necrosis? What if parts of their body need to be cut off?

What if...

What if Zey just leaves them here, like this, and they’ll freeze to death?

Efrem can’t feel their toes or their fingers. Holy shit this isn’t good. They can’t just—they can’t just lie here and wait for—what? Zey to come back so they can plead them to make it not be so cold? For someone to save them? For some magical exit to appear so Efrem can escape? Their breathing gets shallow and Efrem can hear the rapid beats of their own heart in their ears. In the empty, doorless room, it’s the only thing they can hear.

They can’t-- they can’t take this. Efrem has to try something. They get out of the bed, body sluggish. They keep the blanket wrapped around their body, trying to trap any existing warmth around their body. Their limbs feel heavy and they move stiffly – it's difficult to even hold the blanket with how rigid Efrem’s fingers are. They curse weakly under their breath. They drag their body to the wall where a door sometimes sits, but doesn’t now. They press their palms against the wall. There had to be some kind of trick, some kind of mechanism. Efrem just needs to figure this out. The wall is cold against Efrem’s palms, even with the blanket between their skin and the wall.

Not that Efrem hasn’t tried any of this before, but they have to make sure they’ve tried everything. So they press against the wall, trying to find any seams or... they don’t know, anything. They press at the wall and... nothing happens. Efrem looks at the wall and they see nothing and all they can think about is how fucking cold it is, how it’s starting to hurt and they can’t even feel their fucking limbs, that they’re going to die here like this in this room, captive of some being beyond their understanding and without ever telling Kieron that Efrem--

Efrem knocks on the wall. The sound isn’t even hollow in their ears –what does that mean? There must be something behind the wall, like a hallway? Some other room? Anything?

“Hello?” Efrem knocks. The sound is just as hollow as it has been every other time they’ve knocked. The cold is painful – they can feel it prickle at their muscles like needles, numb their skin with a stabbing pain. They can’t feel the contact of the knock on the wall on their skin, only in their bones.

They must be knocking harder than they had realized. They keep knocking, their body aching with how cold penetrates them.

“Hello!” Efrem’s voice is louder – the moment they’ve spoken, they’re unsure if they have. How can they know, when there’s nothing that changes with their words? No one to hear them?

Fuck, they’re gonna freeze here. They’re going to die, alone and cold and Kieron will never know, he’ll never know how much Efrem—fuck, they can’t let themself think about it. They knock on the door.

“Hello!”

Knock.

“Someone!”

Knock. Efrem’s breath puffs out in a thick fog as they talk.

“Someone, it’s--!”

Knock.

“Freezing in here!”

Knock!

“J-Just help me--!”

Knock. Efrem’s teeth clatter violently in the cold, body shaking and every inch of their skin screaming with pain. They’re not going to be able to take this.

“Zey!”

Bang.

Efrem doesn’t know how long they spend time banging against that wall, screaming. They know that at some point, their throat start hurting too much to speak. Their voice is starting to sound weird. Their starting to feel almost hot with how cold it is – or did the temperature go up? That can’t be right; Efrem still can’t feel their limbs properly.

They’re weak, too weak. They slam their fists against the wall and they can’t stay up anymore – body robbed from its strength by their hunger and freezing body. Efrem can’t even tell when they stop. They don’t think they ever did, at least intentionally, do so. One moment they’re screaming and beating the wall up like it had personally mauled their favourite teacher, the next moment they’re wrapped in their blanket in an impotent attempt to trap any warmth to their body, slumped against the wall.

It’s cold. So fucking cold. Efrem doesn’t cry, not usually. They figure the hot tears, lazily falling to their cheeks, is the sign of their body and mind finally giving out.

They are going to die and their body knows it.

Efrem’s breaths are short and shaky. Their body shakes violently against the wall and their jaw hurts from keeping it clenched so hard.

So this... is it. This probably is it. Efrem can’t let go of their thought of despair of dying alone like this, without anyone knowing where they are. Without Kieron knowing what really happened to them.

Maybe—just maybe, this all could still be just a bad dream.

Efrem’s body shakes violently with a dry sob.

“You are at your limit, Efrem.”

He almost thinks he imagines it. If Efrem was in a better state of mind, he’d question the heavy sense of relief he feels upon hearing that smooth, cool voice. They’re not able to answer the voice – their teeth are clattering too harshly for that. Efrem doesn’t even dare to come out of their blanket, still wrapped around them, to face the thing talking to them.

“You poor little thing.”

Efrem doesn’t fight when their body is picked up – more like, they can’t fight. They’re too cold, too thirsty, too hungry. There’s something comforting in being held, underneath the unease that crawls on Efrem’s skin.

They’re still cold. They’re still cold but now--

There’s hope.

For a moment, the roll of blanket that contains Efrem is held against Zey’s chest. There is no warmth – Efrem trembles in the cold against the body that holds them. Efrem is dropped back on their bed – not their bed, just a bed, the bed – and they feel a weight settle besides them on the mattress. Efrem pops their face outside of their blanket cocoon. Zey sits there, against the headboard. He looks at Efrem with a curious smile on his face. His eyes are glued to Efrem, their small, black pupils unsettling as ever. Efrem shivers and they don’t know if it’s the cold or just looking at Zey like this.

Could be both, really.

“Z-Z-Zey", Efrem says with difficulty. Their teeth are still clattering with the low temperature. “Cold”, they manage to spit out.

“It is, isn’t it.” Efrem watches Zey’s smile widen, exposing more sharp teeth as he does. Efrem feels sweat prickle on their skin.

Fuck, they’re terrified. Of dying. Of this creature that has them in its mercy.

“I think I kept it cold for too long last time. My previous pet didn’t take the cold well”, Zey talks. The words sound weirdly sharp in his mouth. Efrem doesn’t like—they don’t like listening to him talk. It doesn’t... it doesn’t sound right. Words don’t sound right when Zey speaks them. “She started acting weird.” Zey tilts his head. There’s a mild look of confusion on his face and something about it...

Something about it strikes fear deep in Efrem’s gut.

“She started taking off her clothes. She stopped moving. She lost her soul.”

Lost her soul? What the... what did he mean by that? And more than that--

Efrem is not the first. Efrem is not this- this creep’s first victim.

“I like the way they shiver, when it’s cold. Humans... react so beautifully to temperature.” Zey smiles at them again. Efrem can’t move. When those inhuman eyes look at them like that, they can’t move. What would they even say to any of what Zey’s saying? He’s... he’s barely making any sense! Efrem’s face feels weirdly warm outside of their blanket. Zey’s hand comes to play idly with Efrem’s dreadlocks.

Efrem jolts. They don’t want him to touch them. They don’t like him touching their hair and they don’t want Zey to touch them at all. Zey seems oblivious to Efrem’s distaste of his touch.

“But I don’t want to break you yet. I’ve waited for so long to have you here, after all.”

“H-Hey, what the f-f-fuck—are you t-talking about?”

“I liked watching you. I like having you in my room.”

He....

He has been watching them.

Watching Efrem shiver in the cold, thinking that they will die here, alone.

Efrem’s face feels hot with anger.

Oh fuck him. Fuck him. Fuck him--

“Fuck you”, Efrem hisses before they can control themself. Rarely they feel like this – this kind of burning anger, scorching their insides, all-consuming.

It must be the cold that makes Efrem feel a little insane with every word Zey utters.

“What is wrong with you? Let me—let me out of this place”, they say through their teeth, almost able to quiet out the fear they feel when they look at Zey’s eyes. “I am not your, I’m not your fucking pet. I have a life, I have people waiting for me. I can’t stay here—I can’t die here, I can’t let you freeze me to death here, I have... I can’t stay here. I can’t. I won’t-- you can’t make me.” Efrem’s voice is little more than a whisper when they stop talking. Their throat still hurts from all the yelling they’ve done. They're looking at Zey – persuasive they hope, instead of pleading. They refuse to fucking plead anything from him.

“Stop-- Stop touching me!” They snap, swatting at Zey’s hand playing with a lock of their hair. Zey hardly reacts. He just looks at Efrem, his smile waning on his dark lips. The sight makes fear skip a beat in Efrem’s chest. They try again, softer. “Just... let me go home? No damage done. It’s been... fun”, they can’t stop themself from cringing as they say that word; nothing during these few days has been fun for them, “but I have to go home now.”

Zey just looks at them. He looks... almost displeased. A part of Efrem thinks good, whatever, not their fucking job to keep this nutjob pleased. Another part that still very much is linked to their survival instinct, thinks:

Shit. Did I overdo it?

Zey’s hand comes back to play with a lock of Efrem’s hair. They fight the urge to swat his hand away again. Efrem swallows with their dry, sore throat.

“I can’t stay here. I can’t live like this, Zey”, they try to get him to listen to them. “Humans can’t live like this. We need food, we need water! We need... enough warmth so we don’t freeze.”

Zey tilts his head.

“I’ve taken care of the temperature. I don’t want to lose you yet. I’ve waited long to have you here.”

He keeps saying that. Efrem is very fast starting to hate hearing it. Wait—taken care of the...?

Cautiously, Efrem lets themself feel the air. They... do feel warmer. They thought it was just the anger and frustration they felt towards the – thing that called itself Zey – but now, in a moment of clarity when the spirit isn’t messing with their head... they can feel it.

Yeah, the temperature has definitely gone up. Efrem is not cold anymore.

A sigh of relief escapes Efrem’s lips. They’re not going to die now. Not now, but...

Their stomach is so empty it has stopped growling. Their throat is dry and their head hurts with how thirsty they are.

Efrem grits their teeth. They’re not going to thank this thing keeping them here, even despite their first instinct telling them to.

Thank you. For what? For not letting them freeze to death in this weird, sick game he’s playing? Oh no. Efrem won’t thank him.

“Well. Humans need other things to survive too. I need water.” They say. They feel so... tired and powerless. There’s no strength in their voice, no bite in it. Efrem doesn’t want to stay here but they’re... they’re tired. They’re exhausted. They don’t want to exist for a brief moment; they just want to escape this moment, this body, this cage. Be anywhere else than here with this thing that’s captured them.

“I’m well versed with human needs.” Zey almost sounds amused when he talks. His eyes narrow too, in a manner that makes Efrem avert their eyes.

Efrem doesn’t like him looking at them like that.

“I know your limits, Efrem. Maybe better than you know yours.”

He keeps playing with their hair. Efrem wants to yell at him to stop.

“You have nothing to worry about, pet. I won’t let you break just yet.”

There it is, that word again. Pet. There’s nothing Efrem finds reassuring in anything Zey says. In fact, they feel more frustrated, scared, hopeless with every word he utters.

It’s only been what’s probably not more than a few days, but Efrem knows for sure.

They hate Zey. Probably, very likely, more than they have ever hated anyone.

Anything.

Efrem swats Zey’s hand away from their hair again.

“I told you to stop touching me.”

Zey chuckles. It’s a terrible sound – it’s like a wind-chime on a crisp autumn morning, except lower, deeper, lighter, and you don’t own a wind-chime nor is it a windy day.

“You are an amusing little thing, Efrem. I’ve always adored that about you.”

Adored.

He brings his hand to Efrem’s hair again. There’s a deep sense of irritation it stirs in Efrem – they reach to slap his hand away again, ready to repeat the process as many times as needed and—

Zey’s cool hand curls itself around Efrem’s wrist. There’s a cold sensation in the pit of Efrem’s stomach when Zey squeezes.

Hard.

Painfully.

Efrem’s eyes widen as they meet Zey’s. Zey’s expression... he doesn’t look happy. He looks at Efrem like a parent, annoyed at their child’s loud play.

“You are mine now, Efrem. I touch you as I please.”

Snap.

Efrem howls at the pain on their wrist. Their throat hurt but they don’t care – there’s an intense pain in their wrist and it radiates from that small point to their entire body. They twist in the blankets, Zey’s hand still squeezing around their wrist painful and unbearable.

This fucking psycho just broke their wrist.

“W- What—”

“Don’t make me hurt you, Efrem.” Zey’s voice is smooth and soft. He lets go of Efrem’s wrist and they don’t know what to do with it- moving it hurts too much, there’s tears welling in their eyes again. Fuck, they’ve really cried more here than they have in years, even if it’s just from the pain.

It’s hard to realize that this is actually happening. There’s a chant of what the fuck with the insistent, burning throb of pain in Efrem’s wrist.

Somewhere in their mind they’re happy about the car accident. So they’re not completely unfamiliar with this type of pain. Still, it isn’t anything they’d wanted to experience again!

This fucking hurts.

And Zey’s hand comes to Efrem’s hair again. He pets it, plays with their dreadlocks, twirls them around his fingers.

This time, Efrem lays still. They don’t reach out to swat his hand away.

They let him touch their hair, silently screaming in agony and shock of having had their wrist just broken.

Thoughts of water and food are lost to them. All Efrem can focus on is the pain and the desire of Zey stopping touching them.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like he’s planning to do so anytime soon.

Laying inside the blanket, Efrem is unable to stop Zey from doing that simple little thing of playing with their hair. They squeeze their eyes shut, hoping they were somewhere else.

Hoping this is a different room, a different hand playing with their locks.

Hoping when they open their eyes, it would be someone else they saw.

Efrem keeps their eyes shut. They let themself get lost in the fantasy, slowly detaching themself from what really seems to be their new reality.

It’s easy, in their exhausted and weakened state.

The hand doesn’t stop playing with their hair.

Efrem… absolutely hated being late. Kieron just had to come over last night, staying up late with Efrem with a new game he had wanted to show them. And it’s not like Efrem minded – they didn’t, they liked it when Kieron came over, liked watching him play and listening to his voice as he talked and hearing the way he laughed – but Kieron knew how much Efrem hated when he came over unannounced. At least send a guy a message, you know? Efrem had a schedule, a whole routine. Kieron just happened to fuck it up every time he appeared out of nowhere behind their door to visit them.

It was frustrating. Well, they got over the irritation after Kieron had hung around for a while. But still. He should learn some manners and try asking them when they’re free. Or send a warning, at the very least. That absolutely wasn’t too much to ask.  

In any case.

Kieron stayed over for the night and Efrem stayed up way too late. The man also happened to have that effect on them. Which in return made Efrem miss their alarm in the morning, made them rush out of the appointment ahead of Kieron – he wanted to sleep a little longer and Efrem didn’t have the time nor the patience to argue – and well.

Rushing to the streets, just woken up? Turns out that isn’t such a good idea.

Efrem had never thought that you would really see things in slow motion when you were in a dangerous situation. And well, they kind of didn’t. The colours of the world deepened for a while and Efrem was acutely aware of the loud screech of someone hitting the breaks of a car.  

Really, they hadn’t even seen it coming.

How did it feel to be hit by a car? That wasn’t an easy question to answer. Sure, Efrem wrote a lot but they mostly did laid-back slice of life comics about their own life. They tended to be very dialogue-heavy. No need to use copious amounts of purple prose to describe the colour of the sky when the sun rose, that feeling when you looked at your best friend smile when he told you about this new set of dice he had pre-ordered, or what kind of physical sensations were going on with who’s body at whatever moment.

So, the first word that came to Efrem’s mind was pain. The sound came first – a thud and a disgusting, wet sound of something in their body going crunch. Efrem was just going to assume that this is where they went flying, because the next thing they remembered was blinking sluggishly back to consciousness on the pavement and thinking:

Oh, that fucking hurts.

Their whole body hurt. A sharp, searing pain on their chest and arm. And fuck, their head throbbed with a dull pain. The crushing pain lingering on them had to be the most intense Efrem had ever felt. They laid on the ground, brain scrambled and limbs not moving no matter how much they tried and then...

Well, then they woke up in the hospital.

Efrem wasn’t one to exactly like hospital visits. They were an unnecessary evil, they supposed. They hadn’t stayed in hospitals for too much but they did have a few surgeries under their belt, some more recent than others. They were glad for the painkillers, that was sure. But let’s see, what had they told Efrem again?

They had been suffering from a concussion. Their left collarbone was broken, along with a cracked humerus and rib. Apparently Efrem had been lucky that the rib didn’t puncture their lungs or harm any of their organs.

Efrem didn’t feel especially lucky. What kind of ‘luck’ is it to get hit by a fucking car? Now they had to stay in the hospital. They would need to take time off from school. They would need to take a break from drawing their comic. They would need to make a new routine around the current state of their body and they hated that.

At least Kieron visited them. As much as Efrem hated to see the guy fuss over them, they appreciated the awkward hug, careful of their many injuries, and the company.

Efrem really, really appreciated Kieron’s company.

He obviously seemed to think that he was responsible for Efrem’s accident. No, Efrem didn’t think he was – they could have just slept earlier or put on more alarms so they wouldn’t miss theirs – but Efrem also... kind of didn’t think he wasn’t responsible. Not that they would ever say that to Kieron, not directly.  

In fact, they were hell-bent on proving the guy otherwise.

“Listen. I was careless. I got hit by a car because I didn’t make sure there wasn’t any coming and because I was in a hurry. I do that so often too – don't look at me like that, I know I shouldn’t - but nothing’s ever happened. I just... I got lucky those other times.”

Kieron looked at Efrem in that miserable way only he could – brows upturned and chewing on his lip like he tended to when he was worried.  

“But if I’d just gotten up and gone with you--”

Efrem rolled their eyes.

“Don’t blame yourself because I’m a dumbass”, Efrem said. Gods, Kieron really needed to get over himself about this. “This was bound to happen some time. It was only a matter of time, really.”

The other man didn’t look too convinced so Efrem let out an irritated sigh.

“I did this to myself and no, I’m not listening to you whine more about this. That’s that on that.”

That was that on that.

“You have to start being more careful, Em.”

“Yeah, I kinda got the message on that from the universe. Could’ve been more subtle.”

That earned a careful chuckle from Kieron. Despite Efrem’s general bad mood over well, starting their day by getting hit by a car, they found a small smile forming on their lips. Kieron tended to have that effect on them.

“Really, though. Getting hit by a car isn’t... it isn’t a small thing. You could’ve--” Kieron cut himself off, as if afraid to finish that though. Efrem was happy he didn’t. In that small moment of quiet, they didn’t know how to act. They swallowed.  

“I don’t know. I’m just glad you’re okay. Or that you know, you’re not worse”, he finally finished.

“Yeah.” Efrem agreed. “Me too.”

There was a small silence, where Efrem let the gaze of their dark eyes fall onto their lap. As much as getting into an accident like this sucked, they couldn’t help but think that they had definitely earned this. It was them who hadn’t been careful enough and them who had practically ran under the car driving by. So yeah, this was a painful lesson with a price they wouldn’t have preferred to pay but probably deserved anyway.  

Then there was the thing Efrem hadn’t considered they would feel: guilt. A part of them felt guilty for being so careless, for getting hurt and for having Kieron visit them like this. Efrem may have earned their lesson, but Kieron definitely didn’t deserve the scare of having their friend being wounded like this. Efrem knew they needed to apologize but they couldn’t bring themself to. For ending up here and for... not entirely thinking it was all their fault, alone. They bit their tongue.

“How long do you have to stay in the hospital?”

“Oh?” Efrem was caught off guard by Kieron’s question. “Oh, just for like, tonight. They want to keep me overnight because of the concussion.”

“Right. I mean, that makes sense. I’m glad you don’t have to be here longer”, Kieron seemed visibly relieved. Maybe he was understanding that a few broken bones really wasn’t that serious. That despite the accident, Efrem really was okay.

“Same. I honestly could go home already but they’d never allow it.” They knew for a fact they wouldn’t - Efrem had asked.

“Yeah, maybe it’s better they’re observing you for tonight”, Kieron said and it’s not like Efrem disagreed. They just preferred their own bed over this hospital one. They winced when their collarbone protested with their shrug.

“Hey... I know that you don’t care about shit like this, but I kind of have an idea. I mean, you’re gonna think it’s stupid and all, but...” Kieron started and Efrem hated when they started talking like this. No, Efrem didn’t think Kieron’s interests were stupid, even if they made fun of them sometimes. Yes, they wanted him to be able to talk to them about anything without having to feel so damn insecure.  

“What?” They urged Kieron to continue.

“There kind of this, ritual?”

Oh, it was that kind of stuff.

“Go on.”

“I was kind of thinking if you’d be interested in doing it? When you get home, I mean. I know it’s stupid, but I don’t know—this whole car accident thing got me kind of, well, scared? And if I knew that you did that it would put me at ease ‘cause well, at least I’d know that there was some small extra form of protection on you or something, like isn’t it better to do a ritual and go on with your life and not do one, even if you don’t believe in that stuff? And--”

“I mean, sure. I don’t mind?” Efrem said casually and before they could sound too much like they actually believed in whatever occult stuff Kieron had lately been into, they added: “If it puts you at ease, I mean.”

There was a beat of silence, where Kieron just blinked at Efrem. Efrem felt their face get warm. They looked away.

“What? I don’t have to if you don’t--”

“No, no! I’m just surprised, you know? Since you always say that this stuff isn’t really your thing or don’t seem too interested in it, so I didn’t think you’d actually agree to it”, Kieron admitted.

Efrem brushed some of their dreadlocks aside awkwardly.

“So, what is it like”, they asked, casually.

“Huh?”

“The ritual, Kieron”, Efrem said with a roll of their eyes.  

Kieron’s brown eyes lit up with excitement. They always did when he was talking about something he was interested in. Efrem loved to see it.

“It’s actually really simple.”

***

Efrem looked over at their room. They liked to keep things clean, so they didn’t need to make space for the ritual. It really did seem fairly simple. Kieron had sent Efrem a message with the details to this thing he called a ‘ritual for protection’. It was... something about connecting with the spirits that protected you to have them watch over you in everyday life, or whatever. Definitely not Efrem’s expertise or even something they believed in.

But well. They kind of wanted to do it for Kieron. Or well, to just put his mind at ease. And it would be easier to actually do the thing than to lie to him about it. Efrem didn’t like lying, anyway. They had agreed to do the thing so they would do it.

They had the room set up for the ritual. They had used chalk to draw a circle on the floor, just like the instructions said. It also said to use salt for ‘protection’, but Kieron knew Efrem’s vacuum cleaner was broken. Getting rid of the salt would be too much of a pain without one and Efrem didn’t know when they’d be able to buy a new one, so chalk would have to do for now.

And Kieron had said it was probably fine. If they ‘charged’ the chalk to protect them, it’d be cool. So that’s what Efrem did... they assumed. They didn’t really know how charging worked and how you would know if you succeeded in it or not. Still, they drew that circle and it didn’t look too bad, either.

There was an incense Kieron had given them to burn for the ritual. Sandalwood. Efrem quite liked the smell of it, too. They didn’t mind knowing that the smell would linger. Burning it like this, they noticed that Kieron kind of tended to smell like it.

Efrem thought it was nice.

They looked at the circle. So they had it drawn, they had the incense burning, they had the four candles burning – for each cardinal direction respectfully – and they had the herbs they were supposed to burn and the words they were supposed to say. Kieron had instructed to use white candles, but Efrem didn’t own four white candles. They supposed it wasn’t that important – two white candles, one red and one blue should do just as well.  

As long as they burned.

So they were ready. Efrem looked at the bundle of herbs Kieron had given them. They weren’t actually sure what it contained – it seemed to have several ones and Efrem had never been too good at recognizing plants. It wasn’t important for them to know what kind of plants there was in the bundle, though. Kieron was the one who knew about this shit and he was the one who gave them this.

Efrem pulled a lighter from their pocket with their hand that wasn’t out of commission and packaged up. They lit it up, bringing it to the herbs. They didn’t just start burning instantly, to their surprise. It took a little while of trying, but eventually, the fire took.

“And now I’m supposed to say...” Efrem couldn’t dig out their phone while they were holding the burning bundle of herbs. They didn’t want to put it down either – that didn’t sound exactly safe. They could remember this; they took pride in their good memory.

What was it again...?

“May the spirits keep me protected.”

Yeah, Efrem was pretty sure that was it.  

Silence followed. Having said the actual words, Efrem felt kind of... silly. They were facing the circle, standing a few feet from one of the candles – the one signifying South. They stood still, waiting the bundle of herbs to burn out as per Kieron’s instructions.

They waited. Standing became boring soon, so they sat down to wait.

And they waited.

The herbs stopped burning. That meant the ritual was done.  

So that... was it, then.  

Well, Efrem didn’t know much about rituals but they supposed that this wasn’t too bad. This pretty much aligned with Efrem’s idea of what occult-stuff was about, anyway. Drawing circles, burning incense and candles and herbs and saying things. Now when they had tried it out, they knew it wasn’t really their thing. But Kieron was free to be into it and maybe Efrem wouldn’t mind hearing more about this stuff on an occasion or two. The herbs would apparently go under Efrem’s pillow and everything else they needed to clean up. Maybe they should call Kieron up to help them with the chalk on the floor, that was going to be a bitch to wash away with Efrem’s broken arm--

Efrem blinked, looking at the circle.

There was a guy.

Standing in the middle of it.

And he was looking at Efrem.

They froze.

“Uhh.... hello?” Efrem could hear themself say.

That’s weird. The pain medication Efrem was on wasn’t supposed to be that strong.

The... guy, stood there, right in the middle of the chalk circle. His skin was brown and he had short and curly white hair. He was wearing some kind of a blue robe, and the thing seemed to flow with a wind Efrem couldn’t feel. His eyes were surrounded by thick, white eyelashes and his eyes seemed to... miss their irises entirely, with only small black dots in the middle of the white scleras.

He was smiling. With very, very sharp teeth.

Efrem found themself unable to move.

“Hello, Efrem”, the guy (? Creature?) answered. His voice was smooth and light, almost like silk.  

It was a beautiful voice, Efrem found themself thinking.

More silence. The thing kept looking at Efrem with his weird, unsettling eyes. This certainly wasn’t anything Efrem had expected. What did they do now? What was going on? It was too fast to jump to any conclusions, so for now they should get some information.

“You’re in my circle”, Efrem said, carefully. The thing’s feet shifted inside the circle. His eyes didn’t leave Efrem’s form.

“You invited me, Efrem”, he said, slowly. It almost sounded like he was... speaking with an accent. Like the words quite didn’t fit his mouth. It was... unnerving.

“I did?”

The thing looked at the circle around him, breaking eye-contact for the first time since his arrival. Efrem swallowed.  

“A ritual for protection, wasn’t it.” He smiled at Efrem again.

“Y....yeah. It was.”

“It is a very nice circle, Efrem.”

“Oh! Thank you... um. Do you have a name...?” Keiron hadn’t said anything about this. Anything like this wasn’t supposed to happen, was it! Not that Efrem really knew what exactly was going on, yet. Was Keiron pulling a prank on them? Was this one of his friend’s that he had put to mess with them? No, Keiron wouldn’t do that, especially since this was like, Efrem’s second day at home after staying at the hospital.  

“You may address me as ‘Zey’”, the thing responded after what seemed like a moment of pondering.

“Cool, cool”, Efrem nodded along. “So uh... I invited you. What exactly are you?”

“I am... your guardian spirit.”

He was a what? Not an answer Efrem had expected, nor was it one they knew how to react to. He seemed to be serious, though. What the fuck do you say to that?

“You mean like a, err, guardian angel?”

The creature’s face lit up, smile widening. A sense of terror sparked through Efrem – there were a lot of teeth. Too many teeth. It didn’t - it didn’t look natural. Efrem’s skin felt clampy with the cold sweat rising to it.

“Yes. Exactly like a guardian angel.”

Efrem didn’t know what to say. The room was starting to feel increasingly small – there was plenty of space around, but suddenly they felt claustrophobic. The thing – Zey – pinning them down with his eyes didn’t help much either.

Could he... could he really be a spirit...? There was no way, right?

Right?

“I’m so glad you invited me, Efrem. I’ve been watching you.”

Efrem blinked.

“You... have?”

The self-proclaimed spirit chuckled, looking at Efrem in a way that looked almost...

Adoring...?

“Well, I am your guardian spirit, aren’t I.” He said it like it was something obvious. “I haven’t been able to keep you safe properly until now, but...” Zey took a step. And another.

He stepped out of the circle, stopping to stand in front of the still-sitting Efrem. Efrem looked up at him and for the second time in the span of a few days, they found themself completely unable to move. He looked at Efrem and--

And--

His eyes were the only thing Efrem could look at. Like everything around them was left in the dark, Zey’s eyes the only light there.

Efrem was entranced.

“But now when you invited me to your world, I can finally touch you.” Zey reached down and Efrem didn’t even realize they were reaching for his hand before they made contact.

They took Zey’s hand. His palm was cold, colder than a human body would be.

“I must say, though, Efrem. This time it was me who managed to come through, but you could not be as lucky in the future.”

Efrem’s throat was dry. They could barely form thoughts – what was he saying? It was so difficult to focus on the words coming out of his mouth.

“Never, ever, forget the salt from your circles.”

That must have been when Efrem’s mind faded to black. The last thing they remembered was the sound of that voice, the feeling of that hand squeezing theirs and...

Those small, black pupils, fixed on them.

***

Efrem woke up in a room. It took them sitting up and a few blinks to realize that wait, this isn’t a room they recognize. They didn’t remember drinking, they didn’t remember... anything. What was this place? They were on a bed – it was a big, a double bed and a fairly comfortable one, too. They got up fast – too fast – and was hit by a wave of nausea and dizziness. Efrem had to squat down, waiting for it to pass.

They remembered... getting hit by a car. Shit, were they still alive? A quick pinch convinced them that yes, they must still be in the books of the living. What about any injuries...? They didn’t seem to have any.

Efrem guessed they had gotten lucky.

But they still needed to figure out where they were. They got up in the dimly lit room as soon as they started to feel more normal. There wasn’t much light, but there was enough for them to be able to see around them. They couldn’t see any sources for the light.

For now, the room.

Small investigation brought Efrem up to date about their surroundings. There was a bookshelf full of books. They opened it, browsing through a few books. All of them seemed to be written in a language they couldn’t read - in fact, the scripts engraved on their pages weren’t anything Efrem could recognize. There was a wooden desk and Efrem found ink, a few quills and what seemed like several pages of empty parchments from inside it. There was a piano. Efrem had never learnt to play one and they had no idea whether it was in tune or not. They were, however, able to tell that it sounded terrible. There was a wardrobe, packed full of... what seemed to be different types of robes. They weren’t from any culture Efrem could recognize.

Robes...? Efrem blinked.  

This... didn’t seem right. What was this place? Efrem saw a door – they could have sworn it hadn’t been there just a moment before. But there it was now and Efrem marched to it.  

The door knob didn’t turn. The door didn’t budge. Efrem felt cold.

“H...Hello?” They knocked on the door. “Hello! Is anyone out there!” Slowly, a sense of panic grew inside of them. What the fuck was going on? Where the fuck were they? They started banging on the door, voice growing louder as they got no response.

“Somebody! Help me! I’m trapped here! Some--!”

Efrem was cut off by the door opening in their face. It was closed as fast as it was opened, a figure stepping inside with ease.

Recognition sparked inside Efrem’s mind as the figure’s small, black pupils fell on to them.

“You have awoken”, he announced.

“Yeah, I noticed. W-Where am I?” The thing was standing way too close to them. Efrem took a step back. The creature – spirit, Zey – took a step closer.  

“This is your room, Efrem. I made it for you.”

That didn’t clear up anything. Actually, what was he even talking about?

“What do you mean? This isn’t my house. Where is.. Where I am? Where’s my phone?” Efrem needed to message Kieron. Zey looked at them, with a look that was almost pitiful.

“This is your new home. You won’t need your phone here, pet.”

What?

“The car accident was an unfortunate little thing. I wasn’t able to protect you.”

Efrem remembered – they did wake up in the hospital. They did get injured. They went home and they, they--

The ritual.

“So I brought you here, Efrem. So you can’t get hurt anymore.” Zey’s hand was on Efrem’s cheek and they jumped. He was tall. Why was Efrem unable to get away from them?

“So I can protect you better.”

Oh, okay. So the gist of it seemed to be...

“I took the liberty to fix up your injuries. It’s so fragile, that mortal body of yours”, Zey chuckled, like he was telling a joke. His hand was no longer on Efrem’s cheek.

“Please, make yourself comfortable in your new home. I can’t stay with you at this very moment, but I promise that I’ll play with you later, pet.”

Efrem stood still, staring at the spirit as he talked. They didn’t remember if he said anything else, absent-mindedly staring at his many sharp teeth as he talked.

He must have left at some point, because soon enough, Efrem was alone. The room was cold and empty. Never in their life had Efrem felt more confused and more alone. They more collapsed and less sat on the bed.