Chapter Text
Lots of kids die.
Lots of kids find a high place and remove their shoes, lots of kids ‘catch’ trains, lots of kids find a quiet place and sleep for the last time, lots of kids take a bath and turn it red.
Lots of kids have their dreams crushed and lose hope, lots of kids meet their heroes and immediately have their expectations destroyed.
Less kids have that happen immediately before they die.
He had finally met aliens, and had then been killed by aliens.
He had his hopes soar and then crash, he had been murdered by something that he loved, he had years of his life suddenly come to nothing.
He died with a grudge so fresh it brought him back to . . .
Well.
Not life.
But it brought him back.
It brought him a step out of the grave, leaving behind all the things that made him living, but not all of the things that made him alive.
But death takes a lot from you.
It takes your hopes and dreams, it takes your memories, it takes your reasoning.
But it doesn’t take everything.
He remembered not having friends.
He remembered desperately searching for something.
He remembered feeling betrayed.
And it made him keep moving past the point where everyone else would rest.
He didn’t stay where he died. He wasn’t rooted to one spot.
No.
No, he searched, he traveled, he sought out-
Something.
He kept looking in places that felt right.
Abandoned, secluded, dark and lonely.
Places that seemed like they might hold what he was looking for. For what he desperately wanted to find.
For what he was so betrayed about.
For the thing he wanted to hold close, for the thing he wanted to get revenge on.
It wasn’t his fault that others were in those places as well.
People, in pairs or groups, were often exploring the spaces that he found himself in.
They moved carefully though the dark, jumping at noises and whipping strange rectangular flashlights toward where the sound came from.
He shied away from their lights, keeping away from the sharp beams that made something in the back of his head flinch. But he couldn’t help but follow behind them, shadowing their footsteps.
He was fascinated with the way that they clutched each other, the ways that they joked through their frightened expressions, the way that they would move closer and closer to each other the deeper they went into which ever forest or building that they had entered.
He would get so involved with watching them, that he would get too close.
His presence, his breathing, his body heat?
Something would warn them of his proximity, and they would spin around and thrust their light in his face.
He would be blinded by bright light, he would be deafened by screams, and then they would run away, scrabbling blindly away from him.
And that-
That’s bad.
Its- its bad to run blindly. It’s bad not to watch where you’re going-
They could trip, they could fall, that could
Break their legs.
. . .
It’s bad to run blindly.
itsbaditsbaditsbadbadbad-
He would chase.
He would run after them trying to grab the backs of their clothing, try to tell them to stop running, to tell them to watch where they were going!
But they wouldn’t listen!
They just screamed louder, ran faster. His hands wouldn’t grip their clothes, only uselessly pull at the fabric but not keep a firm grasp at all.
He couldn’t stop them, couldn’t catch them, couldn’t make them listen.
So-
So, he ran past them.
He had-, he went to these places a lot. He knew where the floor was weak, so he stood on that so they wouldn’t. He knew where there was glass on the floor. So, he would stand in front of there as well.
If they avoided him, then they would avoid the dangers as well, running until he managed to herd them from the building, out of the trees, away from the dangers.
He got faster and faster, outpacing anyone who ran from him, placing himself in front of the dangers, blocking them from getting hurt in their panic.
He began to- to scare them on purpose, to herd them away from the cliffs and the dangerous animals. He started to bare his teeth, to hiss and snarl like an animal to have them give him a wider berth, to keep them farther away from the danger.
And the- the-
The aliens.
He was always more forward when there were aliens, when the things that had- had-
. . .
When there were aliens.
It was why he was at this place, this abandoned hospital.
There were aliens here. And he needed to chase off anyone who came here.
It was dangerous.
He didn’t want anyone to go through what he had, to run and fall and be caught and be-
Be-
He didn’t want it to happen to anyone else.
“Hey, have you heard about the Courage Test ghost?”
“The what?”
“Oh! Oh! I know that one! Isn’t it supposed to be, like, an extra member appears in the group when you do a courage test?”
“Kinda, what happens is that if you do a courage test and feel something following you, then it’s because the ghost is there!”
“Ok, but like, if you’re already doing a courage test, then what makes this ghost different from the ones that were already there? Like, if there were ghosts, then why is this one a ‘courage test’ ghost?”
“Well, ummm . . .”
“Wait, wait, I think I know this one! It’s because of how he looks! He looks the same right? Like, I think he’s been spotted in the abandoned hospital recently, and like he doesn’t look like a patient!”
“Oh, right! He doesn’t look like what you think a ghost would! Like in the place! If he’s in the woods he doesn’t look like a hiker, and if he’s in a factory he doesn’t look like a worker.”
“What does he look like then?”
“He wears a black school uniform and has huge reflective glasses! At least at first.”
“At first?”
“Yeah, see, what happens is that he changes when he chases you!”
“He chases you? I thought he just joins the group.”
“No, no, no, see, he follows the group! He walks really close behind someone, breath on the back of your neck and a chill like an open fridge! If you manage to keep calm and not turn around or scream even once during the test, then you win! But if you do turn around or scream even once, then he chases you!”
“He chases you?! I thought you said that he looked different!”
“He does, he does, but it’s like- once you set him off, he goes from looking like a high-schooler to a monster! He gets all bleached out, his legs get longer, and his mouth stretches out.”
“That’s terrifying!”
“Yeah! He chases you until you leave the courage test area, like out of the woods or the building or whatever. He’ll yank on your clothes and scream at you and even somehow get in front of you even!”
“But has anyone died!?”
“Nah, not so far at least.”
“Wow, does he show up at every courage test?”
“No, it’s actually more like he’ll hang out around a certain area for a bit then leave for another. Sometimes he’ll go after multiple people in a night, but only in a pretty small area. The same forest, same building, same couple of streets, that sorta thing. People can even track him!”
“Really?! Where is he now?”
“That’s just it! He’s nearby! There’s this abandoned hospital nearby, and like, someone was trying to make a ghost video and he chased them out! It was wild!”
“They caught him on camera!?”
“Well, no. Not really? But like the youtuber swore it was him, and like there’s this voice that got picked up on the recorder- I think I have it faved, hold on- “
“Oh, wow, that guy has a lot of views on this.”
“Yeah, it really got him popular to get this caught- ah! Here, this is where it is in the video.”
“-runrunrunrun, notsafenotsafe, bad bad bad, GET AWAY FROM HERE-“
“. . . oh damn, that is scary.”
". . . "
“. . . you wanna go?”