The Nether Eclipse

Shadow's of Doubt

Meanwhile 7 hours earlier at the hospital.

“Ma'am we just finished examining your son and oddly enough, there seems to be nothing wrong with him” The doctor said.

“When did this happen, and has something like this happened before? We need to know what we're dealing with to better help your son.”

“No it hasn't” she replied, although she felt like there's something she's forgetting.

“We've given him some sedatives and painkillers so he just needs some rest, you can return home in the morning.” The doctor said as he walked away.

Then she remembered that it had occurred before when Malcom was way younger about 5 years old, he'd kept telling them about ghosts he kept seeing, but they just thought it was his imagination from all the stories he'd heard from Elizabeth along with Elliot and they paid no heed until he was scarred on lower abdomen.

“Is that what this is? But that's impossible, perhaps I'm remembering wrong, I'll ask his dad when we get home tomorrow” she shrugged it off.

When Clara got home, “Dad, I can take care of myself, can you please stop embarrassing me, letting everyone know my parents are rich, how can I make real friends now, all the real ones will end up avoiding me only the money hungry girls and Boys will be at me 24/7.” she said fiercely.

“Your safety is my priority” Mr. Alexander replied.

“As long as you're safe enough to be bothered by these "Money hungry girls" then I know my job is done.” He added

Mr. Alexander was the head of military and every single co-op operation under the president, he worked hand in hand with the president so his security detail was intense hence why Clara felt embarrassed.

“What else is there, you made me learn karate pretty young, made me learn combat techniques self defense techniques, so I'm very sure I can take good care of myself”. Clara snapped back.

“Where's mom?” she asked.

“She's at her mother's so it's just you and me” he said before his phone rang.

“The president's calling, I gotta go, there's a security briefing, he's meeting with the president of China on some top secret stuff. Be good okay, follow Daniel's instructions ok, your mom will be home late tomorrow, you can have your "Money hungry friends over and spoil them today". He said as he laughed.

“But no boys” he added.

“Very funny” she said and scoffed.

“I love you okay” he said as he departed.

“Love you too dad, be safe” she added.

She brought out her phone and decided to text Elliot who at this very time was being chased by the shadowy figure.

“Hey, can we talk, apparently I'm a bit free today and my friend Sandra is spending the night at her aunt's so we can't really talk, I don't really have Alot of friends so um...” she was about to text but decided to delete and instead wrote “Hey, whatcha doing?”.

*Back to the present*

Elliot woke up with a splitting headache, “Was that all a dream?” he said to himself, “If it was then I've got the strangest dreams”.

After contemplating for a while he got up and started to get ready for school, it was raining outside so he put on a raincoat and carried his umbrella, got on his bike and rode to school, on his way he couldn't help but feel a lingering presence following him so he peddaled faster and got to a crossing, out of the fright he was feeling he paid no heed to the traffic sign and got hit by a car..

The woman driving the car came out and “Oh my God, I'm really sorry, are you alright, you really should watch for the traffic signs kid”. It was an accident that normally would leave anyone with major injuries because the woman was also in a hurry, instead to her suprise. “I'm alright ma'am, it's pouring down really heavy, I need to get going, so I'm really sorry for bumping into you” he said as he rushed off.

“Wierd, that kid should have at least one broken limb.... I'm glad there's nothing so I gotta pay zero compensation” she said in a relieved tone.

He got to school and saw Clara heading to class. “Hey, sleep alright?” he asked but she didn't respond and completely ghosted him.

“What'd I do?” he said to himself as he walked to class, he hadn't checked his phone the whole night due to the scare last night, “Oh s**t, I didn't see her message now she probably thinks I'm ghosting her ,what am I gonna do now?”

He muttered to himself.

“Anyways I need to call Malcolm and ask how he's doing, was too terrified to pick up the phone yesterday” he thought to himself.

“Malcom honey, Elliot is calling, won't you pick that up?” his mom asked him as his phone rang, they were driving home from the hospital.

“Heya, how you doing?” Malcom said as he picked the call.

“Dude I've been worried crazy, what happened, I heard you were sick, where are you now?” Elliot asked..

“We're on the way back, can I ask a favor? , could you please come spend the weekend with me, I'm too scared, please?” Malcom asked.

“sure man, I'll just call my mom and let her know, besides we've got a workload of assignments to work through, it'll either be a fun weekend or a boring one. ” Elliot said playfully and it put a smile on Malcolm's face.

“Thanks dude, see you later then” Malcom hung up.

“Now how do I fix things with Clara?” Elliot thought to himself, “Better get to class first.” he walked to the classroom when suddenly he was all alone in the hallway. “That's weird, people were just here, where'd everyone go, Hello!?” he yelled and the next minute he was transported to a land of lava and molten magma, hotter than the sun, no skies, no trees, no plants or animals, just a vast and unforgiving wasteland with toxic air.

“Where am I, what's going on? I can't breathe!” “Help, it's not real, it's not real, it's not real!” he continued screaming until a jolt to his face brought him back as he opened his eyes, there she was.

“Why are you screaming like that, are you taking drugs? You currently on cloud 9 or something ” Clara asked.

He immediately hugged her tightly.

“Hey what's this about??” she was confused.

“Thank God none of it was real, you're a lifesaver.” he said relieved.

“Alright now get off me before someone comes and gets the wrong memo, classes have started, let's go” she said as she stood up.

“I'm really sorry, I'm not that kinda guy, weird s**t happened yesterday and I didn't even check my phone once. I didn't mean to ignore your message.” Elliot said.

“What do you mean, you called me later that evening and we talked for about 15 minutes, you were flirting all through” Clara said. “I kinda liked it though” she added inaudibly.

“Oh yeah so we still hanging out today and where?” Elliot asked although he had no recollection of any of what she just said, he only remembered bolting his door and sleeping. “Something's really fishy” he thought to himself as they walked to class.

“At the old tunnel at the edge of town, you know, the abandoned one, it's rumored to be a real haunted area.” she said is a delightful tone.

“Considering all the missing people, should we really be going towards haunted areas?” he asked.

“Don't worry, I'll keep you safe” she said and walked into class.

As Elliot got to the door, the entire class started muttering to each other until Tyler yelled “The pills hit too hard this time "It's not real"” the whole class laughed, apparently everyone heard his screams.

“That's enough!.” Mr Jake cut in.

“Take your seat Elliot, see the school principal with your mother when she's around okay” Mr. Jake said.

“Yes sir” Elliot nodded.

A FEW HOURS LATER.

Classes were over “I can't be out till 7for certain reasons so let's get going.” Elliot said as he rushed towards his bike.

“You think we're going all the way out there on your bike?” Clara laughed.

“Sandra's coming with, she's already waiting in the car, I brought my own ride, you could say my Dad's kinda rich.” she added.

They got in and Clara sat in front.

“You guys get to know each other, Sandra meet Elliot, Elliot, Sandra. I'll be in front with Daniel.”

Despite the presumed fun ahead of them Elliot felt a sudden pressure that was pushing and kind of alerting him that the tunnel is bad news but he ignored all signals and instead screamed “Let's get this show on the road”.