The morning sunlight felt heavier than usual.
Jel stood in front of the bathroom mirror, toothbrush in hand, staring at his own reflection like he was a zombie .
Dark circles under his eyes.
Jaw tense.
Hands slightly trembling.
Last night kept replaying in his head.
The doctor's words of Jel sooner dying.
The brief moment he fell.
And the hand…
that black, liquid hand reaching for him again, the hand was disgusting felt like made from blood and streams of—
He blinked.
For a second he thought he saw someone standing behind him—
tall, blurred—
then nothing.
Just steam on the mirror.
Jel washed his face quickly, grabbed his bag, and rushed out.
School.
Routine.
Normal.
He needed normal.
For a moment, he convinced himself yesterday was some weird hallucination.
But halfway down the road…
A whisper brushed past his ear.
"Yo."
He stopped walking.
Looked around.
No one.
He swallowed hard and kept walking.
"You ignored me."
Jel frozed again.
That voice—
soft, calm, way too casual—
echoed inside his skull.
He didn't answer.
Didn't breathe.
Just kept walking.
"I said chill. I'm not a monster."
His grip tightened on the straps of his backpack.
He shook his head like he could shake the voice away.
School gates appeared.
Students rushed in.
Noise, chatter, laughter.
Normal.
He forced himself inside.
---
Classes passed in a blur.
Teachers spoke.
Students whispered.
Pens scratched paper.
But through it all, he kept hearing it.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Like footsteps behind him.
But no one was there.
A desk creaked behind him during maths.
"You're acting weird today.
Did you think about what I said?"
He flinched.
The classmate next to him was calling his, confused, Jel never answered.
He kept his eyes down.
His heartbeat felt too loud.
By lunch break, he was sweating more than walking.
And then, during break—
Three mates approached him, the same ones who laughed at him yesterday.
"Oi," one said. "You look dead, man. Didn't sleep? Haunted by your mum oh wait she was at my house"
His jaw tightened.
He tried to walk past them.
A hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Don't ignore me."
Before he could think, before he could breathe—
He punched the guy in the face.
Hard.
A clean hit.
Knuckles stinging.
Shock in everyone's eyes.
"WHAT THE—?!"
Others jumped him immediately
They punched Jel forming a Barrage of puches. Jel evaded many, he was hit at cheek and stomach he almost fell.
Jel with full force grabbed the chest of one, pulled him closed giving a death' stare he pushed him,
The students formed a crowd few recording few chatting, few commentating the 1v3
Jel was overwhelmed
He kept dodging the kicks, punches
He gave a solid axe kick to one and a spinning roundhouse kick to other.
He pushed both down.
But was punched on the face blood fell.
Soon seniors came and stopped the fight seeing it became to violent.
Jel went to get first aid and that bullies? They were already there getting treated
Rail the leader of 3
Spoke
" You are fun when angry, I and my fellas apologise, I would like to be your friend would you accept, Me. Jel "
" —chuckles sure why not I always wanted to make unlimited friends " - Jel
Jel went home and for a second
Relieved he closed his eyes
His brain puts Jel in a state of mind where he was in a parallel world
And a figure approached him, his figure
It looked disgusting
So disgusting
Jel almost vomited
They stared each other
For a while
Jel woke up, in mid night he had slept for 6 hours.
Jel sat on his desk and looked at the moon soon he fall asleep again