Jackson's POV

The emotions that were brought out into existence...by me. Ones that could be mistaken for malice but were done with good will, now burrowing it's way into the ground alongside me and Irene. Covering my vision with memories and infecting my body with emotions I hold my head from a nauseating high overwhelming my mind. A feeling as if my feet no longer have ties to the ground and I've become weightless...lasting for only a few seconds or so at least that's what I can gather.

A thump to the ground followed by the swirling red and black flowing into me and unwrapping Irene next to me, letting her fall onto the muddied ground. I reach over to clean up the dirt from her clothes but she smacks my hand away.

"Jackson. Why?" She stares at me with a look of betrayal but I tilt my head to the side, not understanding what she's referring to. "You seriously have no clue what you..." She stops all her motions, once again looking me up and down before shrugging the thought off.

"Never mind, but where even are we now?" Irene helps me up from the floor, taking lead and guiding us through a rather open space. Suddenly stopping and tracing her hand along the dirt, "Do you feel that?" She pulls my hand to the floor but I again don't understand what she's referring to.

Snatching my hand back and rubbing my wrist I attempt to answer her this time, "The air...feels heavier?"

"Well you're right on that, but I was talking about the ground itself. Watch" She steps past the line she made, and in response her foot sinks into the ground as if weights were strapped to her ankles. Step by step she continues to walk forward as her body begins to audibly thump against the ground.

"C'mon Jackson!" She extends her hand out to me which I accept, pulling me into the weighted zone. Expecting the same pressure I tense my legs for impact...only to be surprised by the lack of force. 

"Irene..." I call to her, not out of confusion though. 

"Are you stuck or something?" She pulls me forward without any effort, showing that the weight isn't collapsing on me. "If you can move then move, stop wasting time" She kisses her teeth in annoyance.

What I was held still by wasn't anymore than yet another maelstrom of emotions, "It's...I don't think we should be here" My eyes scan the ground as I make out numerous cracks leading forwards. On first glace they look out of place...but each and every single one connects to each other at some point. 

"And why is that?" She mutters while throwing one leg in front of the other

"I-"

"Jackson if you're not gonna make sense, leave the talking to me. Now move" She continues on, extending a hand out to me occasionally to make sure I'm still behind her. 

-

Coming up to what feels like the most dense part of the area I peek into a torn down home, burnt enough to where every piece of wood is charcoaled and crumbles to the touch. "I...feel something else...someone else"

"Whereabouts?" Irene's stomping feet come behind me, causing another crack to form and like a snowball effect, it begins to grow and connect to others. 

"Not...right now" 

"So you feel someone, but not right now? Thanks Jackson" She waddles through the terrain, following the newly emerged crack towards a pit. "Hear that?" She gestures towards it, raising a hand to her ear to focus it more. 

I lean in to hear it better, listening to the sound of what seems to be the ground being scratched. Not mud, dirt or anything soft but instead a hard stone like ground. Each step we take closer the scratches seem to get more aggressive, desperate even. The weight of Irene slowly beginning to lift as we approach it, giving me a thumbs up before we glance inward. 

"So..." Irene calls out to the figure with darkened hair, causing the scratching to stop and his body to stand up. Rubbing his face a bit before turning to us with his hands behind his back. 

"So" He repeats, staring up at us with an emotionless stare

"How come you're...here? All alone?" Irene questions while extending a hand for him to get up from the pit

"I...am alone yes" He goes to reach for her hand, showing off his bloodied and half peeled off nails. Noticing our reaction and instead retracting his hand. "I...got hurt" He murmurs before jumping up without any help. 

His height standing far taller than us and while his frame remains big, he looks pale and malnourished, "Got a name?" Irene's eyes dart around his body as if trying to search for a clue as to who this person is. 

"His...I am Keyon" He brushes a hand through his dirtied hair, staring around before speed walking off to a barely standing structure. 

"Hey wait did you not want to know our names?" Irene chases him, placing a hand on his back and causing him to flick around and eye her down.

"You...have n-nothing. Similar" He smiles a bit before entering the torn down building, an immediate scent of charcoal rushes up my nose and making me cringe in disgust. Even so that doesn't stop Irene or Keyon from rushing up the broken stairs, some even falling as she jumps from the cracked ledges.

Abruptly he stops in place, twisting around again to confront her, "Did you...know this...?" He points to himself

"What do you mean?" She immediately looks away as if trying to not meet his eyes again.

The painfully tense silence between them causes me to pick up the nearest thing, a picture. Seeing two boys and a girl playing in the halls...getting an feeling of Deja vu I line up the image, realising it's the same building. Feeling a hand grab my shoulder I freeze a little bit as a cold chill runs through me, and with each passing second the feeling turns to numbness growing throughout my body.

"Do you...know...her?" He reaches over my other side with his shoulder, now leaning over me from behind with his limbs stretched out almost like he doesn't know what else to do with them. 

"Is she important?" Irene jumps in to separate him from me, grabbing the picture and viewing it herself. Her face unable to hide the reaction this time as it visibly drops from the sight of it. 

"Irene do you know her?" 

Hesitating before responding, "No, Jackson, we do not know her" She places the photo down, attempting to go back down the stairs but her arm gets grabbed by Keyon.

Bringing his face down to hers he whispers in her ear, "She's...still here...isn't she" He pushes her down the stairs, destroying what's left of it and seemingly knocking her unconscious for a bit. 

"Wait!" I flinch back when he turns to me.

He kneels towards me, placing a hand on my head and rubbing my hair as the fresh blood from his nails trickles down my face, "You're...in his home, was...home" He smiles before knocking me to the side. 

"Jackson...he's...not human" I hear Irene call out alongside her attempts of lifting the wood off her back. 

His crooked frame comes towards me, leaning down a hand for me to grab. "You...were so young" He says with a tear falling down his face. Taking his help he lifts me up, hugging me in a death gripped embrace as I notice Irene walking up behind him with a stake of wood. 

"Ir-e-" I try to stop her but she leans back to gain force in the thrust with an intent to kill washing through her eyes. Before I could even perceive what happened I found myself on the floor. Staring up at the two figures I observe the stake being drove through his hand as an attempt of stopping it but Irene continues to twist it. 

The pain completely ignored by his expression and he instead begins to talk, "We didn't do anything wrong!" He continues as she puts her full weight on the motion to stab him. "Keyon please just let us go!" He quotes, making Irene fall back a little bit from being surprised when he applies force to it.

Falling back to the floor she watches as he walks towards her, "We can all get out of this...together...just let us go, Alpha. Please" He twitches a little bit at his own words as if in denial. 

"Alpha?" I repeat as a spark in my head lights up. That same...pulsing sound resonating from within his chest. Causing him to spin around and face me with a sick tinted yellow glow to his eyes.

"Him" He comments, reaching out to my collar and aggressively pulling me forward. "Who is. Alpha" He states. Taking the opportunity I respond to the sound, placing my hand on his chest but he drops me in reaction. 

The walls of the manor cracking like a weight is being applied to it, "Breathe. 1, 2, 3" He tries to count while holding his chest as if in pain and for the first time showing a facial expression. The colour in his eyes beginning to restore itself but his body having a physical war with itself. "Al-pha" He stomps onto the ground a singular time, breaking away what was left of the burnt manor and making us all fall to the lower floor, the rise of dust and dirt being flicked into the air. Blinding what dull lighting was seeping through the burnt curtains.