(no subject)
Matthew was constantly apologizing to those around him.
‘Honestly,’ he thought, trying to stay on his feet in the continually shifting crowed, ‘I why am I even here?’ he quickly apologized to the person who had elbowed him in the shoulder. As usual, people seemed oblivious to his presence.
‘I don’t even like this soda.’ he thought, fighting the flow of the crowd. He couldn’t stand to be here, he really couldn’t.
Not only did he think that this protest was stupid (because, honestly, there were much bigger things to worry about then having to go off campus to buy soda), he was also tired of being pushed around by all the pushy pop drinkers.
With one final push, his was finally able to break though the crowd. He sighed and winced as he sat down in the shade under a nearby tree. The only reason he was here was to ‘support’ his brother. Matthew snorted and rubbed his sore chest. Someone, early in the ‘protest’ (though the whole thing was very laughable to Matthew) had rudely elbowed him in the chest in their vigour to stretch their hands to the sky in agreement.
“What are you doing here?” he heard a deep voice growl behind him, “Shouldn’t you be protesting the ban of your precious carbonated beverages?”
Matthew tensed and turned around.
“U-um, no. T-that’s my brother.” he gazed wide eyed at the larger man who had situated behind him, trying not to wince at the anger in the stranger’s dark eyes.
‘What did you do to this guy, Alfred?’ he thought, flinching slightly and turning bright red as the stranger leaned in get a closer look at him. Alfred...was difficult to get along with, and had a nasty tendency to get into fights with people for silly reasons. Needless to say, he usually won these fights. Sufficed to say, Alfred F Jones had many enemies on campus and they usually tired to even the score with Matthew.
You see, Matthew had the misfortune of being split from the same egg and sperm cell as Mr. Jones. Matthew couldn’t count all the times he had been mistaken for his brother by bullies looking for revenge.
The dread locked man closely scrutinized the sitting blonde. It wasn’t Alfred.
‘Alfred ain’t cute.’ he thought, pulling away. He suddenly felt bad for scaring the adorable blonde.
“Uhh,” he sheepishly said, shifting his gaze to the side, “Sorry about that.” Matthew blushed, none of the people looking to get even with his brother apologized, ever. It threw him off a little, dealing with the polite bully.
“It’s alright, it happens a lot.” He sheepishly replied. The two were suddenly all too aware of the silence that had enveloped the court yard.
‘Is the protest over...?’ Matthew thought, looking in the direction that the protest was. The protesters were still there, just standing still and not making a single sound.
‘I’ve never seen a group of university students so quiet...’ the hairs on the back of Matthew’s neck started to stand up. Something was wrong. Very wrong. No group of young adults could stand this still and be this silent for this long.
Matthew dared to steal a glance at his former bully, hoping to somehow transmit his worry to the other. The other seemed to pick up on it instantly and nodded slightly, trying to make as little movement as possible.
It seemed that other spectators also seemed to be worried about the group. One brave soul wandered up to the still group and tapped one on the shoulder, trying to get her attention. It seemed in that moment, that the group came to life. The girl who’s attention that the brave soul was trying to get, growled, wrapped her arms around him and bit him on the neck. He was dead before he hit the ground; at least, Matthew hoped he was.
It seemed that the other protesters seemed to like that idea and started to slowly wander towards the others in the court yard. Matthew was suddenly eerily aware of the stage that the protesters had set up. His brother was still on the stage. For a brief moment, Matthew thought about running to him, just to make sure that he was alright. But then he realized that the likelihood of what happened to the brave soul not happening to him was slim, judging from the way the protestors were slowly making their way to his shady spot. Matthew quickly stood up, grabbed the confused black man by the wrist and quickly walked the both of them to the safety of a nearby building. The protestors were following them, he noted, walking that same eerie, slow saunter.
As soon as he locked the door, the former bully exclaimed,
“What the FUCK just happened?” Matthew looked to the rectangle of window in the door, noticing how one of the protesters face was pressed against it. The face looked pale, its visible eye seemed to be looking right at the pair and its mouth seemed to be forever open in some unearthly groan. Matthew unconsciously took several steps away from the door.
“I-I don’t know.”
Other teasers here, here and here
Part one to the actual story is here