Nillium Neems Read Free Page B

Jeremy?" I asked, my
words stopping him a few feet from me. Harold kept moving, walking
right up to me and shoving an angry finger towards my face.
    "I. Saw. You." he said, accusingly.
    I raised an eyebrow in question, and glanced
over at Jeremy, who gave me an apologetic shrug.
    "Saw me?" I asked. "You mean saw me standing
over here by the Tree?"
    "I... S-saw you!" he repeated, more
forcefully as if I’d been caught out in some great crime.
    I turned once more to Jeremy, hoping he
could interpret.
    "Harold saw you... stab the guy in the
breakfast hall," Jeremy almost whispered, as if afraid his words
would provoke some kind of punishment.
    I got an awful sinking feeling in the pit of
my stomach. If he had told the doctors, then I would be moved to a
much higher security section of Atrium. Probably treated with
electroshock therapy too, or something worse. Much worse.
    "Harold," I spoke slowly, "does anyone know
what you saw?"
    "I. Saw you. And. I’ll tell."
    Needless to say, the little maniac wasn’t
being very helpful. So I grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and
lifted him off the ground. His eyes roved wildly in every
direction, looking at everything but me.
    "If you tell anyone ," I growled at
him, "I’ll make you regret it."
    "Hey, are you crazy!?" Jeremy shouted,
horrified. Harold didn’t say a word, eyes still spinning like a
top.
    I turned to Jeremy, the tattletale still
fast in my grip.
    "Are you?" I said quietly.
    "Y-you killed someone, Nil. And now you’re
threatening to kill Harold!"
    I glanced around worriedly for fear that a
doctor or warden would see this little scene we were causing.
Thankfully, not a one was even in sight. For all of their security
measures within the walls of Atrium, they seemed to be unbelievably
lax when it came to security in the Yard.
    So I repeated my question.
    "Are you crazy, Jeremy?"
    "Yes..." he said slowly, after a moment’s
hesitation. "The doctors say I see things that aren’t really there.
But they are giving me medicine to make it better."
    "It’s not medicine, Jeremy. It’s
poison."
    The little man’s face went pale. It was not
a pleasant sight and made him look more ill than usual.
    "But it’s helping me!" he wailed. "I don’t
see so many things as I used to."
    "Then it’s poison. It’s lying to you,
Jeremy. This whole place is lying to us." Harold was still doing
the weird eye-thing. I seriously think he was having some kind of
fit. I shook my head to clear such thoughts from my mind, and got
back to focusing on Jeremy.
    "A few of the doctors are okay, but most of
them are cruel. And they let Monsters walk amongst us, yet don’t do
anything to stop them!"
    "Monsters?" said Jeremy, in a terrified
whisper.
    "Yes, Monsters. They-" but before I could
speak further, I felt a dark presence approaching. I’m sure my own
face went pale with fright, because I knew that presence, that
foreboding, evil, aura. It was the Hooded Man...
    Jeremy turned and fled without another word,
leaving me and Harold alone with the approaching horror. I dropped
him to the ground, my hands suddenly shaky as an old woman's.
Harold just lay there, unmoving save for those creepy, staring
eyes. My legs felt like jelly and it took all of my courage to turn
and face the oncoming horror.
    There he was. Tall, at least six feet,
features concealed by a dark brown robe wrapped around him. A
cowled hood draped over his face, hiding it completely. If he had
wanted to, he could have passed for a monk or something at some
remote monastery. The kind where pyscho cultists make human
sacrifices before bedtime.
    I was screaming inside but couldn’t seem to
move. His mere presence had me paralyzed with horror. So I stood
helplessly as he walked towards me, a slight limp in his step, one
of his hooks dragging on the ground behind him.
    Reaching forward with one of his pale,
decayed hands, he placed it upon my forehead, whispering of death.
Instantly I felt a cold chill run through me and I fell to