Young Writers Society

He frowned.

"James, why are you grabbing your gun?" he questioned, scooting around to the area directly in front of James. He looked behind him. No matter how he tried - or how many planes he went through - he still couldn't see what James was looking at. "I can't see anyone. Who are you going to shoot?"

James had his finger on the trigger as he was pulling his gun from his jacket but Maahes's comment made him pause. His eyes were transfixed on the person he saw.

"What do you mean you don't... see anyone?"

Why do I even bother? Hali thought, shaking his head in defeat. He wanted to cover his face with his hand. This is all a wild goose chase for something that's not even there.

"I don't see anything either," he said.

"None of us see anyone," Kratzer says. "Just trees, James."

"Wh...what?" James whispered.

He blinked. What, did that mean he was hallucinating? He blinked again, trying to blink the image away, but Butch stared back at him all the same, until Butch came out from behind the tree and started to slowly approach.

James took a step back.

They don't see anything.

He took another step back.

But they don't see anything. He's not real. Somehow - somehow you're hallucinating.

Butch began to charge him, axe in hand. James dropped to the ground in terror with his hands over his head, covering his eyes, and he felt nothing but his body trembling on the soft forest floor.

Maahes looked down at himself, then back up at James - or, rather, down, because James had fallen to the ground. He crouched down and poked James' foot, trying to rouse a response from him. He didn't get why James was suddenly so scared of him. Had he somehow seen his form on the seventh plane? Tilting his head to the side, he poked his foot again.

James flinched, remaining curled up on the ground. He wanted to ask if Butch was gone, but they didn't see Butch, and he didn't feel the hallucination or apparition affect him apart from the undeniable fear that gripped his heart.

"Stop that," he whispered to Maahes, unable to will himself to get up yet.

"Am I scary, James?" he asked. He went to go poke his foot again, but stopped himself from doing so when he remembered what James said. "You'll all scared now, and all that happened was me stepping in front of you."

"No," James said louder, his voice harsh. He slowly lifted his head to look up at the boy, forcing himself to relax his face, and his tone. He proceeded to speak more calmly.

"It's not you. I... look, I don't know what kind of place this is, but I saw a very vivid hallucination." He took in a breath, releasing it slowly. "And it just... attacked me. Only now has it disappeared."

Maahes let out a relieved sigh.

"That's good," he said, a smile beginning to spread across his face. He really didn't want to freak James out, especially when he seemed pretty nice from their previous conversations. "Odris says I can be kind of scary sometimes. And that I can't let anyone see me like that, or otherwise I won't have any friends and people might try to kill me."

James's face turned to confusion, and he blinked. He didn't know how to respond to that.

"...Okay. Well, we're not going to kill you."

He frowned a little, uncertain of what that meant and how to react.

"No one's going to be doing any killing no matter what you look like, kiddo," he eventually said.

"That's savage," was all Hali decided to say.

"Not really," he nonchalantly replied. "I'm quite terrifying."

He turned his attention back to James and Kratzer, having given a response to Hali's comment. "I'm glad you're not going to try to kill me," he solemnly said. He caught sight of a pretty plant out of the corner of his eye, and immediately made a beeline for it a second later. Bending down to study the little flower, he added, "Because if you did, I'd probably accidentally kill you."

James was only getting more and more confused and concerned - less with himself and more for the kid.

"Look. Maahes. Like we said, we're not going to kill you. Whatever it is that you are, I really don't care. It's fine. You're fine. Just... no... fighting. Like we said."