ArchivedLogs:Hallway Chase

Hallway Chase
Dramatis Personae Jack
In Absentia	2015-02-24 Jack encounters the mysterious Boogey Man
Location <XS> - Foyer
Xavier's foyer provides a suitable introduction to the opulent mansion. Teak-paneled, wood floors immaculately polished, vaulted ceiling ribbed with dark wood boning, there is no doubt this school was built with no expense spared. The hallways branch off to the separate wings, with the grand staircase spiraling upwards to the residential dorms above. Late night, Xavier's School hallway. Almost everyone is in bed by now, the dark has settled in, and the weight of the hour hangs heavily in the hour. Those still stirring find themselves almost lost in the deafening silence of the world around them. Rumored to walk the halls in these late hours is a creature of some sort. Some say it's made up to scare the newer students, others swear it's real! One such person is about to find out, in these darkest of times. Jack is one of those newer students. Thankfully not the newest anymore though. He's been here since December and he's heard this story a few times but hasn't paid it much mind. It seemed like one of those stories the upperclassmen make up to mess with the younger students. Tonight he's yawning slightly as he heads back to his dorm. He'd been in the library, working on his homework and lost track of time entirely. Dressed in jeans and an Xavier school hoodie, the invisible teen looks like something that might go bump in the night himself. Rolling his shoulder to shift his backpack a little, Jack's quiet as he makes his way through the halls. No matter how silent the footfall or translucent the prey the bogeyman will find it's mark. As would walk strange things would he see. A shifting here, a flicker there. All tricks of the mind in the dark or is it? It's quite hard to tell when you're all alone. Up from behind there would be an odd sound, almost like a breeze blowing softly, along with an odd shifting of the air. Though if he turned he would see nothing there but the dark of the night. Jack ignores those first few little motions in the dark, unfazed. When they keep coming, he offers an unseen frown. When the sound reaches him, Jack's steps slow. He turns his head enough to glance over his shoulder and watches the emptiness a few moments before starting to walk again. He tugs his hood a little to make sure its staying up before jamming hands into his sweatshirt pocket. Again nothing there but the swallowing black of the night, everyone knows good children are in bed by the midnight hour. Slowly the churning would return to Jack's field of vision. A flicker here, a quick snap though the shadows there. He would get the feeling of something behind him, the overwhelming feeling of something staring, someone, something! is behind him absolutely and it's a look of malice! But again when he turns...there would be nothing there, the oddity of the emptiness and the silence of it all casting quite the net of grim fashion to the hallway. As the oddness keeps happening, Jack grows a bit irritated. He's thinking someone might be trying to play a prank on him. When he gets that feeling that something is behind him, Jack turns quickly. He's ready to have a conversation in annoyed whispers but when he finds nothing, the invisible teen just makes a frustrated noise. "Alright," he mutters. "It's too late to be causing trouble so whoever's there, knock it off," he goes on, unseen eyes scanning the darkness. He lingers a moment longer and then turns to keep walking. The nothing is something always existent yet never seen, something always creeping at the back of peoples minds. In this dark time though the nothing is not what is to be feared, it is the beast. Finally the flickers would get quicker, more defined, a flash of a tail here, flames there, odd bits disjointed in their meanings or connections. The feeling of being watched would once again bore into his back, this time paired with a deep panting, a heavy low guttural breath that only those beasts of mythic legend could truly make. Now when the poor invisible soul turns about he would see his stalker, twenty paces behind and eight feet tall. A broad shouldered beast with a body made of the dark itself twisted in flames of a hellish origin. It's eyes naught but glowing orbs staring with malice as it opens it's malformed jaw of black and dark and makes a silent gesture of hunger. It's arms long and twisted with fingers long and crooked with claws at the end, the feet lanky as their upper counterparts and twisted in their creation. The torso of the beast flickers about, seeming to be unstable in it's holding of the body attached. The entire form covered in the dark twisted matter and flames as it moves. Jack is about ready to forget whispering and just yell at whoever's flitting around in the darkness. The feeling of being watched makes him tense further and roll his shoulder again to get his backpack onto a more comfortable position. The breathing sound is the last straw for the floating clothes and he stops and spins on his heel. "Okay, what the hell is you-" Jack starts to ask. He stops when he sees the creature. "Uh..." he trails off. "If this is someone's idea of a prank, they need to knock it off now." The beasts eyes bob slowly in the dark, almost as if not attached. There's a slow shift of it's body back and forth before it gives a sickening lurch forward. The creatures locomotion cannot be described by simple words, an odd twisted shuffle with it's malformed limbs, it's crooked jaw hanging open, a sick long tongue like essence hanging from the side. The beast scuttles towards it's target, eyes trained on the invisible form, unblinking in their focus. "Oh shhhiii-" Jack is rather startled when the beast starts charging. He's more worried about that then the odd appearance. He starts backing up quickly, focusing his power. With a grunt, he sends a telekinetic shove at the beast in hopes of deterring it before he turns to start running. The beast shuffles slightly when hit with telekinesis, It's form seems to twist and blow apart before sickeningly stitching itself back together. It's head would give a 180 degree turn before narrowing the orbs that were it's eyes. A rasp would come from it's form before it would bear down heavily. The beast was mad, quite angry at it's prey, instead of stalking or following this would be a hunt now! It bounded hard after him, the shuffling movement of it's form coming quickly at him Glancing over his shoulder to see if he stopped the beast, Jack's invisible eyes go wide as the creature just pulls itself back together. "Oh that is not right," he gasps. His focus turns to the hall ahead and he keeps running. He's telling himself its no different than running from someone trying to tackle him on the football field or running from someone that caught him picking their pocket back on the street. Always at the heels the beast stays on it's prey. At a decent pace back the shuffling monstrocity comes at the invisible boy. It's movements odd and shuffling yet it's speed on point it drags it's body through the halls, the dark space behind it's domain for hunting. Just running isn't Jack's entire plan. No, he's headed for the elevator. Telekinesis presses the call button long before Jack gets near the doors. He's hoping to run right in so he can get away as quick as possible. The elevator approaches quickly, but the beast is on the invisible boy, As the doors open wisps of smoke plume from the beast. It's arm snaps out to grab the boy falling just short as the doors close. In the warm electric light of the elevator the sound of the creature can be heard, a horrid screech of pain and terror. It's arm severs and moves with the moving box. As it lays on the floor it dissolves, melting into nothing as the light burns it away. Once the elevator reaches the next floor nothing is seen, nothing is heard, and the trip back to the room is safe again, though no doubt the thought. "Was it real?" will gnaw deeply at his mind. Jack is ready to use his TK some more as he practically crashes into the elevator, scrambling to hit the door close button and the one for the next floor. He presses it and throws himself back against the far wall, heart racing. He cringes at the horrible sounds and tries to scramble as far away from the severed arm as possible. As the arm burns away, Jack slumps against the wall. By the time its entirely gone, he just stares. "What...the fuck..." he breaths out, just sitting there for a few moments.