We sat there, eyes locked together for what seemed like minutes on end, waiting for the other to make make a move, my lungs burning as I dared not to breath.

"Hm", the man reached forward, his hand inches away from my neck, before he paused, retracting it and stroking the stubble on his chin.

"What to do..?" He muttered to himself, as he eyed me with a careful, analytical eye.

"P-please. D-dont kill me", I managed to stutter out, my heart hammering in my chest, as tears swelled in my eyes; partly from fear, and partly from the sadness of the thought of never seeing my family again. The man reached forward again, his eyes locked with mine. I shut my eyes tight, my mind prepared for what was to come. Whilst I am one of the strongest in my field of work, I knew better than to fight a psychopath - they just never knew when to give up so I would very well reach my limits before he did as I wasn't really well trained in the athletic side. I watched the swirls of colours in the darkness behind my eyelids as I waited for the contact of his hand, and the pain and struggles that would follow. My mind travelled to an image of my wife and daughter,

But nothing came.

With a raised brow, a opened one eye, to gasp in shock as I looked down at his extended arm. It had passed right through my neck, and was rummaging the drawers on the other side. I quickly shot up, onto my feet as I stared down at the man. What's going on? Am I a ghost?

I glanced back and forth between the man and myself, as he hummed in satisfaction, pulling out a long syringe. He fiddled with the end, filling it with a thick gloopy substance before making his way over to the table where Johan lay, his smile fading away, into a smirk.

"Now, Johan, this will only sting a bit. You'll soon feel a lot better", he chuckled, pinching a section of the skin on the boy's arm, and inching the needle closer. The boy squirmed and whimpered, crying out in pain.

"Oh, stop moving around so much, it's going to make it harder and painful for you", the man groaned in annoyance. He quickly slid the needle in and injected the boy with the substance.

"See, it wasn't so hard, was it?" He laughed, pulling the needle out and throwing It to his right. I watched as the needle rolled on, before stopping with a clink at what turned out to be a pile of other used syringes. My eyebrows furrowed at the peculiarity of what I was seeing. If j am a ghost, why am i here? Is that really Johan? Why is he so young? Or could this just be a dream? I stroked my chin, recalling the light above the river, and the myth. Maybe... I shook my head. That's just stupid. I walked pass the wretched scene, into the hall and headed down the opposite way I came. Maybe if I saw the building, I could come back later and investigate once I had woken up. I just reached the door at the end of the hall when heavy footsteps echoed throughout the quiet and empty hall.

"Where do you think you're going?" A voice called out - well, not that it sounded like a voice. I stood there, trembling, not daring to look back, with fear etched into my features.

Aren't I invisible? What's going on?! Maybe it's talking to someone else?!

Mustering my courage, I slid a foot back, readying myself to fight whatever it was.

A sharp pain shot through my back, a slapping sound echoing down the hall as I yelled out in pain, the door in front of me twisting and distorting. I tried to reach forward, but my limbs began growing heavy, as it drooped to my side, my eyes slowly drawing closed, as I felt myself slump onto the floor.

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-DGLwin

Hello! Thanks again for making it through this chapter, i'm really grateful that you're reading this book. If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a vote and feel free to leave a comment or any improvements I could make, it'll help me out a lot! I hope i've met your standards/expectations!

Eternally grateful-