"Not talk about this? We're being chased by Lord-knows-what and you're not going to talk about this? Fine." Chris said, placing a handful of books at a corner of the room. Henry's phone rang, there was a spilt second of tension which befell them at the sight of the caller's ID: McKay. Only then did they realize that their whereabouts was unknown to any of their roommates.

"Hello McKay," Henry said, putting the phone on hands free.

"This isn't McKay, it's Kendrick," came the surprising reply from the other end of the line. Henry looked at the caller's ID again, it was McKay's.

"Kendrick? What are you doing with McKay's phone?" Henry asked as Chris came closer. A cold ran through their spine as a million thoughts of whatever could have happened to McKay raced through their minds. "And what's with all the siren noises?"

"I got a call from the hospital a couple of minutes ago," Kendrick paused for a while, giving room for his listeners to literarily hear their heart throb within their chest. "McKay's in the E.R, I'm not sure what happened."

Henry looked over to Chris who was now gasping lightly for air. It's not what he was thinking, was it? Of course, it was the only logical explanation to it and-

"I'd just head back to the hostel now and grab a few things-"

"NO!" Both Chris and Henry replied in unison, "Just stay where you are Kendrick, the hostel's not safe."

"What do you mean the hostel's not safe? And was that Chris' voice?"

"Bro, just shut up and listen to me now," Chris blurted, grabbing the phone from Henry, "do not go to the hostel for whatever reason and if you see some stupid looking old man, RUN like crazy."

"O...kay" was the reluctant reply that came from the other end of the phone call, it was so obvious from the way Kendrick sounded that he sure didn't believe them and he most likely couldn't get a hold of what all the 'old man' talk was about. Henry took the phone out of Chris' hand and watched him walk over to the bed.

"Kendrick, please just keep a close eye on McKay and stay away from the hostel. See you when we get back."

The last words of Henry were unconvincing, when we get back? That's if they were ever even going to make it through the night. The phone beeped and then there was a red flash of light on the screen. He walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out a dark sweater which he tried on. A little bit large but then, it was going to suffice.

"You know we're toast right?" Chris said, fiddling the phone in his hands aimlessly. He looked up to see Henry's unconcerned look gazing at him. For a moment there, he wondered how his friend did it, keeping his fears in check when deep down within him, they were there.

"Are you just going to sit there and wait for your turn?" Henry probed, tossing a shirt at Chris. A knock sounded on the door, Chris turned to Henry as it sounded a second time, he hurriedly scanned the room for something and then grabbed a huge hardback book while he nodded at Henry to open the door.

Henry walked towards the door slowly; he grabbed the knob and then with a snap, twisted it and rushed away from it, leaving it ajar. Standing there was a lady, no older than 19 at first look. Her raised eyebrows and startled look at Chris who held the huge hard back book high in the air made him slowly lower his hands and clutch the book to his chest awkwardly.

"Uh... sorry if I disturbed something but...dinner's ready," the girl said, giving the two friends a cursory look before pulling the door close. Her footsteps could be heard fading off as she walked down the stairs.

Chris fell on his back to the door, "We are toast, really."

Henry chuckled lightly and then pushed his friend out of the way and head in the direction from which the strong smell of roasted chicken came from. The two friends sheepishly walked in to the dining room to meet the family seated around the table. There was the toddler kid from earlier, strapped into his own chair and table and then Mr. Parker, still dressed in his office wear and a woman, most likely his wife next to him by his side and there was the lady.

"Come on guys, dinner's getting cold," Mr. Parker urged while he offered the two unfilled sits at the dining table to the two friends. They both moved to grab a sit. Chris sat opposite the lady who gave him the creeps with that look she gave momentarily, each time making Chris remember how gauche that moment had been.

Mr. Parker's wife dished the meal, no one hardly said a word and but for the clanking of the spoon against fine china, a sort of hush loomed over them. Henry gave a cursory look at his friend when he noticed that dinner was monkfish fillet smothered in white sauce, something Chris wasn't a big fan of.

"Gentlemen, meet Lara, my wife," Mr. Parker said, breaking the silence. They both managed a wry smile at the lady seated at their host's right, "Lara, my students- Chris and Henry."

"It's nice having you around," she said, resting her forked morsel on the plate, "it's not every day Parker brings home his students, you must be exceptional I assume." She eyed her husband from the corner of her eyes and he giggled at her remarks.

"Since we're working together on this experiment, thought I'd have them over for a night," he replied after he had swallowed what he had been chewing. Henry shot a stunned look at Chris who had paused chewing what he had in his mouth, quite unsure if he had just heard that right. Two dead bodies, and then McKay's involved in an out-of-the-blue accident followed by lord-knows-what and Mr. Parker had just called all that 'experiment'?

"So, what kinda experiment are you working on?" the lady asked as she pinned a piece of food under the fork, "name's Alex by the way."

"A gh-a-stly one," Chris muttered under his breath, pronouncing 'ghastly' a bit like 'ghostly' and then wished he hadn't just said that.

"Um, it'll be unethical to share that with you, young miss," Mr. Parker interrupted as Henry opened his mouth to counter, he nodded slightly at him and in that instance, Henry knew that whatever it was that they were dealing with, it wasn't a good thing at all. Chris downed the cup of water in front of him very slowly, just so he wouldn't have to be pushed to answer any more questions.

The rest of the dinner was eaten almost in silence with Mr. Parker and his wife being the only ones that seemed to talk all along. The clock struck 9 p.m. by the time they finished their meal, the two friends thanked the family and cleared the table before retiring to their room for the night. A couple of minutes later, a gentle knock was heard. It sent a flash of cold down Chris' being as he snapped out of imagining what being killed by some weird guy would feel like.

"You boys still up??" Mr. Parker asked as he closed the door behind him, Henry adjusted himself up from the bed and gave a muffled response while Mr. Parker walked over to the shut windows. "I'm impressed by what you guys did with this place," he said, scanning the room methodically, the two gentlemen couldn't quite give a reply as their minds were far from what the room looked like at that moment.

Mr. Parker pulled a chair to where he stood and then settled in it, going silent for a moment. "You know why I'm here right?"

Henry gave a deep sigh at that, of course they knew but then, was it something they really wanted to talk about, Henry couldn't quite tell about that.

"You mean the experiment thing?" Chris slurred and then sat up from his laying position, "we're toast."

"What are you talking about Chris?" Mr. Parker said, cupping his chin in his knuckles while he listened carefully to what the young men had to say. "What happened out there?"

"If we knew, we won't be this tense," Henry replied simply, "he keeps showing up everywhere, in the dreams, the bathroom, everywhere."

"It's like he hardly ever leaves and he wants to make us toast," Chris added, the look in eye was a cross between fear and doom.

"Who's 'He'?" Mr. Parker asked, quite drawn in to their story. Chris turned to Henry who tried to talk but it felt like his throat had been twisted and he only swallowed a lump. He went silent for a moment before he gave it another shot.

"Mr. Jones," Henry finally muttered. Mr. Parker fell back into the seat without a word and then there was that disturbing silence again. Chris could feel his heart beat slowly as pressure built up within the room, there seemed to be something odd about Mr. Parker's silence which didn't quite come as much of a surprise to him. The man rose from the chair moments later and walked towards the door.

"You guys should get some sleep, we'd sort things out in the morning," he said with the door partly opened.

"What? Think we're drunk or something?" Chris asked.

"No," he replied, and then shook his head slightly, "I believe you."

Their eyes shone in surprise at Mr. Parker's remark which left them dumbfounded as they watched him leave the room.

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