Salem lays on his mattress his head looking up at his ceiling.
Salem feels himself feel scared at the fact that since he promised to try and help out Amelia with her bullying situation. He'll have to get into another confrontation.
Salem opens his phone on front of his face and goes to a younger picture of Mickey. His heart beating as he remembered feelings of fear before every time he had gotten even close to a scary altercation.
Mickey watches the same old cartoon he liked watching when he was about five years old.
Salem feels his heart clench as he looks at the picture and feels his hand physically want to grab his chest at the very fact that he's afraid at every moment he moves. At every turn where he has to move he doesn't.
Salem: 'If Mickey was the one to be walking to that thing that day would i have ran to stop him? If he was getting into a fight in the school, would I have used my powers to try and stop them?'
Salem feels the bird inside his head, as if it just reappeared.
Wonder: 'Salem, I know you think you don't have any strength or courage to move when people are in danger, but at the end of the day. It was you that saved all those people from dying. At the end of the day you were the one to stop the deaths of maybe thousands. People are undoubtedly still talking about you.'
Salem understands the words that are coming out of Wonders fictional mouth. He nods and feels tears want to stream out of his face.
Wonder: 'And if you still think you are a coward I can...'
DREAD.
The feeling of Dread appears as Wonder speaks making him stop his speech.
Salem stops, if his body wasn't with the power of the phoenix he would have grew cold, but no. He instead grew hot with fear of it.
Wonder: 'Salem what is that?'
Salem shakes his head and feels his body physically feel incapable of moving from his position of laying down. Salem shakes heavily, so heavy that he feels unable to even move, his chin almost begins to chatter.
Salem: "I.. I don't kn.. Know."
Wonder: 'Salem this is the one time you have to move.'
Salem shakes his head.
Salem: "I.. I can't. My... my legs. Their wobbly."
Wonder: 'Salem. What about your brother. You need to check. You need to make sure that he doesn't have the same fate as Stone.'
Salem is able to throw one foot off the bed, but his other one is difficult to move.
Salem's legs begins to feel hot with no heat protruding from it.
Salem looks down and the seemingly disappeared tattoos on his legs reappeared.
Wonder: 'I'm trying my best to help you Salem.'
Salem feels it again.
DREAD.
Not only that, but it's getting closer to him. His heart begins to beat even more.
Salem throws his next foot forward as it lands onto the floor. Salem forces his legs to pull him forward, and the heat in his legs feel to be the only thing to hold him up.
Salem step out of his room, walks into the ever growing hallway. His head now begins to feel woozy. He feels his foot nearly fall off his body with every step.
Soon he enters the living room parallel to where he is, is the front door.
DREAD.
It's getting closer likes it's coming straight to Salem's house. The same house that's some what hidden from the roads and public eye.
Salem takes his step to the door. One step, Two steps.
He at the door? Salem felt like he only took two steps. His mind is getting foggy.
Salem opens the door, first the one on the inside, the wooden dorr, then the next one the screen door.
Wonder: 'Salem. The thing is close.'
Salem steps out, door still open if he needs to retreat back in. He takes a few steps further out, toward the area where Salem usually enters his housing area.
As he gets outside he sees Mickey his younger brother, but he's not alone.
A girl. A tall girl, taller than Salem, just standing a tad bit taller than him.
The girl has her hair so long it reaches down to her knees, Salem shakes as he sees the girl. The girl wears a sun hat, woven with leaves. Her close aren't even the same uniform that Mickey is wearing. She's wearing a dress instead, a white dress that covers the entirety of her body from her chest down to her legs.
The girls face is in a smile, her eyes, look sleepy, but she's fully awake. Laughing a truly unnatural laugh.
Tall Girl: "Po! Po! Po! Po! Po!"
Her laugh as she gets closer to Salem, looking down at Salem's younger brother Mickey, as Salem now feels his heart nearly crush as Salem feels fear of the ever approaching tall girl.
Mickey sees his brother and runs up to him and hugs him, all the while Mickey is laughing and tugging at Salems shorts.
Mickey: "Salem, this is the friend that I was talking about this morning. Her name is Hachishaku. She's Japanese. She's also one of the teacher at the school."
Salem now has a close look as the girl looms over Salem.
DREAD.
The feeling of Dread.
It's coming from her. It's coming from Hachishaku.
Wonder: 'Salem. Get your brother now!'
Salem almost instinctively tries to pull his brother behind him, and Mickey pulls away from Salem, all the while Salem is staring at The tall Hachishaku, as if waiting for her next move.
Mickey: "Salem, whats the matter?"
Mickey pulls away from Salem. He looks down and sees the tattoo's on his legs. Mickey then looks up at Salem.
Mickey: "Oh you got a tattoo?! Mom's going to kill you."
Mickey laughs, making Salem looks down at his legs then his brother. Hachishaku also laughs.
Salem stares at her with a somewhat glare.
Salem: "Mouse..."
Salem's voice is a haggard mess. As if he trying to breath at the same time as he speaks and he's failing miserably.
Salem: "Get behind me Mouse."
Mickey looks at Salem with a weird look then back to Hachishaku.
Mickey moves away from Salem and toward Hachishaku.
Mickey: "Why? Hachishaku is my friend why would I move from her?"
Salem get scared as Mickey get's closer to Hachishaku.
Salem: "MICKEY! Move from her."
Mickey and Hachishaku, both get surprised at the sudden impulsive outburst by Salem.
Mickey looks down embarrassed by that fact that Salem doesn't like her.
Hachishaku: "I'm sorry Mickey. I'm not feeling welcomed here... I'll be taking my leave."
Hachishaku turns and begins walking away the same way she came from.
Mickey tries to grab her hand, but Salem snatches his wrist before he can even do that and Mickey can't move, Salem is millions of times stronger than Mickey is, or ever will become.
Mickey: "See you at school tomorrow Hachi!"
The tall girl turns over her shoulder and smile, while waving to Mickey. Salem feels his fear physically retreating as she takes steps to depart.
Mickey wiggles out of Salem's grip and Salem doesn't even notice, he just stares waiting for her to disappear from his sight.
Mickey: "I'm telling mom you chased away my friend from school!"
Salem ignores him Mickey begins to walk to the open door, slam it and lock it behind him.
At the sound of the door locking and the feeling of Dread disappearing Salem walks back to the front door. Salem tries the door, it's locked. he knocks once, twice, thrice.
Mickey doesn't open it. So Salem goes around back and gets the same rock to open the back door. Salem grabs the key, unlocks it and heads inside. Not before he put the key inside the rock and tosses it in a random area that he memorised.
Salem enters the house and locks the door behind him. The fear leaving his body fully now.
Salem walks through the kitchen, to the livingroom, to the hallway, then to his mother's room that he tries to open the door, but Mickey locked it.
Salem tries to knock again. Mickey doesn't unlock it.
Salem: "Mickey open the door."
Mickey ignores him.
Salem: "Mickey I'm going to talk to you."
Salem still get no answer.
Salem: "Okay then if your not going to talk don't ask me for anything."
Salem goes into his room and closes the door, but he doesn't lock it, because deep down he doesn't want his brother to beg for anything from behind the door.
Salem then sits on the edge of the mattress, his breath still slightly shaky from the earlier encounter with Hachishaku.
Wonder: 'You did what had to be done Salem. Now you know your brother is safe.'
Salem: 'No he's not. I just delayed what she was going to do.'
Wonder: 'Which is what?'
Salem: 'I don't know! And that's that why I'm scared... What could that tall girl possibly have to so with Mickey.'
Salem sits on the corner of his bed for about an hour and not feeling the time pass. Eventually he looks out his window and sees the sun fall, then he goes out his room to his mother's room.
The door is open. Salem goes inside. Opening the door fully. The room is decorated with a curtain blocking the outside from viewing of the room, and the room is slightly darker than Salem, because they have something blocking the sun. The bedroom has many different wardrobes two for Marissa, one for Mickey.
Salem goes deeper and sees the bed, like an actual bed with a mahogany bed frame and all. On top of the bed Mickey lays asleep. Salem moves closer and hears him sniffle, thinking that it was because Salem chased away his friend Salem kisses Mickey on the head and covers him better with the blanket.
Mickey turns a little, then stills again.
Salem walks out the room, checks the doors to see if they're locked, then heads into his room to fall asleep.
Salem awakes, not in his room, but once again in the fiery flaming field. Wonder's form looming over him.
Wonder ethereal voice even more clear.
Wonder: "I'm here to help you feel braver. I'll help you with your inability to feel confidence."