"Fra-"

The nineteen year old's whole world seemed to stop momentarily as Ray emerged back from the toilet; tension slowly building, reaching breaking point and then coming to an abrupt and rather anti-climatic end.

The shadow in the mirror fading away almost like an effect in a movie, making the situation feel all so fake, perhaps even as if Frank had imagined it, and perhaps he had, that's what common sense said, but of course, common sense had this awful habit of being wrong lately.

Frank pulled his hand away from the CDs, exhaling in a certain kind of relief; almost as if an enormous weight had just been lifted from his shoulders, but barely anything had happened at all.

"-nk, hey, I just wanna-" Ray continued almost as if no time had occurred since he first began Frank's name, leaving the nineteen year old to wonder whether time had stopped for either Ray or himself, and more importantly, whatever kind of madness had led him to take that time had stopped for a given.

"Is it just me or does it seem colder?" Ray interrupted his own words with a puzzled expression and a question made almost perfectly to fill an awkward conversation, and at first that was exactly what Frank reckoned Ray was doing here, but then he stopped.

Frank stopped.

Because as he finally regained control of his senses, he came to the slow and rather painful realisation, that Ray was right, and it was colder, but not chilly colder, but like all the life and warmth had been sucked from the room.

Frank jerked up as Ray banged his fist against the thermostat. "Work, you piece of shit." Came his oh so affectionately accompanying words, and Frank found himself chuckling at them as Ray finally managed to turn the thing up, letting the heat slowly seep back into the room.

Perhaps it was simply a case of faulty heating, and perhaps nothing was at all wrong or amiss here, and simply it was just the case that Frank was overreacting to nothing - still caught up about the figure on the hill and feeling alien in this whole village, but he was hesitant, hesitant to believe that.

If the heating had turned off, it couldn't have just drained all the heat from the room in minutes - it wasn't a vacuum. Frank momentarily considered the possibility that he was dealing with some sort of rogue, possessed vacuum cleaner, but he hadn't died nearly enough times for this to be Supernatural.

"The heating in this place." Ray shook his head as he casually walked over to Frank, his eyes wandering to the collection of CDs Frank happened to be browsing through, and of course, paying little to no attention to in the process. "Almost like we have ghosts, you know, one minute off, one minute on. I don't believe in ghosts, though - never seen one. I only believe in things I've seen."

"So you don't believe in God then? Despite living here?" Frank exclaimed, excited enough at the thought to send him on an instantaneous one way trip to hell - perhaps then he really would belong on Supernatural.

"I go out on coffee mornings with the big fella himself every Tuesday- nah, I don't, I just... I'm not like a Satanist, or anything, I'm not against him, it's just that I reckon with the state we're living in, he would have shown himself, or at least done something about it. What's the point in a God if he only works to provide us with situations like these?" Ray exhaled rather loudly at that point, shaking his head to himself, as if in reminder that he'd gone too far. "Hey... maybe it's just because I haven't actually prayed for about seven months now, who knows?"

Frank let out a light-hearted chuckle at that one. "I haven't prayed in about seven years, so if anyone's at fault here - it's me."

"Why on earth did you ever decide to move here then? I mean, you're most definitely new, and I don't see much tourism in a place like this." Ray raised his eyebrows as he spoke, looking Frank up and down, then hazarding a glance towards the window, letting out a small gasp in the process - of course a gasp that wouldn't go without question.

"Hey... what's- what's..." Frank followed his gaze to the floor, his eyes too fixating upon the figure outside - his hair long, dark and covering his face, a hood cloaking what was rest of his identity, trailing down into a long coat - gothic in style.

The figure seemed to take notice of the audience he'd gathered, pulling his hood down a little more, and then turning away, walking away down the alleyway, at first retreating into the shadows, before he seemed to almost disappear into them - it may have of course been a trick of the light, or just the dark clothes he wore fading into the shadows around him from a distance, but Frank had this uneasy feeling, that something was wrong, and from his facial expression, he could tell Ray felt it too.

"What the hell was that?" Frank exclaimed, breaking the silence, and causing Ray's gaze to fly onto his in a manner akin to a hawk's.

"I... uhh... I don't know... it's, it's gone now though, so I guess, I guess we're okay, but you better get going, you... in case it comes back-" By the way Ray's speech fragmented and his body shook as he spoke, Frank just knew something was wrong, and he couldn't help but feel like the figure outside had something to do with temperature, and the shadow in the mirror in front of him.

"What? And let you deal with it on your own, no way-" Frank began with laughter, only for his face to fall as he caught onto Ray's stern expression and the rather sincere shake of the head that accompanied it.

"Frank, just go." This wasn't a friendly suggestion, or a request, but an order, and Frank feeling insecure and generally unsafe in his surroundings could do nothing but oblige, grabbing his backpack from where he'd dumped it in the corner of the room, hearing Ray's footsteps disappear behind into the stockroom as he did so.

And as Frank left, the bell on the door chiming as he did so, he couldn't help himself from glancing in the direction of the figure, and shrugging it off as he saw nothing but darkness and shadows ahead of him, footsteps behind him, alerting him to Ray's return to the shop, leaving Frank to watch with widened eyes as his curly haired, perhaps friend, hung up a full scale, intricate, Christian cross in the window.

And before Frank could even consider what the hell was going on, he found Ray's eyes on him, watching him through the very same window, except as Frank glanced back at him, his heart stopped.

Because Ray wasn't looking at Frank, he was looking at whatever lay behind him.

And Frank just ran.

It was just instinct - pure fucking instinct. Common sense was now well and truly out of the window, because whatever was going on here simply could not be explained something as simple as that.

Perhaps it was insanity itself, but Ray saw it too. Ray saw it too and that was all the confirmation Frank needed.

He had his sanity back with him, and the knowledge that there was definitely something wrong here and that he really hadn't been going crazy, so right now, really all he needed was a cigarette and perhaps an idea of what the hell to do now.

-

Frank didn't stop running until he reached the park across town. It was barely even a park and more of a large garden with benches and perhaps the odd tree, oh and of course a swing set in the back, but the company of other people, even if they were grandmothers herding their children away from him, their faces complete with scowls, was what he needed right now.

"Frankie." He jumped a little at his name, turning to see none other than Bert, apologising with a blush and cursing himself from still being jumpy - it wasn't like whatever that fucking thing was, it was going to refer to him as 'Frankie', was it?

Even with his overactive imagination and his over allegiance to common sense, Frank was confident with that.

"Hey... I... sorry... I- hey, you wouldn't mind letting me bum a smoke, would you?" Frank pouted up at him, fluttering his eyelashes in an utterly pathetic manner, which of course Bert only chuckled at, passing him a cigarette from his jacket pocket and leading the two of them over to a nearby bench, Frank lighting his cigarette with the lighter Bert handed him as they sat down.

"You look jittery as fuck, dude... what the hell's going on?" Bert asked, playing the serious tone brought to his words with an oddly placed bought of rather nervous laughter, but by now, Frank was far too caught up with the fast beating of his heart and the shadows that almost seemed to surround him to even consider just what was causing Bert to act in such a manner.

"I wish I knew." Frank let out a deep sigh, his gaze drifting around him in a motion driven by anxiety alone, and taking a drag of his cigarette but feeling no calming effects at all - this couldn't be good. "Everyone else of course seems to."

"Stop being such a cryptic fuck, you asshole." Bert rolled his eyes, giving Frank a 'friendly' punch to the arm - a masculine gesture Frank never quite understood.

"I'm pretty sure I'm being stalked by some sort of disintegrating goth with magic powers." Frank admitted like it was nothing, taking an extra long drag for good measure and of course whatever Bert could possibly respond to that with.

"Looks like you've caught Harry Potter in his emo years then." He rolled it off with a grin and Frank could only shake his head in response - at a lack of words for just how Bert had an absolute lack of the sincerity of his situation, okay perhaps he'd worded it wrong, but anyone with common sense would at least think to refer to him to a psychologist at this point.

Perhaps it was for the best Frank wasn't asking someone like that.

"I was pretty sure I was just hallucinating it or something, but then today, I was at this record store, and the shop owner, Ray saw it too, and then he just made me leave and I just ran here, and I... it's fucking with my head..." Frank shook his head, wondering how he could politely get another cigarette from Bert, because at this rate he was really going to need one.

"Ray's a bit weird like that - I heard he's just really paranoid ever since his parents caught him with his boyfriend and..." Bert shook his head, his lips pulling out into an awkwardly constructed wary kind of silent, toothy gasp. "Let's just say things weren't pretty."

Frank was silent at that.

Ray was gay? Ray was gay? But Frank really did have more important questions on his mind right now.

"But this was real. Bert, I know that now - we both saw it... we both saw the same thing in the same place, and we both felt the air go all cold, and... Bert, it was real."

He frowned at Frank, turning his head to look him straight in the eye. "You sound awfully excited about that." He noted Frank's perhaps overshot tone of enthusiasm in his voice. "You know, I really hope you're not out looking for them, because like that they don't find you, and if you look for them, they end you. It's a fucking warning... probably for Ray, anyways, but leave it alone - you're new, yes, but I wouldn't put you down as stupid-"

"Bert, what are you talking about? Please, someone just tell me. What is going on here?" He paused, taking in Frank's hopeless expression of clueless and taking it as sincere.

"That's not for me to tell you, it's for you to find out and fuck yourself over with. I don't want blood on my hands in cause of your own stupidity and receive damnation in consequence."

"And you call me cryptic."

Frank rolled his eyes, stubbing out his cigarette and storming off like some sort of bitchy ex-girlfriend.

-

Frank wouldn't say he was particularly stupid, and Frank wouldn't want to be known solely for idiocy and decisions that would ought to get him killed, but Frank snuck out that evening and made his way back to the record shop, praying that Ray would still be there, because there was seriously a discussion that needed to be had.

The walk was rather unsettling at night, even if it only lasted five minutes, but with the chills on the back of Frank's neck, and the thought - whether true or not, that the figure was somewhere nearby was enough to practically have Frank sprinting to the record store, and even worse, actually listening to what his grandparents said for once. God forbid.

As Frank finally reached his destination, he found himself hurrying inside without even a glance through the illuminated window, for fear of whatever may be following him - imaginary or otherwise, would catch up to him.

Ray was there all right.

Frank found himself fixated on the scene in front of him - Ray pinned down against the countertop by another guy with short dusty blonde brown hair, spiking out at all angles.

Perhaps what Bert had said earlier had indeed had some truth to it, but perhaps in more of the boyfriend department than the paranoia one, but you could never be sure, of course. The whole fucked up situation in this town had caused Frank to be more than used to that fact.

"I...I..." Ray choked out, unable to form an entirely coherent sentence as he sat back up again, the unknown guy sitting beside him, his pale skin almost shining under the moonlight seeping in through the blinds in a legion of rectangles.

"Oh, fuck, oh fuck." The other guy exclaimed in rather quiet yet crisis like tone as his eyes met Frank's, only for his state of panic to come to an abrupt end as Ray reached forward, grasping his hand.

"He doesn't know, it's okay, we're okay." Ray passed a smile, which the blonde haired guy only returned with a small nod, leaving Frank stood by the door with very little of a clue as to how he was supposed to respond to this.

"What don't I know? And why is everyone so fucking reluctant to tell me?" Frank exclaimed, dropping his bag down by the door in a gesture signifying that he just wasn't going to be shooed out and the situation and topic of conversation avoided.

"Good fucking reason." Ray let out a sigh, disappearing around the back and leaving me face to face with the guy I could only assume to be his boyfriend.

The guy was weirdly skinny; gangly limbs splayed out awkwardly like they were too long for his body, his legs thrown over the counter front and almost reaching the floor in a manner that gave him a rather spiderlike appearance, or perhaps only half a spider, seeing as he only had four limbs, which due to his secret arachnophobia, Frank was really rather glad of.

"Hey, I'm... M...Mikey. I... uhh... sorry about that - we didn't exactly expect company." He passed a weird, yet strangely welcoming smile in Frank's direction, moving his gangly legs back in forth in a momentum like fashion, the floor creaking slightly as the buckles of his combat boots collided with it, and his black skinny jeans riding up a little as they rubbed against the counter.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't really have come, but I just needed to see Ray about something important. I'm Frank." He tossed Mikey a similar smile to one he'd offered and prayed to any God out there that this guy wouldn't be so fucking high up on his horse not to tell him what the hell was going on here. Because something definitely was - Frank was well past that state of denial by now.

"Nice batman shirt." Mikey commented, making small talk, but by the subject of conversation, Frank reckoned in a generally awesome way.

"Thanks." Frank flashed him a smile as he glanced down at his own shirt, smiling dumbly at it like it was the fucking messiah or something. "So, hey, are you and Ray... like... together?" Frank found himself asking what was clearly the question being avoided here, and of course wording it the most idiotic manner possible.

"I... uhh..." Mikey fell into a state of embarrassment, his gaze drifting downwards and Frank couldn't help but cringe at the notion that he'd brought up what was clearly quite a sensitive subject, and for what reason Frank restricted himself from wondering. "I guess... yeah, we are... it's just complicated."

"Oh, I'm sorry - I shouldn't have asked." Frank blushed a little as he spoke, hoping that the red tinge to his cheeks would convey itself in some apologetic format because his lips seemed to be rather incompliant at the moment.

"No, it's fine, it's just you're the only person that knows about us, and it should be kept that way, okay. I barely even know you, but I'm going to trust you because you're friends with Ray, and that's probably a stupid decision, but I haven't had very much sleep lately, and somehow that feels like an excuse." He smiled a little at that. "It's really not, but pretend you didn't notice."

Frank chuckled a little at that. "It's fine, dude. I barely know anyone I could tell if I wanted to." Mikey furrowed his brow at that point - his confusion made public. "Yeah, I moved here to live with my grandparents and it's probably just about the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

He laughed at that, a brief smile forming on his face. "I can relate - my family moved here a while back and it really makes a change from the city."

"Yeah, I moved here from New York - I was out every night fucking partying and high off just about everything and now I can barely even bum a cigarette here." Frank let out what was probably, in hindsight, an overdramatic sigh at that, but in the moment Frank reckoned it was well worth it.

The two of them jumped as the bell chimed, signally the appearance of another person, which both of boys stared at as he entered the shop, without even a bat of an eyelash in their direction, pulling his hoodie - dark amongst the shadows created by the abundance of anything but moonlight in the shop, as he headed straight to stock, browsing as if he wasn't watched by two pairs of shocked eyes.

But two shocked for of course vastly different reasons.

"Oh, do stop staring, I'm not that pretty." The stranger spoke in a thick Jersey accent, rolling his words off almost as if they were mostly connected and perhaps as if he felt no need to breathe between them.

"What are you doing here?" Mikey jumped up from where he was still perched over the countertop, his tone demanding yet shaking a little as he spoke.

"Browsing." Came his reply.

"Leave." Came Mikey's, stepping forward and gesturing for Frank to stand back in almost a weirdly protective manner, because he didn't look like the heroic type at all, and by his words, it seemed almost as if he knew this guy. "Nothing for you here."

"Always so negative. Never did understand you - you're such a friendly little fucker, and with that one, quite literally. Such a fucking spoil sport-"

"Leave." Mikey's tone came firmer this time.

"If you insist, dear Michael." He tutted, almost as this brought great inconvenience to him, despite the fact he clearly wasn't intending to buy anything at all.

"Now."

"Mikey, I-" Ray's voice came in a tone growing in volume as his footsteps approached, leaving Frank to turn one glance in the direction of the figure who had seemed to completely vanish at the sound of this, which was something due to his rather intimidating appearance, was perhaps something that Frank wasn't all that opposed to.

"Feels colder." Ray noted, shrugging just a little as he made his way over to the thermostat. "Fucking thing never works does it?"

-

Hey guys:) I hope you liked this chapter as I really enjoyed writing it aha;) Anyways if you did, I always appreciate your votes and comments, so yeah;) I love you all<3