InsaneJournal

Who: Emily (or is it?)
What: "Helping" someone out
Where: Gotham U dorms
When: During this "prank"
Warnings/Rating: Creepiness? NPC death.

Emily is aware of the laughter when it starts, echoing through the dorms as she's trying to plot the timelines of ancient Roman and Egyptian interaction. It starts like an itch along the back of her neck even before she truly hears it, and when it finally hits her ears, she can't ignore it. She leaves her room in her pajama pants and a t-shirt, and pads in sock-feet (bright orange knee-socks, covered in skulls) toward the sound. She finds the poor boy near the cups, a field of green that makes her so uncomfortable for reasons she can't define.

And she knows she should help. There has to be something she can do. Most everyone else is staying away, chased off by the unsettling laughter, but she can't turn back once she sees him. Though his mouth is stretched in laughter, teeth bared and grin wide, his eyes are scared and so young. He feels younger than her. By years. By centuries. Young and terrified.

She steps forward and goes to her knees next to him, words soft under the echoing of his laughter. "It'll be okay now... Shh..." She takes one of his hands in one of hers, and lifts the other one to push back his hair, trace above one eyebrow. It feels right to do.

But when she does, a new sound fills the hallway like a blanket over the ringing of laughter - the rush of wind and birds' wings. She doesn't know where it comes from, but it's over in just a second and the silence it leaves behind is heavy. No wings, and no more laughter. The boy is still, his eyes still open, mouth stretched in that awful grin, but he's silent - no spark of life in his eyes. She blinks at his flat gaze, waiting for something to happen, but then she realizes that nothing more will come from the boy - that he's no longer there.

It makes her own heart beat hard, clench wildly, her own breath catching in panic because what was that? She drops the boy's hand, pushes herself back to stumbling feet, and nearly runs to return to her room and lock the door behind herself.