Sometimes Hansel thought the night had a voice. He thought he could hear its shallow, ancient breathing, hear it sigh and murmur against the closed doors and windows like the rustling of yearning spirits who had lost their way. Sometimes he thought it was the shadows calling to him, wanting him to come out and play, but other times he thought the voices were warnings, not invitations, that the night was telling him there were things out in the dark too ruthless and cunning, things that were far beyond his understanding, beyond humanity. That he had better not walk out into the midst of whatever lay out there; better stay away, better stay safe.

There were other times when he thought the night listened to him, just like how he listened to it, and it watched him. It watched him with a keenness and an immediacy, like it thought he was the most peculiar thing to exist and that it had to pay attention when he was still there. And he thought if he turned his head fast enough, if his own eyes were sharp enough, he could catch it in the act. That if he tried earnestly, he could meet the gaze of night itself.

But that was before. Before Felix had barged into his life and tossed everything upside down. Back when everything was different. And now he had stopped listening to the night, because he had neither time nor strength for such leisure. He had lost touch with the darkness.

Now, sitting on the tall three-legged stool in the darkened kitchen, Hansel stared out through the window and tried to listen again. To hear what the night had to tell him.

But there was nothing there. Only silence.

And…something else.

Hansel had not felt it at first, when he had been too preoccupied with other thoughts. But when he slowed down his thoughts and relaxed, he sensed it: the night was watching him. Again. Still.

However, this time it felt different. This time the night didn't seem to be watching him out of mere curiosity. Something about the night had changed, he could tell. Now there was true malice in its gaze, a desire to trample and destroy. He could sense its greed and read its evil autonomy. It unsettled him. Put him on edge. Made him believe bad things were going to happen.

He shook his head suddenly, clearing his mind.

That was enough overthinking for one night.

Bored, Hansel found one of his hands wandering towards the metal tray on the counter to his left. His fingers skimmed the edge of the tray, decided it felt too cold to the touch and circled back to his side. The tray used to contain knives, but now it was empty, owing to Felix's reinstated hobby of throwing said knives at random targets around the house. (Felix said it relieved stress and protected his Zen)

What was Felix up to now? He had turned off all the lights in the house after claiming that photons gave him seizures. And things had been too quiet for an unnaturally long time. Was he still inside the house? Or did he already go to sleep? He was sleeping a lot these days…

Right when he was about to get up and go check, he heard Felix calling for him from the living room.

"Hansel, hurry up! It's an emergency!"

Hansel resisted his urge to roll his eyes. What did Felix do now? Get his foot stuck in the staircase railing again? Found an old bloodstain on the rug?

"Hurry!"

Sighing, Hansel got down from his stool and went to the living room. Like the rest of the house the living room was plunged in darkness. Felix was on his knees in front of the TV, holding a few cables in one hand. He had been so delighted when Hansel had caved to his demands and got the TV fixed. When Hansel walked in, he turned and gave him an urgent look. "Where do I connect these?"

"Don't you want to get some sleep?" Hansel asked in turn, approaching the TV from the side. "It's late."

"Sleeping is not a priority," said Felix, giving the air a dismissive wave. He pointed at the black screen with the connectors in his hand. "This is a priority."

"They say the television is the devil's workshop." He took the cables from Felix's hand.

"Don't make up things," scoffed Felix. "The lazy mind is the devil's workshop."

Hansel knelt down before the TV stand next to Felix. "Shine me some light."

"One sec," said Felix, vaulting over the couch to get to the switches. He tapped on a few of them and the room was immediately flooded with blinding light. Felix flinched. "Owww..."

With the room well-lit it was easy to figure out where each connectors went. Hansel finished up quick and got back to his feet. "There. It's done."

Excited, Felix loped back towards the television and plugged it to an electric socket on the wall behind the stand. There was a burst of static, then the screen cleared to reveal coloured shapes moving around. It was some kind of cartoon where an iguana was being chased by an angry loaf of bread. Felix stooped and extricated the TV remote from a pile of old newspapers shoved into the lower rack of the stand.

"Kid stuff," he said derisively and changed the channel.

Next was a news channel hosting some kind of heated debate. "Politics," he tutted, and changed the channel again.

Felix kept skipping from channel to channel, sparing only a few moments for each one. He made single-word comments on each of them as he kept going.

"Morons."

"Capitalists."

"Hypocrites."

"Giraffes."

Hansel watched him be at it for a while, but then he got bored and retreated to the bedroom upstairs. When he entered the room, he found his phone flung down haphazardly in the middle of his bed. Felix had been playing outdated games on it for the past few days and he had a tendency to leave the phone in odd places when he was done. Last time Hansel had found it under the teapoy in the living room, and before that it had been found stored away with the biscuits in the kitchen.

Sidestepping a kitchen knife on the floor Hansel went to the bed and picked up the phone. The gadget was cold to the touch. When he tapped it on the battery showed a small red bar in a corner of the screen. Hansel turned it off again and plugged it for charging atop the old wooden table.

Then he slouched back towards the bed slowly and collapsed on top of a disorganised nest of pillows and blankets. How much had Felix changed in the last few weeks? How much had life changed?

Felix had gotten nicer; it was an unassailable fact. He was doing his best. He treated Hansel as well as he could. He kept most of his wickedness in check. He was genuinely trying to be good.

Thing was Hansel could see all of it, but he could not acknowledge it. There was a part of him that still refused to accept this change in Felix's attitude. A part of him believed that all of this was a trap, a setup, that Felix was only playing with him, that if he gave him all of his trust he was going to be decimated.

Felix had given him a terrible first impression. He had bullied him, harassed him, made him believe he really was going to be the ruin of him. How could he have changed so much?

Still Hansel wanted this version of him to be the real him, or at least the one with the least lies. He didn't want to deprive Felix of a second chance at making things right. Because he knew how much he wanted someone to give him a second chance.

He rolled sideways on the bed, facing the table against the wall across him. He could see the curvy white charging wire of his phone from where he lay. In the dark room it stood out like a crack in the night.

He thought about the charger. He thought about the phone. He wished Felix would return him the SIM of his phone. Would Felix let him have it if he asked nicely?

He turned on his bed again, now facing the ceiling.

He was running low on money.

He needed to find a job.

Where would he find a job in Heart City?

He tossed and turned for a long time.

He was beginning to doze off when he heard Felix screeching his name from downstairs.

"Hansel, there's something I want you to see!" He screamed as loud as if someone had set him on fire. "Hansel, Hansel, HANSEL!"

Having no other option to have him shut up, Hansel got back to his feet and went downstairs again. The stairs creaked as he went down, betraying their age. A cool draft from upstairs kissed the back of his neck.

"HANSEL ARE YOU COMING?"

"I'm coming," he said mutely.

On his way down he made various guesses on what Felix wanted him to see. All of them were proven wrong. When he reached the foot of the staircase and stepped into the living room he found nothing extraordinary about the scenario. The TV was running and Felix was sitting on the couch in front of it, his feet on the cushions and his knees drawn to his chest. He had his arms encircling his legs tightly, and when he saw Hansel walking in he turned and gave Hansel a happy grin.

"Ah, Hansel, you came just in time. This is the greatest show ever created by mankind," he said gesturing to the flickering screen. "You should totally watch it."

Hansel's eyes followed the direction of his fingers. There was a girl on the screen, creeping around in a dark hallway in what looked like a haunted house. She had a look of fear on her face and a malfunctioning torch in her hand. Somewhere a violin played eerily. She kept walking, her pace hastening, but now she wasn't alone. There was something else creeping after her. Something dark and formless and shadowy—

"Cheshire," said Felix in a high falsetto, looking anywhere else but the screen. "You will love it. Come watch with me."

"I don't think I'm going to love it," intoned Hansel.

"That's because you haven't tried it yet," insisted Felix. Inside the television the spooky music intensified. The shadow slithered closer. "Believe me, it's awesome. It's fun. You'll need a bag of popcorn while watching—"

Hansel turned to go. "I guess I'll go make a bag of popcorn for you then."

"Wait," shrieked Felix from behind.

Hansel swivelled his head. He arched an eyebrow at Felix.

"Alright," said Felix, composing himself. "Okay. It's not the greatest show in the world. I lied. It's only the second greatest." Hansel nearly rolled his eyes. "You have got to see this," said Felix more energetically, as if he were a hawker on the streets trying to sell his goods. "Hey, don't go away. I'm talking to you. Come here. That's an order—"

The girl on the screen screamed. Felix, who did not have the faintest clue what had just happened to her, screamed louder.

He shut his mouth abruptly. Took in a heaving breath. "Hansel, you—"

"Yeah?" said Hansel, sliding into the couch beside him. He put an elbow on the lumpy armrest to his other side, lounged back against the cushions and got comfortable. "So, you saying this show is fun?"

Felix's grin could light up a freezing planet. His muscles relaxed and he sank back into the couch too. He crossed his legs under him. "Plenty fun," he promised.

After he had settled down anew, Felix returned to watching the show. He was engrossed in it, to say the least. He tensed up when the scenes got scarier, bit his lips sporadically, startled a little at times and once even lashed out and grabbed Hansel's sleeve unconsciously. He watched the episode until it finished, his eyes glued to the screen the entire time.

Meanwhile Hansel had tucked himself into the nook of the couch, crouching so low he barely came to Felix's right shoulder. He had his head tilted to the side, one hand supporting his chin while the other rested idly upon his lap. He watched Felix watch the show.

He never took his eyes off either.

                              ^^^

The topmost floor of Aurora High was one long auditorium with giant windows making up the walls on either of its sides. It was a lot of wasted space, and all the incoming light only made the hall seem larger than it actually was. But Aurora High liked things vast and sprawling. It had a way of making itself look limitless, yet bounded and encompassing. There was a grandeur to everything, or there used to be, back before the infestation, when the school was still at its peak with rising admissions every year. Now the size of everything only accentuated the echoing emptiness everywhere. So much space but nothing to fill it up with.

Have beens and has beens.

Next day, after lunch, all the students in the school were packed into this auditorium for a motivation seminar. The school did not have a lot of students, so the auditorium wasn't even halfway filled. Hansel sat with Felix in one of the back rows, neither of them feeling up for much motivation. Felix was yawning generously, and as the seminar progressed he kept nodding off, drooping forward in his seat like a wilted flower before the pull of gravity woke him up again.

Hansel's own mind was elsewhere. He had a vague idea about what the man at the podium was saying. Something about hard work and hope and having faith in oneself. He droned on and on about the importance of being at harmony with man, mind and the metaphysical. To live life with passion and confidence. To be heroes of their own stories.

The boy sitting next to Felix was even taking notes, and as far as Hansel could see, he was the only one.

"Now all of you close your eyes," prompted the man at the front of the auditorium. "We are going to have a little meditation session to cleanse our mind of all the negative, unhealthy thoughts."

The boy who sat in front of Hansel let out a tortured groan. "Man, can someone tell this guy we have had enough. He's giving me a real motivation to shoot myself now."

Felix, who had recently woken from his last sleeping bout, grabbed the book from the guy taking notes next to him, rolled it up into a cylinder, and clocked the boy sitting before Hansel with it.

"What the hell?" asked the boy angrily, twisting around in his chair to glare at Hansel.

Hansel pointed a finger at Felix weakly. "I didn't do it. He did it."

"What's your problem, man?" he asked Felix now, looking no less annoyed.

Felix gave the boy a glass-eyed look and spoke in a groggy, mystical voice, not staring at the boy so much as staring through him. He kept his answer short. "The universe."

Then he shook his head and snapped out of the trance. "Uh, Hansel, I can't stand this seminar anymore. It's boring. It's sapping my fortitude. I feel myself turning into pudding. I'm gonna go get some fresh air."

Then he simply stood up and left.

An urge to follow him prickled at Hansel instantly but he stayed seated in his place, partly because he thought it was impolite to leave in the middle of the seminar, partly because he thought he might feel better if Felix left. But he did not feel better. Felix's absence beside him seemed to add a new degree of emptiness to the atmosphere, and he couldn't stop feeling worried and restless. Ever since Felix got up and left he couldn't stop himself from wondering what he was up to.

It was only after a while Hansel peeked out of the large window to his side and saw Felix loitering in the schoolyard. The sight of him seemed to unwind something inside Hansel. The feeling of unease let up. He peered down at Felix's tiny figure and wondered again what he intended to do out there. Hansel decided to forget about him and just focus on the seminar.

Only a few minutes had passed before Hansel's eyes searched for him again. This time Hansel saw he had retreated to the shade of a tree. He was standing close to the school's fishpond, making little throwing motions towards the water. What was he doing? Feeding the fish?

Hansel shook his head sharply.

Seminar. He was supposed to focus on the seminar.

It was only when the seminar had ended and one of the students had gone up on the stage to give the vote of thanks that Hansel let himself look out of the window again. Felix still stood beside the pond, his position almost unchanged from last time. However, approaching him from behind were a pack of unruly boys Hansel would recognise anywhere.

Dread unspooled in his chest. Hansel bit his lips. What was Donovan going to do?

Around him students were getting to their feet. The seminar was over and they were allowed to leave. Hansel lurched to his feet and hurried towards the exit of the auditorium, but there was a crowd around the area already and he couldn't get past them. He waited until the bodies thinned, then he raced down the stairs and emerged into the schoolyard.

In the distance he could see Felix. He was surrounded by Donovan and his gang and they seemed to be having some kind of an argument. Hansel hastened his pace, making a beeline for Felix, even though he felt so nervous he wanted to stay out of it.

The sky was beginning to turn ruddy with the onset of sunset, a lone eagle circled far above the canopies of pine trees in the distance and the weary grass were pressed to the ground by the shoes of a hundred bustling students. The other students had no interest in staying back to see what was happening. The seminar had lasted longer than the usual school hours and they all just wanted to go home.

"You are making a mistake," Hansel heard Felix say as he drew closer. Donovan had him by the collar of the shirt and Hansel could clearly see the discomfort on his face.

"What, you thought you could dye your hair and I wouldn't notice you?" taunted Donovan, rocking him slightly. "You thought you could fool me with a disguise?"

"I don't want a fight," Felix said through his nose. He edged towards the fishpond, trying to break Donovan's hold on him. "I don't want to hurt you because I promised I wouldn't—"

"What nonsense!" barked Donovan in outrage. "You hurt me?" He shook Felix harder. "You think you can hurt me, huh? Is that where all this bravado is coming from? But I can see right through you Schwein. I can see your fear. Stop pretending. You can't beat me with your pint-sized sense of courage."

Hansel grimaced. It was obvious Donovan had mistaken Felix for him. This was not going to end well.

Felix's eyes blazed like demon fire, lethal and volatile, and for a moment he looked like he was going to strangle Donovan, or slice him to pieces, but then he inhaled deeply, reining in his anger. A mask of calmness settled over his face. "What I was saying was—"

But he didn't get to say what he was saying. Before Felix could even finish his sentence Donovan shoved at him violently, pushing him hard into the murky fishpond behind.

Felix fell into the pond with a resounding splash. The water churned and rippled and he disappeared underneath. The scanty water weeds floating on top found themselves displaced to the sides. Hansel who had finally made it to the pond found himself grabbing Donovan's jacket angrily and jabbing him above his heart. "What do you think you are doing?"

Donovan's eyes widened in surprise when he saw him. "You?"

"What is going on?" one of the boys asked in confusion.

"You had a twin?" asked another.

Behind him the water in the pond shifted again as Felix poked his head out of the surface. Weeds clung to his clothes and his hair was taped down on his head with wetness. He spat water from his mouth and looked at Donovan wrathfully. "I'm so going to kill you."

"Felix," said Hansel, relieved to see his face.

"Oh, Hansel, oh," said Felix, spotting him for the first time in the midst of the other boys. He read Hansel's expression wrong. "I'm not going to kill him, I promise."

Mata whistled in curious pleasure. "So, which of you is the real you?"

"Are you okay?" Hansel asked, ignoring him and going closer to the lip of the pond. But Felix's attention was suddenly diverted by something in the water. He had gone very still, holding himself as rigid as a statue. He stared into the water and whispered in a thin, wary voice. "Hey. Hey. Somebody tell this creature to stay away from me."

Hansel looked at what he was looking at. He saw a spotted orange fish in the water the length of his palm, swimming leisurely towards Felix. He blinked. "It's just a fish."

"I don't care what it is—"

There was an orange flash and the fish shot towards Felix like an arrow nocked from a bow. Felix jumped two feet in the water and squealed like a girl. The fish darted back, as startled as him. It ducked under the water. Frenzied, Felix crashed towards the other side of the pond, slamming his back against the greenish concrete. "Where did it go? Where did it go? Somebody save me. Aaaarghh!"

"Grab my hand," said Hansel, reaching for him.

Water dripped off the arm Felix extended towards Hansel. Hansel gripped his hand tightly and pulled him up. The moment he was out of the pond Felix whirled on Donovan and the others.

"Hey you big oaf," he said, blowing water droplets from his lips in the direction of Donovan. He gave him a vicious grin and made a little wiggly motion in the air with his fingers, moving them up and down as if he were playing an invisible piano. "Wanna see me beat your stupid ass?"

"We should probably get out of here," Hansel muttered in his ear, but Felix, of course, wasn't listening.

"You won't stand an ant's chance against me in a real fight," goaded Felix. "Wanna see?"

Donovan hissed belligerently. The scar on his face twitched. He lunged. Hansel, convinced that Felix was going to get pounded like a blob of dough, tried to pull him out of the way.

But Felix didn't need his help. When Donovan reached him Felix caught his arm and flung him neatly into the pond. He fell with a tremendous splash, spraying water in a metre radius in all directions. Then he sunk like a stone.

"That was an accident," Felix told Hansel, trying to keep a straight face. But no matter how much he tried he could not hide the underlying delight. “I wasn’t trying to push him in.”

"You!" shouted another one of the boys, attempting a new attack on Felix. He mut have been trying to tackle Felix, but he pushed him into the pond as easily as before. Felix straightened and dusted his hands primly. "I swear, that was an accident too."

The ease with which Felix was handling the boys struck Hansel as odd. Felix was badly outnumbered; everyone else looked stronger than him. Yet Felix was shoving them all into the pond one by one as effortlessly as if they were cardboard cut-outs and not real people. All that time he was spouting things like 'Total accident,' and 'Nothing but an accident,' which Hansel did not believe in the least. How was he doing it?

Five boys were already in the pond. Only Mata remained. He took a couple step backwards, putting distance between him and Felix and waved at the air cheerfully. "Let's call for peace, shall we? I don't like getting wet."

"Neither do I," responded Felix with the same joyful energy. "But look what happened to me. You don't always get what you like. Such is the way of the world."

But Mata had backed up too much. Felix wouldn't be able to touch him now. He smiled smartly. "Well, nice to have made your acquaintance. See you around." He turned around briskly and began to walk away. But almost immediately he slipped and fell on his face.

At first Hansel thought it was the grass, then he looked down and saw Felix had Mata by his ankles with his shadow ribbons.

Of course, thought Hansel, realisation coming to him. So that was how Felix had won the fight so far. Behind him he could hear the other boys struggling in the pond.

"Hey, why can't I get out?"

One of the boys elbowed another. "Let go of my leg you idiot."

"But I'm not touching your leg!"

Mata tried to get back up, but before he could succeed at it, before he could even get an idea of what was happening, Felix dragged him with the ribbons and pulled him into the pond.

Now there were six boys in the pond.

"Hey, I can feel something wrapping around my knees." said one of the boys, weed caught in his hair. He was straining to get back to the land, but something seemed to be holding him back.

"Me too," admitted another boy with a panicked face. "Is it a snake?"

Somebody else yelped.

Felix saw their plight and began laughing hard. "You all look so ridiculous."

Donovan spat in his direction. "I'll make you pay for this."

"Hey, McGuire, your spittle is floating towards me," complained Mata, wet from head to toe. He squirmed in the water, as if he were being attacked by imaginary tentacles. "Ach, I'm all wet because of that bastard."

Felix laughed harder, bent over himself. He laughed himself breathless. "This is the funniest thing ever."

Hansel's lips twitched. He did not approve Felix making trouble like this, but there was something immensely satisfying about watching Donovan and his cronies struggling and jerking around in the pond like fish caught in a net. He wasn't going to tell Felix though.

Felix plunked himself down on the grass. "You guys are so entertaining. I'm just gonna watch you all for a while."

Donovan made an angry, humiliated rumble in his throat. He bucked violently in the water, grabbed hold of the concrete rim of the pond and began hauling himself out of the water.

"I think he's gotten free," said Hansel. He had already guessed Felix was keeping the boys in the water with his shadows, but Donovan had somehow found a way out of his restraints. "Wait, I think they all got free."

"Oh, shucks," said Felix, the grin falling from his face. He lurched to his feet. "Hansel, let's run."

Without wasting a moment, they both spun around and ran. Hansel was right. The boys had broken free, and the second they were out of the pond they began chasing after the other two.

Hansel and Felix turned around the corner of the school, hoping to lose them, but the boys stayed on their trail like a pack of determined dogs.

"What a nuisance," griped Felix, turning around another corner. He hastened his pace.

Hansel was struggling to match his speed. He was panting already and his heart beat against the walls of his chest like a possessed gong. Felix stopped running. "This is useless."

Then he wrapped a cold arm around Hansel's waist tightly. "Hold me tight."

Hansel gaped. "What?"

Felix did not bother to explain. He lifted his other hand towards the sky, his palm facing the side of the school. A long shadow ribbon spiked out of his hand and streaked towards the roof of the school, black as newly spilled ink. Hansel saw it reach the top and wind around the terrace railing.

"Here we go," said Felix. Then they shot into the air like a pair of linked projectiles.

Hansel almost screamed. He hugged Felix tightly, fearing he was going to be torn off by the speed of their ascent. Felix kicked at the walls a few times so they wouldn't bang against it. In no time they were up and over the edge of the roof, and when the other boys turned the corner of the school to catch them the two of them were nowhere to be found.

"That was madness," said Hansel, shoving Felix away from him and collapsing onto the rough concrete of the roof. His legs were shaking and his heart hadn't calmed down. "You should have warned me."

"I told you to hold me tight."

Hansel scowled.

"You two," said a startled voice behind them. "Where did you come from?"

Hansel and Felix swivelled their heads at the same time. A boy stood a few yards away from them, staring at them as if he thought they were aliens from outer space.

The two of them got to their feet. Felix extended a hand towards the boy, smiling blithely. "Hey, nice to meet you too."

The boy backed away. He pointed at their feet, his voice strangely squeaky. "You two don't have shadows."

Felix and Hansel looked down.

"Oops, my bad," said Felix, waving casually with his hand. Twin shadows appeared at their feet. He looked at the boy and grinned wider. "There you go."

Now the boy looked even more scared. "You two. What are you?"

"We are ordinary humans," said Felix. "Nothing out of the ordinary about us."

The boy kept edging away towards the door.

"Stop looking at us like that," said Felix. "Look at your own shadow first."

The boy looked down. Then yelped.

His shadow had changed. It did not look like a boy's shadow. It looked like the shadow of a hulking monster, with claws and horns and a forked tail.

"Our eyes must be playing tricks on us today," said Felix thoughtfully.

The boy screamed and ran for the door. The monstrous shadow followed. He screamed again, yanked the door open and vanished down the stairs.

Felix sniggered in his wake. "That was fun."

Hansel sighed and sat back down on the roof, his knees sticking upwards. He looked down through the railing. Most of the students had left the school already. Even Donovan's gang seemed to have stopped searching for them.

Felix sat down opposite him, imitating his posture. The tips of their shoes touched in the middle. "Hansel, you are smiling."

Hansel looked up sharply and saw the look of wonder on Felix's face. His voice was hushed, reverent. "I have never seen you smile before."

Hansel turned his face away.

His heart was still beating wildly in his chest, and his veins felt full of adrenaline. He hadn't felt like this in a long time. Scratch that, he had never felt like this at all, this sheer, zealous pulse in his nerves, all his cells stimulated, vibrating to the jazz of inexperienced elation. He had never felt thrill like this before, so potent and so close to the heart, not even when he was out at night being chased by murderous shadows.

He did not understand why he had smiled. He wasn't happy. He did not think this was happiness. But whatever he was feeling felt good; it felt so good that he wondered if he deserved to feel it.

Slowly, the corners of his lips turned down.

"What are you thinking about?" Felix asked quietly.

"Nothing."

They sat there like that for a long time, neither of them speaking, watching the sky change colours above them. And between them, far, far away, a devilishly red sun sunk towards the horizon.