Lore [9/???]

Silas is doing his best to stay awake through the lecturer's droning when his phone vibrates against his chest.

He is glad he remembered to turn off the ringer, but even the vibration seems loud.

He quickly grabs his phone and stops the vibrations without answering the... video call?

And it's from Xavier?

The small window shows Xavier's screen, shows an expanse of grey sky and rolling clouds. It's fragmented, though, swinging wildly as if the man is running.

Must be an accidental call, Silas reasons. Xavier never calls this early in the day. And who would make a call while jogging?

He declines the call.

Just as he's returning his phone to his pocket, it begins to buzz again. Silas rolls his eyes, glancing at the screen.

The sky has been replaced by a canopy of pine needles blurring past, darkening everything.

Silas feels his throat close up. He dashes out of the auditorium, trampling on feet in his mad dash to the hallway.

No. No, no nononono -

He can't be in the forest. He can't be. This is a joke. Some prank.

He accepts the video call the second he is out of the lecture hall, snapping, "Xavier!"

But the call drops from Xavier's end.

Silas calls him back, not fucking with the video function.

The person you have reached is unavailable -

"Fuck!" Silas shouts, startling a few passersby. He calls again.

The person you have reached -

He calls again.

The person you -

He calls again.

The person -

"Fuck!" Silas chants, hands shaking as he scrolls through his contact list for the one person he swore he'd never speak to again.

Florence. Deerly.

But before he can connect the call, and alert notifies him that he has a missed call and a voicemail.

From Xavier.

Silas opens it, breath coming in shallow gasps.

"Silas," Xavier's winded voice comes along the line. It's distorted, crackling with interference. "Silas, you need to come home. You need to be here, I can't..."

There's the sound of wind gusting.

"I tried to save her. And I tried to catch her, I did. But she got through and -- fuck, Silas, it's all..."

A strange noise filters along the line. A haunting chuckle that isn't Xavier's.

"She's pregnant," Xavier rushes out. "You have to be here. When she comes back, you have to be here for her. You have to protect the baby."

Xavier choked, whisper becoming a whimper. "Don't trust Mom, no matter--"

The message ends.