"Aw, you scared?" The older boy mocked, staring as the lanky thing in front of him shrank back from the horrors beyond. The younger boy's face scrunched into denial, and he shook his head. He puffed his chest out to appear larger, though he still felt dwarfed; they were only separated by a year, how had the other boy grown so much bigger?

"'Course I'm not scared." He said, and cursed himself when his voice shook. The older boy smirked, barely visible in the shadows that bright light behind him cast, but otherwise made no mention of it.

"Good. I vouched for you myself, Chris, so I can't have you going chicken on me." He said. He was haloed in red, and the rest of him was cast in a shadow so dark that Chris wasn't sure there existed a boy beyond that red rim of light. He couldn't see his eyes. The boy shifted, before adding;

"Trust me, this isn't something you'll want to miss out on."

And then he turned and led Chris into the warm embrace of pain and suffering and fear.