The worst chapter yet (Grammarly's worst nightmare)

      “Ring ring” went the small timer they had set. James jolted up in surprise from the noise. He had fallen asleep in the time they waited due to his major lack of sleep. “I just wanted to snuggle with my body pillow,” James muttered. Everyone slowly and groggily got up and headed quietly for the door.

      “You ready?” asked Emma, sleep in her eyes

      “Ready as I’ll ever be,” James replied, a slight nervousness stung in his voice.

      James looked around and saw everyone’s determined faces, with a bit of excitement in them as well. “They're just as nervous as me, aren't they?” James thought. “My body pillow would make this sooo much better; I’m sure of it.”

      Emma silently opened the door, making sure it did not creak in the pitch black silence, and they all walked into the dark hall.

      Quiet was the first word that came to James’s mind. The shrill of the North Pole wind was the only sound heard in the pitch black hall. With no light except the underglow of a few random dorms. The darkness enveloped the hallway, making it so only darkness layout in front of them.

      Emma put her hand out, telling them to wait until their eyes adjusted to the little light that there was. After a little while, James couldn’t tell if it had been five or ten minutes, and they started moving.

      They quietly walked along the dorms as silently as they could, leaving only the faintest sounds of footsteps. Emma stopped them multiple times, waiting for the cameras to turn away so they could move on in the hallway. The halls loomed over them as they bumbled around them, sticking to the wall for guidance. Emma, who was in the lead, led the group through the twists and turns of the hallway. Emma then stopped suddenly in front of a door like any other in the dorms.

      James looked at the door in the feeble light, trying to make out the words and decor on it.

      There was a Kid A by Radiohead poster on the door along with several other vinyl covers from a variety of bands and singers. James looked at the brass name tag, which had the name Dommy on it.

      Emma breathed nervously, cutting the quiet that was all around them with a knife, and she pushed the door open.

      Music posters lined every inch of the walls, with bookshelves containing vinyls everywhere. The blue bed even had clear tubs full of vinyls under it. The one desk in the room had a brown plaid record player on it, which had Mariah Cary’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” Playing, and a black desktop with the Jesus Is King Album cover as the background.

      Dommy was curled up in the corner, in a fetal position, much like Jimmy, but way weirder. He was looking at them with a blank expression like there was no soul in his body. He wore an Igor album sweatshirt with a pair of black athletic shorts. His extremely gelled and shiny hair was extremely neat and slick while shining like a disco ball. It was the brightest thing in the room. He looked tired, with his blank eyes and half open mouth. Dark circles were also present under his eyes.

      His brown eyes looked at every person, one by one. First was Xerksize, then Lee, Emma, Jimmy, and James. His eyes stopped on James. As he looked at James with his black eyes, James was creeped out. It was like Dommy was looking into his soul, creeping him out.

      For the first time, Dommy’s expression changed from the blank stare as he smiled at James, a wide smile that covered as much room on his face as it could. Hix bright white teeth shone, canines bared.

      He then did something that was even more shocking, given what James had been told about Dommy. He spoke.

      “Oooohhh interestiiing. I kneeew yoou would come soooon, but you’reee actually heeeree, Jaaaaames” he said in his shrill, high voice.

      “How do you know my name?” James immediately asked

      “Dom Dom, you’re back!” shouted Lee happily, running towards him. She hugged him, almost crying, as he ignored her.

      He continued, ignoring James’s question. “If yoooouuuu are heere, then I can start. I'm sooo glaaaaad for thiiiii. I will get soooo many more vinyls frooooom thiiiis bit of fuuuuun.”

      James stepped back slowly from Dommy. “What the heck is wrong with this guy. ” He wondered while getting himself on guard. “This duds jacked up in the head.”

      Silence filled the room as nobody dared to speak. Finally, Emma decided to speak up, thinking more rationally than the others.

      “Hey Dommy, I’m glad you’re okay and all, but what are you starting, and why have you been locking yourself up in your room?” She asked, seeming even more on guard than he was.

      “Thaaaaats a siiiiiimple question Emma,” He said. “I am heeere to spread the truuuee meaning of Christmas to eveeeryone. I may have tooooo looooock myself up tooooo do iiiit, but iiit wiiiiill all wooooork out in the eeeend”

      “What the heck is this guy on?” James thought, completely caught off guard by Dommy’s response.

      “Yeeess. When I went to the illuuuusions, I met hiiieem, and heeeeee showed me the waaaaay. He showed me that Christmas was not about Jesus but about materialismmmm, and taken me wiiiith sharing the truuuuue message of chirsttttmasssss”

      All of them were on guard now, even Xerksize, who had been leaning against the wall without a care in the world, like normal. They all knew one thing. This was not Dommy, but someone, or something else.

      Lee, who had just let Dommy go and baked away quickly, almost tripping over herself in an effort to get away, spoke up in a quiet, terrified voice, “Hey Dom Dom, who did you meet?”

      “Oooohhh thaeet’s simple, the god of Christmas heeiiimself, St. Nicholas.”

      “Naw fam,” said Xerksize PhD, his blond hair now on end, “you trippin’.”

      “Noooooo! Heee exists, heeee predicted everrrythiiing you knooooow. He knooows all. First though, yoouuu weeiiiil leave.”

      Dommy got up and charged. He swiped his fist at Xerksize PhD, who dodged easily and backed towards the door.

      “Let’s leave, now!” shouted Emma as she pushed them all out as hard as she could, which produced almost no force, but reminded them all to move.

      They piled on top of each other out in the hallway, creating a giant “thud” that reverberated along the dark silent hallway. James turned to the door just as Dommy was slamming it shut

      “Slam!” The door was closed, and the light creeping out from underneath the door went out.

      “Dom Dom, come out, please! Come on it's us, your friends.” Lee ran to the door, pounding on it with desperation written all over what James could see of her pale face.

      “Lee, come on,” Emma whispered as she pulled Lee away from the door and looked her dead in the eye, “Be quiet! We can’t afford to be loud, and you know this” she whispered.

      Lee opened her mouth to respond and closed it as she chose not to, tears starting to roll down her face.

      Emma turned towards the group, getting them back on track “We have to be quick about this. In 10 seconds, run back as fast as you can to Lee’s room. We only have a twanty-second window for this.”

      “What about the noise?” asked James.

      “We can blame it on Dommy, we really don't have a choice here, do we. Now, go!”

      She ran off. James and everyone else spirited after her, running as fast as they could.

      James started to feel the pain ravage his body after about five seconds.

      “Why do I have to be in such bad shape?” He muttered to himself as he ran. His whole body was screaming in pain, throbbing as if he was running a marathon. He huffed and puffed, breathing extremely hard as he ran, barely getting enough oxygen to keep running, no matter what, his body said. As he continued to run, he felt his stamina lessen and lessen to a dangerous point.

      Ten seconds later he saw the door. He got to it, opened the door, and threw himself on the floor.

      His lungs felt as if they were on fire, barely taking in any air, which led to him taking up all the noise with his breathing. His body ached as it slowly uncontacted itself and loosened up

      Everyone else was already in the room, having run much faster than James.

      “What the absolute heck was that?” James muttered. That was NOT what he was expecting from Dommy.

      “I don’t know. He is usually pretty timid and kind, not the Joker cosplayer we just saw,” Emma said.

      Everyone looked at each other, while sitting around the room, worry on all their faces. Emotionally, they were all a wreck, while James just laid on the floor with a mix of pain and confusion.

      They sat in silence, all of them not wanting to be the first to talk. James looked at their expressions with worry.

      “What happened out there?” He wondered.

      Lee then finally started to break down, crying. All the stress and shock that she had experienced seeing her friend in the state he was in hit her. “Why? What happened out there? What did they do to Dom Dom?” Tears streamed down her face, some falling onto the floor.

      Xersize PhD spoke up after looking at his feet the whole time, “Bro… I think we have to go out there.”

      “Are you crazy?” Lee sniffled out.

      “It does make sense, doh. Dommy was alone out in da illusions. We do be together out there. If we finna find out what happened to the dude, then we gotta bro.”

      “Xersize is right,” Emma butted in, “We can’t heal Dommy if we don’t know what’s wrong with him.”

      “Are you crazy?” James was shocked. “Why do they want to go to the thing that apparently made Dommy turn into that?”

      “It is dangerous… let me think about it,” Emma stood up. “For now, let’s go back to our rooms and sleep. It is late, after all.”

      "Your right. I think some sleep would help us all” Said Lee.

      They all agreed, and after some waiting, saying of “goodnights”, and hugs from Lee, they all went back to their rooms.