"Where are you?!" Grayson yelled loudly at the darkness.
He knew he was passed out.
He knew this was a dream.
But he was pissed off and wanted his demon to face him.
"Why are you hiding?"
The black surrounding him shot him forward until he was in front of the horrid tree. The familiar bodies hanging and swinging in the breeze that somehow Grayson could not feel.
He walked around the tree, climbed the branches, and checked the bodies.
The demon was not there.
Grayson jumped off a branch and landed hard on his feet.
"WHERE ARE YOU?!" Grayson roared.
Silence was his only answer.
Falling to his knees, Grayson put his hands on his face.
He was ashamed.
He could not help his companions, even though they seemed to be drawn to him.
Their fascination with him was in bad taste.
As was Grayson's ideas that he could find his wife.
A soft thud made him jerk his head up.
"Demon?" He asked as he turned his head, hope filling his voice.
But it was not his demon. It was the boy that hung from the tree.
Grayson slowly rose to his feet, not taking his eyes off the boy.
The boy watched Grayson rise tall above him, having to tilt his head to continue to stare into his eyes. The action gave Grayson a better view of his neck, chaffed harshly from the rope.
The boy stepped forward, then another. He continued to limp to Grayson until he was directly in front of him.
Grayson could hardly look at the boy. Every wound seemed so much worse than when he was up in the tree.
The dried blood, the torn skin, the bruised flesh.
It was overwhelming.
"It hurts. Why do I still hurt?" The boy spoke through cracked lips, his voice painfully hoarse from being dehydrated and hung.
Grayson opened his mouth to answer, only to shut it right away.
Why was he still hurting? This was inside his head, merely a dream and the child was in pain?
What the fuck is this place?
The boy looked back at the tree, giving Grayson a good view of his whipped back.
"This is where I died. Why am I still here? Was I not a good boy? Did I not suffer enough?" The boy asked, turning back to Grayson with tears in his eyes.
"I cannot answer that," Grayson whispered.
A shadow-like hand sneaked over the boy's shoulder. It gripped the shoulder tightly, almost painfully, before a body manifested behind him.
"Still not familiar to you?" The demon tapped his long claws on the boy's shoulder.
The boy whimpered, staring at Grayson for help.
Grayson shook his head.
"Amazing," the Demon smiled. "You have so much pride that you would not allow yourself to remember. Father would be proud."
YOU ARE READING
Grayson's Veil
Fantasy"Ah Grayson," He drawled as he extended an arm with sharp claws to lean against the tree, "you finally stopped ignoring me. Do you know what this means?" The demon's smile only seemed to get wider, the eyes following suit. In a blink of an eye he wa...
