Open Wound

Chapter Five

Sean looked out of the small window in the front door, and everything was cast in blue light. The sun had finally sunk below the horizon an hour previous, and all that was left were the few distant lights on the back road. The occasional car passed through, but it had snowed so heavily the previous night that not many braved the weather.

He zipped his black coat, slipped a purple hood over his head, grabbed his keys so he didn't lock himself out again, and opened the door.

The frigid cold smoothed over Sean's face as he walked away from the warmth of the living room. He circled around to the backyard and slipped his hands into his pockets. All around drifted whispers of the subtle ghostly winds of winter, and he watched the barren trees as they remained still. Maybe a deer would eventually come from their depths.

"As peaceful as that would be," Vexis said, "that's not what we're out here for." They hadn't bothered with any kind of protective clothing. They wore their usual outfit, and it made Sean cold to look at them. Then again, they didn't really need such trivial things. "Tell me why you came out here in the dark," they continued.

Sean glanced over at Vexis, who was the same height as him. They stared into the trees as well, but the two of them saw different worlds. "You know why I came out here," he said.

Vexis closed their eyes to take in the ambiance but blurted a laugh that interrupted the silence. "My mere presence gets you going now? Shameful."

Sean took a deep breath to gather his composure. It was a pain to be so connected with someone that nothing was private anymore. "You're not doing a good job of helping me, you know," he said. "Shaming me won't fix me."

Vexis walked their fingers up his arm in a taunting way, and although Sean wore a thick coat, his skin burned beneath them. Vexis stood before him and grasped his coat zipper. "Maybe you should stop caring about what I think of you. Did you ever have that cross your mind? When someone says something insulting, just tell them to get the fuck over it."

Sean swallowed nervously as Vexis slid the zipper down and spread it open. He shivered from the cold. "I can't stand out here in just a hoodie."

Vexis smiled and slipped the coat from his shoulders, and then backed away to watch with interest. "The cold won't hurt you. Not at this temperature anyway. I've traversed a winter you couldn't dream of and survived it, and it was nothing compared to this."

Sean huffed. "Yeah, well, you're not exactly human, are you? You're..." He paused. What, exactly, were they?

The smile that spread across Vexis' face chilled Sean more than the winter night. "I'm... what? Tell me what you think I am. Or are you too afraid to say it?"

Sean shivered again. "I don't know, exactly. A few years ago, I thought you were just some kind of nightmare entity who wanted to torture me. And long before that, you made me think things that weren't like me at all." He paused. Vexis' eyes looked like that of a feral animal, one that would strike at any moment. He truly was frightened of them still. "And then you opened up to me. You revealed the human-like form you use now, and that you're the keeper of my shadow man and everything that haunts memories I can't recall."

"You're avoiding the question, obviously," Vexis teased. Their lips parted slightly as they scrutinized Sean's rigid form. His fear was a delicacy to them as it always had been. "What do you think I am? I know you suspect something greater — worse — than your initial guess."

"Are we really going to go over this now? After we've started this process I can't back out of?" Sean reached for his coat to zip it on impulse but felt like a fool when his hands grasped at the purple hoodie. The wind grew louder, but he didn't feel it. It didn't sway the trees nor did it appear to exist anywhere but in his head.