A bitter cold swept over causing him to shiver. Even wrapped up in the blankets, Isaac felt the chill of the night seeping into his room. It was unusual. He knew Zane was the first one to often complain about the cold. This type of night was no exception.
He found himself slipping out of his bed, wrapping his covers tightly around him. Trudging through the echoing halls after night. Sometimes he found the place to be eerie with only but a small flashlight to guide his way. This night hadn’t changed his opinion on it, the hairs on his nape standing up high as the sensation deepened. He gripped the flashlight as his life depended on it and steeled himself for what was to come.
He thought the man to be in his room but he was nowhere to found. Isaac became more worried by the second. Even his door was open, an uncommon if not rare event to ever happen in his stay here.
“Zane?” He called out in the dark. He rarely made it a habit to call the demon out by his name, avoiding to do so if possible. But tonight was off, a sense of dread settling over the child to instill a sliver of fear. “Zane…?” He called out again, receiving no reply.
He desperately wanted someone by his side. Seth made the night bearable for him when nightmares made him restless and afraid. The night held many scary things and the young angel showed him it wasn’t so bad. The stars, the moon.
Yet he could never forget what also lurked in the dark, his legs trembling at the idea.
He said I was safe here…, the faint whisper of a thought murmuring in his ears.
He didn’t feel very safe right now. He wanted to go cower under the safety of his bed like countless other nights when everything became too much.
Tears trailed down his cheeks as he lowered to his hunches. I’m just a scaredey-cat… Clutching his head inward, he silently wished for the night to end.
He clutched onto that voice like a lifeline. He scrambled to get his bearings, rushing towards the faint sound.
“Make it go away!” He sobbed, clutching tightly on the being’s thigh.
Zane stared, baffled, confused. He merely strolled out his room for some needed air and a quick adjustment to the thermometer for some much needed heat.
“Isaac.” It was a struggle to keep his commanding tone from his voice. The child was stressed enough as it was. He didn’t want to add more.
“Isaac,” he repeated his tone softening. Kneeling down to the boy’s level, he asked, “what is wrong?”
“The n-n-night is s-s-scary…,” he managed to sob out in between hiccups. His grip never slackened, his tears never slowing against his skin.
This was understandable. Zane never expected the child to simply erase such an experience from his life with ease.
But he was never the perfect candidate to find a way to handle a crying child. Yet he found a strong urge burning inside to quell Isaac’s crying.
His hand patted the child’s head. It wasn’t long before he found himself pressing Isaac close against his chest in an act of comfort.
I recall doing this before but that was so long ago that I thought I truly had forgotten…
“Do not cry please. Your tears make me… unhappy as well.” He could not find another way to describe it. Unhappiness? Discomfort? It was strange, the tightening feel of his hearts constricting at the signs of the boy’s distress.
For a brief moment, he thought his words hadn’t reached the child but soon enough he had quelled, his crying becoming sniffles.
Pressing his head against Isaac’s with a brief nuzzle, Zane murmured, “That is it. Do not let those monsters beat you. Remember you have someone to protect you through the worst of it.” And they pray their death be swift when he got his hands on them.
Isaac didn’t answer but the boy nestled closer in response, a good enough answer for him.
“It is late. Let us go somewhere warmer,” he whispered, brushing his lips to Isaac’s hair.
The demon whisked him away with the promise of safety and warmth. And that was when he knew the demon wasn’t the so called monster he made himself out to be.
