“L,” Braj said, turning his head around. “Let’s go home, I...I can’t. I can barely see.” He stopped, his face tensing up. “L?” he called again.

A few crickets resounded above him. Something flew over him, it's shadow outlined by the moon.

“L? D-Don’t kid around!” He said again, slightly louder this time.

Silence.

“L?” he called again, in a slight whisper this time.

A howl sounded in the distance. Braj bit his teeth, the shaking taking hold of him. He glanced around him, trying to find the path he came from. The night turned cold, whipping hard wind across the still air. It dug through Braj’s clothing and sunk into his skin, nabbing at its warmth. He stood still for a moment, pondering whether he should stay still until morning came up. He didn’t know where he was, or what time it was. Another howl. Closer this time. It sent him in the other direction.

He walked briskly, pushing asides branches and stepping through dense shrubs. The moon offered little visibility, constantly causing Braj to stumble and fall. The howling seemed to get closer and closer as Braj blundered his way in the opposite direction. It kept changing, sometimes to his left, sometimes to his right. Twigs broke, bushes moved, and branches swayed. It might have been the wind, or it might have been something else. Each tiny sound startled him, send him sprawling in the other direction. He could have sworn he saw something was out there, watching him, from the corner of his sight. But each time he twisted his head around there was nothing but shady bushes.

For hours this lasted, until the sweat-drenched his back and then dried over twice, leaving him with a chill. He panted with dry lips and scurry eyes, looking more with his bruised hands than anything else. Sharp cuts had reduced his clothing to tatters, the rest of his skin following suit. Leafs and dirt stuck to his skin and his clothing, sneering them dark. His muscles cried out, his bones already sore, but still he pushed and stumbled away from the noises that stalked him.

The clouds above covered the moon, and then there was darkness. Silence followed. No howl's, bushes moving at odd directions, and no moving things in the minute rays of moonlight. Braj stopped, one hand leaning against the tree as the rest of his body slumped in weariness. He sucked in quick rasps of breath as his lungs beat against his ribs. Hot blood rattled his eardrums, unsettled by a viciously beating heart.

Then a growl, inches away from his ears. A warm breath and the smell of wet fur gently stroked against Braj’s nape.

He ran. He crawled, he jumped, he rolled. He flapped and swung all of his limbs in efforts of propelling him faster, further, and flopping across the dirt as much as his feet stepped on it. Bouncing from tree to tree he shrieked his throat dry. He lost sense of his limbs halfway through, but Braj did not care. All he wanted to be was as far away from here as he could. “It’s just a dream, just a dream! I’m going to wake up soon. Any moment. It’s just a dre-” Braj yelled as he ran straight on into a tree.

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He ricocheted off it’s trunk his nose flattened and bleeding. He tried to get up, but the world turned thirty degrees to the right and he simply could not find the ground. He collapsed with his face to the dirt, passing out.

Something nudged his shoulder, awakening him. He flinched visibility, his entire body clearly convulsing, but then dug his face back into the dirt. He didn’t want to see it, didn’t want to hear it. Some primitive part of his brain told him that whatever he did not acknowledge could not harm him. There was nothing there. It made sounds, spoke maybe, but Braj’s ear was ringing. It was an inaudible buzz.

Braj.

He heard it. Something whispered his name. Braj slightly pivoted his head towards it but stopped, telling himself that it was luring him into a trap.

Braj, are you living? He heard something say. Braj peeked an eye from the cover of the dirt, only to see the outline of L on one knee, with concern in his voice. “Braj, can you hear me?” he said again, much more clearer.

In a fit of sobs and sniffles, Braj threw his head at L, pressing his grimy face against his chest. He tossed his weakened limbs around, holding him tightly as his cries whimpers heightened. “L! Oh my god L! I was so scared! L! L! L!” he bawled, repeating L’s name over and over. L in turn sighed and patted Braj’s head, holding him tightly.

“It’s alright. Everything is ok. Everything will be ok. I’m here now,” he said, his yellow slits a glimmer in the dark.

“W-Where did you go? I was so scared! I’m so scared! L!” he cried again.

L patted his head. “It’s ok, I’m here now. Cry it out, cry it all out.”

He did. He wept until L’s shirt was set with tears, and only stopped because his eyes went dry. “Why? Why? Why do I have to go through this?” he whispered, his throat sore.

“Well,” L began, his voice suddenly turning chilly. “You’re weak. And this is how the weak live. They cry and they piss their legs and they defecate their pants when they get spooked,” he said, and then leaned towards Braj’s ears, “Just. Like. You. Did,” he hissed.

Braj shuddered, and slowly unbound his limbs from around L. He swallowed painfully, stifling a few whimpers. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he repeated over and over, covering his face with his hands.

L stood up, “Man up. Are you going to sit there wailing for the rest of your life? Do something. Get your revenge by-what was that?” he said, hunching his neck at a tree.

Braj snapped his head at L, the tree, and then back to L. “What was...what?” he croaked.

“I heard something,” L said, as he walked towards the tree a few meters away.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Braj whispered, nearly inaudible. “Please, don’t go.” He reached for L with his hand but made no effort to follow him. His legs had turned into lead.

“I’ll just check this out,” L said, sliding his sword out. He turned the corner with a spring, his sword’s edge leading his movement. He stopped suddenly, waited a couple seconds, and then pulled his sword back into the scabbard. He turned back towards Braj, and began to walk towards him. “It was nothing, just the win-” something came out of the shadows and hooked L by his feet. It hurled him backward, instantly dropping him to the ground with a short yelp and dragged him into the bush, silencing him.

Braj’s eyes opened wide and froze, alongside the rest of his body. His breath caught still as he stared unblinkingly.

Tiny fingers slide across the trunk’s near bottom. The dim moonlight bouncing off the ground showed them to be gray and couldn’t have belonged to anything older than a few years old. Besides it, a thing began to inch out. It was an abnormally large oval-shaped head that spanned for a few feet with two dark holes that were darker than the night, that were darker than black. They were nearly the entire thing’s face. A small mouth, befitting a child, opened in a wide smile that crept from one end of its small ear to the next, showing tiny razor-like teeth. “Hi” it whispered in a high-pitched voice. It blinked slowly, tilting its head.

Braj did not move. He still could not breathe.

The Thing’s smile grew even wider. It opened it’s purple lips from the tip of its ears to the near center of its forehead, sharp teeth hiding beneath. “It’s ok,” it whispered, voice soft. “I’ll~come~back~” it sung as it gradually pulled its head back into the cover the trunk, and then sled its tiny fingers off it.

Braj made an odd sound and then he hurled himself in some direction.