Mark immediately rushed to him, and was horror struck to see a reddish brown liquid that soiled Kieran's indigo hair. He pulled Kieran to himself, his body trembling uncontrollably as tears blurred his vision.

The boy appeared not to be satisfied. His eyes darkened, he raised the pole. The hit landed on Mark's back and he let out a heart wrenching cry.

Nevertheless, he still held Kieran firmly. Kieran, who was slipping into oblivion was forcefully pulled out by Mark's cry. He couldn't explain the terrifying rage and fury that blinded him, the moment he saw Mark's tightly shut eyes with unending tears streaming down.

All of sudden, all he could see was red, and an intensive sense of his soul being brutally scraped off from his body. The rage was rapidly increasing together with the hammering of his chest and flowing in accordance to his intense desire for vengeance.

He began to hear agonizing cries.

On opening his eyes, he found the boys writhing on the floor including Mark. His heart jumped into his heart.

Numbly, he crawled to Mark, whose both hands desperately clutched his head, like he wanted to break it into two and get rid of whatever that had induced the pain inside.

Kieran touched him lightly on his arm; Mark's eyes snapped open, and he recoiled.

Kieran could never forget the frightened look on Mark's face as if he was a beast.

Despite having no idea of how things ended that way, Kieran was aware of the fact that it was his handiwork.

He attempted shouting for help but his voice as well as his consciousness failed him.

He regained himself a few days later. The memories of the incident instantaneously flowed into him and filled him with guilt and revulsion. He had hurt Mark; his mind told him repeatedly.

Nevertheless, there's no chance to seek forgiveness for during his unconscious state, they relocated to a faraway city and he never saw Mark again.

The surprising aspect was that his mom didn't question him about anything and he couldn't bring himself to ask about Mark. She only assured him that everything would be fine but he knew things would never be the same without Mark.

Returning back to reality,

"Are you thirsty?" Mak asked him.

"A little bit,"

Makk pulled out a compartment in-between both seats with one hand. He brought out a bottle of water and handed it to Kieran.

"Thanks," Kieran murmured as he took the bottle and decapitated it. He sipped to his content.

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Makk was now driving slowly as a result of the road's potholes. Kieran felt too lazy to ask where exactly they were heading too even after seeing various old buildings scattered around.

He looked out of the window, there, he saw a little boy whining to, seemingly his mom about wanting an ice cream.

That scene instantly ignited the memories of his mom.

He last saw his mom six years ago.

During his eleventh birthday, His mom had prepared a small party where she made the cake herself and having uncle Makk as the only attendant.

Kieran was not really interested in having a birthday party but on his mom's insistence he had agreed.

He assisted his mom in making little decorations in the private sitting room upstairs. And as they were on with the decorations, the doorbell rang.

"It must be Makk, go on. I will go and open the door," Kieran's mom said and went downstairs.

Kieran had a sudden thought.

I thought Makk had a spare key. Maybe he forgot again.

He waved it off and proceeded with the decorations; he blew some of the balloons and lit up the candles in circular formation on the center table where the cake was placed.

However, there were no signs of his mother or uncle Makk.

So, he went downstairs to find them. Surprisingly, the general room was dark.

"Why didn't mom switch on the light?"

"Mom," he called out. Everywhere was eerily silent.

Perplexedly, he repeated, "Mom! Uncle Makk!"

He felt a strong sense of foreboding hearing no response.

Having lived in that house for two years, Kieran could go anywhere even with his eyes closed. Therefore, he walked through the darkness, attempting to feel the light switch.

Eventually, he found it and immediately flicked it on.

That's when he realized that the entrance door was wide opened. He frowned deeply and began to walk to it.

Just then, he heard a deep growl, and snarls like that of a wild animal. It repeated again, this time more closer with a combination of a crunching of metal sound. A soft grunt.

A figure emerged from the darkness outside moving towards him. Very closely, Kieran took a large intake of breath. This is not a human.

Its face was shrunk beyond having any human features. The shapeless mold of a head which appeared to have been forcibly fixed on its elongated neck and looked like it might fall off anytime. The figure's bulging eyes and absence of pupils was fixated on Kieran.

Kieran felt goosebumps all over him as he took a few steps back and the creature halted. He thought it looked like those monsters in those horror movies he used to watch. Although, they never scared him but it can't be said about the figure in front of him.

From the look of things, it was the most grotesque thing Kieran had ever seen with its toad-like complexion.

He then noticed another similar figure appeared behind it. It held his mom, who struggled persistently but it was a useless effort.

That was when Kieran seemed to find his voice.

"Leave my mom!" He yelled, all the fears bubbling up inside him evaporated.

Then, the thing spoked but it was more like it was just drooling as white frothy liquid slided from both sides of its lipless plate-like mouth.

"You are the one," its voice was so guttural and words barely comprehensible.

Surprisingly, Kieran heard him quite well. It once again began to approach Kieran.

"Kier!" Kieran's mom called him out.

"Run! Don't let it catch you!"

Kieran instinctively winded around looking for the closest thing that can serve as a weapon. He got hold of a table nearby and hurled it to the creature.

The creature didn't dodge the rosewood table so it hit him squarely. It staggered back and something like astonishment flashed across his blank eyes.

His gaze on Kieran seemed like a predator staring at its prey. its forked tongue maliciously licked its fangs. Kieran couldn't help but sensed that the creature was grinning at him.

Suddenly, the creature lunged towards him but passed him at the instant.

Kieran was startled; his mouth agape in shock. The moment that creature bypassed him, he felt a chilly presence touched him which filled him with dread.

He wanted to talk but no sound emitted from his mouth. He sensed that he was no longer in control of his own body.

Drowsy and dizzy without warning, he could hear his mom shouting out a desperate warning to the creature not to hurt her son.

Kieran again heard the creature's voice blaring in his ear. "Don't worry, Alina. I don't have the ability to harm him. King Maladama would take care of your son himself," it's voice has a pronounced mocking edge to it. The creature's voice rose, cracking up. "No!" Kieran's mom cried.

Alina! That's my mother's name? How did I get to know my mom's name? Does my mom equally know it?

All these questions were whirling inside through Kieran's mind like a strong wave. His visions were blurred and legs weakened which leaded to him collapsing onto the cold tiled floor.

His mom screamed, followed by the shattering of glasses.

"Mom," he wanted to move but his body wouldn't budge. His eyelid was heavier and vision blurry. Distorted figures and shouting diminished into darkness.