Crackling as immense as the reverberating undertones of thunder, shattered the room’s tranquillity, rousing Azrael from his slumber. Snapping his eyes open, he sluggishly stretched his arms, straightening out the stiffness kneading his muscles. With a weary yawn, he parted his lips, easing out a pop that released the tension in his jaw. The moonlight spilled through the windows, casting an ethereal glow upon the floor that served as a reeking reminder of his earlier cleaning shenanigans.

“That brat.” He hissed under his breath, rolling over to his side.

Clambering his way out, his eyes met a wide-eyed Alyson, urging him to reflexively raise an eyebrow. His head scratch quickly churned to ire, recalling how he had wound up in his current predicament.

Ready to loosen a foul temper, a sudden thought surfaced. Shouldn’t he be in bed at this hour?

A shiver ran down his spine, a sense of absurdity, reeking from the set-up. Reaching out, he nearly called out to the 4-year-old, when he caught sight of liquid crimson dripping down his throat. A pool of red stained the floor, matting Alyson’s hair.

Quaking, the redhead struggled to ground himself, loosening ragged gasps caught in his throat. He wanted to scream. But no sound coiled off his tongue. His guts churned in a sea of bile. Having had less than a mouse’s morsels in the past two days, paired up with an arid throat, he was far too spent to manage even a feeble yelp.

He moved an inch forth, plastered against the ground.

His slow crawl came to a sudden stop. He reached out with a trembling hand.

A spasm seized his hand, yanking it back into the shadows, like it was stabbed with a retractor. His spine sprouted beads of sweat, slick with unhinged dread.

Shadows danced under the veil of moonlight, snaking towards Alyson’s severed head.

Blinking past freshly rubbed eyes, a sense of disbelief seized Azrael. Am I dreaming?

The serpentine shadows clamped their fangs down on Alyson’s head, dragging him along a trail of bloodstained cookie crumbs.

“Young mortals are a fine delicacy,” said a voice, harbouring an immensity emanating from the very depths of the abyss.

Flattened beneath his bed, Azrael caught sight of a towering creature, its bristle brushing against the ceiling. Fur blending into the darkness sheathed its frame, popping out a pair of bloodshot orbs for eyes. It possessed talons for fingers that received the severed head from the shadows. With a voracious glint, it unhinged its jaw, producing a flickering pink tongue. In a fluid motion Alyson’s head vanished, devoured in a single bite.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Azrael’s deafening heart pounded against his eardrums.

He froze in place, questioning the sanity of his current reality, beseeched by a passivity akin to the audience in a play. The creature licked its fingers clean and prowled about the room in search of new prey. “Such a waste. This place is a bust too.” It stood before his bed, slumping its shoulders under an invisible weight. Slowly, it lowered one of its hands to the floor, reaching out under the bed.

Azrael could feel his heartrate climb, warily pressing a hand over his face to quieten his ragged breath. If he made a sound, he knew his life would be over before he even left the orphanage. He watched the creature’s hand reach further in, instinctively clamping his eyes shut, anticipating perdition.

1 blink passed…

5 blinks passed…

10 blinks passed…

Nearly a half-span later, Azrael heard slurping noises. He opened an eye warily, observing the creature relish the remnants of Alyson’s bloodstained torso, or at least what was left of it.

“No snacks for the trip back,” said the creature, wretchedly. Turning its back to the unexplored underside of the bed, the shadows spilled out into the hallway, guiding their master.

Exhaling a wholehearted sigh, Azrael realised how starved he was for air. He voraciously devoured a lungful in between pounding heartbeats, hushing his excitement.

Before he could nestle in with the straws of relief, all hell broke loose.

A violent dance of shadows flushed him out from the underbelly of his cover, loosening deafening screams of terror as he hurtled through the room at breakneck speed.

In a whirlwind of chaos, Azrael found himself dangling by his ankle, ensnared by a coiled shadow.

“I pulled a sneaky on you.” The dark creature towered before the inverted crimson haired male, its serpentine shadow loosening the grip around his ankle. “Now, what will a coward like you do?”

Dropping to the ground like a ragdoll, Azrael ceased his screams and instinctively inched away from the creature, his back hitting the frame of a nearby bed. He had all but forgotten the injuries he had sustained from his alleyway brawl.

“Disappointing. Is fear the best response you mortals have towards supernatural adversity?” The creature shrugged its head, furrowing its eyebrows. Slackening its mandible, it flaunted an array of daggers for teeth, flickering its pink tongue.

Averting his gaze from the unsightly monstrosity, Azrael felt a cool breeze caress the side of his face. In a fit of desperation, he pushed himself off the floor and followed the breeze towards a broken window. Hesitantly peering down from the third floor, he wondered if he could make it in one piece.

No trees or a soft pillow at the bottom either. Looking back, he saw the creature approaching. Clamping his eyes shut, he dived feetfirst out the window. A few broken bones would be nothing but a calculated risk, compared to being eaten alive.

The wind rustled past his bare clothing, which reeked of puddle water and was soiled with dried mud. The insignificance of his filthy clothes kept his mind occupied as he plummeted past the whipping wind.

Gravity gripped him, flashing him the life he had led thus far, a life bereft of meaning, one where his dreams were quelled before he had a chance to even derive a sliver of meaning.

I guess my first step was my last step, huh? All he could look forward to in that moment, was a painful welcome by Mother Earth.

His speedy descent came to an abrupt halt, garnering a conclusion devoid of pain.

Did it all come to an end? That was smoother than expected.

Gravity’s pull was inversed.

He began ascending towards heaven. A sense of tranquillity washed over him, as he conceded to a peaceful demise.