My friend, Demise

Chapter 15

"There's a man here for you." My dad knocked on my door, making me pull out my earbuds and sit up. I wiped the chocolate frosting from my mouth. "Come and-...what're you eating?"

"Comfort food....it's frosting."

"Well...come to the living room."

I set the bag of frosting down and hesitantly followed him into the front room, flinching and immediately grabbing his sleeve when I saw who was waiting for me. "Who are you?"

The man was tall. Really tall. His hair had also been dyed white, tattoos were covering him from the neck down and he was all black clothing that looks really expensive. He looked familiar somehow.

"I'm Demise's father."

He had an aura of pure dread that piled on him like ten million layers of dried blood and he could probably kill me with one hand. "I thought his father was in jail."

"Prison." He corrected me. "I was in prison."

"When did you get out?"

"Today. Just a few hours ago. I stopped by the hospital but he's asleep so my wife told me to come see you."

"What would she need you to see me for?"

"I want to know who shot my son. You were with him, I wanted to know if you saw someone." He walked toward my father and I. For the first time since I was a child, I hid behind my father and clutched tightly to his clothes.

"All I saw was him bleeding everywhere...and I'd rather not talk about it."

"Well you're shit out of luck then. If you saw someone and they threatened you, I need to know. You won't get hurt even if they said they'd do something to you."

"I really didn't see anyone."

He glanced at my father and then back at me, sighing and relaxing his shoulders. "Alright. Then I'll have to ask him when he's awake."

He headed for the door and my father went back into the kitchen to finish dinner. "W-wait!" I ran toward the man and grabbed the door handle. "I....I might have an idea of who did it. And I don't think it had anything to do with Demise at all."

He raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"When I was young, I was kidnapped. My kidnapper was never caught but he visited me in the hospital. He said I should tell him where I live or he'd kill me."

"Where does Demise play in all of this?"

"Demise came into the room and made him leave. He also threatened him. I also...I saw the guy following me that same day. If it was him, he may have been trying to shoot me."

"Or he hit the right target and only intended to scare you."

"Mhm."

"Got a name?"

"Noah Foster."

"Thank you, Kid."

Before he could leave, I spoke again. "Don't let my dad know about this. Please."

"Dare I ask why?"

"Because I know how that will end." Blood on my fathers hands and sirens on their way to grab him. My dad would kill that man if ever given the chance. "Please, whatever you do, don't tell him."

"Sure. Thank you for taking care of my son."

But I haven't. I didn't take care of him at all. He got shot because of me. He's in the hospital, dying.

"I didn't... I didn't take care of him at all." My voice weakened, arms tight at my sides. "He's in the hospital because-"

"Don't say it, Kid. That wasn't on you."

"But-!"

"Listen to me." He faced me completely and placed both hands on my shoulders, leaning to my height. "If you go through life thinking you're some kind of burden then you'll never see your full potential. Stop trying to kick the bucket and take the blame when it wasn't your fault."

"I'm not a victim, I-...I got in the car when I was young. I should have listened to what Mom said and stayed on the porch- if I had just listened then none of this would have even-"

"You were naive. Hell, you still are. If I was as naive as you, I probably would have done the same thing."

"But...but I-" I could feel my voice break in my throat.

"You're still just a kid." He softened his voice like my mom does when she's worried about me. "BE a kid. Don't be an adult yet because you're not ready. You're too soft and you need to know when it's time to let someone else own up to their mistakes. Understand?"

"Yeah..."

"Good. I'll see you soon, Azriel."