The Child

24

Cain lays his head on the desk. His eyes were closed and his hood over his head.

He wasn't asleep, but rather resting.

"EAT!"

He jumps up abruptly, hearing a voice in his head.

"EAT. EAT. EAT."

Cain began to feel his eyes burn as they turn yellow, and he clenches them closed.

Cain raises his hand, his eyes still closed.

"M-miss Glasser, can I be excused, there's something wrong with my eyes."he says.

"Of course. April would you assist him to the bathroom?"Ms. Glasser asks.

"Of course."he hears April say, standing up.

...

Once April had gotten him to the bathroom he walks over to the sink, splashing some water onto his face and looking into the mirror at his yellow eyes.

They slowly begin to fade back into blue, Cain fighting them back to normal.

Then he quickly goes to his backpack, pulling out some snacks.

He begins quickly eating them, sitting in the corner of the bathroom.

"Cain, are you alright?"April asks.

Cain swallows and huffs.

"Yeah."he responds.

"What's going on?"she asks.

"I can't talk about it."he says, his teeth suddenly begining to hurt.

"Well you can talk about anything with me Cain."she says.

"You wouldn't under-"he cuts himself off, his voice breaking embarrassingly high in front of April.

"Cain are you sure you're alright?"she asks as Cain's arms and legs begin to ache.

"Something's wrong.."he says quietly before going into his bag again.

"Wait, Cain what is it?"April asks, hearing him.

"It's nothing. Nothing, stay out there."Cain says, his voice cracking as he finds a piece of red chalk and begins drawing a symbol on the ground.

....

April's pov

"Cain seriously you're freaking me out."I say.

No response.

"Cain?"I say, stepping into the bathroom slightly.

I see no one there, even taking a gander under the stalls.

"Cain?"I question.

I hear a sizzling sound and look down, seeing a mysterious figure drawn on the floor, slowly burning and disappearing.

I look back.

"Cain? Look at this."I say in disbelief.

As I say his name the symbol glows red and sizzles again.

I look down at it and say his name once more.

"Cain."

The symbol sizzles and glows brighter, slowly reforming.

"What the hell?"I say, leaning forward and trying to touch the symbol.

....

Cain

I grunt as I roll out of the symbol and into the pillows I had awaiting in my room.

I still hit my head on my bedframe and hiss, my and coming to my horns.

I quickly turn around, drawing the Hades symbol and then a line connecting our two symbols.

Then I hold my breath and lean forward into the wall.

I fall through the wall and straight down onto a large black table, scattering objects all over the place.

Cain groans, his hand coming to his chest as he releases his breath.

He looks up, seeing a hellish monster without form and glowing red eyes stares Cain in the face.

Cain's eyes widen as it speaks.

"Oh? Cain. Pardon me, allow me to slip into something more comforting."

The creature without form simply begins to change into the human version of Hades that we know.

"That was revolting."Cain wheezes as he slowly sits up from the table where he landed flat on his chest.

"Well, I wasn't expecting a teenage boy to appear when I didn't have on a face. Why are you here?"Hades asks.

"Something is wrong. My voice keeps cracking, and my teeth are hurting. And I'm always hungry."Cain says, rubbing his chest as he makes Hades chuckle.

"Well, looks like your reverse aging Cain. You need a human. Preferably one your age."Hades says.

"What? Why do I need a human?"Cain asks.

"To eat."Hades says, leaning down and pulling a knife out of the table.

"And when I mean eat, I mean eat."Hades says.

"What? I don't want to eat people. I'm a good guy."Cain says.

"Cain, you're the devil. You feed off souls and flesh of the innocent, you need to eat and soon. If you don't you'll shrink back down to your 6 year old self, and stay there."Hades says.

"Oh..I don't want to be stuck as a kid."Cain says softly.

Suddenly they both hear a high pitched scream as April falls through the symbol and onto the table.

Cain gasps as Hades looks at her in disbelief.

"...is that a fucking mortal in my realm?"Hades says as April hisses.

"O-oh my god this is my fault, I must've drawn the symbol wrong and it stayed for too long. I'm sorry."Cain pleads as Hades still looked at April.

He then slowly looks at Cain.

"You're to be punished for this, Cain. How could you be so irresponsible?"Hades says before disappearing and then reappearing behind April, gripping her red hair.

Cain gasps as April shouts, Hades dragging her towards Cain and then dropping her on her knees before Cain.

Cain was shaking and so was April.

"Cain. No living mortal has ever been in this world, and not one has seen my private quarters. This mortal is now a liability. I want you to kill, and eat her."Hades demands before pushing April forward into the ground at Cain's feet.

"No. No I can't, not her."Cain whimpers.

"YOU WILL NOT LEAVE THIS PLACE UNTIL YOU DO."Hades booms, making the room shake and making Cain step back.

"Relax. As soon as you taste her blood, you won't feel so terrible anymore."Hades says quietly before walking past Cain.

Cain's lips quiver as he looks down at April.

"What are you waiting for, Cain. Take the mortal."Hades says.

"Please, don't make me."Cain whimpers.

"Would you rather have me take her then, Cain?"Hades asks.

Cain steps before April and pleads.

"No no, please."Cain begs.

"Perhaps it's motivation you need."

Suddenly April takes a deep breath her eyes roll back and she begins to levitate.

Cain covers his mouth and whimpers.

"I'm doing this for your own good, Cain."