Just a dream (I can feel you staring at me)

Chapter 19: You didn't think this through, did you?

Al

It was funny, looking at the boy. His cheeks were covered in dirt, though tears left a muddy streak. He was afraid, his heart loudly pounding in his chest and his breath uneven.
Besides the boy and his defiant look, was a hole. About the knee height of Albert himself.
It wasn’t funny, how Albert felt his body grow numb, his hands cramping and the images flashing before his eyes- how he fell into the hole, broke his ankle and how Finney killed him.

“What did you want to do with that?” it wasn’t said as a question, but in his twisted philosophy he needed to hear it out of the mouth of the boy.
Daniel just flinched as the man spoke, moved a few inches back, as if this would protect him in any way.

But Albert followed him, the smile on his mask completely opposite to how he actually felt. He felt anger, cold and yet burning anger, anger that told him to just snap the neck of the boy.
But Albert wouldn’t just do it like this. He preferred them to beg him to stop, to let them have another chance.

“What did you want to do with that?!” he asked again, now getting more and more louder, causing a whimper to leave the boy's mouth- but nothing else.

He just crawled back, his back now touching the concrete wall of the basement.
“Nothing!” the boy screamed as a response, covering his head as if he expected to be hit.
It was normal for parents to discipline their kids like this, and yet he felt so much more powerful like this. He had the power.

“It doesn’t look like nothing, Daniel.” he whispered, and the boy, Daniel, swallowed hard.
Albert stepped closer, and Daniel had no way to escape.
“What did you want to do with it, Daniel? I won't ask again. You know what happens to boys if they are naughty.” he threatened, and if it weren’t so dark down here, he was pretty sure he could see the fear light up in the boy's eyes.
“I- I wanted to dig myself out of here, okay?! The floor is all dirt so I thought maybe I could.. dig myself out of here.” he admitted, his voice shaking while he avoided eye contact with the man himself.

It stung, and yet he felt so much more nostalgic. He started to smile, his lips hidden behind the smile of the mask.
That was everything he wanted. He wanted to feel it again. He wanted the thrill he once felt with them to come back to him. He wanted it back. He wanted the feeling back.
Maybe because he was brought back to live just to get another chance at keeping them, this time without failure, he felt like this.
“Aww.. the old trick of trying to dig yourself out. But sorry to disappoint you my sweet child, digging yourself out won’t work. The dirt here is rather shallow, just working fine to bury something.. or someone, but after a while there is beton.

He wanted to get closer to him, in his face and see the hope fade from his eyes- it wasn’t the same. He didn’t feel the same like he did whenever he saw them, his boys. He  needed them, but he needed to prepare everything. He didn’t want to die agan.
He tried to recreate the feeling, but it wasn’t the same.
“W-what? Why are you telling me this?” the boy stuttered, still pressing his back against the wall, as if he hoped it’d disappear and let him run away. But it never did. It stayed, and so did he.

Albert chuckled and the boy whimpered. He feared. Feared for his life. And he enjoyed it.
“Seeing the hope in the eyes of my victims disappear is my favorite part, you know? The fights you guys put up are such a delight.” he explained with a yearing sigh.

It was like this made something snap inside of Daniel, as he leaped forward, trying to escape the masked man lurking besides him.
Albert just watched, as the long haired boy fell onto the dirt, watching Albert with fear in his eyes.
It was like he realized that there were more than him. That the man has killed and made the victims disappear without a trace.
Maybe for Daniel it was even more disturbing and terrifying, because no one was even searching for the others, as far as he knew, there were no missing boys.