I Accidentally Summoned a Demon and Named Him Fred

Your Name is Fred

This had to be a dream.

One second, I was in my mother's room. Next, I was standing at the edge of the bridge.

How?

Wind clawed at my clothes, icy and sharp, tugging me forward.

If it's a dream, just jump then

The thought wasn't mine, but it slipped through my mind as it belonged there.

I stared down at the drop.

"Whatever it's saying, don't listen to it," Haime pleaded, but it felt so far.

"This is real, isn't it, Haime?" I forced the words out, but my throat was dust.

I should've been able to come up with a thousand reasons not to even think about it.

A thousand reasons not to lean forward.

A thousand reasons to stay.

Not to wonder what it would feel like to just... let go.

But I couldn't think of a single one.

I was just so damn tired. Tired in a way that sleep couldn't fix. Instead, I was awake, replaying every moment, asking what I could have done.

"I want it to stop," I croaked, feeling the wave of emotion and emptiness that carried. The horrible possibility that somehow... my mother left because of me.

Maybe I was too much.

Maybe I wasn't enough.

Maybe—

"Please... let me help you."

Haime's voice.

Too distant for me to care.

Like he wasn't really there. Like it was echoing down a tunnel I'd already started falling through.

I lifted my foot, letting it dangle over the edge. The world narrowed to that one motion. To the maybe that if I stepped off, I would finally wake up. That my brain would snap, reboot, spit me back into my bed, shaking from another nightmare just like this one.

Another voice cut through. Sharper. Right in my ear that sounded like her.

"STOP!"

My focus snapped.

My heart hammered like it was trying to punch its way out of my chest.

For some reason, my mind latched onto something completely irrelevant—

My hand was still clutching the candle.

Unbroken. How was that even possible?

The words carved into the black glass stared back at me.

Speak, and they will answer.

A tear slid down my cheek.

"I just don't want to be alone anymore." Another tear followed, hot against my freezing skin.

Haime's mouth moved, but I couldn't hear what he was screaming. A wall of wind roared up out of nowhere, slamming into me like a truck.

Hard.

I saw Haime's face—nothing but pure terror—for a fraction of a second.

Then I was gone.

The world dropped out from under me. Crisp, cold air whipped around my body as I fell.

Air ripped from my lungs as my back hit the ground. And everything went black.

I couldn't feel my body. Couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.