Three Hounds

Chapter Three: Dante's Demise (Acts 7-10)

Act VII

       Black... Complete and total darkness... I sat in it, shaking from the cold I could feel encasing me. "That... That's..." I kinda struggle to make the words leave my mouth, but I notice the emptiness around me. "Death...?" I call out to her, confused. "Death Hound?!" But I don't hear an answer... I stumble towards nothingness, not really sure of whether I was going left or right... "HEY!!" I look around frantically for where Death Hound might've gone. "DEATH?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" She might be in the shadows somewhere? But I'm not sure how I'd be able to get her...
       "Hey, Matt!" Someone calls out to me. I almost instantly knew who that voice was...! I think I'm going crazy! There's no way that's him! I turn around slowly, my body feeling like jelly, but there he was... My dad, just... standing there in a park, with the wind blowing against his long hair. "Been a while, hasn't it?"
       My face froze up and my legs started shaking like a baby deer. "Dad...?" I could barely say a word... My face feels like stone, like my blood turned into ice and couldn't pass though my veins anymore... I can't talk, at all. It's like someone took my voice away.
       Dad smiles. "Remember this place?" He looks around, turning his whole body, like he's trying to convince me that he is 'real'. "It's nice and windy here. That breeze was always nice." He lifts his head up to face the sun and bask in the warmth, coupled with the cool breeze. "Ahh... Nothin' beats that feeling, huh?" He keeps smiling at me...! How the hell is any of this real...? How is this happening?!
       I can't find anything in my brain to say. My mouth is hanging open, but no breath is coming through. My eyes are staring right at my father's face, but it feels like I haven't blinked in forever...
       Dad takes a few confident steps towards me. "You know, after your mama had you, we had to wait a little while to take you outside. We both enjoyed being out and about, so I'll admit it was kinda torturous having to stay inside all that time, haha! But once you were old enough, this was the first place we brought you to..." He's already told me this story before! I've heard it hundreds of times! Why is he here?!
       "Why are you alive...?!" The words slip right out of my mouth, and Dad looks at me with that same smirk on his face.
       "Come on... You know that isn't true, Matt. I'm as dead as you are..." He kneels down and pats my head. "But that's not gonna stop me from talking to you." He reaches out his hand, and I flinch. "Come with me. I bet you've got more than a few things to say to me..." I suddenly remember Mama, and Delilah... What would they say to him...? Reluctantly, I reach out my hand too, and let my Dad lead me farther into the park.

       First, he leads me over to the swing-set over in the playground. It was hard for me to not get a headache while looking over at the playground; they're always colored really brightly, like a circus, and the soft ground underneath the thing smells like hot rubber. It already feels like the smell of it is trying to scrape against my brain... But honestly, while looking at my dad as he walks me over to the swings, I get blasted by a wave of nostalgia. I can't help but smile a little.
       When we get to the swings, Dad lets go of my hand and nudges me over to the swing next to him. I freeze a little. "What?" He asks me. "You need me to push you or something?" He sits down on his swing. I'm still frozen up... "Sit down, boy..." He drops his voice a little.
       "A-A-All right..." I take a seat, but don't really move much. It's weird... It feels like I'm talking to a zombie. "Dad... Why did you-"
       "Shh...! Listen to that." He points up and around to the trees next to the park. I listen like he said, waiting for something. And suddenly I hear birds chirping, some cawing like they were fighting over something. They sound like real birds. But I know they're not, it's not possible...
       He looks over at me, taking a much more serious face now. "How've your sister and mom been?" He loosens the tie around his neck and scratches the scruff on his chin.
       Almost immediately, I answer him. "T-They're... uh, good, I guess..." I can't tell him the truth. I can't tell him that Mama saw me get shot, murdered. "Delilah is doing pretty awesome in school. My teacher says that she's gonna be able to get a scholarship for college, or w-w-whatever."
       He smirks at me again. "Good, good. Your momma?"
       I smile a little too. "She's also fine. She just started a new job." She was also mugged in her own house... "Mama's working at a lawyer's office or s-something nowadays."
       "That right? Ha, never thought she was the type..." He chuckles a little, but he has a sad look in his eyes. "Hm... When I met her, she was just a waitress at a diner. This cute little thing, wearing her pink uniform and apron, hehe! Ah, nothing could beat her smile, though. A smile like that complimented everything about her...!"
       Hearing him talk about mom, and seeing the smile he has while talking. It's all like a dream; none of this could be real. It just can't. I'll wake up, Death will be gone, my mom and sister will be OK, Alice will be in class. Dad will still be... "Hey, Dad," I ask him nervously, "what happened?" I try to keep myself from shaking while looking at him.
       "What happened? To me?" He asks, even though I'm sure he knows what I'm talking about.
       "Just... answer straight, please?" I take a few deep breaths and let a wave of calmness wash over me. "Why'd you do it?" I look over to him, but suddenly he's gone. "Dad...?" I get up and search around to see where he left to, but again, he's nowhere... "Dad?! Where are you?!" Running out to the other parts of the park, the slides, the jungle gym, and I still can't see him anywhere. My heart starts beating hard, like it's gonna pop. "WHERE ARE YOU?! DAD?!" I yell out to him, my eyes start to tear up uncontrollably. "Dad?!" I wipe one of my eyes and accidentally let out a sob. "WHY'D YOU LEAVE?! DAD?! WHY DID YOU LEAVE?!?!" I fall on my knees while running to find him. I just found him again... He can't be gone, not now... Why did you leave us...? I look up with teary eyes, expecting to see the park around me, but everything is dark again. "Not again..."
       "Are you sure you're asking the right questions? I can give you the answers, but are you absolutely sure that you wanna hear them? Your perception of us, our family; your mother, yourself... of me... It'll all be flipped on its head." My dad's voice calls out to me. "So once again, I'll ask, are you sure about this decision?"
       I can barely raise my voice enough for him to hear. "Why? What's the point...? I'm already dead... I've got nothing to lose." I look at my hand, ahead of me a dim light begins to glow, but I don't pay any attention to it. Maybe it's the light, or maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, but I swear that my hand and arm were starting to turn see-through...?
       "So be it... Walk into the light, Matthew." This time, the voice... it sounds more like Death. I snap my head back up straight, hoping to see her there, but she isn't. My heart sinks even deeper into my stomach. I get up on my two feet, and slowly I walk towards the light. Like I said, I have nothing to lose now.