A Hero's Nature: Light in the Dark

8: Redemption

Gray was surrounded by darkness. Not the kind of darkness he felt every night, this was true darkness. The sort of darkness that gave way to nightmares. He was in a vast plane of nothingness. There was no sound, or light. Gray felt a deep satisfaction; nothing could bother him here. But then, there was a light above him, or maybe below; he couldn't tell. And with the light, there was a voice. The voice wasn't saying anything in particular, or maybe Gray just couldn't make out the words, but as it spoke the light grew more intense. Normally, Gray would've wished for the voice to go away, but something about it was strangely ... familiar. He felt a peculiar warmth spread through him. Not the warmth of light, this was a different sort of warmth. He was unfamiliar with it, but if he had to guess, he supposed this was what coming home to a hot meal and a welcoming family felt like. He let the voice speak, for he was unlikely to ever experience this warmth again.

Gray awoke in his apartment with the early morning sunlight filtering in through his window. His alarm clock said 7:47. He groaned and rolled over, not ready to wake up just yet. He saw his guitar against the wall, and he flashed back to a couple days ago when he and Abby first met. Then, all at once, the memories of the night before came flooding back.

He rolled out of bed and got dressed. He put on a skull and crossbones T-shirt and black jeans. When he reached for his shark-tooth necklace, his hand hesitated briefly. He put it on and left.

He didn't have anywhere to be, but there was no way he was going back to sleep after remembering what happened. His mind was void of thought as his feet led him from nowhere to nowhere. His words and his thoughts often contradicted one another. He had told Abby he was crazy, and that those men deserved to die. Yet here he was, grieving their loss. Maybe that's what made him crazy; he hated who he was, but he didn't care enough to change it.

"Hey man, you alright? You look out of it." Gray's eyes focused in on Ash's face.

"Oh, hey Ash," Gray said.

"You're up early," Ash pointed out. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"A little. I'm fine though." He continued walking and Ash fell in beside him.

"I've been hearing some weird rumors lately," Ash said.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. The other guys are all shaking in their boots 'cause of you."

"Me? I can't imagine why."

"Well, I can only assume it's you. There's talk of a demon that haunts the city. First, all the light goes out in the world. Then, a pair of eyes will approach you. It doesn't sound all that scary to me, but the way everyone talks about it, you're putting on quite a show."

Just then, Gray saw something across the street, and something in his mind clicked. "Sorry man," he said to Ash, "Something just came up. I'll see you around." Ash tried to say something, but Gray was already halfway across the road. He walked into a used book store right as Abby was leaving it. She made a face when she saw him and tried to push past him.

"Wait," he said, "I wanted to apologize."

"Apology not accepted," she said without hesitation. She left the store and started walking down the street. Gray chased after her.

"Whatever happened to second chances?"

"I don't believe in those."

"There's a first time for everything right? Please, just hear me out." He still wasn't even sure what he wanted to say to her, but he had to try something.

She stopped walking and said, without turning around, "Fine, we'll talk." Then she spun around and jammed her finger into his chest. "But if you start pissing me off again, you're going to regret it."