The cold

Aunt Glutton

Neil stared at the offensive piece of chicken sticking out like a sore thumb in his plate . He was usually a huge fan of chicken and this particular chicken or rather it's leg did nothing to offend him  and he sure as hell didn't pay much heed to activists that encouraged people to go vegan . After all they tortured and boiled plants alive and then preached kindness....see,hypocrites!

Nope, it was the person who bought it for him that made the poor chicken less appealing . He actually had nothing against his aunt, he loved her ,he really did , the fact that his mother and her sister didn't share the same blood wasn't something he considered important . She was after all ,family. Nope what made him uneasy was just the tiny little fact that he found his godmother creepy. She was just too strange , too different , she always talked in dumb riddles and she usually had this very very creepy smile on her face that would probably make Jack the ripper tuck his tail between his legs and run and yeah, that was a huge exaggeration but at least her creepy grin never failed to make him squirm in his seat. 

he felt a little guilty thinking that way of her, it wasn't her fault she was weird. "aren't you hungry li'l  Nay? Now ,now , Nay eat up.......there's no need to be shy...godmamma won't tease...."she said, in her usual dreamy voice that sort of sounded like the girl from Harry Potter , something lovegoad or good. Adding her to the already huge list of things he had to deal with was just cruel. He's pretty sure he He had once seen her talk to a frog when he was a kid, a big ugly brown frog that he was sure would only turn into an old ugly prince if it did turn but all that could have been his brain painting pictures ,after all, she was pretty colorful in his head .

At least for now ,touch wood , he was pretty sure that the fickle prince must have forgotten  him. That probably had to with all the weird things happening around town , most of them sounded made up, but there were a couple of murders that were really scary , especially because the murderers left behind strange emblems which lead to the rumor of the birth of some sort of evil cult. Which was precisely the reason why Aunt Glutton was here , "why, this could get quite interesting"she said .  one word....creepy...

After having a not so hearty dinner both of them were navigating the crowded streets trying to make home in good time. It was the absence of his aunt's suffocating perfume that alerted him to hers. His eyes swept through the crowd looking for the overly bright pink dress that he was sure would stand out . And it did, he found her talking to a scrawny man with a rather sober expression that wasn't often on her face. The conversation abruptly ceased when he caught up-to them , his aunt flashed a quick smile and introduced him ,Wrest to Neil . Wrest though didn't quite bother to smile. He looked at Neil oddly for a second or two before turning to his aunt and saying " A merry candle flame may dance, but then it flickers and dies when touched by the gentlest of winds.Farewell Miss. Glutton."

His aunt muttered "Stubborn git " under her breath while pulling Niel along. "That man always had a habit of saying strange things ,but nothing worth a rat's ass I'm sure." Neil couldn't help but feel weirded out, his aunt obviously seemed to know that man..."What does he do for a living ,aunt? His aunt blinked for a bit before telling Neil that the man was a doctor "of sorts" Neil frowned..after all , what was a doctor "of sorts" ,one either was a doctor or wasn't. Perhaps he was like the village healers in Incia, frauding the uneducated sick in the name of some strange god. Neil bit his lip,he really wanted to probe further but the stubborn look on his aunt's face told him that his questions will have to wait , unless he wanted a big fat scolding which would no doubt entertain anyone who chanced upon hearing it.

" T'was bright from where I lay

Knife at neck, buried in snow

T'was bright from where I lay

Faces staring, ill prepared to le'me go

T'was bright, blinding light

I needn't stumble no more

T'was bright from where I lay

A carved stone at my head

T'was bright from where I lay

In my tomb ,my bed....."

Great ...his aunt humming creepy poems was basically code for her telling him to shut up. It as an old habit , she usually started singing something creepy when she didn't want to hear what someone was saying. On that not so good note we entered the confines of the house. Spots ran up to Neil , wagging his tail ,sniffing about ,checking if Neil brought something for him. He was a spoilt dog all right, his spots, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

He was an extra son to his mother and an amazing younger brother to him.The one time his jerk of a father did raise his hand against him, Spots bit his ass so hard he could see him wince every time he sat for dinner for a whole week. Spots was just a big ball of fluff and love, albeit one that was quite impatient for a walk judging by the fact that he was sitting at the door with the leash in his mouth. 

Neil lead the dog out , chuckling to himself. He threw a little cookie at Spots, who all but happily caught and gobbled it. He looked up at the night sky , the starts were  shining bright while a little black cat sat at the side of the alley content with the stale fish it got for dinner. Not all moments in his life were good but simple, beautiful moments like this one, well ,they gave meaning to the rest.