The Final Chapter: Tender Walks The Demon

Chapter Five

Chapter 5

Kimberley, so broken between the stage of grief. She figured her life was in a matter of being pieced together, especially in her sense of coming to comfort with her husband's death. Through her sorrows, she tried hard to put Ben behind and focus on her and Brian, her only son. Lately those opportunities of being a normal family turned quickly within a couple of days. Every step she would make, physically or mentally, it would bring her back into that moment in the car, hitting the one person she loved beside her son. Haunted by what she thought was Ben, it came for, not only her, but for her son to create a catastrophic hell.

"Mum!" Brian shouted. He escaped Derek's protective arms to run straight toward his mother, suffering from the pain the demon bestowed upon her.

Derek calmed himself before giving a quick look at her, spotting her tears running down her cheek. Brian held her hand tightly, hoping that would comfort the moment. Kimberley fought hard to withstand the fright in her eyes but the both of them saw it. They couldn't resist the urge of being scared from the demon's frightening image. Each step made the ground shake violently.

"She's injured!" he exclaimed, scared beyond measure. He looked at Derek for assistance. "What do we do?"

In all honesty, Derek was full out of ideas. Clearly running at the demon wasn't wise. If Martin wasn't a plain example then surely Kimberley was. Caressing her leg to put it back in place would trigger her screams.

The closer the demon became, the more the atmosphere grew dull. The dark colored blended in with the brights. They swirled into the darkness above, being sucked in by a small opening of the unknown. Derek clenched on Brian's shoulder while staring into the abyss of vanishing colors. Feeling the deep stomps of the ground echoing throughout his body, he searched, praying for somewhere safe to run into.

To his surprise, he forgot about the house that was still patched with paint from behind the creature.

"Brian listen!" Derek spoke in a frightened, fast manner. "I need you to try something for a minute. Close your eyes."

Brian took in a deep breath, unsure of what the outcome would do.

"Why?"

"Do you trust me, Brian?"

Those words sounded familiar to him. The words muffled into his ears and wouldn't escape. Flashes from the past only made him more upset and nothing nostalgic. It all had the same meaning from when his father was there. The day before his death.

"Do you?" Derek repeated, reaching out his hand.

Brian nodded for only one reason. He didn't want to view the monster that was two inches from their facade. Though his mind wasn't as in place as it should have, he immediately shut them, pressing hard as if they were the doors to his room when he would come home from school. Nothing but the black hole escalating his view.

Derek began to kneel down and whisper soothingly into Brian's left ear.

"When was the last time you and your mom spent together with your father?"

Kimberley snatched the arm of Derek, hoping his mind would drift away from the importance of the situation. Her eyes grew weary and the pain didn't cease quickly as she hoped. Being in the mind of her gifted child was something astonishing but she never expected an experience as such as this one. Lying in the dream of her baby was treacherous and weird. The thought of adding Ben to the mix, especially after the order of events that have occurred, was truly a suicide to her and she wanted no part of that right now.

"Is that a good idea?" she questioned, softly weeping from the inside.

"A memory is as precious as it can be. You just have to make it feel good on the inside."