World Eater

37

SARIEL WAS NUMB.

His brain couldn't even process it. He had never experienced loss, not like this. He stared at the paramedic, legs trembling.

It started very slowly, a bitter claw wrapped around his throat, choking his air supply.

Alzar was dead.

Sariel’s heart started to race. Was the room spinning? Emotion bubbled at his surface, begging to be released.

He was dead.

“He’s...gone…” Sariel whispered, and it was as if floodgates had opened. He covered his face, loud, painful sobs causing his torso to shake.

Sariel stumbled, and the paramedic caught him by the shoulders. The room around him had melted into nothing. His brain only registered the wooden paneling in front of him, and the smell of death.

He wondered if that's what Alzar smelled like.

He wondered where his body was.

Another violent wave of crying. The hands on his shoulders were firm. Sariel couldn’t fight him. He was being escorted out of the gym, away from where his son must be. Somewhere under a tarp. Dead.

“Please wait here, sir.” A voice cut through the ringing in ears. He was in front of the school, under the awning. He hadn't realized he had moved this far. The paramedic led him to the bench, where several over parents were seated.

Sariel ran his fingers through his hair, tugging at it in messy clumps. He was wheezing and screaming, face red and his clothes soaked from the rain.

Alzar was the only family he had. And now he was gone.

Sariel cut his eyes to the side. A couple had scooted away from him, silently consoling each other. They held their noses up to Sariel as they stared down at him, almost like he was an inconvenience.