Tawdry Little Affair {boyxboy}

Chapter Seventeen

The gelid tendrils of water lapped at the soft skin of the child, coaxing a giggle from him as he splashed about in the creek. He loved the water, loved the tranquillity. The other children were playing together closer to the bank, too afraid to immerse more than their little knees. Dante was out much further, on his own, with the water almost up to his shoulders.

"No further, Dante!" Parthenia called from her seat in the long grass, her only daughter perched in her lap. Bulah was petrified of the water, though her mother had no idea why. She was not too fond of Dante either. None of the other children were, it was as though they could sense there was something different in his soul.

Dante liked Parthenia, she had always been nice to him, always watched over him whilst his parents were away. Then again, Parthenia watched all the children when their parents were away, so surely that made her behaviour toward Dante nothing special.

The child took a deep breath and submerged his head as he sat down on the slippery rocks at his feet. The water was clear and the sounds of the other children giggling and playing were muffled through Dante's ears. Even the subtle burning of his lungs didn't bother the child.

He enjoyed being under the water, watching the bubbles float to the surface as he slowly released his breath. After a few seconds, Dante's ears popped and he began to hear low buzzing in his ears. He liked that noise, it was somewhat soothing to him.

Suddenly, the child's tiny body was lifted high out of the water and he was met with Parthenia's blazing green eyes. She looked furious, as she often did when she caught Dante doing something he was specifically told not to.

"What is wrong with you, child?!" Parthenia fumed, holding the soaking child away from her body, "you cannot breathe under there, why do you not understand that, Dante?!" the child's bottom lip quivered and his eyes grew watery, he didn't like to be shouted at, especially not when all the other children were staring at him with such disdain. Parthenia sighed, sitting Dante on her hip as she strode back to the banks and placed him in the grass to dry off.

"You are forbidden from going into the stream until you understand the dangers, do you hear me?" Parthenia lifted Bulah and sat next to the sopping child. Bulah's wide hazel eyes remained on Dante's own crystal blue ones, she may have been less than two years of age but she too, like the other children, already took to disliking the dripping 5-year-old.

"Yes," Dante whispered, pushing his damp hair from his face and glowering out across the calm waters. He was glad that the sun was looking down upon them from the cloudless sky that morning, had it been any colder and he may have begun to shiver.

It didn't take long for the child to dry off in the tepid climate, though he still watched with angered eyes as the other children were allowed to play in the cool stream. Having had enough of merely observing their fun, he allowed his gaze to wander. It drifted over the water and across the trees of the forest to his right, catching on something interesting.

A man was stood watching the child, leant against a tree, just peeking from the shadows. Though, that wasn't what intrigued the child. It was the deep red of the man's eyes and the two sharp teeth protruding over his bottom lip that peaked the child's attention.

"Parthenia, look," Dante turned and tugged on the woman's arm, pointing at the tree line. But when he looked back, the man had gone.

"Yes, Dante, that is the forest, you know you're not allowed in there just yet," Parthenia's smile was disinterested as her gaze returned to the other children. His brows knotted into a tiny frown as his eyes scanned the tree line over and over. The man had vanished. Dante glared down at his lap for a few moments before he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Instantly, his eyes went to the forest.