"Stop... please-stop!"
But the fire didn't listen.
It cracked and roared, alive with fury. Smoke curled like spirits in the air, swallowing the walls in flames. And through it all, a man dragged a screaming child toward the basement.
The boy's face was soaked in tears. His fingernails clawed at the floor, leaving trails of blood on the wooden panels. But the man didn't stop. He didn't hear. Or maybe-he didn't care.
Gulf didn't know what hurt more-the fire behind them... or the hands pulling him forward.
---
A Few Hours Earlier
"Gulf, are you hungry?"
Mew's voice was soft as he crouched down beside the small boy. "Here. Eat."
The child looked up, his eyes wide, broken.
"Mew..." Gulf whispered. His voice cracked as his lip trembled. Then-tears. Heavy, silent tears. "Why does my family hate me? Where's my dad...? I miss Mom so much..."
He was only eight.
And yet his voice carried the weight of lifetimes.
Before Mew could answer, the door creaked open behind them.
A shadow loomed in the doorway.
"Mew!" the man snapped. His voice was sharp-like a whip in the dark. "What the hell are you doing in here?! How many times have I told you it's forbidden to come here?!"
The boy flinched. "No, Dad, please-I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! Please don't hurt him-please, don't touch him!"
Mew dropped to his knees, begging.
But the man's eyes were cold. Unfeeling.
He grabbed Gulf by the arm-tight enough to leave bruises-and yanked him out of the room like trash being taken out. Gulf didn't resist. He was used to it.
Mew's hands trembled. He could still hear the heavy footsteps echoing down the hall. He knew what came next. He always knew.
Gulf is going to be beaten again...
He pressed his hands to his face, trying to block out the world. But the guilt... the guilt crept in like smoke under a door.
How can I stop this? How can I save him?
He had tried calling the police once before. They did nothing. After the officers left, Gulf almost died. There were no bruises they could prove. No evidence. Just silence.
For six years, Gulf had suffered.
Six years of being treated like a disease.
Six years of sleeping in the mansion's cold, rotting basement, while his so-called uncle-the man meant to protect him-treated him worse than a stray dog.
But today... something changed.
Mew found courage in his fear.
He called Gulf's real father.
And he told him everything.
Every bruise. Every scream. Every night spent in that basement. The truth spilled from Mew like blood from a wound-because he couldn't let it happen anymore. Not again.
---
That evening, the world shifted.
A car pulled into the driveway.
It wasn't just Gulf's father.
It was him-and the police.
Mew's father stood frozen in the foyer. At first, he thought it was nothing. He had evaded punishment before. Bribed his way through the law.
But then he saw who had returned.
And fear cracked across his face like lightning.
He bolted.
Straight to the boy.
Not to protect him-but to use him.
To hide behind him. To run with him. To turn the child into a shield.
But this time... Gulf wasn't helpless.
The boy's eyes burned-not with fear, but with something else. Something ancient. Something wrong.
His pupils were wide, his lips whispering something too low to hear. He moved like someone sleepwalking through rage.
And then-
The fire came.
Gulf lit the match himself.
The curtains caught first. Then the floor. Then the stairs.
He didn't look back.
He didn't flinch.
His uncle screamed-but Gulf's eyes didn't blink.
They were dark. Cold. Inhuman.
Like a demon had borrowed the body of a child.
Mew's father lunged for him, trying to escape the flames. He grabbed Gulf by the wrist, trying to pull him into the basement. Maybe to hide. Maybe to trap him.
They never made it.
A sharp crack echoed through the burning hall.
Blood hit the floor.
Someone had struck Mew's father from behind-hard enough to kill him instantly.
Then silence.
Then only fire.
---
They said Gulf was saved that night.
But Mew never believed it.
Because something else had survived too.
Not just the boy...
But the thing that had climbed out of him.
---
Later That Night
"I didn't know..." the therapist said years later, voice barely above a whisper. "You said the name Kana appeared after the fire?"
Mew nodded. He didn't look up.
"Yes. That's when the others started too. But Kana... Kana was the first."
"Dissociative Identity Disorder," the woman murmured. "A fractured mind-splintered to survive what no child should ever endure."
"But you don't understand," Mew said, voice suddenly trembling. "Kana isn't just a personality. He's... something else. I've seen his eyes. Felt the air change when he's near."
He paused, looking out the window.
The city lights blinked back at him.
"He doesn't just borrow Gulf's body. He lives in it."
And far away-in a room where the mirror had no reflection-
a whisper echoed.
"Next time... I'll burn more than the house."
YOU ARE READING
Heal Me
Romance-Everything will be OK, I promise, if it's necessary I will sleep with you in same room, same bed, keep your hand all night, I will take care of everything, I will never let you down nong, I promise so let's go home please. Mew said while a tear fal...
