George was sweating during the night. His body twitched and turned as he slept. There was a clear expression of fear on his face. The moon shone through the window of his mansion. The light hit him, illuminating his fearful face. Suddenly his eyes opened. His eyes had tears in them.

“What is this feeling?” He asked himself.

He had felt it before, but he could not recall when or why. Somehow he felt as if a piece of his soul had been ripped away. He tried to step out of his bed but fell on the floor. He simply couldn’t muster any strength. A feeling of helplessness arose from within George’s stomach. He knew something was wrong.

“What happened?”

He looked to his side and saw a piece of paper illuminated by the moonlight. He picked up the paper. His eyes scanned the contents.

“This is the paper where I wrote my dream on!” He exclaimed.

He read it thoroughly.

‘There’s something different.’ He thought.

Somehow the dream he just had was different from the dream he had experienced previously. He tried his best to recall what had happened in the dream he just experienced, but he simply could not remember anything.

He began to feel slightly light headed. His eyes slowly closed and his consciousness faded. He fell asleep.

He awoke in a different world, but a world he recognised all too well. The sun shone upon a small field deep within the dark forest. Within it was a small wooden cabin. George knew this view well, but there was definitely something different.

The evil witch was not there, nor was the child.

“HAHAHAHA” A raspy voice screamed from the cabin “Your eyes are mine!”

George immediately rushed towards the cabin. He was like a spirit as he shot over the field. He barged through the door and saw a horrid sight. The stench of blood was unbearable.

He saw a blood covered table. He saw the mutilated and tortured body of the red eyed child lying upon the bloody table. His clothes were stained red. His body mutilated. Only half of his fingers were still attached to his body, the rest lay in a bloody puddle on the wooden floor.

The most horrifying part was the head of the red eyed child. The small lantern within the cabin revealed the completely detached head. It was as if he had been bitten by a beast.

George tried to throw up, but in his current form he could do nothing. He could merely stare at the bloody scene. It reminded him of crime scenes he had seen in his old world. But even when he worked as a police officer he had seen nothing like this. He looked at the witch. He never knew that such a twisted and frightful creature existed, or maybe he just refused to believe it. From his experience he knew that the creature had done extra mutilations to the poor child’s body even after his head was detached. It was a sickening sight, amplified by the gruesome nature of such a creature.

George did not know what to do. His heart felt empty and ripped away, somehow he felt as if a piece of him had died as well. He collapsed on the ground in and just lied there.

The witch couldn’t see him, and she simply continued with her operation.

“Those eyes…” She murmured “They still sparkle with hope for tomorrow…”

She sounded dissatisfied.

“Let’s throw that hope away!” She screamed while laughing.

Her talon-like fingers pushed into the skin around one of the child’s eyes.

George could not bear the sight of the talons piercing through child’s eyes, but he could not look away. His head was stuck in place, and he had to endure the torturous sight and sound. Like a feral creature she lunged at the eyes. It was as if the eyes were a godlike treasure, but it seemed more like a tiger after a long time without food. She was bloodthirsty and the eyes were her first meal in years. If one were to ignore the current implications of the situation one might consider it a provocative work of art.

However, George did not see it as art. He could only stand and stare. He could hear the sound of talons entering the poor child’s skin. It was like sticking a knife into butter, it penetrated the skin with no resistance.

His mind felt numb. He couldn’t think anymore. He genuinely felt as if a part of him had been ripped away, and, in a way, he couldn’t really comprehend the situation.

Somehow his mind focused on something. He began to hear a song within his head. It was a song he knew. It was a song that he had heard and sang so many times. He felt a warm feeling come over him as the song appeared in his head, and unknowingly he began to sing along.

As he sang the detached eyes of the child began to glow. They shone with a beautiful scarlet light. The room lit up. The dark and evil shadows of the witch danced in the red light. George felt the light encase him and his soul. It held him as he shivered and cried in fear. It comforted him even when it seemed everything had been ripped away. It protected that which was good and destroyed that which was evil.

The witch could not react in time, and the light encased her as well. However, it did not hug her. The witch screamed as the light touched her. It was as if an acid had touched her skin. She slowly melted until there was nothing left, other than a puddle of remains on the wooden floor of the cabin.

George looked up and saw the detached eyes of the child hovering in the air, looking at him. He felt that there was intelligence behind the eyes, as if it wanted to say something. He suddenly heard a voice in his head.

“George, the child can be saved.” The ethereal voice said.

It was not that George did not want to respond, but rather that he couldn’t. He felt an unbearable pressure when faced with such an entity.

“Donate a part of your soul,” The ethereal voice said “and you can save the child.”

George stared blankly at the red eyes.

“You will not die, but you will be weaker.” The voice said “Well?”

George nodded. He did not know why he responded this way, but it simply felt like the only thing he could and should do in the situation.

“Thank you.” The voice said “Your actions will not be forgotten.”

George suddenly felt a strange sort of pain. It struck the depths of his stomach. He felt as if the wind had been kicked out of him. He tried to breathe, but no air came in or out. What did come out was a thick substance. It felt like someone was pulling a clump of long hairs out from his stomach.

Eventually the thick substance had fully been pulled out. George expected to be feeling worse, but he actually felt fairly good. He felt perfectly fine.

The thick substance floated in the air. The eyes looked at it and it immediately split into thin hairs. The hairs floated towards the child and all the detached and attached body parts. In a Frankenstein-like scene the child’s body was repaired. Everything was sown back together using the thin hairs. After a few minutes the child looked like an old teddy bear, which had been repaired a hundred times. Luckily, the hairs disappeared into the skin and he looked as he would normally again.

The ethereal eyes shot back into the eye sockets of the child. George looked at the child in shock. It was as if nothing had ever happened.

George saw the world in front of him fade into darkness, and his body fell asleep.

Samuel woke up in an unfamiliar place.

“Where am I?” He asked himself as he looked around “I can’t see anything…”

Darkness enveloped the world around him. There was a complete absence of light. In the dark room Samuel contemplated his situation. He was afraid of the world around him. It was unknown, and unknown could mean danger. However, Samuel understood that simply sitting and waiting for something to happen would be just as useless as dying. He groaned as he stood up. In shock at his own inability he fell over, his head hitting the hardwood floor.

He tried to move his hands, but his body felt so tired. It was as if his entire body had been ripped apart and rebuilt. He lay on the floor in despair. He understood how truly helpless he was in his current situation.

He wallowed in his own misfortune.

“God! I feel like shit!” He screamed in anger.

He did not fully understand what he said or why he said it, but the anger he relieved while saying it was enough to push him to stand up.

His legs were weak and wobbly as he tried his best to stand. It was as if someone had punched his legs repeatedly, but he was still forced to stand. However, it was not just his legs. His entire body felt bruised and painful.

Even his eyes felt strange. There was something different about them, but he could not pinpoint exactly what. He lifted his feeble arms and felt his eyes.

“What!?” He exclaimed in shock.

He did not feel eye, but instead he felt skin. His eyes were closed the entire time. A sense of insecurity came over him. It was all too strange. His body was weak, and he couldn’t even open his eyes willingly anymore. He could only pray that none of the physical effects would remain.

He forced his eyelids open with his fingers. For the first time he could get a clear look at where he was.

He could see that the room was tenebrous. Shadows covered most of the corners of the space, but as his eyes adjusted he saw a horrifying scene transcend before him. The room was red, but it was not originally so. It had been painted as such, but not by traditional methods. He connected the strange smell with the sight before him. It was blood. It was not red paint or dye, but rather it was the most sinister of all reds. Somehow Samuel knew that this was not blood taken willingly.

Samuel felt dirty just by being in the room. Just by being able to smell, see, and touch the blood made him feel sick. He quickly scanned the room for an exit. Even in the absence of light he could identify a door.

He walked towards the door as quickly as he could, but before he reached it he stepped in something. He looked to the ground and saw ash. It was a dark purple ash. Samuel felt as if he was familiar with the ash, but he could not think about any ash he was particularly close with. However, he did feel that the ash was evil in some way.

Samuel scanned the room for one last time, but he couldn’t find anything else so he decided to leave. He placed his hand on the handle of the door and twisted it. The door opened. A sea of light flooded into the room. It temporarily blinded him, but he did not mind it. The light destroyed the dark, and the unknown was gone. All was revealed, and Samuel could finally relax.

When his eyes adjusted to the light he was greeted with a familiar sight.

“This is the field.” He mumbled to himself as he stepped outside.

Thoughts rushed through his mind.

‘What on earth happened?’ He thought to himself.

He looked at the area around him. It was the same as always, but there was something different. The hostile feeling of the witch was gone. It was just a normal field.

His mind had a sudden flashback. He could remember himself facing and speaking to the witch. He remembered how he was in the field before, but what had happened afterwards?

He looked on the ground and saw a trail of blood. He had a terrifying suspicion that it might be his own. He swallowed his fears and followed the trail of blood to the edge of the field. It led him to the very edge of the field.

He inspected the ground. The blood trail had abruptly stopped. His eyes panned over the ground. He found a familiar book and coin lying at the end of the blood trail.

Samuel picked up the book.

“Possessing Creatures: Basic Manual” He read without hesitation.

He shocked himself. Somehow he read it much faster than normal. Before he would read by splitting words into syllables and letters, but now it was almost as if the words were like images and he recognised them immediately. He hid the book in his clothes.

Samuel knew that this was the book he had brought to the field when he went to go to the witch. He felt a shiver run down his spine. An image of the witch flashed through his mind. He fell to his knees in fear. He recalled an image of the witch opening her mouth as she lunged at him.

He began to panic.

“What happened to me!?” He screamed.

It was the second time he had asked the question, but he simply could not understand anything.

Why was he still alive? Where was the witch?

A sound suddenly broke his train of thought.

He jumped up.

‘Is it the witch?’ He thought.

However, as the sound got closer he realised that there were two people talking.

“Where is he?” A female voice said.

Samuel was too far away to hear it clearly.

“I don’t know…” The male voice responded.

The voices seemed familiar to Samuel, but they were too far away to make out who they were.

The voices got louder and louder as the people got closer to Samuel. Suddenly, two people emerged from the woods and stepped into the field.

Samuel looked at the two people, and they looked at him.

The woman smiled beautifully at him.

“Mother! Father!” Samuel shouted in joy.

He ran towards them, forgetting about his frail body.

They both smiled and hugged him.

“You know…” Richard said “It’s quite incredible that you killed the witch.”

Samuel jerked.

“H-How do you know about that?” He asked.

“Everyone knows about the witch.” Evelina said “Why do you think children are not allowed into the forest?”

Samuel was confused.

“Samuel, unfortunately this confirms some suspicions your mother and I have had.” Richard said.

Samuel looked at them in slight fear.

“What suspicions?” He asked.

Evelina’s expression turned serious.

“We’ve had suspicions that you weren’t quite like other children.” She said.

Richard nodded in agreement.

“We think it’s best that you leave the town.” Richard said “Before the townspeople see you as a demon.”

Samuel didn’t understand what was happening. He looked up at his parents.

“Am I a demon?” He asked while crying.

Evelina smiled.

“Maybe.” She said “But you’re our little demon.”

She ruffled his hair.

Samuel didn’t know how to feel.

“What do you mean I should leave the town?” He asked his parents.

“We have been thinking about this for a while.” Richard said “We decided that if something strange happens we would send you to live with your grandparents.”

Samuel remembered the picture in the basement.

“My grandparents?” He asked.

Evelina nodded.

She knelt down and pinched his cheek.

“Don’t worry.” She said “We will meet again.”

Samuel looked up at his parents.

“What do you mean?” He asked in confusion and fear.

A red circle appeared behind him. The ground it encased disappeared into pure darkness.

“We’ll meet again in a couple years.” Richard said as he pushed Samuel into the circle.

Samuel fell into the darkness. It swallowed him and his consciousness. And once again he was in surrounded by the thing he was so afraid of: pure darkness.