Gabriel was cold and stiff against the door, listening to every little sound his ears could detect. It had been hours since the mess in the clinic died down. He hadn't heard anything from his parents' room, Johan had been awfully quiet and didn’t bother to reach out to the clinic or to his own child.

How could anyone be blinded by the imposter, how blinded was he by his feelings? Did his mother sense the same thing as he did and denied it? What would Roy think if he stated such preposterous allegations, or anyone for that matter? What is he to do?

A light footfall trailed up the stairs then down the hall then a sudden stop. “Johan? Where are you going?” he heard his mother ask.

“I need to head out,” Johan responded.

“I… don’t you rather stay home with your family and rest…?” Grizelda suggested.

Johan chuckled, “the Ashfal needs me.”

“Johan, you must stay. You just got back home severely wounded,” Grizelda tried to reason.

“I am aware”. Gabriel could hear the smile in his tone.

“Did you even check on Gabriel? He missed you so much” Grizelda said with firmness.

“Oh, I am sure he did,” Johan chuckled. “But I tucked him in earlier. Now please, you’re in the way...”

Something vile rose in Gabriel’s throat. Perhaps it was the lie or the way his father spoke so rudely to his mother.

“Johan… you must be cautious, if people find out about Gabirel--” Grizelda tried to warn him but his father talked over her.

“I do not understand why you must keep the secret. I think it was foolish--”

Grizelda gasped and cut Johan off. “J-Johan…! If the witches find out they will go after him, and the Ashfall will have my head if they think I brought him back from the dead--”

“Grizelda, you are being hysterical…” Johan said. “Calm down, the people are feeble minded and thus should not even care about what they think. Perhaps, you should practice what you preach and try to be more intelligent before making such a drastic decision. Now if you excuse me,” he walked down the hall and staircase leaving the house.

Gabriel shifted as a knock on the door almost shook his soul from his body. “Gabriel..?” a gentle tone called to him. “May I come in…?”

The child hummed and made quiet steps towards the door to unlock it, “what’s going on…?” Gabriel changed his tone to sound groggy and rubbed his left eye. Taking a closer look, Grizelda looked disheveled and exhausted. She could barely keep her eyes open and she struggled to keep her smile.

“How are you feeling…?”

“I am fine mama, you should get some sleep…” Gabriel suggested. “You look very tired and I am sure tomorrow will be another difficult day for all of us…” the smaller Amesthyn wrapped his arms around her waist. His mother kneeled and held him close and covered his face in warm kisses.

“I love you sweet prince…” Grizelda said between kisses.

“I love you too, mama,” a flurry of giggles bubbled from his chest, soon the too separated and after their final wave goodnight, Gabriel closed the door to his room. The child leaned against the door and his eyes glanced towards the sack Roy left behind. Not that he had any reason to doubt his father in his word, but Gabriel needed to make sure his presence was one with the dark.

The child dug into the bag and held the blessed tunic, he had difficulties wearing the correct pieces in the right order but eventually he made sense of it. He grabbed his bag and filled it with his bible, his mother’s dagger, coins, and pieces of blank paper with charcoal. Making sure the little Amesthyn had all he needed, as he wrapped his cloak around his frame, he glanced out the window to catch his father walking down the path into the centerpiece of the city.

A sudden croak of ravens caught his attention. A massive raven stared at him intently and cocked its head towards the centerpiece of the city. Gabriel was confused and turned back to the city where he then noticed the foot tracks in the dirt each covered with black feathers.

Gabriel looked back at the raven who pecked at its own ruffled feathers. Gabriel lifted the window open, “...Crow…?”

The raven groaned before taking off into the forest. Gabriel looked around the dark city, very little people were about and no where close to his home. Like many times before, he climbed down his window and followed his father’s footsteps.

Following closely in the shadows, Johan went inside a closed shop called Doll Lockette. Through the window Gabriel saw Johan with another woman. His heart sank into the ground as they shared a tender kiss before heading to the back of the shop. “How could he…?” Gabriel’s mind rushed with illed thoughts, “mama….” The small boy whispered in somber tones. The cold burned the tip of his ears and his feet cramped uncomfortably in their boots.

Gabriel clutched his crucifix almost breaking it in half. Ever since his father jumped into the gulch his life spiralled into chaos. He thought he had lost his father in a mortal way, but perhaps he had lost him in a different way. For some reason it hurt more than losing a loved one to the after life.

How was he supposed to tell his mother what he saw? “Can I even tell her…?” The child thought for a long while as he hid in the alley.

Gabriel huffed in frustration and an icy chill prickled his lips. He looked and searched the alley, not sure for what but he found a door possibly leading into the shop. The smallest Amesthyn turned and pulled at the knob but it was locked.

“Right…” Gabriel sighed, suddenly he heard the click from the front door. Gabriel’s heart almost burst from his chest as the door creaked open. A raven hung upside down from the handle as it pecked at its feathers. It croaked, “Crow?” as if mimicking Gabriel earlier and floaked over and perched on his shoulder.

The little one walked in quietly and carefully. The first thing that greets him is the gathering of unfinished dolls. Some were missing specific parts, some were still unassembled, and many were broken.

Gabriel had this nagging sensation he was being watched and it wasn’t for the fact he was staring intently at them he could swear he saw traces of aura surrounding the dolls.

A sound caught his ears, like a strained groan or moan. He stepped in further in the workshop and reached a hallway. To the right of the hallway was the front of the workshop. There was a door in front of Gabriel and he suppressed his foot falls and turned the knob ever so slowly avoiding any sound he could make.

The door now opened, Gabriel sees a bedroom fit for a princess. A girl laid on a canopy bed with flowers trailing down the sheer curtains. Her aura was very faint, not wanting to disturb her slumber he closed the door.

To his left he sees another door cracked open with a dim light. The sounds of moaning and groaning were getting louder. Inching closer, Gabriel peeked through the cracked door. He sees his father over another woman thrusting his hips into her. He had covered her mouth with his hand to maybe muffle the sounds.

Gabriel felt his ears, hands and feet prickled with cold needles as his core froze with ire. Gabriel had seen enough and walked down the hallway to the front of the workshop and from his bag he grabbed a piece of charcoal and wrote on the floor “You most of all should know adultery is a sin… May your days be few, imposter.”

Gabriel unlocked the door with the keys he found on the counter drawer and wrote on the step, “Burn the Hex.”

The smallest Amesthyn stared inside the workshop towards the cracked door stuck in a daze. He exhaled and a gust of cold breeze carried through the workshop, the moisture froze into small ice clusters in the air and slowly clinged to the walls.

He could hear them getting louder, the woman screamed his name with a loud moan. Gabriel closed his hands into a tight fist and inhaled sharply and the door ajared closed loudly.

The front door of the workshop was wide open with frozen hinges. Gabriel trembled from the cold despite how warm it may have been that season.

Gabriel, with anger pooling his frozen core wandered off back to his home.

Looking up at his massive home, he now noticed how lonely and empty it really felt. His mother was slowly hollowed into a shell of a woman, his father wasn’t there to keep them together. His mother is a strong woman on her own, but she is still a woman to the eyes of the city.

Her spouse, her soulmate saw her as his eternal companion and Gabriel was certain that his father was somewhere in the Gulch…

The small child turned to the DarkWood forest, he had wondered there before in the dead of night and he is sure he can do it again.

He turned his head to the raven on his shoulder who was too busy picking at its feathers.

“You will keep me company… right?”

“That depends…”

Gabriel almost dropped to his knees, he turned his head seeing none other than Grizelda dressed in her nightgown and layered robes.

“You promised you wouldn’t leave the house...” the midwife said. “Where do you think you are going…?”

“... to find father,” Gabriel responded.

“But he came back…”

The child turned back towards the forest and flicked his hooded cloak to shake off any ice stuck to the wool. “That is an imposter. Until I see him or his remains I won’t change my mind.”

Grizelda turned the child towards her and kneeled. They locked eyes for a while and the midwife wiped the frozen trails of ice from Gabriel’s glazed eyes with her thumbs.

“Whatever you witnessed is breaking you…” Grizelda said with a grim expression.

“Having someone so close to you, someone you missed so much… it’s like an illusion and it really hurts… I just want my father back… Having a shadow take his place is killing me...” Gabriel said softly in an attempt to keep his sanity together. “I don’t know how anyone can think he is Johan Amesthyn so easily…”

“I am so sorry…” Grizelda choked on her tears. “I really wanted to have faith… I wanted Johan back so bad I carelessly brought a demon in… Forgive me…”

Gabriel slowly lifted his arms and wrapped them tightly around her, “I wanted to live in the lie too… I miss him…”

Grizelda moved away to wipe her tears with the back of her hand. “We can find him together. We’re not alone…”