The sweat dripping from the matted mass of his oily hair stung his eyes, along with the tears that were beginning to come up… He could hardly breathe…his breath came in short gasps…the mob had disappeared ages ago…he clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to find a solid grip… He fought back the aching pressure building in his cheast, and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to minimize his pain… He ran his small hand along his dark purple side…a large welt had formed, the pain of his touch made his eyes burst… He fell to his knees, giving in to the increasing tension, and felt it slowly make its way up to his dry throat… His whole skinny body shook with a chorus of choking sobs… The inside of his burlap mask scratched against his wet face, and made his tears even more salty, and the salt ran in the shallow scratches made by the worn cloth… But he didn’t dare take it off… There was no hope… he had nowhere to go… No one wanted him…
His head shot up, a hand…a cool, clean, white hand… It ran along the top of his head…the burlap rubbed against the length of his face as it slid off of him…The fingers…sharp and monstrous…they ran across his brow, gently wiping the dirt and grease away… It was clean when it was taken away from his scarred face… His stinging eyes met the gaze of a single yellow orb…The black slit fell on him, and smiled… The tension released…slowly…his fists unclenched…and his fingers stretched to meet those of the being…
He followed the glow wherever it would lead him…Through the darkness; into the catacombs…He never left its gaze… The darkness waned as he made his way deeper and deeper into it… The comforting glow faded with it… He looked up to see where it had gone…looked to either side of him…behind him…nothing… He stared straight ahead…a bed… Every step towards it felt lighter than the last… He was reaching out, as though expecting the whole scene to vanish, and he be back where he was…staring ahead through cold, iron bars…harsh laughter from adults and screams from small children…
His fingers wrapped around a fold…It was soft and velvet like… He had only felt that once, when he had had the chance to caress the curtain of a circus tent…held up to the bars of his parked cage by an unseen force… He held the blanket close to his emaciated cheast, and allowed its warmth to circulate through his entire weakened form… His body was lifted carefully, placed under the sheet, and set down as her bony fingers slid out from under his tender back…
“Sleep well tonight…”
The flickering of the candle caught the glow of her eye…its brightest shine almost as white as her slender face. A soft whisper from between her fangs extinguished the burning wick into a charred, black string…Wisps of smoke rose from it and became as black as the darkness…rising into the stone ceiling… She faded with them, and became part of the masonry…