Tony Walker

it was neither he nor his friends but some peculiar new creation not unlike the creation in his dream he touched his face unable to scream as his mouth simply refused to utter a sound he felt a strange urge to go outside and took some clothes from his wardrobe put them in a bag and sneaked quietly out

The moon shone brightly as he walked down the street, feeling a compass guiding him specifically.

He walked miles and miles, seeing the streets lit by the moon's glow, shadows moving where no figures dwelt, and a sense of eerie familiarity in a twilight world.

Matthew found his destination.

A park!

not unlike the one in his dream.

He sat down on a bench as he waited, a clock ticking in his mind.

Across the park a light turned on in a house opposite.

The blinds were drawn open and a young boy stared at him.

The two exchanged much in that glance as the young boy stared at him.

This was the son of the boy, now a man he had fought all those years ago, the final key to the mystery.

he entered the home and crept upstairs to the sleeping parents he waggled a finger at the young boy who stared at him from the bedroom door so as not to approach and the young boy obeyed as if by some unknown magical law standing still like a statue

He entered the room and found the two sleeping figures blissful as sleeping babes.

He smiled, knowing what to do, an instinct as natural as breathing.

He crept over them in bed like a panther, sniffing each one, before raising his arm over them as if flinging over a cape, and a shadow grew over them both, obscuring them from view as he went to work, the same gurgling sound from the dream, now present as all else was still.

The boy remained motionless next door as if in a trance until he finished.

Both figures appeared drained like corpses.

He watched them evaporate.

As this happened his face began to change, merging with their swirling faces to form the new being once more.

His stature changed slightly and he walked out clicking his fingers as the young boy suddenly came out of the trance and ran to see his parents gone.