Beyond Darkness

Gravel and Grunting

Michael~

Michael didn't know how long he had been walking but he was exhausted. He should've planned an escape route through the forest too. At least the path they had been walking felt worn out so it had to lead somewhere.

They finally arrived at the road but slowly walking on the side of asphalt as to avoid stepping on to gravel was not going well. Michael halted, he felt that distinct watch on him again. Luckily he spotted a large rock, hurrying he wobbled there or whatever you might want to call that walk. Michael placed Orion on the road. He then proceeded to lift his shirt to assess any damage to the gauze or worse the sutures.

His fingers carefully started tracing Orion's torso. Light but firmly. As his fingers traced Orion's ribs and slowly dipped lower trailing to his abdomen, Michael felt uneasy. Eager. The faint moonlight didn't make it any better, Orion's pale skin contracted with that of the now faded earthly skin of Michael's. Ignoring the swell in Michael's chest, he inspected the gauze as best as he could, But as he couldn't feel anything out of place, he sighed with relief. Lowering the flimsy t-shirt made Michael a bit sad. He wished to prod more. Feel more. Assess more. Question…more.

“Why did you come after me?” he whispered.

He positioned himself against the rock and pulled Orion closer, hugging him close, Michael closed his eyes and felt him slipping. He let the sleep takeover.

"Mikhael..!" A soft voice called out, he looked in the direction of the voice. There came running a small toddler chanting his name, her caramel hair bouncing with her jumps and plastered herself on to his legs. He looked at her with adoration as she blabbered on about how their older brother had given her his candy. He smiled and picked her up. She shoved her little fingers in his face and he playfully took him in his mouth as to bite them off. The girl screamed and smacked his face. "OW" He pretended to be hurt and pouted at her. The girl's smile turned to a frown and she placed a kiss where she smacked. He started laughing and then tickled her. They were laughing as they were joined by their elder brother.

"Mikhael..." The same voice was now feeble, The small hands that had gripped his fingers were now matured, but blood stained. the same caramel hair was now matted with blood, With a pained smile and a last wish...she was gone... As she closed her eyes there was an explosion near them, throwing him away and before he could regain his sight, the house was up in flames...

"Mikhael.."

Michael woke up with a start, he hadn't had this dream in years. Maybe it was the exhaustion. He sighed and tightened his hold on Orion, he had no idea what time it was and when they would be able to get to safety. Maybe they could get a lift from someone, however it was impossible for anyone to trust two men, bare feet when one of them was knocked out cold.

Michael was surprised by screeching of tyres and frustrated screaming. He slowly peered over the rock and saw a man screaming at someone over the phone. He slowly got up and called out to the man and went near him. The man was startled at first but then acted civil enough that made Michael instill trust.

Then Michael explained to that man that why were they out here, in the middle of nowhere. Of course Michael eliminated the details and made up a story about getting their car stolen, But why were they bare feet? Michael just laughed. The man introduced himself as Jacob Spieler. It took Michael a second but he recognized the man right away.

“Mr. Spieler, Surely you don’t remember me?”

Jacob turned to him and shook his head. “Forgive me, I don’t recall.” Michael smiled and searched his pockets for his Id. Michael had always had this habit of keeping his ID card on him especially his hospital Id as he had a situation once where he ran in nothing but scrubs to get a med pack from his car which at that moment was parked in a different parking lot, Little far from the hospital. Since there was an asylum nearby, he was surrounded by some security guards and he couldn't prove that he wasn't a patient trying escape, rather he was a doctor who, didn't have ID and who couldn't get his car door to open as it was a second hand. Fun times. He was lucky that a fellow resident had spotted him and rescued him from that situation.

Not to mention that there were several attempts by the junior nurses in trying to scare Michael when he was on rounds. At first it was unpredictable but then he did get chance to pull pranks too. They were let off by a warning from the Director of the hospital. Now they just met in the halls and made weird gestures to each other.

He handed the card to Jacob and without a beat Jacob’s form relaxed and he exclaimed, “Doctor Angel!” He stepped close and wrapped an arm around Michael. He smelled fresh, clean. It made Michael self conscious about his own state. That was that and now Michael was in Jacob’s car, driving to his estate with Orion nestled in his lap.

He could not believe his fate, well in actuality he really did not believe in fate but he was happy that now they weren't stranded in the middle of nowhere after escaping a house full of bad guys, and the fact that it had killed Michael's baby roses. Atleast they were alive. He doubted Orion was. He leaned in to check and yes, he was breathing. Wow he thought. Even after being thrown as a log all over he looked okay.