They Came In Hoodies

Chapter 6: Not Concerned

Look out for the <>!

Grayson's POV

I looked at my arm and frowned at the green paste covering the black wound that the beast gave me. "Will this be done healing already?" I asked Else who worked in the kitchen on some other task, giving no attention to me and the healing process of the paste.

"Just give it a moment more Gray," she said as she ground something that smelt like rust in a mortar and pestle. "You should have called me as soon as this happened. Because you waited a day to call for help, the healing will take longer."

I knew that, but she scolded me as if there wasn't a good reason why I didn't call her. She was on a trip far away with the royal family of Churchwell and it was important that she gave that trip her full attention. We all had our own jobs, and she had hers to fill, just like I had mine. Calling her away from those meetings would have just thrown a kink in our jobs. I was just closing the gate; I wasn't supposed to fight monsters from the Churchwell realm.

"You're lucky I came home when I did. If I took another day..."

"I know what another day would mean," I frowned at her, stopping her from finishing the subject. The beast that attacked me was called a Darkling and they were the most dangerous creatures in the Churchwell realm. Their shadowy figure made it hard to hunt them in the night and they were as fast as a wild car and as powerful as a bear and deadly poisonous. Just a scratch from them caused the immune system to go into wreck, making your veins turn to fire. And after a few days of agonizing pain, the poison would finally get to the heart and kill you.

The last 14 hours had put me through so much pain, but this wasn't the first time I had been attacked by a Darkling. Memories of being a young child wondering through the woods of the Churchwell realm popped into my mind so quickly, I couldn't push them away. They came out of nowhere back then too; I was just glad my father was there to fight them off. 

I knew how dangerous they were. But I knew Else would come back so there wasn't much to worry about. I could deal with pain for a few hours, after all, it wasn't the worst thing I had to experience.

"But I still had another day," I said, reminding her I still had time before the poison killed me. Right before Else came into our small house, all I remembered the terrible pain, wishing for it all to end.

"You can't walk on the edge like this, Gray. I don't know what you are trying to prove there."

"I'm not trying to prove anything," I retorted a little too quickly.

"You don't have to be like this," she sighed as she rubbed her temples as if I gave her a headache, although I think I normally did. She never enjoyed caring for me, it was just something she was called to do and she stepped up to the plate. 

Before this calling, she was right hand to the Royal Family of Churchwell. She was constantly traveling and meeting important people, but after my father died, they asked her to keep an eye on me. I still wasn't sure why they asked her out of all people, but she didn't question it and right away assumed the position of a foster mother.

I rubbed my eyes in exhaustion, knowing we had these kinds of conversations before. She would never understand my mindset. She would never understand the pressure I put on myself. I wouldn't have to prove anything if my father was a nobody. But at the top of his game, he was some super star, and I felt like I needed to be just a talented at half his age. If I proved myself, then maybe people wouldn't feel so bad for me all the time.

Before this turned into another argument, I looked away from her and poked my wound. My mind flew back to getting attacked, and it caused me to shutter as I remembered looking into his dark eyes. The shadowy beast towered over me as I laid on the ground after one of it's claws sliced through my arm.