World Eater

51

“AL!” SARIEL SOBBED, THROWING HIS ARMS AROUND HIS NEPHEW'S SKINNY SHOULDERS.

Alzar was exactly how Sariel remembered him. Locks of ash-brown hair fell haphazardly around his face, and two dark green eyes gazed at him from pale sockets. It was like Alzar had never left the house, like the weeks of living hell Sariel had been condemned never happened.

Sariel seemed to melt into Alzar’s shoulder, letting his weight fall on him. Alzar silently held him by the waist, his expression unreadable.

“I thought you were dead, Al,” Sariel whispered, at a loss for words. Thousands of things swirled in his mind, but his tongue couldn't utter them.

He forced out three words, the only ones that really mattered: “I love you.”

“I love you too, Uncle.” Alzar’s voice was hollow.

“The police!” Sariel said, looking up, “They still think you're a missing person! Just stand right there, okay? Then I'll make some dinner. You must be starving.”

Alzar stood in the center of the kitchen, solemnly watching Sariel as he pressed his cellphone against his ear. Alzar was usually quiet, but something struck Sariel as odd. Was he injured?

“Mr. Lorne?”

“It's about Alzar. He’s come home,” Sariel rasped, tears of pure joy streaming down his face.

“Are you serious? Can you bring him by the station? We need to ask him some questions.”

For a moment, Sariel’s blood ran cold. There was no doubt that Alzar was a prime suspect in the murder of nearly all of his classmates.

But it didn't matter. Alzar was home, in his arms, alive. Sariel was willing to face anything as long as Alzar was with him.

Sariel turned his head, letting his eyes fall on Alzar once more. He couldn't believe how many times he had taken that action for granted.

His gaze fell down further, stopping when he reached the ground. His stomach twisted into a knot.

Alzar didn't have a shadow.

Ice water surged through his veins, the claws of horror wrapping his heart in an unbearable chokehold. He staggered backwards, the small of his back colliding with the counter.

“Mr. Lorne? Did you hear me?”

Sariel’s cell phone clattered to the floor. Alzar didn't react. Sariel knew he wouldn't.  

“You're….you're not even real,” Sariel said, voice drained of any real reaction and his knees going weak. He clutched his head, fingers caught in blond, unwashed tangles. “I'm hallucinating.”

“Uncle.”

“Shut up!” Sariel barked, sliding to the floor. The anger disappeared from his voice, slipping into agony, “Just shut up!”

Alzar’s hand hovered by his face, his expression innocent. His skin seem to boil as eyeballs surfaced on his body, his flesh overtaken by twitching, writhing eyes.

And then he was gone.