He Who Wears a Black Suit

|Heavy Rain|

The figure hummed gingerly as it floated past her, never laying her stiff eyes off Elaine. The teary-eyed child turned her body towards her ghostly mother, who was now floating a few inches beyond the cliff.

Finally, her mother slowly opened her mouth to speak, "Come with me, my child. We shall enter the doors that lead to wonders. You will see past the glowing holes in the sky--the light that emits is from the radiance of paradise, where no worries and no barriers are at hand," her voice was quiet, "We will never part from each other anymore. You will never go back to any foster home."

Elaine blinked back her tears as she sniffed. She remembered Henry's question before: 'why do you call your dreams beautiful when they're about jumping off?' She couldn't answer him back then, but if he was here with her at this moment, she knew her response--because her mother was here, it was always her mother leading her here. With a mellow heart, she slowly walked towards the edge again, smiling back at her mother. When she was only inches away from the non existing surface of the cliff, a strong grip was felt on both of her arms, pulling her away from both the edge and her mother, who disappeared out of thin air. Suddenly, she could hear the rain again.

"Elaine! What the hell are you doing out here?" Matteo choked out, pulling wet strands of hair away from Elaine's distraught face. She looked over her shoulder, hoping that her mother was still there. "Come on," Matteo groaned out loud, wiping his face before standing up.

"What are you doing in my dream, Mat?" her stuttering little voice squeaked.

"This ain't a dream, El! What were you thinking going out here?" he shouted at her, wondering what was wrong with the child. When he pulled her hand, Elaine didn't budge. "Elaine, come on, let's go!"

Elaine shook her head, looking up at him with closed eyes, "No, Mat. I want to go to mommy."

Matteo stared down at her in horror. He knew what had happened with Elaine's mother, he overheard Penny and Elaine talking a few months back. When he crouched down and carried her, the chanting was slowly getting audible again, getting louder by the second.

"Whatever that is," he gulped, "I'm sure those are only voices." He was saying that to comfort Elaine, but he knew to himself that it was to calm his racing heartbeat. Goosebumps were appearing on his arms and legs when he couldn't tell where the ear-splitting voices were coming from, and the fact that he couldn't see clearly from the heavy rain.

When he decided to take a run for it, his body was thrown forcefully to the side, his back hitting a tree. Elaine let out a scream as she flew out of Matteo's arms and landed on the mud. Matteo cursed under his breath as he crawled towards Elaine as quick as he could, ignoring the agonizing pain on both his upper and lower back.

"El. . .Elaine, please stand up," his voice was deep and hoarse, overpowering the continuous chanting, "Please, let's just go!"

"You go then!" Elaine cried out at the sight of Matteo wincing in pain. "Leave me! I don't want you getting hurt!"

Matteo held back a cry when he forced himself to stand up. With heavy breaths, he pulled Elaine up, but he immediately released her hand when he felt needle-piercing stabs on his lower neck. He held his breath when he turned around. A 7-feet tall creature stood before him: its eyes were blazing white, multiple, sharp-pointed teeth painted with his blood were seen inside its wide, stretching mouth with a long tongue moving restlessly. Familiar black smoke surrounded them and he realized that it wasn't the only one. Several more circled around him and Elaine.

He hugged Elaine close and tight, not knowing what creature to look at. He tried to look for gaps between the chernos that were slowly closing in around them. They could make a run for it-- no, he thought. His back would hurt too much, and that would slow the both of them down, as Elaine isn't a runner either. He swiftly looked around, trying to look for any weapon of some sort but there was none. It would be impossible to distract the chernos--they were too many. He counted five chernos around, but he gulped when he knew the possibility that there could be more lurking in the dark.