“Why do you look like you didn’t sleep for a week?” Kayla asked before chomping on her hot dog.

“Are you alright?” Malak added with concern as he noticed the dark bags under his friend’s eyes.

“I’m alright,” Enrico yawned while playing with a fry. “Been busy with my new job.”

Malak stayed silent as he observed his male friend. They both grew up together, and Malak knew all his quirks. He tried to sound nonchalant, but he was hiding something. Malak just didn’t know what.

“Maybe consider a career change?” Kayla proposed.

Enrico gave her an incredulous stare. “I started a week ago.”

“So?”

He shook his head. “It’s alright. I’m still the newbie. It’ll calm down soon.”

“If you say so,” she shrugs before finishing her hot dog. Using a clean tissue, she used it to brush the crumbs off the table to the awaiting sparrows.

“But I miss my summer vacation,” Enrico whined. “I’m so jealous.”

“Then, go to college,” Malak suggested as he sipped his vanilla milkshake.

“Miss me?”

“Barely,” Malak answered with seriousness as his friend pouted.

The group of friends continued to catch up with each other. Summer vacation barely started for the two freshmen. Although they will go to the same university, they won’t be able to see each other, being in different programs. As for Enrico, he now worked full-time at a company. With each other schedules being so different, it was difficult to find a day to meet.

Malak observed his friends with longing as they acted like an old married couple to each other. He only had a few weeks left before leaving this world behind. Because of that, he found a new joy in little things. The other day, he fed a fat little squirrel until it became too picky to eat something else than roasted hazelnuts. It even dared to steal the entire bag when Malak wasn’t watching.

They were now spending time together at the park. After eating lunch, they left the picnic table free of garbage before walking away. The only trace of them was the sparrows feasting on crumbs of bread and fries.

Strolling in the shade given by tall trees with luscious green leaves. They chatted under the happy chirps of birds. From time to time, a soft wind ruffled the tree leaves while carrying the fresh scent of grass and flowers.

“We should go to the beach sometimes,” Malak mumbled, mostly to himself.

“Let’s go!” Kayla quickly agreed. “Bring your boyfriend too.”

Enrico clicked his tongue and frowned at her. “You only want to ogle him.”

Disgust coated his tone, but Kayla simply brushed him off. “He’s hot.”

“Back off, he’s mine,” I warned teasingly.

Kayla smiled and Enrico looked like he bit a wedge of lemon. “I know he is, but if, one day, you wish to share…”

Enrico choked, and both men stared at her in shock. Stunned, they didn’t realize, they both stopped walking. Turning around to face them, Kayla simply shrugged her shoulders.

“What?”

Enrico pushed Malak’s ribs with his elbow. “I, uh, don’t… I mean…”

“Malak wants to say, he doesn’t share,” Enrico answered for his friends.

“And how do you know that?” she placed both her hands on her hips.

“Because I have been around, and I’m not blind.”

“Whatever,” she brushed him off. “Call me if you change your mind,” she turned to Malak and winked.

They resumed their walk as they stayed in awkward silence. While Kayla didn’t seem to mind it, Malak found the ground rather interesting, while Enrico stared straight ahead. Once they made a tour of the large park for the second time, they decide to call it a day. They each took different paths, so they could carry on their plans for the rest of the day.

Past noon, the heat was starting to dissipate. Malak quickly made his way to another part of the park, where Kian was waiting. Halfway there, he noticed he was running late. His pace quickly hastened until he was running.

Near an intersection, his phone vibrated in his back pocket. Quickly, he fished it out and unlocked his phone. He stopped at the red light. Panting, he read the text message.

“You don’t listen. You never did.”

Frowning, Malak searched for the identity of the sender, only to discover that he was anonymous. However, he recognized the number.

“Who are you?” Malak answered. “What do you want?”

“Stay away from him. It’s your last chance. Turn around and leave.”

The light turned green. Looking both ways, Malak crossed the road. His phone vibrated once again. He frowned when he saw the words flashing on his lock screen.

Before Malak could type an answer, he heard people screaming to watch out. What he didn’t see was the car rushing straight at him. One second later, it catapulted him to the ground. His vision blackened and didn’t see the clear blue sky until moments later. Stunned and with his ear ringing, he couldn’t hear the surrounding commotion. Trying to sit up made him gasp in pain. If moving his shoulder was hell, breathing was also painful. Each breath, each rise of his chest, was a chore.

By the time a bystander came to help, the car was long gone. Malak didn’t know the person, but it took a few blinks before his vision came to focus. He could see the woman talking to him, but no words reached his ears. There was only the annoying ring vibrating in his ear.

Confused, Malak tried to sit up once more. This time, however, the woman pushed him down gently. His lips parted, but no words came out. Instead, he released only a painful groan. She was frantically talking to a man who was on the phone.

Suddenly, Malak remembered. “Phone,” his voice cracked in a whisper.

The woman’s head whipped toward him. “What?”

“My phone,” Malak gasped in pain. “Pocket, Kian.”

Piecing his words together, the woman followed his instructions. “What’s your password?” she asked gently before typing in the answer.

“Kian…” Malak repeated as if a mantra.

Placing his phone to her ear, the woman talked and talked until ended the call.

“He’s coming,” she explained before being pulled to the side.

Normally, it would have had taken more than a few seconds for Kian to reach Malak. That if he was a normal human being.

Worry and panic stretched Kian’s usual confident and beautiful face. He quickly took in the injured state of his lovers. He cursed before kneeling to Malak’s side.

“Hang in there,” Kian whispered as he placed his hand on Malak’s chest.

A warm gush of air flowed through his chest. Malak released a sharp breath and smiled at the man next to him. A silent thank you for relieving some of the pain.

“I’m sorry, I can’t heal you,” he explained helplessly as guilt heavily coated his tone.

“You’re here,” the injured teenager answered tiredly.

Kian’s face stretched in pain. “Yes… Stay awake. Don’t… Don’t leave me.”

“I won’t.”

With both of them together, it was easier for Malak to stay conscious long enough until the ambulance arrived. Once the paramedics arrived, two of them came to check on the teenager, while another one asked the couple and Kian for what happened.

With more knowledge of the patient’s case, they quickly strapped Malak on a stretcher before rolling him into the ambulance. Kian closely followed and also entered the vehicle, leaving the bloodied couple behind.

It was a slow, painful ride to the hospital. Anger and guilt flowed out of Kian in waves as he observed a sedated Malak resting on the stretcher. The paramedic sitting next to the demon sat restlessly while giving nervous glances to him. Kian’s facial expression was frozen in ice. He appeared calm, but if someone inspected closer, they would catch a glimpse of the monster raging behind. It was a silent promise of death and not a painless one. He was a ticking bomb.

Arrived at the hospital, Kian walked out of the way as he watched strangers rush his lover into the surgery room. Inside the emergency centre, a nurse came to meet him and quickly briefed him on Malak’s condition. He was bleeding internally, and she informed him the surgeons were doing the best they could to save him. In the meantime, he could wait in the waiting room.

Alone, Kian only wanted to hurl his phone to the wall and kill all the humans on sight until he found the culprit. However, most of the anger wasn’t directed at them, but at himself. He had never been so powerless. Back in the day, he could heal injuries like those in minutes. Now, he could only relieve some of his lover’s pain.

It wasn’t enough.

Kian already failed Malak once. He couldn’t bear to repeat the tragedy. The pain, the emptiness in his heart, the blinding rage. He didn’t want to experience it again.

With an inhuman growl, he fished out his phone, only to realize it wasn’t his. The woman gave it back to him. Unlocking it, he saw an unread message.

“I warned you.”

As Kian read the messages, he could feel his anger transformed into hatred. Realization soon hit him as the burning flames in his eyes died out.

They were here.

He thought he eradicated all of them. He even entrusted this task to his most loyal men. They reported the success of the mission. It shouldn’t be possible and yet…

Unable to control the new wave of rage coursing through his veins, Malak’s phone exploded in his hand. An old lady quietly waiting in the room's corner yelped at the sound while the sleeping baby resting in her mother’s arms wailed. Without facing them, Kian apologized as he summoned darkness to erase the remains of the phone. The pieces got swallowed into the floor.

Taking out his own phone, he took a few deep breaths until he could talk calmly. He needed to inform Malak’s parents of the situation. As expected, Malak’s mother sobbed as her husband took over the phone. Kian briefly repeated what happened and the information the nurse gave him.

By the time the parents arrived, Kian had calmed down enough to look human and plagued with sorrow.

“He’s still in surgery,” he explained as Malak’s mother weakly nodded and crumbled into the chair next to him. “I’m sorry.”

Pain filled the parents’ eyes, but they both shook their heads. The woman took Kian’s hand in hers.

“It isn’t your fault,” she whispered.

“But it was.” This was what Kian wanted to say, but he bit his tongue.

“He’ll be okay,” she added as if needing to convince herself. “We’ll all be alright.”