A lonesome howl pummeled straight towards the boy, sending shivers down his spine. His ragged breaths became more burdensome and uncontrollable. Forcing himself to squeeze his eyes shut, he refused aloud, to nobody in particular, that he wouldn’t see anything this time. Nothing to haunt or follow him for the rest of this pathetic life, nothing to keep him up during the endless night, nothing to separate him from anyone else that had lead completely average lifetimes, to make him an outsider. His argument was going strong until other emphatic screams blasted out from opposite him. Several more cracks and grunts followed while the boy pushed his clenched fists into his eyes to forcefully keep them from opening.

Then nothing happened.

No other sound could be heard. Not even the slight breeze that was chilling him to the core wondered past or a groan from the surrounding trees, slowly swaying in the non-existent breeze. Not a crunch of grass could be heard flattening anywhere around him. It was almost as if the world had stopped, waiting with him.

Suddenly, a twig snapped in front of the boy. But there was no care afterwards for this breach of quiet. Instead, the tumbling steps turned into running, giant leaps trampling everything beneath them. The obnoxious crunch of darkening leaves fluttered towards him, tickling his face, along with unstable breaths of air nearing ever closer. He heard someone kneel beside his head, although it could’ve been considered more as someone unwillingly slumping next to him. By this time, his own breathing had slowed down, but that didn’t mean his shaking could be kept under control. Yet he wasn’t scared anymore. Despite the sudden onslaught of noise startling him, the boy was surprised to find he wasn’t scared in this company. It seemed familiar, but he knew that couldn’t be. That was always his hope, his one simple wish. The one thing he always looked out for. But it was impossible now.

A soft, but ice-cold, touch brushed against his forehead, gently sweeping away the damp mop covering it. Then accompanied by a rough sigh and quiet sobbing. The boy’s eyes instantly shot open and his hands were brought down to his sides. He recognised that crying. He had heard his mother crying countless times, no matter how much she tried to hide it and keep it controlled and as silent as possible. There was no way…

Then there was.

The nearly 10 years older boy was staring straight into his mother’s eyes. Her own swirling pools of light grey, only now slightly blurred with tears. Although, he still could distinguish no light in her eyes. She looked older, frail and broken. Finally, a strong gust of wind interrupted his staring and her crying, so that she shivered. Her son completely sat up to wrap himself around her and hopefully warm her up, for she felt frozen. He, too, was soon wracked with sobs as she attempted to feebly clutch the back of his shirt. But it ended all too soon.

His mother’s body started becoming more frantic and unmanageable until she was gagging on the ground. It was coming. She cried for the time that was lost and tried to crawl away from her son, to protect him from herself. Her son could only watch as his mother fell back into the stubborn grip of the woods, never to return. But not before glancing back. As the moon shone down into the circle of richly greening grass, in the nearby woods careening around the edge of the world, an isolated howl echoed out to reach the opposite ends of the world, howling for her one and only son.