These Hungry Dogs [sample]

05

A FEW DAYS had gone by, and his wrist became red on how much he was scratching it. Leon tried to ease the pain, applying it with cold water from the pump just outside the brothel.

Still his mind persisted, picturing the trees again. Degenhard Forest, nothing more but a legend, a thing in the past. The image seemed real enough, and the forest demon spoke to him. It was his first, but somewhere he felt it won't be the last.

His mouth thinned as his reflection stared back at him, but the water rippled as he dipped his hands to wash his face. Degenhard, he repeated. Since he cleared Wibke's memories from her head, she became a clean slate but at that price, she was free at least.

There's guilt lingering in him but it was something he had to bear. Leon was worried if he did the right thing, sparing Werner from taking his memories.

And the journal he buried under the floorboard of his room haunted him from time to time.

A breath slid out, soft and hollow. He drew back, facing a girl in a black garb. Her eyes were big, stark black like the night. Another poltergeist to haunt my soul away, he settled in the back of his head. It reminded him of Old Annika, how she taught him to survive, slipping into the cracks and corners around the alleys. Waited until danger had passed.

But unlike the old wife, the girl's face morphed into something bleak. White shades and mouthless face. Leon remembered her name. Natali, she whispered to him as she carved her name on the back of his palm. The poltergeist had a long but thin grey ribbon tied around her wrist, hanging near the ground.

"I'm glad you're here, Natali," Leon raised his head to greet her.

Something rippled across her face as she eased back, the light seemed to blend her body to the surroundings. One moment she was gone, the next she flickered back. Natali responded the same, tilting her head as if it was an inquiry.

Leon noticed her eyes laid across his wrist, then pointed to hers. "Another one came to me, this time a grieving mother," he explained as he wet his lips with his tongue, unsure how to proceed. "I saw the forest demon again... my mind is uncertain, I don't know if I can trust myself."

When the poltergeist did not react, Leon bit back his words, ending his rambling.

Of course, I am speaking to something that merely exists between worlds, he thought to himself. Rather than continuing to communicate, he decided to collect his thoughts, trying it again another time.

Abschied, he mouthed to Natali, and he listened to the quiet howl of the wind. Waving at the ghost, he parted from her, only to freeze in place as he saw Vanessza sitting on the bottom of the stairs.

"How long have you been sitting there, Haas?" asked Leon, hiding his surprise.

Vanessza broke out a grin. "How long have you been staring at your reflection, Kiesinger?"