The Hunter and the Hunted ✔️

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I sat on the couch, holding my dad's hand. My head was laying on his shoulder. Last time we had sat together like this, was the first night Fiona was gone off to Ireland. "Are you ok being..." I couldn't finish the sentence.

"Dead?" He finished and chuckled. He looked at me with a pair of warm eyes that I missed. "No. Of course not. I loved my life. But the saddest thing about death isn't the waiting for my loved ones, it's them getting here." He brought me into a hug. "This isn't your time." I wasn't sure if he was whispering it to me or himself.

I pulled back and looked at him, studying every detail of his face. "And what about you, Uncle Kas?"

Uncle Kas looked away from Constance. "Me? I love it." He didn't smile, just frowned. "I have everything I want here." He looked at Polyphema, who was currently meditating. "Except for my wife." He glared at Polyphema.

Poly had wept at her sister's body for an hour or so. Sisca must have been dead too but she wasn't with us. I had realized a lot of people who I thought would be with my dad or Uncle Kas weren't here. Sisca, Felix. Most importantly, Aunt Wren.

"Why? Where is Aunt Wren?" I had noticed she wasn't here, but I thought maybe she was... off doing something else. I didn't know how being dead worked. Sure, yeah, I was in fact dead. But... just because you throw someone in a pool doesn't mean they know how to swim.

Uncle Kas looked down at the ground, his eyes nearly shut. "She's not here." I wasn't sure exactly where here was.

"Here?" I asked.

Kas didn't answer. He walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him. Mom and Constance didn't notice the wall shaking or the pictures rattling.

"She's walking with the moon." Dad answered for me instead.

I furrowed my brows. So we do go to the moon when we die. "Why aren't you walking with the moon?"

Dad smiled softly. "Same reason as Kas. I have people to look over before I go." He watched mom with sadness as well as with glee. "And when my time is done. I will go."

I wonder where Sisca was then. Surly she would have stayed to watch little Kas.

Oh. Little Kas. Where was he? Was he outside? Did he come after me and Sisca? The reason Sisca wasn't here was because... he was gone too? Wasn't he? I wouldn't put it past Konrad to kill a child. He's already killed a baby not even born yet.

I closed my eyes. "Dad." I whispered. "There was a little boy here when I was here... do you... know... if he is still here?" I asked. "Or if Konrad took him?" I felt bad for that little boy. His father... dead. His mother... gone. He was so young. Just Zach's age. "Dallas, Zach. Fiona. Do you know where they are?"

Dad shrugged. "I don't know about any little boy. But, Zach and Dallas and Fiona... they're still under Konrad's power."

I shot up from sitting and looked at Polyphema, who was still meditating. I looked at Sisca, who's body was lifeless and ignored. "What can I do as the dead? Shouldn't mom be able to see me? Shouldn't anyone who's related to me or once tried to kill me be able to see me? Like Konrad."

Dad shook his head. "Honey you're not a ghost. Konrad's case was different. The only reason those rules applied to him was because he had broke his chains to hell. He was alive, just not out of Hell. He was on the same plain as the living. We're not ghosts. We're not alive. We are just simply... watchers." He took a deep breath. "You can't save them."

I rubbed my temples. There was nothing worse than this. I'd rather be walking with the moon than this. I could watch but I couldn't help. "Then why are we watching? Why not just... walk with the moon. If we can't help?"