“Ah!”

  Edward shot up awake once more, horrified. He broke out in a sweat while rubbing his left hand. His daughter was sound asleep in her reinforced cradle. Edward couldn’t help but get out of bed to watch over her, admiring her beauty in the moonlight which shone through the curtains…

  Edwards attention shifted over to the empty left hand side of the bed. Ellie was nowhere to be found which for some reason, gave a shot of anxiety and adrenaline directly into Edwards brain. As he ran downstairs into the living room, he stumbled clumsily over his own feet, though he continued briskly, while unnecessarily leaping down the stairs.

  “SLURP SLURP GOBBLE GOBBLE!”

  Upon further inspection of the kitchen, Edward first took notice of the nasty amounts of raw chicken pieces and red liquids falling onto Ellie’s feet, though this would be the least of his concerns, and her entire mouth was covered in a mess of raw chicken and liquids. She hadn’t even waited for it to thaw out, as she mercilessly bit through the harder layers of meat with little issue. Edward watched his wife for three minutes before taking a step further.

  “E-Ellie…?”

  He called her out not like his wife, but a stranger.

  She stopped. Her pupils dilated like a cat who had just been put in a compromising situation. The meat fell from her hands causing a loud thud against the well cleaned kitchen tiles.

  “Eddie… I… I can’t explain… I can’t explain this at all but…”

  As she looked at herself, she realized the mess of raw chicken and blood dripping down her lip wasn’t helping the situation at all, wiping it all off messily with the sleeve of her shirt.

  Edward felt the need to take a step back. Though he chastised himself internally. After all, what husband would he be?

  “Why… Raw? And… Why so late… What is it…? Three in the morning..? Y-you know that’s unhealthy don’t you- You’re not… You’re not a…”

  He reluctantly took a step forward, but continued to close the gap between the two with a smile.

  “Wolf…”

  He held both of her cheeks, still internally scorning what Ellie had done.

  “… No… I’m not…”

  She bawled her fists. Shaking.

  “You need to go, now.”

  Edward raised an eyebrow curiously.

  “Please, please, Ellie- We can talk, I’m not sure what made you do this so late or-“

  “Edward, I'm not joking with you, leave NOW.”

  She growled at him ferociously. He leapt backwards, swearing a slight redness in her pupil, though he ignored it and ran off to bed, while Ellie picked back up her chicken, and continued to feast.

  —-

  At work he continued his usual routine, suppressing the events of last night. The project was almost complete. Soon though, Edward would have to begin to think about the new workers for his next project. The next would be in the Bronx and it was of a larger scale. He would need younger, efficient, more capable workers.

  Edward once more, assigned each of his workers to their respective jobs, returned to his office to be greeted by four new flys which had followed him, and sat down by his desk. As the flys flew above him, as if they were hawks marking their prey, likely because he had made sure to apply extra cologne that day, specifically his sweetest smelling one. He referred back to his work website, Diligently typing away the details of the project, where it would be located, and the help needed. Soon enough, Edwards mind halted. His eyes narrowed as drool fell from his mouth. The fire in his eyes which couldn’t help but flash images of his favorite soccer players had completely disappeared. Nor could any passion be realized. He simply typed.

  “ED-!”

  A familiar voice penetrated Edwards cocoon of focus. He jumped looking around his office.

  “... Hello!?”

  He scratched his head. Knowing. But not knowing. But he knew. And he wanted to know.

  —

  As he laid back in bed with May he stared down at her, noticing an odd trait of hers beginning to take shape on the corner of her face. A mole.

  —

  The car had run off without Edward the next morning. Likely with Ellie. Although the project had been finished, and Edward could ease his nerves for the day, May had been in daycare, leaving him to his own devices.Leaving him to face his deep seeded regret.

  To avoid that, he wanted to take a quick trip to the convenience store, maybe visit the park, watch the kids in the neighborhood play basketball, and bask in the moment, though this would be without Ellie. Without his daughter, He sighed about the car's espionage with his wife.

  “... Oh well.”

  Edward lifted himself from the couch cushions alluring comfiness, walking outside.

  He dragged his feet to the nearest Dollar Tree which would only be three blocks away to left side of the house. Memories hung above his head. Memories of his daughters embrace, and her constant cheeriness towards the smallest things life had to offer. To be young. Though she would be two in the coming months. Walking and talking had come easier to her, something the other doctors told the couple they may have to worry about due to her “special problems”, but boy were they wrong.

  “Hehheheh….”

  Edward blushed a bit while grinning ear to ear.As he turned the corner, his eyes met with a dead bird crushed by a nearby tree branch. He knelt down searching for any signs of life. There was none. As he continued walking the memories hanging above him crashed harshly on his back, weighing him down. Ellie.

  Ellie, his dear wife, his oh so dear and innocent wife had been eating raw meat, likely consistently behind his back. Perhaps even when he was working. Why? He asked, but nothing came out of it. Well, except, half truths, ammerolations, delusions, to be blunt, lies. He knew from those eyes, that lack of conviction- or coolness she normally wore. Her eyes then- What were those eyes? Why would she look at me like that, he thought, rubbing his nose. He didn’t know.

  Before he knew it he had arrived at Walgreens. A group of homeless men could be seen dancing on the streets, waving a sign “Will work for food.” Though strangely enough, their moves were too well choreographed to be done on a whim. Nor were they their movements the one of a desperately starving person.

  “Please sir!”

  A tall man cried as he began to twirl around elegantly.

  “I’m so hungry!”

  Tears flew from the man's eyes, turning to projectiles which hit every other person on the block, causing them all to chastise the man while backing away. Edward grimaced having the man's tears on him, though any feelings of disgust definitely outweighed his sense of obligation to help someone in need.

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  “Yeah, don’t worry… Here….”

  As he reached for his wallet he was surprised to find that the hard leathery exterior of his wallet was nowhere to be felt!

  Both men stopped dancing, falling to the floor to catch their breath. However, the tall man continued to glance up at Edward, waiting to take his money.

  “I’m sorry. I left my wallet at home…”

  “... But sir…. Your wallets right there….”

  Was it? He thought, reaching into his other pocket. Oh. Must’ve left my phone.

  “.... You… You….!”

  The older man beside him called out with his raspy voice. The man then dug his finger into his mouth, withdrawing a string of saliva, Edward jolted backwards.

  “I’m tired of bein’ SWINDLED!”

  The older man leapt towards Edward, Edward narrowly dodged while yelling at the man to stop. The other man dug his finger in a…. Very intimate area, and began to chase Edward while cackling.

  “STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW I HAVE IT-! I HAVE IT!”

  Surprisingly, despite the work the two put in, the fact that they likely hadn’t eaten in days, or their lousy footwear they were still somehow faster than Edward. As the two began to close the gap between them, Edward thought back to his office. He thought back to the first time he had sat down in that office, all of the work he had assigned, his coworkers. He didn’t think he could actually die, but he resented himself for conditioning himself into a job he clearly hated. He resented how much control providing for his family had over him and what he wanted to do with his life. But what did he want to do? If he thought about it sooner could he have avoided this situation altogether…?

  Maybe.

  But Edwards' line of reasoning was beginning to ground to a halt. A vein popped by his temple.

  “AHHHHHH!”

  He socked the taller homeless man in the face, alongside the older one. They both stumbled back shocked at Edwards sudden aggression.

  “WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?! I’M NOT AN IDIOT!”

  He thought about Ellie once more. The bird.

  With the rest of the rage Edward could envelop from his soul, he began to stomp on the older homeless man, as the taller man ran away wailing for help. Though this didn’t stop Edward from continuing to unleash his absolute fury and pent up aggression on the man. Not at all.

  —

  “Edward please- Please- Help me, I’m dyin’ here please…”

  Andrew continued to call out to Edward’s blood, grabbing at it, however, the blood in this space was far too elusive to even properly stain him.

  “ED’S! WAKE UP!”

  —-

  As Edward continued to stomp onto the man, a faint voice pierced through his malice.

  “Auughhh….”

  It was familiar. Edward planted his feet onto the olderman who struggled to give any physical retort, or so much as raise his slobbery finger to Edward. He turned around. His eyes met with a messy haired blond man with little to no facial hair, or let alone clothes.

  “H-hey…”

  Edward raised his foot from underneath the man, giving him time to slowly crawl away.

  “Are you okay!? HEY!”

  He shook the blonde man furiously, hoping back for some sort of response.

  —

  ““AH-DADADADADADADADA!”

  As the red creature once again opened its unchangeable jaw to swallow Edward whole, his eyes opened, though still half asleep.

  —-

  The blonde man rose his head from the floor, looking up at Edward drearily.

  “Here. Stand!”

  He slowly took his hand.

  Huh. Edward thought while looking at the edge of the blonde man's chin.

  A mole.

  —-

  The still half asleep Edward extended his hand to Andrew. Andrew grabbed hold of him, only for them both to be swallowed whole together.

  —-

  The red creature sat idly by, digesting its meal.

  Within the office where the soldiers and scientists still resided, the soldier whose face was uncovered gave a deep sigh of relief.

  “The coast is clear.”

  The soldiers evacuated the room flooding into the hallway as soon as possible. George’s mouth hung as more beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

  “Heee heee-! Dead man! Dead man! The Dead man is dead!”

  Alvina chanted happily!

  “Come on “Mr mentor”, let's collect some samples, why don’t we!?”

  “...”

  —

  As Alvina happily skipped out of the hallway, she was left dumbfounded along with the rest of the soldiers by the vacant hallway.

  “What the hell!?”

  She yelled, skinning up her face while bawling her fists.

  “W-what?! What happened Alvin-!”

  Though before he could so much as finish his sentence, the flurry of soldiers were all swept off of their feet by the red creature, who somehow was able to shapeshift itself into a liquid, sneaking from underneath all of them and striking.

  “Mr- Mr Campbell!?”

  He couldn’t believe his eyes… So he was a dead man all along…?

  “P-please! CALM DOWN!”

  The man reached out to Andrew desperately, whereas Alvina and multiple other soldiers attempted to corner the creature, tazing it relentlessly.

  “UUOOOOAGHHHHAAAA!”

  The creature jumped onto the ceiling as it had before, contorting its body.

  “Now that I’ve eaten…. I’m….!”

  The creature’s large body once again transfigured itself, though this time into a sharp, hard substance. It then laid even more hell onto the soldiers and Ms Alvina through coming down on them like a tornado, sending most of them flying through the building heavily injured.

  Eventually it slowed down.

  “I’M FULLA ENERGY AND GOT PLENTY A GUSTO!”

  Like a mop it then laid its body on the floor collecting all of the blood while giggling to itself like a little school girl who had been asked out. George watched in even more horror.

  My God…! He thought of stepping all the way into Edwards office. I’ve never seen a Dead Man interpret anyone's life energy like this… This… This isn’t normal! What kind of connection would those two have to have to create THIS!?

  —--

  He offered the young man a job. He was homeless, and had never gone to trade school, not to mention the fact that he wasn’t on the books but… Mr Andrew Campbell was an individual, Edward thought. An individual with a specific circumstance, who just needed a push in the right direction.

  After he had helped him, Edward for reasons even he couldn’t properly comprehend, decided to help Andrew. Maybe it was the look of vulnerability in his eyes, or his feeling of guilt over beating those other homeless men, but he wanted to help him. So like a stray cat left in a run down cardboard box, Edward secretly took Andrew into his house, let him bathe, gave him some clothes, and fed him. They talked, and although Andrew hadn’t said anything, he could tell Andrew had been partly the reason those other men chased him.

  This was evident from the way Andrew talked. He would make everything sound like some sort of tall tale, as if he were trying to swindle Edward for money, a job, or whatever. He would try to sweet talk him by bringing up his “nice family”, or try to evoke feelings of pity by talking about his unloving mother and father, or his misjudged demeanor and so on and so forth. But it didn’t seem exactly like Andrew was necessarily trying to hide anything, or genuinely trying to wear a facade, no. He was a bad liar who was telling stories, and he purposefully made it obvious, like a joke. The swindling part came in through that slightly admirable side of himself.

  “Heh heh, but yeah. That’s me!”

  He took another loud slurp out of Edwards mug. Edward once again grimaced but chuckled through Andrews impolitness.

  “Damn. This “Chamomile” stuff is hella good. Here. Lemme.”

  He took Edwards cups and his own while walking up to the sink.

  “Oh! No, no, it’s fine, relax!”

  “Really? You sure?”

  “Yes. Really.”

  He smirked tapping Edward on the shoulder as a way of saying thank you. They both stood by the sink as Edward washed the two mugs thoroughly, especially Andrews.

  “You know… I appreciate this man. Really.”

  Andrew's voice lowered, becoming a lot less playful and unserious as it’d been before, making Edward especially pay attention to whatever came out of his mouth next.

  “Sorry that the other guy got the best outta you though… If I had some more energy or somethin’ I seriously would’ve done somethin’, for real.”

  “... Other guy?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Or girl, I dunno. I was still layin’ down there. But those two jerks that were dancin’ apparently lost a bet from the other guy and were forced to just dance...”

  “... Really?”

  “Yeah, and they were gettin’ ready to rough ‘em up, but they had somethin’ on em… Maybe a gun… I dunno. I just laid there in hunger pain to be honest.

  “... Huh.”

  At first, for a millisecond, Edward could understand Andrew's logic. He was unconscious, there was nothing he could have done. But it all fell apart when he considered the possibility that Andrew had been planning to jump him with those two.

  For one, the older man beforehand talked about being “swindled” like he was forced to dance, but if the third party left after threatening them, they could have stopped. But then again their rage seemed genuine. Unless, there was no other poor sucker that they could work up the courage to attack. And that would make sense considering the placement of the man's words… It was like a signal for Andrew to “get ready”.

  “Well then.”

  He turned off the sink.

  “I think whoever that third man was, they should while they’re ahead.”

  “W-wha…?”

  Edward understood the type of hardship Andrew was facing. He had never foraged for food on the cold streets of Brooklyn, or formed strategic traps to steal peoples money. But he had felt the kind of hardships that made you stoop so low that you feel like you have to lie to survive. Specifically in the feeling of inadequacy. Something that makes you feel so backed into a corner during your senior year of high school, that you have to get into a trade school to make some use of yourself. You lie to yourself.

  “You heard me.”

  Edward retorted sassily while plopping himself back on the dining room table.

  “Now listen. I have to pick up my daughter at three thirty, it’s two thirty right now, and the drive there will be half an hour."

  "Alright...? Whats that gotta do with me?"

  "I want you to go to the nearest homeless shelter.”

  “B-but I-”

  “It’s a couple of blocks away from here, from the front of my house eight blocks down, take a right.”

  “Heh. So yer just gonna dump me back out onto the streets? To a place where I can be neglected?”

  “No. I’m dumping you to a place where you can sleep for the night, so I can pick you up for work tomorrow.”

  “...H-huh…?”

  Andrew held his breath slightly.

  “You said you’ll work any job, right? Moving layers of bricks, and filling a wheelbarrow with trash should be easy money for a master of deception such as yourself. Right Andrew?”

  He continued to hold his breath. Until. Edward opened the door.