“Shadow.”  The boy said as a smile crossed his face.  “Feed him to the shadows.  Send him to purgatory. “It was quick with the rise of the devils hands the shadows from the school yard all shot out at him.  They climbed up his legs and wrapped around Kazu.  He struggled to break free but he was quickly consumed, and trapped in a pitch black sphere.

                It was hot.  He couldn’t see.  Everything was pitch black.  Kazu didn’t even know what direction was which.  That didn’t bother him nearly as much as the heat did.  It was hot, so very hot.  Finally his eyes shut and he blacked out from the heat.

                “Mommy!”  The little boy giggled as his mother tickled his sides.  He trashed around screaming with delight as his father chuckled from the doorway.  “Help Daddy!”  The screamed Kazu.  His father laughed as he quickly ran to the bed and helped his mother tickle him “Don’t help her!”  Kazu yelled as he rolled around laughing.  The tickling stopped and both parents bent down and kissed his forehead.  “Ok.  Now go to sleep alright.”  His dad said as he ruffled his hair around.  The boy sighed “Fine.”  He folded his arms and scrunched his face up trying to make himself look angry.  His mom began tickling him again until the frown returned to a big smile.  She kissed him again on the cheek and began humming a soft lullaby.  The sound was soft and very soothing.  Kazu gazed up sleepily at his mother’s face as his vision blurred and he drifted off to sleep.

                It was dark and he couldn’t see.  The air was hot almost like he was trapped in a giant oven.  Drowsily Kazu walked towards the door rubbing his eyes as he moved.  He didn’t even feel the heat of the door knob as he turned it.  His room was directly next to the stairwell, and it was fully lit by the flames that engulfed the walls.  The heat was now more intense almost as if he had stepped into the heart of a raging volcano.  “Kazu!”  Shrieked his mother.  He jerked his head to the right to see his mother and father racing up the stairs towards him.  His face went pale as they both vanished with the sound of splintering wood.  He ran forward.  His mother couldn’t be seen but his dad was still visible.  A long shaft off wood ran through his abdomen.  His hands gripped the hand rail tightly.  Blood forced from his mouth in long spouts as he tried pulling himself up over the large gap that used to be the stairs.  His chest convulsed and more blood gushed from the wound and out his mouth.  “Daddy!”  Kazu shrieked His father smiled as his mouth formed the words “its ok daddy’s right here and he are coming to get you.”  However he couldn’t be heard.  All you could hear was the sound of blood as it squirt from his mouth.  His head fell forward and the progress he had made reversed as his arms gave way and he slide back down the beam.  Kazu sobbed at the top of the stairs “Please.  Please help me.  Mom, Dad.”  Time seemed to stand still as he cradled himself sobbing.  Just begging for someone to help him.  “I can help you.”  A tiny figure a small red devil stood against the wall by the stairs.  “Who…. Who are you?”  Kazu stammered.   A devilish smile grew across the devils face.  “My name is Dash, and I’m here to make a deal with you.”  “A… deal…?”  Dash nodded “Yes a deal.  It’s much too late for those corpses, but you on the other hand.  You can be saved.”  His finger pointed to the stairs.  As that demonic smile returned.  “It’s easy.”  A piece of parchment appeared at Kazu’s feet with a black almost stone like pen.  The page was filled with text a lot of the words were too complicated for him to understand.  “Just sign at the bottom and I will save you from these flames that killed your family, but...”  “But what?”  Dash vanished and then reappeared before his eyes only inches from his face.  “You must pay a very high price.  Once it is paid I will save you and do as the contract dictates until I die or I am no longer of any use,  Or if you break the terms of our contract.”  Kazu fell back.  The devil has startled him.  He lay back on the floor, as tears flowed in streams from his eyes. “I... I don’t want to die!” he sobbed as he took the pen and wrote his name down at the bottom of the page.  Dash smiled and swung his arm vanquishing most of the flames.  “As you wish.”

                Kazu sobbed in front of the two graves.  He was drenched from a mixture of rain and tears.  It had been raining for the past two days.  The graves were only two days old, and he hadn’t moved from that spot since.  “Kazu.”  Dash said.  He was perched on top of his shoulder.  “We’ve been out here long enough.  We need to at least get you out of the rain.  If you get sick and die then I will be forced to leave.”  The boy didn’t move from his spot.  Dash sighed leapt from his shoulder and vanished in the rain.  Kazu continued crying he didn’t even notice when the rain stopped splashing down on his head.  Dash was once again standing on his shoulder.  This time holding a maroon umbrella, He waited as Kazu continued to cry.

                Dash stared at the large black ball floating above the grass.  Kazu had been in it for almost an hour, and the sun was beginning to set making the shadows cast by the school and the nearby trees grow longer.  Dash flipped back as a shadow lunged out at him and then faded away.  “Not much longer now.”  The boy said.  “Black absorbs solar rays causing black objects to absorb heat.  It’s getting hotter and hotter in that sphere.  Just like an oven.”  The way he said it was so calm.  Almost placid, it pissed him off.  Dash had to act fast.  Kazu could only last so long in there.  “Purgatory.”  He froze.  The boy continued “a temporary condition of torment or suffering” Dash looked at the sphere again.  His face formed a frown “Damnit.”  He said.  Suddenly the air became cold again as a single hand burst through the pitch black sphere.  Then another one.  The hands came together and pried it apart.  The shadows spilled away moving almost like water would’ve.  Kazu stood there glaring at them.  Dash rushed forward, but before he could reach them the shadows consumed them and they both vanished.  “This isn’t over.”  The boy said before he disappeared.  Kazu reached down and plucked another weed from the grass.  As he tore each of the thorns away he hummed a note of that Melody that his mother had sung to him.