Blind Sights

Part Two

"Rosie, get away from him!" Snapped Mark as he stepped into the petting zoo barn, glaring at a young boy clearly illuminated in his dark world. There was no magical creature holding onto the boy, and Mark was certain something wasn't right. The boy was too pale, and his eyes weren't normal. The eyes were too dark, too lifeless to be a child's.

It had taken fourty-five minutes for Mark to find his little sister. Zaimix had taken its dear old time in locating Rosie, and once the muse had, Mark was wandering clear across the park from the petting zoo. He had vividly cursed the little muse's existence, and took off across the park with Zaimix fluttering all around him to make sure he wouldn't run smack-dab into anything. Mark wasn't in the best of moods from having to run the length of the amusement park to get to a petting zoo that had been ten minutes away from the Hurl-A-Whirl.

Rosie stared wide-eyed at her brother, who had never really snapped at her before. The harshest his tone ever gotten was stern. Uncertainly, the girl looked from her older brother, to the new friend she had just made. Yet, she shuffled over to her brother, looking apologetically at the boy.

The boy merely glared dull blue eyes at the girl, and sneered. His face contorted into one of such disgust that Rosie couldn't believe he was the same boy she had been playing with just a few moments ago. Now, she noticed there was a blue tinge to his skin that she hadn't noticed before, and a remarkably saddening feeling in the air around the boy.

When Mark felt Rosie grasp onto his hand, he glanced at Zaimix. Silently, he waited for the muse to tell him what the boy was. As a seeing-eye muse to one of the few humans who could see magical creatures, Zaimix had made sure to look-up the various creatures that were causing trouble in the world. He was basically a flying encyclopedia of creatures that Mark had never heard of.

"His name is Kevin Roberts. He's a myling; basically a child zombie who was murdered. That's all I know in this case, Mark." replied the muse, a bit embarrassed at knowing so little about the boy. Of course, Mark didn't hold it against Zaimix, there was no way all the information on every creature in the universe could be known by one creature Mark looked back over at Kevin, finding the boy glaring darkly at him.

Flitting in the back of his mind, Mark started to recall a few accidents that the media had covered in the park. It seemed, that every so often, a child would die. Usually it was only one or two every three years, but it was still enough to give the only amusement park in the area a bad reputation to tourists.

Clicking in his mind, Mark realized that all the children had been found drowned in a pond. That's why this petting zoo was closed down, it had been the site of too many 'accidents'. Staring into Kevin's eyes, Mark could tell this boy was capable of committing more than just kidnapping, "Why did you take my sister?"

Kevin didn't move from his position. He didn't even seem to breathe, which wouldn't have surprised Mark. He just stared at the siblings and muse with the dull, empty eyes he'd come to possess. But, eventually, he did answer, and Mark noted his voice sounded hollow, "Why should I bother to tell you?"

"How many adult humans do you know that can see you?" replied Mark, mimicking the

hollow tone. A flash of mild surprise registered behind Kevin's eyes as he took a closer look at Mark's blue eyes. Kevin took an uncertain step backward, now unsure of where he stood in this confrontation now that he realized that his enemy was not only an adult, but also blind. The world was turning into an even more confusing place for this myling.

Mark crouched down, so he was the same height as Kevin, and stared levelly into the boy's eyes. He was attempting to scrounge together all the information he knew of the deaths in this amusement park. The first record of such drowning cases reared its head in his mind, and Mark double-checked his information mentally, to make sure he was certain it was correct.

Looking over to Zaimix, Mark asked, "What's keeping him bound to this plane?"

The muse looked over the boy, attempting to find what was tethering the child to Earth. Usually, in cases of a person murdered, the spirit held something that was dear to them to keep them from going over to the Soul Plane. The only thing that struck Zaimix as a device that kept Kevin bound to Earth was a necklace the boy wore; a soccer ball pendant on a silver chain.

"I think," started Zaimix, softly, "It's the necklace."

As soon as Zaimix murmured his answer, Kevin's hand bolted to the necklace, and closed around the pendant protectively. Mark nodded silently at the muse, expecting such a reaction from the myling, and glanced to the spot he assumed Rosie was at. Quietly, he told her to go wait for him outside the petting zoo. Rosie obeyed, knowing her brother felt he had to do something about Kevin, even though she didn't understand exactly what was going on. But, Mark always seemed to know what was best to do in odd situations.

When Mark heard the door shut behind her, he looked back up at Kevin, who had backed away into a corner. Kevin was attempting to look fierce, while at the same time was frightened. His hand was still clutching at the soccer ball pendant, as it was his only lifeline in staying tethered to Earth.

"Stay away!" screamed the boy, as Mark slowly took a few steps forward, "I won't let you kill me!"

Mark paused, feeling a bit of sympathy for the boy who had hardly lived a life, but his mind knew that he couldn't let the boy's past get in the way of the facts. Kevin had killed other children, in cold blooded revenge for what his mother had done to him. Sighing, Mark replied, "I'm not going to kill you. I'm simply going to put you to rest, Kevin."

"You'll kill me! Just like she did!" continued Kevin, "She said she loved me, but she killed me! She brought me back here, to watch fireworks, and she killed me! Why? Why did mommy kill me!"

The blackness around Mark melted away, and slowly they were replaced by different scenery. Mark found himself standing outside the petting zoo, which looked more pleasant than it had felt when he entered. The pond didn't have algae floating upon it, unlike the neglected pond Zaimix had described, and the abandoned pens were now full with chickens, ponies, and goats.

He heard Zaimix gasp, and murmur, "This is Kevin's last memory of being alive."

Mark had figured as much, since he was seeing it with his owns eyes. Memory projections warped the mind, so they could be felt as the spirit intended them to feel. Mark eventually spotted a woman and her son, who he recognized as Kevin, sitting on the bank of the pond. They were both watching fireworks, and laughing.

Yet, even Mark could tell that there was something wrong with the mother's eyes. They held a sadness, or bitter underlaying feeling whenever she glanced at the boy. A child wouldn't have noticed such a depressing look. The animals were slowly becoming more uneasy with each firework that blasted off, and eventually they would all be in an uproar.

"Kevin, sweetie?" purred the woman, smoothing some of the boy's hair that was starting to stick up. The boy looked up at his mother, innocently, with questioning eyes. The woman smiled down at her son, as she went on, "You can forgive mommy if she ever did anything wrong, right?"

"You never do anything wrong, mommy. That's why I love you." Giggled the boy, hugging his mother tightly. The woman smiled at the boy, Mark couldn't help the shiver that ran up his spine at how sincere the smile seemed. The next scene happened so fast, Mark almost thought he had missed something.

In that moment, the woman grabbed his son, and shoved him under the water. Kevin had hardly had a chance to scream, but his little arms and legs thrashing stirred up the water. The animals started to go in an uproar, but as soon as they had started the finale went off, drowning out their cries of emergency. Mark watched with a sinking feeling in his stomach as the desperate thrashing in the water slowly became weaker. Soon, hardly a ripple rose to the surface.

"Forgive me sweetie." Murmured the mother maliciously, as she stared down at her son, floating face down in the pond. Taking a quick look around the deserted area, she quickly bolted from the scene of the crime, leaving nothing by the dead boy's body behind.

Mark breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the scene start to dissipate. Soon, he was left in the dark again, with Kevin still cowering in the corner. The young man neared the boy again, and crouched down. As Mark got closer, Kevin curled up in a ball, screaming, "Don't get any closer! I'll kill you if you do! Go away! Leave me alone!"

"No, Kevin. I'm not going away, and I'm not leaving you alone," Mark's voice was stern, and held no sympathy for the boy. His mind had started to click back into place, leaving the emotional sadness of Kevin's last memory behind as it remembered the facts, "I'm sorry your mother killed you, but that gave you no right to kill those other kids."

Kevin's eyes snapped to Mark's face, wide and angry. Mark had to fight down the urge to slap the boy, who had apparently been acting so frightened to gain mercy from him. Eyes that held so much malice couldn't be shown sympathy though, decided Mark as Kevin hissed, "Why not? Why should other children be in the loving embrace of their mothers? Why should they get such love, and not me!"

"How is killing children getting revenge on your mother?" snapped Mark, glaring in annoyance at the myling. He leaned forward, blind eyes flickering with irritation, as he growled, "You're hurting their mothers, who wonder who'd be cruel enough to kill their children. You're turning into your mother; heartlessly killing these kids who have done nothing to you. And your reason? Because they're being loved? Fortune shined on them with that love, and yet you took it all away, because you were jealous."

Silence greeted Mark, along with Kevin staring wide-eyed up at the young man. Kevin had been muttering protests to the accusations, until Mark told him he was turning into his mother. That had hit home, and Kevin was stunned at the revelation. He was turning into his mother. Murdering children who had done nothing to him. And he only did it out of spite, and jealousy. How could he?

Small tears started to fall down Kevin's face as his lips started to tremble. Mark watched with a stoic expression as Kevin's eyes fell to the floor. The boy was dumfounded, and swept up in a feeling of disappointed realization. Slowly, the myling's fingers uncurled from the soccer pendant, and as they did so, Kevin looked up into Mark's eyes. He was searching for something, anything, in the blind eyes.

"Will you do me a favor?" murmured the zombie-boy, his hands sliding up to his shoulders, past his neck, to rest on the clasp of his necklace. Mark nodded, vaguely, watching Kevin cautiously. Then, heard the soft, almost inaudible sound of the clasp being released. Sliding the necklace off, slowly, Kevin said, "Find my mommy. Give this to her, please."

Again, Mark nodded, numbly, as the ice cold trinket was dropped into the palm of his upturned hand. Slowly, steam started to rise from Kevin's body, and he slowly was fading away in a way that reminded Mark of evaporation. He would have turned to leave, not wanting to watch an undead spirit melt away, but Kevin's eyes were locked firmly onto Mark's face, making the blind man unable to leave. The child had already died once, without a kind face to look upon. If Kevin wished to die a second time, with Mark's mind etched in his dead brain, then Mark couldn't disagree.

Soon, Kevin was gone, completely. The icy necklace weighed down heavily in the young man's hand as he stared at the spot that Kevin had stood. Standing up, while simultaneously placing the necklace in his pocket for safekeeping, Mark stumbled out of the petting zoo barn. His mind had shut off, he didn't feel like thinking. Mark only registered the feel of the walk as he found the doorway that would open into the warm, outside air.

While he tried to find that door, though, his mind was a cold place. This was becoming hard on him, Mark realized. Each time, having to put a tortured or depressed soul to rest. Or get rid of a creature that was merely attempting to make an niche for itself in the world. It wasn't right to kill kids like Kevin had done, no, but he was just a scared child in all reality. The poor boy died without understanding why the one person in life who was supposed to nurture him ended up killing him. Perhaps Kevin did deserve some sort of revenge for a crime like that.

"Mark?" squeaked Zaimix, popping up right in front of Mark's nose, successfully breaking Mark's train of thought.

The blind young man stopped, and stared at the muse, raising an eyebrow as if to inquire what the little feathered creature wanted. Zaimix uncertainly glanced around, trying to find words to tell Mark whatever was on his mind. Finally, Zaimix looked up into Mark's blind eyes, and muttered, "You did what was right, y'know."

Mark sighed, and stared at Zaimix with his usual blank expression. Before nodding, and muttering, "Just, get me out of this stink hole, Zaimix. I need the fresh air."

Without another word, the muse fluttered off, leaving the human to follow. Just keeping his eyes on the glowing figure in his dark world, Mark followed the muse. The fog in his mind only started to lift when the outside rays of the sun touched his skin. He heard, and smelled, Rosie come up to him. Her footsteps were uncertain, and hesitant.

"Rosie?" Kneeling down, Mark stared straight ahead, not caring where Rosie was, or looking in her direction. When he felt a small, warm hand on his left shoulder, he reached up with his right and placed it over her hand, "Tell mom you went to find the restroom, okay? Tell her you got lost in a crowd, and couldn't figure out how to get back to where we were. Don't say a word about Kevin, or being here at this petting zoo. Understand?"

Sweeping his eyes up to meet Rosie, who started to slowly become visible thanks to Zaimix sitting in her hair, he made sure she understood. The girl looked hesistant, but put on a look of fierce loyalty as she nodded her head. Mark patted her on the shoulder, giving her a grateful smile, and slowly stood up.

Hand in hand, Rosie and Mark made their way back to where their mother had been left. Idly, they chatted in an attempt to keep the coldness of their previous encounter from settling in. Yet, nagging at Mark was the promise he made to Kevin before the myling departed. Yet, the soul needed some sort of comfort to rest peacefully, Mark knew, and he wouldn't disrespect the dead by not complying with this simple wish.

He just wished his imagination wouldn't torture him with how the woman would react upon receiving the cold little piece of jewelry in the mail. Somehow, in Mark's gut, he was willing to bet that the box would be damp, too. Objects a dead person held dear tended to find ways in getting rightful revenge for their late owners. Mark just shivered at the thought of the long-awaited revenge that this tiny necklace would fulfill.