Chapter 14 – “Master & A Hound” - Gregory Alan Isakov
VICE
“MASTER you’re only supposed to coax them back to sleep. Tears drip from my jaw and to the floor as I tiptoe toward his bed, holding back sobs at the sight of him like this.
“August,” I whisper, choking on the word.
He looks so broken, the deepest pits of darkness in his mind rising to the surface in a catastrophic wave. Bearing witness to the devastation is wrecking me—his screams like claws tearing through my flesh, his fear like a knife piercing my heart, his pain like black hole swallowing me whole.
I slowly climb onto the bed, sitting on my knees. My first touch is featherlight, fingers sweeping over the hair on his forehead, matted with sweat against his skin. He gasps at the contact, but I hush him. “It’s okay, Augustus. It’s me.”
I don’t say my name, because I no longer know if his subconscious will recognize it as a savior or a foe.