End Of A Phase

“Mateo?”

I felt my knees weakening as I locked eyes with a hooded figure in a dark cloak in front of the gate. His voice sounded like a hoarse whisper, but it was loud. And it made my skin crawl even more. I couldn’t see his entire face, as half of his upper face was covered by the hood. But I could clearly see his red, glowing, menacing eyes.

“Yes,” he said in an eerie voice. The man grabbed two iron bars of the gate slowly, showing long and dirty nails. The little skin that I saw was pale, and he looked super skinny, only skin on bones.

“Who are you?” I asked, “And what do you mean you have Mateo?”

The man stretched his hand beyond the iron bars of the gate. He opened his palm. Instantly, red-orange dust appeared from his fingers and created what seemed like a circle of firework in the air. In the middle of the circle, appeared a boy in a dark void.

I couldn’t breathe.

The boy looked at me with fear in his eyes. He looked emancipated