Silence pressed in… but apparently the mother wasn't done with the son.
So subtle it made Autumn's stomach coil.
Karl's spine arched in tiny jerks…
His fingers curled unnaturally tight…
His breath hitched in broken stutters that didn't match pain alone.
Something was coiling around him.
Something invisible.
Something vile yet alive.
A faint ripple moved across the air…like heat distortion, but icy cold.
It slithered up Karl's back… around his ribs… into his throat.
His eyes widened…slowly and he gagged on nothing.
Autumn's breath shuddered in her chest as she watched.
Karl's jaw clenched as if an unseen force was squeezing it shut.
Another thin line of black ichor trickled from the corner of his lip.
His mother hummed at the sight as if pleased to her core.
Hummed?!
Like this was a lullaby.
Her hand hovered lazily above him, fingers twitching ever so slightly…and every twitch made Karl jolt violently on the floor.
