Tears stung Hellboy's eyes. "pop?" His heart heaved in his chest as he looked at his 'father'.
Dr. Broom lay on the floor dead. Blood pooled under his back spreading outward. Gently he picked the still body up. Hellboy held him against his chest. Tears began spilling down his cheeks.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't here...you died alone." A sob caught in his throat. "It's all my fault." A course voice cut through him.
"It is your fault." Hellboy jerked his head up. Ready to take his anger out on the person. But there was no one else. "It is your fault." The voice was Dr. Broom's.
"Pop?!" He held the older man tighter to his chest. "Thank God!" He looked down at his face.
"I'm still dead..." Dr. broom's eyes opened to look up at him, but there was no warmth in his face. "And if you hadn't been a love-sick puppy I would still be alive."
Hellboy shook his head frantically. The tears began running down his face, dripping off his chin. "Oh God, I'm so sorry..."
The professor's voice was cold. "I should have killed you all those many years ago. Your nothing but a demon...a damn demon."
Suddenly his body began rotting away right in front of Hellboy's eyes. "No! Don't go! I'm sorry!" His voice began to quiver like a small boy who had been punished. "I won't ever leave you again! I'll be better!" The body still continued to rot away. "Don't leave me...Your all I've...got." His voice turned into a horse whisper.
The body turned into dust and began faking through his fingers. As the last of his 'father's' remains vanished Hellboy pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. His sobbing grew ragged.
Hellboy jerked awake. He flew up in the truck bed, his heart frantically beating in his chest. Slowly he raised a shaking hand to his face, wiping the sweat away. He ran both hands over his face in vain to calm down. After a few minutes he let his back hit the bed again.
"Father...I'm so sorry."
More and more nightmares came. Night after night, week after week. He stopped eating and talking and just sat in his room. He finally stopped sleeping also. A few months later he couldn't take it anymore...