Weeks went on, and it seemed as though he was never going to leave without being watched 24/7. Every moment of his wake, John would be watching him. Dave questioned why he never left when the raven boy was sleeping, but the thought of leaving terrified him. One reason only. If he left, he knew that John would come after him and kill him next. He was afraid of death, and he did not want to come to an end by someone he had fallen for.
Another thing that bothered him was that door. What the hell was John hiding? He thought to himself.
He lay on the dirty mattress, staring up at the ceiling when he heard the door creak open. John peeked his head in, a smile on his face, saying, "Davey, I hate to tell you this, but Mayor isn't here. I went outside to feed him, but he seems to have disappeared."
Dave sat up instantly with fear in his eyes. "Mayor ran away!? He wouldn't ever run away…"
"I know. I think he got out because last night I heard the coyotes," John said with a nod. The boy took a seat on the bed beside Dave, taking his hand. "I have to tell you something. I haven't ever told anyone what I'm about to tell you, so you have to promise to not tell anyone."
Dave squeezed John's hand gently and promised to not tell. He watched John's features harden then soften as he opened his mouth, "When I was around four, I picked up my first knife. It wasn't like a scary movie scene, but I picked one up and stabbed my pet hamster. When mom came home from work she blamed dad for it. She told me that it wasn't my fault, and that I didn't know any better. I did, though.
"She had no idea how much superiority I felt the moment I seized the knife. I felt like I had so much power in the world. However, after that night, mom put all the knives away so I couldn't get a hold of them."
The blond could not believe what he was being told. He stared at the other with his mouth agape; pure terror. He swallowed it back and listened as John went on.
"When I was nine, I waited until my mom went to one of her AA meetings and I tried to kill my dad. I couldn't ever figure what made me want to kill him…up until this moment, the reason I killed him was simple. Want to take a guess?" John encouraged with an airy hand. He adjusted himself so he sat crisscross on the bed.
It took the other a moment to think and he shook his head, suggesting, "He kept taking your juice and crackers?"
"Ha! No!" John cackled, an arm going around his stomach as he crowed with laughter. "He didn't save my mom! He didn't prevent her from dying! He didn't give a shit about her and I knew the day she walked out the door! She told us all that she was going to the store to a gas station, but she didn't make it home. No. She didn't make it home."
John seemed to be going into a trance. Everything that he was saying was truly effecting him. Dave could tell just by looking at the way John's eyes grew heavy and wet with oncoming tears.
"You see, my mom didn't make it home because when she came to a bridge, you know the Burton Bridge, she ran off and drowned. You know what I did to my dad? The man that helped create me also drowned. I made him drive himself in the same river to drown, but I took his head as my prize once he was dead," he said with a creepy smile forming on his face.
The thought of John doing such a thing made Dave's head and stomach churn. He swallowed back an oncoming fit of vomit just at the image of it all.
"But don't you worry! You aren't going to die. You haven't done anything mean to me and we're perfect for each other," John said moving down to wrap his arms around Dave's waist. "Now, Davey, I have to leave for a while, and this is the first time I've ever left you alone. In the cooler I left you cereal, milk, juice, and chips. When I come back, we're going to work on a fun project together. Be good for me." He pressed a gentle, wet kiss to the freckled cheek then he skipped out of the room.
The moment the front door shut, Dave heard the soft whine that had to belong to Mayor. He popped out of the bed, ran out of the room, and into the hallway. He shouted Mayor's name a couple of times as he hurriedly made his way down the hall. When he heard the dog's whimpering coming from the door that John told him to stay out of, a shiver ran up his spine. John was hiding something and he had to get in there for the sake of Mayor!
He placed a hand to the door knob, jiggling it until it came open with a pop. Stale, rank air wafted from the room causing Dave to vomit onto the floor. He clutched his stomach as the burning acid erupted out of him along with hot tears. When he was able to stand up right, his eyes grew wide and his entire body went ice cold. He let out a scream of sadness and sorrow, "Mayor!"
Mayor lay on the floor near a bloodied table, a knife protruding from his torso, a pool of blood around him. The blond raced over, knelt down, and stared wildly at his poor dog. A sob heaved out of his mouth while tears streamed down his face. "M-mayor, don't worry. Daddy will fix this and I will keep you safe! Don't worry!" he sobbed.
He looked around the room, not taking in everything he was seeing, for a shirt or gauze! He found nothing. He immediately tore off his shirt with another sob wracking through his entire body. "Mayor, this is going to hurt, but I have to get that knife out and I will patch you up…Okay?"
With a shaky hand, Dave took hold of the hilt and swallowed. He shut his wet eyes and yanked, hard. The loud yelp that erupted from the sweet, precious dog killed him, and would forever haunt him.
He quickly threw the knife to the floor, wrapping the shirt around the dog's torso. He applied pressure to the wound, hearing Mayor whimper. The pomsky licked at Dave's hand. One could say that Mayor was smiling with tears in his eyes if dogs could truly cry.