Dreaming Dead

~Chapter Three~

**Ricky's POV**

I was being led by a mysterious stranger in all black down the dark and tree-filled path, which led the way out of the park. I was completely unsure
of how to react to this entire situation. He had just came out of nowhere, talked to me about death and now he was leading me somewhere where I had
never been before.

'This is it.' I thought to myself as I slowly followed behind him. 'This is the part where I die.'

Suddenly, the stranger called Grimm stopped. He turned and looked at me with his pale eyes that looked like they could turn me to stone.

"Why are we stopping here?" I dared to ask as I looked at where we were. Trees. Lots of them.

He was gonna kill me in the woods? How Cliche.

Grimm spoke in a deep voice that had the slightest hint of embarrassment in it. "I don't know where I am." He admitted.

I smirked a little. "For a dark killer, you sure aren't all that intimidating."

Grimm shot me an icy glare that practically told me to piss off. I shrugged slightly. "Well. Don't think you can get directions out of me. I've never been here before
either."

Grimm let out a low growl and sat down on an aged tree stump. "You know I wasn't expecting this."

"Expecting what?"

"You. You're nothing like the mortal humans my Father would speak to me of. Death was a fearsome topic to be brought up for them. To speak of it was like
to speak of a family secret. Mortals scream and thrash and beg for their lives to be spared. You, however.... You're different. You treat irreversible, inevitable death
like a modern, everyday illness. There's no fear. No discomfort. Why, Ricky? Why doesn't death frighten you?"

I looked at Grimm. His eyebrows were raised, making his eyes appear big and innocent. He looked more like a curious child than a creepy, nocturnal stranger.

"I... I stopped fearing death a long time ago." I said, looking down.

"Why?" Grimm asked. The cold harshness in his voice had suddenly gone away and replaced with softness.

I shook my head "It...It's hard to explain."

Grimm looked at me, disappointment on his face. You could tell he really did want to know, but wasn't going to put up a fight to get the information out of me.

"I...I understand." He stuttered, looking down. I watched his hands as his skinny pale fingers fiddled with each other in a nervous gesture.

"You alright?" I asked him.

He looked up and cleared his throat weakly. "Yeah... I'm fine." He shook his head slightly, his silky hair bobbing around in front of his face.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm sure." Grimm stood up and turned. "I should get going. I apologize for bothering you." The last sentence was barely a whisper as he slowly started to
walk away.

My heart skipped a beat as I rushed up and grabbed hold of his arm. "No!" I shouted slightly as I tugged.

Grimm turned his head and looked at me. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"Don't leave me, please! It gets really lonely around here and people don't just come around to chat with me. You're the only person now who actually talks to me
and looks at me and listens. Stay here, please?"

Grimm's face twisted up and his forehead creased. "I-I can't."

"Please stay. Please?" I continued to beg.

He looked back behind him for a few seconds and sighed, turning his head back to face me again. "I guess I can stay a while longer."

I smiled gratefully, chuckling a little in relief. "Thank you."