Let the light guide your way
Hold every memory as you go
And every road you take
Will always lead you home
                   
-See you again. Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth.
______________________

The room was pitch dark and eerily silent as a grave.

Amelia's chocolate brown eyes, focusing through the dark under strain, witnessed a grotesque picture where her creatures of the dark crept out of their rendezvous spot.

Have you ever trembled in bed on reading R.L.Stine? You're absolutely welcome to meet Amelia. She would even kiss Slappy the living dummy instead of being tormented by horrendous figments of her imagination.

Amelia saw them again. Her docile mind would say it was the 'ghosts of her horrid past' whereas the psychiatrist in her, the one with a meagre sense of logic left in bay would term it as a 'legit hallucination'.

Blood pounded in her ears as she saw the hallucinatory hands in the form of a cold silhouette that rose from underneath the cushion, wrapped itself around Jake's neck. Though she couldn't see anything other than those hands, she felt the icy breath of a beastly creature smearing itself again the sensitive skin at the back of her neck.

They never said anything. The spine chilling conversation was as mute as it could be. But she could listen to their voice clear as crystal.

'He's next', they said. Initially Amelia shunned their statement to be a mere bogus chant of a garden gnome.

Little did she knew that those dastardly creatures never lied. It is the despicable nature of human being to lie for getting around, but hallucinations proclaimed the ultimate truth for they had no conscience to be pricked on.

As a last straw to her endurance, she reeled back to similar situations from past when the same hands wrapped around the neck of two more people she knew - Luciana de Lorenzo and her boyfriend Mark Ashworth.

And they were resting in peace right then.

"Pp.. Please, leave him.. leave Jake alone. Don't take him too. Please. Please" she shuddered madly while begging with nothingness using all her might for sparing Jake's life. Although she tried, she never found what kind of feelings she had for the six feet bundle of muscle, but the thought of losing him made her metabolism go awry.

Slowly and cautiously the silhouette untangled and crept back home. No wonder the night sky was so clear in Thunder Bay as all the clouds sought refuge beneath Amelia's thick skull. It was her call to give chance to the others. Her fingernails dug into the soft flesh of her upper arm to prevent herself from giving in.

"Sleep. I'll take care of everything" convinced a childlike voice at the back of her head.

Amelia, turning into the Lucifer, became covetous, "I can't, you son of a bastard! I'm not Amelia anymore. I'm having a new life as Mia and I'm not gonna give my time to any of you." A palpable soul sucking force swirled at the pit of her stomach mercilessly.

She could never expect anything from her alters lest benevolence. Though Charlie looked innocent and cuddly like a chihuahua, was never partial in giving up on his time.

He claimed what was rightfully his.

______________________

Jake rubbed his eyes for he wasn't entirely awake. He was startled awake by piercing screams and after a little feat of exploration, found Issac locked in the topmost kitchen cupboard. As an element of surprise, the cries didn't belong to Issac but to Amy who was hidden in the same cupboard beside the little kid.

Except the president of Canada, he had everyone at his door with threats of reporting the authorities if he did not stop the screams of his child.

After tactically convincing the neighbours from reporting to the interpol, Jake retreated to the kitchen where his acting wife stubbornly refused to get out of the closet. Issac was fast asleep on her shoulder.

"Charlie, are you gonna get down or not?" Jake gritted his teeth like a father admonishing his truant son.

"No. Why should I?" fought back the alter with the chihuahua resemblance.

"Why should you? It's ridiculous. You can't live your life inside a rusty closet!"

A low grumble erupted from his throat, "It ain't rusty. It's cozy, compact and free from evil spirits. This house looks like the nest of a blood thirsty babadook ghost." Charlie stayed stubborn irrespective of the tempting offers provided by Jake. At last Jake ran out of options.

"Is there any way to bribe you?" asked Jake out of shame.

"Mmm..." Charlie rolled his eyes in all possible directions, "Yes, indeed! There is one after all." he beamed with excitement.

"What the heck is that?"

"I've always dreamt of going to this place where there are weird lights and sounds. It has different boxes and each box takes you to a different world. When you come out, you get many tickets for which they trade valuables in our world. Will you take me there?"

Jake's fingers traced the five o clock shadow along his jawline, "The way you describe it, makes it sound like a midnight discotheque from Mars, but in our world we call the place as an arcade. Do you want me to take you there? But it's so late!"

"No worries, I'll sleep in the closet tonight." declared Charlie, closing half a door.

"No" Jake broke open the door, "You are not gonna sleep here. We are going to the arcade. Right now."

__________________________

Finding a way of transport out of the countryside was as easy as flagging a ferry down the Amazon rainforest. Jake wondered whether there was any magic portal which diverted the buses that stopped at Thunder bay. Moreover he had Issac in a baby sling and Charlie in hand, who was on cloud nine at the aspect of visiting an arcade for the first time in his life.

Charlie tickled Issac in his stomach,"Hey ice cream can you believe this? Your dad's gonna take us to an arcade. There will be lot of games and pizza. If I win tickets, I'll buy you a teddy bear. How is the deal?" He kept prattling about the things he dreamt of doing in the arcade. Issac seemed to catch on to Charlie's vibe though he never understood what he was jabbering about. Jake was afraid whether he had to disappoint Charlie as there was no sign of a bus arriving.

"The boy has a name" Jake disapproved Charlie to name Issac after a dessert but the more he reprimanded, the more Charlie clung on to the name.

"You don't know how his real name sounds. It sounds like Ice sack. I love ice cream more than ice sack. But I love this kid more than ice cream. Where did you get him?" Charlie was very near to fall in love with Issac. Jake found himself developing a liking towards Charlie, as he reminded him so much of Jeanne. She too would've been acting like Charlie at the prospect of dropping by an arcade.

"That's a long story"

Charlie pouted his lips adorably, "Well, I don't mind till you take me to the arcade" he grinned like a Cheshire cat. That night Charlie was wearing a baggy sweat shirt, denim shorts and a scarf of the Argentina F.C around his neck, which gave him the appearance of a primary school student in spite of his residence in the body of a twenty seven year old woman.

It had been an hour, still there was no sign of a bus arriving. Jake's heart ached to drop the bomb, but he had no other go, "Charlie I don't think we will be going to the-"

BAAM

There was the bus to save the day.

Charlie climbed in energetically followed by Jake praying that they return safe without any cops at their heels.

Thunder bay was a city that fit the description of places from Enid Blyton novels. It was covered by a blanket of greenery, inhabited by a peaceful and undisturbed civilization, lacking even the tiniest speck of pollution. The day was perfect to be outdoors as the whether was neither hot nor cold, which happened once in a blue moon. Places in Canada were mostly covered in frost half the year so even the minimum of warmth acquired must be optimised to the maximum.

Issac gawked at the window where, lay on the other side were an array of uniform buildings made of sandstone with colorful neon lights on the façade. They were merely two stops away from their destination when a high school couple with grimace on their faces entered the bus. As soon as the door of the bus sealed shut they began to bark madly at each other. Charlie observed them with intense scrutiny.

"Stop gaping at them" Jake nudged Charlie at the ribs, but he evaded it and continued scrutinizing.

"Are they gonna slap each other? It will be so interesting." Charlie got to the edge of the seat and began biting his nails. The rising tension between the couple was perceptible but Jake was sure that they weren't gonna slap each other.

"Believe me, I know how high school couple fight ends. They'll probably kis-" Before Jake could complete, the boy who had the resemblance of a experienced casanova pulled the girl by her waist and claimed her lips.

"Fuck, they are actually doing it!" Jake immediately snaked his arm around Charlie and shut his eyes. Charlie struggled with Jake to open his eyes but Jake was persistent in not allowing him to watch the gross scene.

"Hey let go of me. Have they already slapped? I wanna see" pleaded Charlie.

"Sorry kiddo. Things are going a bit vulgar here. Your age isn't appropriate to watch such things." Jake wished they would detach their faces but they were glued to each other. Jake decided to intervene in their dream moment, "You son of a-"

No. Canadians don't swear.

Jake cleared his throat, "Hey mister if you wanna elongate your romance please do it in privacy. We have children in the bus."

Jake's words had their effect as the couple went two feet apart. The girl became crimson at cheeks whereas the casanova stepped up for his rights, "Oh really? If you have any problem with us you can speak up for yourself like a man with spine, instead of using a toddler for excuse." he retaliated, flaring the verge of homicide in his eyes.

Jake joined the staring contest and towered over the kid, "I'll pretend I didn't listen to you mister." The latter cowered under the smouldering look of wrath whirling in the depths of the pair of sea green eyes.

Charlie got Jake's hand off his eyes. He got disappointed on seeing that the couple weren't slapping anymore.
 
"Hey can you repeat what you were doing before? I missed it" curiosity glinted in Charlie's eyes as he asked for a replay. Jake caught Charlie by his wrist and walked out of the bus, "They will not slap each other forever Charles" he winked at the couple before getting down.    
 
Jake made monetary arrangement for the night through an old friend of his from the off road racing club. It had been more than five years since he abandoned off road racing and not once in the five years he had ever tried to contact anyone of them. All of them had changed their numbers except Connor, who very badly wanted to meet Jake while he called him.

They met Connor before the Wacky's arcade. Charlie would've pounced inside if Jake hadn't held him by the hood of his sweatshirt. Connor looked the same from five years back with the dressing sense of a hip-hop artist. That night he wore a tank top to show off his muscular arms, with skinny jeans and a jacket tied at his waist. Jake fist bumped with him.

"Yo man, How long has it been since we met! Are you here for the motocross tournament? We need a real competition this time." Connor paused for taking a breath and it was then when he noticed the girl standing next to Jake.

"Wait, is that Amelia Hamilton? The girl from our rally? Have you married her? Is that child hers?" Connor flared with rage. Jake stood before Charlie like a shield. He never thought Connor would would recognise Amelia. The unexpected break out from his friend made Jake crack his knuckles.

"Things are not the same from the past Connor. I'm not here for the tournament. You know I've given up on races after that day." Connor opened his mouth to protest but Jake didn't allow him to talk. "Amelia has suffered in a manner that you wouldn't even imagine your worst enemy to be. I've not married her nor the child is ours."

"Thank Gods" Connor was relieved on hearing the last word from Jake.

"But I'm not giving up on her. One day or another she'll be my better half."

Connor's face scrunched like he had heard the most senseless statement of the century, "You can't be serious 'bout that. Man have you lost your nuts?"

"Take it like that, but there's no way I'm abandoning her. I have no time. I'll talk to you later. Thanks for the money mate." Jake made a hurried goodbye and entered the Wacky's world of arcade games.

Jake never thought Charlie would become a pro in his first attempt in the arcade. He played crossy road for nearly half an hour without getting the chicken smashed under the bus. Tickets kept on accumulating at the bottom of the machine. According to Jake's guesstimate there were at least a thousand yellow strips and there were more to come out.

"How the hell are you doing that?" Jake gaped at Charlie's quick movements which made the chicken evade the obstacles.

Charlie had his eyes stuck on the screen, "Every game has a pattern. Once you get to know it, the rest of the game forms a loop of the current pattern" The machine spat the last of its tickets and there were no more tickets for him to win. Charlie kicked the machine, "You good for nothing dumb box. Give me more tickets"

"Come on. There are lot of games to play" Jake distracted Charlie who was dejected over the chicken drowning in the river.

Charlie was best at every game he played in the arcade. He got more than five thousand tickets. To fulfil his promise he bought a teddy bear bigger than Issac as a gift. He then purchased a digital watch and asked it to be wrapped.

Jake was dumbstruck, "For whom did you buy the watch?"

"Shh.." Charlie made a gesture of zipping up his lips, "Surprise"

"Whatever." Jake dismissed the topic, "Come on. Let's get you some pizza"

_____________________

The arcade had a small snack bar by the side of a pool where Jake ordered pizza for Charlie.

Charlie wolfed down the slices of pepperoni  in a hurry. Jake fed Issac his usual cereal by making hilarious expressions on his face. Charlie chocked on the pizza and ran out of breath.

Jake made him drink a cup full of water and rubbed his back, "Slow down kiddo. You have time to eat all you want."

"Time?" Charlie laughed humorlessly.

"Why, what's wrong? Tell me. You are hiding something, aren't you?" Jake insisted.

Charlie patted on the space next to him. Jake threw his leg over the bench and sat close to Charlie. He intertwined their fingers and looked Charlie in the eye, "Tell me. Why are you acting strange?"

Charlie blinked away the tears that stood at the rim of his eyelids, "This is my last time here Jake. I won't be seeing you anymore."

Jake sandwiched Charlie's hand between his, "Why it had to be you? You are the most harmless alter of Amy."

"That's the problem. I'm a weakling. I was just created to deal with Amelia's fear of the dark. It's Darwin's theory of evolution in practical life. The fittest will survive."

"Then if you leave, who will take care of Amelia's fear of darkness?" Jake squeezed Charlie's hand.

"Amelia will no more be scared of the dark. Because she will be the dark."

Jake raised a quizzical eyebrow, "Wha.. What do you mean?"

Charlie licked his lips. His throat became parched dry that each of his words stung. "I have very less time. I need to talk with madman. Please?"

Jake had a tingling sensation of possessiveness itching at the bottom of his chest. How much ever he tried to get close to Charlie, he was more attached to Hayden than to him. Since it was his last day, Jake made a Skype call to Hayden irrespective of his hard feelings.

"Your madman will appear on the screen. You can talk to him how long you want." Jake thrusted the mobile in Charlie's hand and moved away so that he wouldn't walk into his nemesis again.

By the way Charlie's face brightened up, Jake could tell that Hayden was on the screen. "Hello madman" Charlie waved his hand at the screen with an evergreen smile.

"Charlie?" Hayden came out with a surprised tone. His voice was croaky, which obviously shouted that he was sick in the throat. He couldn't talk anymore as he had a fit of cough.

Charlie squinted at the screen to take note of the details on Hayden's face, "What's up with the beard? Are you gonna put on the Moses style?"

Jake chuckled at his imaginary art of Hayden with the beard of Moses. Hayden would never have a divine glow like Moses, instead he had the chances of growing two horns on head amidst his curly hair like the Michaelangelo's version of Moses.

"No" cough.. cough.. "I'm not well. Why did you call?" cough.. cough.. "Is Jake torturing you?"

Jake curled his fists but the next word from Charlie eased his nerves. "Stop teasing him. He was very nice to me today. Know one thing, he even took me to the arcade. How many times have I asked you for it. You never, not once thought about taking me out."

Hayden mouth dropped open. Jake cheered inside like he was on the top of the world.

"Okay. Then why did you call me for?" Hayden muttered in nonchalance.

"I'm going there. To the place where you said there will be no darkness."

Hayden nodded in acknowledgement. He wasn't shocked for he knew that moment will come one day. "Are you ready?"

"I think so." Charlie shivered in his seat. "I have to. I've been a parasite, sucking the life out of Amelia though she gave me so much reasons to live."

Hayden disapproved, "You don't know anything about her. It was me, who waited on her whenever she was locked in the dark room as a little girl. You know what I said her from the other side? I said.. I knew a friend called Charlie who saved children from the dark. It was my mistake.

She waited, for years. She fought with me, thrashed my chest asking why Charlie never came to save her. And one day, when she was in the dark, I reached out for her. The way she looked at me, I could tell it was someone else. She blamed me for it must've been me who should have protected her from the dark. Instead I made her wait for someone who never existed, so she called me -"

"Madman" Charlie covered his mouth with his palm and cried into it.

"Sorry Charlie. You were created because of a mistake I did. It's time for you to go home."

Jake, with a tear stricken face, snatched the phone from Charlie's quivering hands and engulfed him in a crushing hug from back. He inhaled Charlie's scent for a last time to engrave everything about him in his mind. Charlie buried his head on Jake's shoulder.

"Give this to Amy" Charlie picked the wrapped gift from the table and gave it to Jake, "It's my gift. I present my time to her. Ask her to be happy in my time. I will not waste my time for her to cry in it."

"I will. Do you have anything to say to me?"

Charlie bit the edge of his lower lip, "You must know why I'm leaving. Long back when Amelia underwent therapy, it was found that she couldn't have more than eight people like me. There are already eight of us. I'm being kicked out by others for the greater good."

Jake's grip around Charlie tightened, "Eight?