Chapter 9: As If Pulled By a Thread

The sporadic and uneven crackle of foot on gravel was the only indication Andy needed to realize something was wrong. It was a slow, dragging sound, instead of the usual one-two of feet descending steps.

The door creaked open, and the sight of Ruin limping and supported by his sister greeted Andy. Ruin’s nose was broken, and his mouth had a trail of blood streaking over his lips. Yet, despite the injury, he seemed amused.

“Well now that was unexpected,” he said.

Requiem, on the other hand, looked downright furious. Her eyes were sharper than usual, shining with all the madness and chaos of a black hole.

“I will kill that Pig-faced brat. I will show you her lungs, yes, and you shall rip them like paper. But only enough to make it painful to breathe. I will take my time with her. Oh, yes! That one will suffer an agonizing death. No place on this earth will keep her safe from me. I will destroy her!”

Andy had no idea what happened and found it hard to care. He was still sitting in the corner of the room with his knees tucked into his stomach. His eyes stung from the hours he’d spent crying. He was physically exhausted, but sleep would not come.

“Are you still crying, Brother Andy? Don’t tell me you’ve been bawling here all night. It’s morning already, you know? What if your mother reports you missing? You need to man up and go home before you arouse suspicion.”

Andy tried to turn away from Ruin, but his head wouldn’t move. It was as if an invisible hand held it in place.

That’s right. He’s a Telekinetic, and he’s different from me.

“You weren’t there. None of you were! I just wanted Richard. I didn’t think anyone else was awake. They saw what I did, and then they screamed and reached for their phone. I didn’t know what to do, honestly, I didn’t. Will God ever forgive me? I keep thinking to myself over and over how things could’ve been different. Sometimes I even doze off, and in my dreams, none of this ever happened. But it did. I massacred them. I butchered them. I am disgusting! I am the worst!”

Ruin and Requiem looked at each other for a moment and then simultaneously burst into a laughing frenzy. Andy felt destroyed, too exhausted to care what it was they found so humorous.

“Oh, Andy, Darling, lighten up. My brother and I have been thinking of a new name for you. How about, ‘Andy, the Family-Slayer?’”

The hysterical, laughing fit continued.

“I actually preferred, ‘Andy, the Ruthless’,” Ruin said, “but my sister’s was better.”

If the two weren’t so much more powerful than he was, Andy would have killed them on the spot. He had vomited twice since returning to the shelter, not bothering to clean it, but neither of them paid it any mind.

Several times over the long night, Andy had contemplated suicide. More so, he had even come close to attempting it. But he was weak. Despite his desire, he couldn’t bring himself to go through with it. All he wanted was to start over, to return to his life and forget that any of this had ever happened.

“What happened to you two tonight?” Andy asked.

Their laughing stopped instantly, and their eyes took on a more sinister look.

“There are others like us. More than we expected. They intervened with our capture of the Harris-boy.”

At this, for the first time in almost twenty-four hours, Andy’s attention diverted to something other than his crimes.

“Intervened? What do you mean? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Requiem licked her lips. “Apparently, Darling, there’s others like us that can do what we can. Only, I suspect they’re somehow affiliated with the government or police, because they seemed to have it out for us.”

Ruin nodded. “We are not positive, but if this is the case then they are our gravest enemies. It is our God-given right to kill those who we please. Those with strength can make or break laws, but they are not subject to them.” He scowled as he spoke. It was the first time Andy had ever seen Ruin angry. It was hard to believe.

“These fools,” Ruin continued, “they dare try to use their powers to enforce … rules! On us! I’ll personally see to the execution of each one of them. No one has the right to take our freedom, not unless they are stronger than we are. And I promise you they aren’t. Had you been there with us, Andy, we would have devoured them completely. I need you to get out of this pathetic state you’re in and join us in exterminating these rodents.”

Despite all of Andy’s terror and sorrow, his grief and his misery, his nightmare and his pain, up until now, there had still been a glimmer of hope. Even with the unbearable torment and realization that he had utterly and completely ruined the hopes and dreams of an entire lineage, there had been one small, almost unrecognizable escape from despair. In the farthest reaches of his mind, Andy knew that due to the nature of his crimes he wouldn’t be suspected. After all, he killed without laying a finger on his victims. If he wanted to, he could simply start over and never hear of his atrocities again.

Now that was gone, and all that remained inside of Andy was misery. So, there were people who could track these powers? If he’d had even a morsel of suspicion, he never would have gone through with any of it. He could have called the police, or he could have reached out for help. Ruin and Requiem had told him he was unique, but now he knew otherwise.

I’m done. I’ll be executed, my mother shamed, my life snatched away from me. Do I even deserve any better?

“I know what you’re thinking, Darling, and it’s not because I’m a Telepath,” Requiem said. Ruin simply nodded.

She walked over to him in the corner of the dark bomb shelter. Gravel crunched underfoot as she crouched down in front of him. With her red hair and her fierce eyes, her beauty somehow managed to overshadow her madness.

“Do not lose hope. There is no going back, but we can still move forward. We have broken no laws because we are the law. I’ve seen this ‘Harris-boy’. Once we have him, nothing will stop us. I think you can help us. You claimed to know him.”

Andy shook his head. “You might as well forget about Jack. Even if Jack is like us, he’ll never be us. In fact, he’ll never be like anyone. Sometimes I wonder if he’s even human.”

Ruin rubbed under his chin. “I noticed something was off about him as well,” he said. “Andy, tell us everything you know about Jack Harris, starting with your relationship. Are you two friends?”

“Kind of,” Andy said. “It’s very difficult to say. Jack seems to think we are, but I mostly avoid him. He’s one of the few people abused at school more than I am, and he reaches out to me—not for help or pity or anything, I think he just doesn’t like seeing me alone. He has this friend of his, umm … Adam. So despite it all, he always has someone to talk with. I mostly keep to myself, and I think he feels bad for me.”

Ruin nodded. “Interesting. You say he is abused at school?”

Andy shook his head just thinking about it. “You have no idea. It’s a miracle he hasn’t gone on a rampage, abilities or otherwise. What that kid’s gone through makes my life seem like heaven by comparison. I don’t even know where to start with Jack.”

Requiem and Ruin slid over two metal chairs, which scratched against the gravel floor.

“Well, tell us what you can,” Requiem said.

“I live about two miles from him, so we’ve gone to the same school since about the third grade. Since then, I’ve seen some of the worst things humanity can offer brought upon him. If it was just being beaten up or spat on, or even shut inside of a locker for a few hours, he’d be no different from me. But with him, they took it beyond that.”

Andy inhaled. “In the early sixth grade, he found an abandoned baby rabbit outside the schoolyard. For weeks, he nursed the thing and brought it with him to school. The teachers didn’t seem to mind, which was weird. I guess they thought it was cute.”

“He carried it with him for almost two months, caring for it, playing with it. When bullies would come near him he’d hide it, and they’d threaten to beat him if he didn’t give it to them. Let’s just say he got quite a few beatings. But one day, as a ‘joke,’ this kid Jeremy Sanders gets hold of some rat poison. He breaks into Jack’s locker, replaces the food, and within a day the little thing dies.”

Requiem stood from her chair and picked it up, tossing it into the corner. The chair crashed against the wall and landed on the floor with a thud.

“Those bastards! How dare they?”

Andy was confused. So now Requiem was a compassionate person? Insane people made no sense.

Noting his confusion, Ruin spoke, “Andy, we already consider Jack to be our brother. The rabbit was his thing. If he wanted it to live, then damnit it lives. That is our way. It was his choice, and it was violated by trash like this Jeremy. But please, continue, what happened next?”

Andy tried to ignore the remark and continued. “Well, it didn’t take long for Jack to find out who did it. It was also the first time I’d ever seen him angry about something. Normally, he just ignored the torture, but this time, he went up to this Jeremy kid, who mind you, was quite a bit larger than Jack.”

“So anyway, Jack knocked this guy to the floor with one hit. I’ve never seen that kind of power from anyone. Oh man, you should have seen the surprise on this kid’s face when little old Jack sent him to the ground. Jack jumped on top of him, right? And he made like he was going to punch him again. I remember because he pulled back his fist like he was ready to go all out on this guy.”

Ruin laughed. “And you say he can’t be made to see our side of things?”

“Wait, Ruin, there’s more. Just when Jack was about to start pounding this kid into oblivion, the kid started screaming, ‘Wait, please! Don’t hurt me. I’m sorry, please!’ And then Jack just … stopped. He didn’t even think about it. The moment Jack heard his voice he just stopped, got off the kid, and told him he forgave him.”

Andy continued, “You see? This is why he’ll never join us. He’s not like other people.”

Requiem’s lip pulled back, distorting what was normally a beautiful face. Her eyes, too, seemed crossed, and her tongue lolled out the side of her mouth like a hungry animal.

“Oh, I want him so badly. I need to be alone for some time, my sweets. I can barely contain myself, and I don’t wish to hurt my two dear brothers. This Jack Harris, he will … he must be mine. I will have him slaughter his family. No, better, I shall make him kill children! I need to be alone. You two, get out of here—now!”

A chill went down Andy’s spine as understanding dawned on him. She’s excited by the thought of destroying innocence? It seems the greater the innocence, the higher the pleasure. Who is she?

If asked, most would say there are three types of people in this world—the sane, the mad, and those who know they are mad. But seeing Requiem, Andy came to realize there was a fourth.

Those who know they are mad and loving it.