Misunderstood Monsters

Chapter 5: Contemplation

John paced about his cell. Ever since he'd been brought to this place, it thankfully had prevented anyone from seeing his face and he was mostly left alone, giving him time to think without fear of being disturbed.

His mind puzzled over what had happened during the containment breach from two weeks ago.

When he had locked eyes with that scientist, fear had overtaken him, knowing what was about to happen. The panicked fear-rage had risen up within him, as it had done every other time, and he'd fought it as hard as he could, trying to control it, like every other time before.

This time, finally, he succeeded.

When he'd opened his eyes again, she'd fled to the far corner of his cell, cowering in fear. Her keycard was lying on the floor.

For a moment he'd been torn. Even without his rage-reflex, he was still extremely shy and had never had the opportunity to pick up social skills, but at the same time he loved helping others. Eventually the latter won out and he'd managed to scrape together the courage to approach her and give her the card.

The look of fear on her face reminded him of a boy he had once befriended. The poor child had fled up a tree, and it had taken quite a lot to convince the little boy that he wasn't going to hurt him.

But what had surprised him the most was how Dr. Collingwood had reacted. Not with fear or disgust like he had imagined.

The fact that she seemed so... friendly to a monster baffled him. Then again, she had been able to redeem someone like Billy, so perhaps that wasn't so surprising.

Why? I'm an ugly, stupid, worthless monster and a failure. I don't even deserve to exist. Why did she even bother talking to scum like me?

Thinking about her brought back the same feeling that first meeting with the boy had. He wasn't quite able to put a name to it.

Pity. It's just pity, nothing more. She'll probably forget me in a few days anyway. I deserve it.

He sighed and sat back against the cold wall of his cell. He wasn't good at lying to himself.