Determined By Fate

Hide & Seek

Vast stretches of green seemed to fly by as the car raced through the rainforest; thunderous rain pounding against the windows.

Edward's thoughts were scrambled; the loudest one was why couldn't Emmet have found me sooner. He hadn't spoken a word in between the cops finding him shivering in the dark closet to his godparents picking him and Emmet up from the station.

Everyone in the car was bawling except for Edward, who'd gotten stuck in a constant replay of blood. He couldn't unsee it or unhear the sounds he had witnessed. He wished he'd worn some headphones or maybe a blindfold, but what sense would that make for a game of hide-and-seek.

The police asked him questions, to which he failed to respond. Even his Uncle Carlisle had tried to crack his code, offering him food or candy to entice him to speak, but he was ten now, and old habits die hard.

Edward was gone.

Gone with the blood...

Gone like his mother and father's lives, as well as the strangers...

He could still hear their screams; the slashing and tearing at their flesh. He was going to be sick. "Stop the car," he croaked softly. His family looked at him bewildered that he'd spoken, the blurring trees becoming sharp as the car came to a stop. Edward ignored them, bolting from the backseat emptying his repugnance into the greenery.

No one dared to ask if he was all right. They knew he wasn't. He wiped his mouth, climbed into the car, and continued his horrified stupor.

Before long, the car pulled into the driveway of his godparent's home twenty minutes later. They all withdrew groggily from the vehicle, grabbed suitcases, and entered the house. Esme showed the boys to the guest rooms promising to make it their own soon. She went to cut off the lights for the night, and Edward gave a stern no with a shake of his head. She left the room, leaving the door cracked. She paid the babysitter and ensured Alice was asleep before meeting her husband in bed.

Edward was exhausted but couldn't convince himself to sleep. He thought, " If I'm having nightmares and I'm awake, I'll for sure have them when I'm sleeping." Unfortunately, as the night bore down, his young, stressed, racked frame could not fight the enervation for long. So, Edward lost the battle and was thrown back into the dark closet.

" 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1 READY OR NOT HERE COME. Edward heard Emmet yell over the booming music from below as he closed the door to his parent's closet. His parents, Edward. Sr. and Elizabeth threw parties every weekend. His dad was in Real Estate, and his mother ran the Port Angeles location of EE Interior Design, which she and Esme were partnered in. The parties were always swimming with opulent socialites ripe for the picking, who brought with them cocaine and ecstasy. They'd watch their parents partake from the stairwell during the many celebratory toasts that were declared. All these gatherings ended poorly, with their parents shouting and beating each other until they succumbed to the throes of passion.

It'd been forty minutes since Emmet had declared his search " Where the heck is he," Edward thought. As he started to leave, someone burst through his parent's bedroom. The couple was kissing and groping while removing their clothes with urgency. Edward wanted to close his eyes or tell them to get the hell out of his parent's room but stopped in his tracks realizing the woman was his mother, but the man was not his father.

" Liz, are you sure about this? Your husband is downstairs."The stranger said, seeking reassurance from his atrocity,

" We're fine, babe; I made sure the fucker was high outta his mind, and the boys are asleep. I've been thinking of how to get you alone all night. Now, fuck me."

They restarted their pursuit to meet each other's ends, unknownst to them that Edward. Sr had witnessed their not-so-sneaky getaway. He was downstairs in the kitchen snorting lines profusely while his comrades cheered him on. When the crowd dispersed, he pulled the biggest kitchen knife from its sheath and slinked purposefully up the staircase, intent on ending this tonight.

Edward was still in the closet, now letting his tears run freely from witnessing his mother's actions. He wished someone would stop them. Their grunts had come to a crescendo twice now, and Edward felt like he would have to reveal himself, or they'd never stop. Edward saw the bedroom door slowly open and gasped as his father's figure came into view. The pair was so caught up in their fiery lust they hadn't heard Edward. Sr enter the room.

He was now standing above them, waiting for the perfect moment to strike; rage swallowing the man whole, distorting him into a monster. Edward. Jr began to quietly sob in the closet, upset that the interruption he'd wished for wasn't the interruption he'd hoped for. Elizabeth started moaning louder, signifying to her husband that it was time.

As the couple shook from their impending orgasm, Edward. Sr pulled the knife above his head and let his fury rain down on them. The first stab hit the stranger in the back, and he howled in agony, keeling over. The second hit Elizabeth in the face, slicing through the crease of her nose. She cried out in pain, begging as she met her husband's eyes, " Please, Ed, don't do this. What about our chil-." A stab to her throat put an end to her pleas. Edward. Sr, blinded by wrath and covered in blood, didn't stop until their convulsing bodies were motionless.

Then, in a bizarre move, he stripped off his clothes, reached into the nightstand, and grabbed his pistol. Laying on the blood-soaked mattress next to his wife, he kissed her still-warm corpse and whispered, "I'll love you forever."

He then splattered his brain matter across the headboard.

Edward woke, screaming and shouting ... asking no one in particular why Emmett hadn't come for him, why hadn't he found him during their game of hide & seek.

It was then, as he lay alone and scared, that he resolved to never sleep again in order to keep the reality of what he had seen away.