Pay the Price

Chapter 21- A Choice

On the day of the decision, Marcus and Maria Zandailias were brought upstairs after giving their daughters final goodbye hugs and kisses. They were taken into a sterile room and seated onto chairs. Marcus only had his wrists cuffed, but Maria was completely restrained and bound.

Christopher entered the room, followed by Connor, Myrah, Bryson, and Larisa. Already inside was Elizabeth, Andreas, and Allison. With a sigh, Christopher stared at Marcus. He felt he couldn't do it, but he had to. It was a blood oath. A blood oath he found a loophole in. Andreas never specified his entire family.

'This is for Mason. For my family. And for me.' Christopher thought to himself. 'Delilah said it should mostly be for me. She said it was important.' Delilah had given him that pep talk before he went inside and was waiting outside of the room.

In his pocket were the two vials of poison, and he could feel them pressing against his legs, a continuous reminder of the events to come. He took a deep breath, stepping forward as Connor put his hand to Christopher's back. A light sting shot through his back, reminding him of the bruise Connor unknowingly gave him the day prior while roughhousing.

Connor was teaching Christopher how to defend himself the day prior, and accidentally pushed Christopher into a table. However, Connor didn't realise it because Christopher walked it off very easily.

"Has the decision been made?" He asked, keeping his eyes on Marcus. "If the decision has not been made, then I will flip a coin to decide. Maria will have heads, Marcus will have tails."

"You expect us to decide who is going to die first, bitch?" Maria snapped, her eyes speaking threats of breaking out of her restraints and attacking him. "If you knew love existed, you'd know we wouldn't make such a choice." If daggers could come from a stare, Christopher would look like minced meat.

With a trembling hand, Christopher pulled a coin out of his other pocket, ready to flip it. He was shaking, and the reality of what he had to do was dawning on him again. But it was his blood oath. If he killed them a different way, or they died of other causes, he'd drop dead without an explanation. Even if he wanted to die, he didn't want his family to fall into despair a second time.

"I will flip this coin then. You both knew a decision had to be made, but you didn't. You knew this was going to happen. That is what Mason told you. That you'd be poisoned in a sterile room by my hands. That is why you hated him, that is why you killed him, and why you tortured me." Christopher, despite his shaking body, spoke with complete venom. He was ready to flick his thumb up, staring at Maria. "He wasn't cursed. He was gifted by beings greater than us all."

"Why are you doing this disgusting act?" Maria asked, voice with nothing but sadness. A way she used to manipulate him, only to beat him into unconsciousness right after. But Christopher vowed that she wouldn't get the best of him.

"Because this is what you deserve. This is how you killed your son. A ten-year-old little boy. He couldn't even graduate primary school, couldn't learn how to drive, nothing. He didn't deserve to be in the family he was put into. He deserved better." Christopher responded, pulling the first vile from his pocket. "I'm paying the debt."

"That was two years ago, yet you're still hung up on it? Do you want an apology? We're sorry." Maria said mockingly, rolling her eyes.

"No. I don't want an apology. No amount of apologies or any type of apology could fix what you did. You took a life off of this planet. You are murderers. You killed your own child in cold blood, and for what? You deserve worse than what I have chosen, but an oath is supposed to fulfilled the way it was sworn. Today, I will be just as bad as you two. But I'm doing it for someone who was taken from this world by you." Christopher answered, fiddling with the coin.

"Make a decision." Connor demanded. "We're waiting for a decision and Christopher has been gracious enough to give it to you, even though you don't deserve it. This is the final decision you are to make, so hurry the fuck up so he doesn't have to look at your disgusting faces any longer than what is necessary." He was about to step in front of Christopher, almost in a protective stance.

"Shut your mouth. You have no business in this situation besides being related to that stupid brat that is lesser than a fucking dog." Maria was about to shout at Connor, but he gave a harsh glare, silencing her.

"Lesser than a dog?" Myrah asked. "Would you like to be leashed and chained to a wall, starved and beaten with a stick? Like how a horrible person would actually abuse a dog? I mean, you might as well be a dog considering you have animal behaviour." She shrugged, giving a hard stare to Maria.

"I've planned a mercy. And if you keep on speaking to anyone but myself in a disrespectful manner, I will take back that mercy. I will pour two drops of the poison onto your tongue and let you perish slowly." Christopher spoke, feeling Larisa rub his back. He winced quietly, inhaling deeply to try and distract himself from the sting. "Make a choice. This is your last chance before I make the choice."

"Me." Marcus said. "I'll die first. You can kill me now." With a slight sigh of relief, Christopher flicked off the cap from the vial in his hand, approaching Marcus. He knew the man would be very cooperative, so he knew no force would be necessary.

When Christopher was close enough, Marcus opened his mouth, letting the contents of the poison be poured onto his tongue. He closed his mouth, tensing as the poison worked instantly. Before Andreas could see anything, he was taken out of the room.

Two gaping holes burned through Marcus' face, and in just seconds, he was on the ground, seizing. Not even an attempt of a scream. It took only ten seconds before his lungs stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating. He was dead, ashes falling off of his body. A quick, silent, painless death.

No matter how much Christopher tried to blame Marcus for anything, he couldn't. Marcus was brainwashed by his father and was stuck watching as his consciousness and body was controlled by someone else. Ever since he was a baby, it were as if he floated over his body, trying to take back control to do good.

But it didn't work. A painless death was the death he deserved. He was finally free from the curse he had been put under. Forced into marriage at sixteen to a twenty-eight-year-old woman and made to impregnate her barely a week after the marriage. Then he was made to torture a boy he knew didn't deserve it. He was free from his torture.

"That was quick." Connor commented, bringing over a body bag, helping Bryson put the body inside and zip it up. Ash was on the floor, but it was quickly cleaned away. Christopher released a breath he didn't know he was holding, his vision blurring.

He felt as if he were about to faint, swaying slightly. He had killed a man. But he killed him quickly and still in the same way it happened to Mason.

"It's what he deserves. He deserves a quick death." Christopher said, looking at the handcuffs once on Marcus' wrists. He looked at his hand, finding half of the scar gone. Marcus was dead, meaning half of the oath was complete.

Next, it was Maria Zandailias.