Hellbound - 001/Henry Creel/Peter Ballard

008

There is nothing comparable to the surge of thrill that you feel from finally taking revenge. The sweet feeling of satisfaction that covers every inch of you as you revel in their screams for mercy. It leaves behind something euphoric, a different type of adrenaline, and a high that can't be achieved otherwise. The small smile you plaster on your face as you leave the room where you showed them your true nature.

I am a force to be reckoned with and today was just a taste of what I can do. Today was just a free trial of the horrors I am capable of if they dare approach me again.

A part of me loathes this feeling, the proudness overwhelming every bone in my body and the power still thrumming in my veins. I am content with being evil, and the good part of me is still fiercely fighting to stop me from becoming a monster but for now, I relish in my victory.

I feel myself fraying around the edges, I am corrupted by the evil that has taken hold of me.

My shoulders are thrown back and my steps have a purpose, I have shown my true face, I have shown my true potential. I revealed the set of cards I'd hidden for so long up my sleeve and a weight is off my back. For once in my life, I am not faking my confidence.

Henry has killed before with his powers, it makes me wonder what I can do once I reach his level of expertise, could I kill as well? Set things on fire with just a look and stop someone's heart with a twitch of my fingers? Can I be destructive and terrifying?

The questions itch every part of my brain and I want answers to all of them, I want to test my limits and how far I can go now that I have unleashed the beast I kept chained for so long inside of me. I am greedy for more power, I am hungry for something I can't place my finger on.

My mind travels back to Henry's powers, what can he do exactly, if he's better than me how much horrifying can he be? Does he feel the hunger to cause harm to others? Does he feel on the top of the world just as I do?

Papa must have had a reason to block him from accessing his powers.

My mind can't help but think of the atrocities Henry must have committed when he was 001.

His revealing the truth about himself did nothing to sate my appetite for more knowledge, I want to know so much, I want to dive into his past and pick apart his memories in a way that I know I shouldn't.

The mystery of 001 is far too great and I don't indulge myself in analyzing every part of him, the path might prove to be too heartbreaking after all. Henry has killed, and a part of me doesn't want to taint the kind memory of him, I want to only know the Henry that has held me and let me cry into his arms.

I don't want to know about the blood on his hands, or at least I try to convince myself.

Before I even enter my room I am face to face with Papa. He's been looking for me and a thousand scenarios pass through my head.

I see him pull out a gun from his suit and shoot me in the head, I see him sink a syringe in my neck but despite my hallucinations, he's there, standing in front of me with a clipboard between his arm and chest smiling at me like nothing is wrong. Somehow that is worse, the lies that he spews from his lips are worse than being shot dead.

"Hello, Five." His voice is eerily calm, or I am too paranoid for my own good.

"Hi, Papa." I manage to croak out.

He opens the door of my room and rests his hand on the small of my back. "After you." I recoil at his touch like an afraid animal but I show no emotion.

Nothing is out of the ordinary, I know nothing of his assassination plans, I am safe here, away from danger.

I keep up pretenses for the sake of our plan, I swallow down bile as I look into Papa's eyes and see a monster far worse than I am, far more sinister than I can be. I see the truth, the one he's so desperate to hide under pleasantries. I see the ugly truth and I see the cruelty he shows to children.

We sit at the table, he's placing his paraphernalia down on it and I glance at a few devices that he pulls out of his suitcase.

"No shock training." I say before he can even speak. No more pain from anyone.

"I wasn't planning on it Five, don't worry." Another of his kind smiles curves his lips, there is no kindness there, that smile barely reaches his eyes.

The world seems to have changed colors, the deep blue of my room is dark grey and everything is dark and white. Gone is the sweet innocence of childhood as I begin to realize the terrors of this world, the things that were kept hidden from me.

Papa lays out a series of items and the usual heart rate machine that gets strapped on my arm.

"I want you to try and lift each item one by one and hold it up in the air for as long as you can." He says.

He thinks I am still incapable of lifting small items in the air, he doesn't know that just a few minutes prior I had four of his little lab rats in the air, he doesn't know, and that gives me and Henry a bigger chance of escaping.

Then I realize, I can play weak, I can be the fragile little girl he thinks I am and not let him in the depths of my power. He doesn't need to know, he doesn't know that he just has us a huge headstart.

I lift each item slowly, acting as if it challenges me beyond measure, playing the part as well as I can. He believes me, or he looks like he does.

I earn words of praise from him, younger me would be thrilled at the sound of those but I know better than that. Everything I do gets me closer to my death bed, he's secretly planning my murder with every word and I am planning my grand escape with every lift of an item.

"Good job Five. I am seeing loads of improvements." He says at the end of my task.

A knock rattles my door, a hurried one I notice, and at that moment I know that my display of power was noticed by the guards finally.

"Dr. Brenner!" A panicked voice speaks behind the door.

Papa looks at me with confusion, as if I hold all the answers for him. "Stay here." He orders me.

He opens the door and a wide-eyed guard is revealed, sweat perspiring his forehead.

"Sir, there has been an accident in the rainbow room, some children were found bleeding on the ground, and we... We don't know who did it."

I try to hide the smirk, he sounds so terrified, so terrified that their little bubble of control was burst.

An alarm sounds. This must not be good news.

"We have no camera records. They just blacked out all of a sudden."

Papa's face turned white. He's afraid.

No one raised an alarm when I was heard, no one cared this much, and no one came to my aid. Are they more important than I was?

"Impossible." Papa mutters under his breath. "Five stay here." He repeats.

But as soon as they leave Henry bursts into my room, his breaths erratic, his chest heaving up and down. He struggles to say the words but they still reach my ears.

"It's time, let's get the hell out of here." 

-A.N. :) Are you ready for the ending we were robbed of in stranger things?-