Monochromatic

Chapter 32

Unknown: Freedom's story

Freedom huddled in closely to comfort Azoria, staring at me as if he knew he was next in line to be spoken to. Abruptly, his gaze drifted down to my lab coat, and then to his elder sister who held him under her arm. I knew what he thought of me, evil in its purest form, evil that could taint the most innocent, most purest souls with one glare if they so pleased.

"Now, Freedom, you're more connected to Azoria than you'd think, too bad we couldn't save you the trouble. First of all, let's start off with your life before Azoria, the life you had with your mother. You were the bastard child of the boss here and Azoria's mother. Your father never meant to impregnate your mother and when he did we never thought your mother would be able to handle carrying you as well. Nonetheless, your mother didn't protest having you, unlike she did with Azoria. No, no...she as well never thought you'd survive a day out of the womb, and yet, you did! We studied you, we never injected you with any sort of drug or anything, we just watched and let nature take its course. Obviously you didn't live in the cell with your mother just in case she intervened in our study by ending your life before you died naturally, but we'd let you have monitored weekly visits with her until you turned two. That, Freedom, is when we realized you'd live for quite some time. We had no need for you at the time, but I protested against you being put down or let go. Instead, I turned you into my personal entertainment. I've been watching you since you were let out into the wild."

"So you mean to tell me that Freedom has been a part of this wicked plan of yours since the beginning?" Azoria inquired.

"Yes, and of course, after your mother had Freedom we had to punish her."

"Hasn't she been through enough? Haven't we all?!"

"Hmm...maybe? Who am I to judge, I'm just your humble punisher of many mysterious disguises. Then again, I did find pleasure in all that I did afterwards, so maybe it wasn't necessary after all! Well, it's too late now! She's dead."

The look in Freedom's eyes as I uttered that phrase excited me a little too much.

"Oh no, no worries, I allowed her a week or two with you before she was sentenced to die. Along with that I gave her some other business-related tasks alongside it which she had no choice but to carry out. Turns out she can stir up a small crowd with her reading voice."

The fearful expression in Freedom's eyes turned into sheer despair. He remembered her alright, the woman who read nearby the window.

"Ana looked pretty healthy, didn't she? Sweet woman on the outside really, I was almost saddened by her leave. She had to die though, she rebelled against the law, she refused to, and I quote, 'bring those kids into all of this again' so we had to let her go. Ana went out peacefully though; the sickness the failed surrogates endured finally got to the poor lady, she was barely strong enough to fight me."

Freedom's big, hazel eyes began to water as I began wrapping up his part of the story. A part of me wanted to comfort the boy, but the more dominant side of me found it unnecessary to act upon that thought.

"Last but not least! Let's talk about this thing!"

I held out the cellphone Freedom used to locate that abandoned building.

"This right here is a cell phone, a disposable minute phone to be exact! I was the one sending you messages here leading you to that abandoned building you were taken from. Your cleverness and strong memory did the rest. Pretty simple, yes? Well, that sums up the important details for you little brother! Now who's next?