Stained

Still

“While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.”

-Leonardo da Vinci

            I glared up at the gray building, not even blinking as water dripped into my eyes from the gold tips of my hair. I stood out in the pouring rain, dreading walking through those doors once more. What are you thinking old man? That I’ll finally ‘come to my senses’ and take over? I’m not changing my mind Henry. What we had is gone and whatever you were went with it. You’re barely a shell of that man I once admired. I thought as I clenched my jaw and pushed the glass doors open into a perfectly white lobby.

            “Hello sir, how may I help you today?” Asked woman with black hair that seemed out of place in such a white room asked from behind a counter, a fake smile plastered on her face.

            “I’m here to see Henry about the Stained Project.” I said, carelessly throwing his name and the project around. I’d been told not to, that I could cause problems if anyone heard, but I didn’t care. No one deserved to be treated like this.

            She blinked a few times, shocked that I had said it so blatantly, even in an empty room, and then she remembered what they had told her to do. She smiled and said, “What on earth are you talking about? We sell children’s toys here, is the Stained Project some sort of new toy they’re making? Some chemistry set or something?” She laughed a little, “Guess I haven’t paid as much attention to what they’re doing as I should’ve.”

            “You’re good. Now, can I see my dad?” I was growing tired of her trying to play it off; I just wanted to get this over with already.

            She opened and closed her mouth quickly before holding up a finger and pressing a button on the panel in front of her. “Go on through Mr.—” She started.

            “That’s what they call my dad, call me Erik. I want as little to do with him as possible.” I growled as I walked behind the desk and patiently waited for the door behind it to open.

            As I stepped in I was immediately escorted by three Stained. Black and gray camo pants, shiny black combat boots, and plain white t-shirts let me know they were one of the people my father had taken the lives from. My shoulder sagged ever so slightly as I thought about how they had been born into this place. This place of white, mirrors and hatred.

            I glanced over at the one way glass where people from ages 7 to 19 read, practiced fighting techniques, trained with their element, and one particularly gruesome room where a boy, he looked about 8, was being whipped by an older Stained. What was this place? How could this even be considered an okay thing to be doing? What could a kid that young have done wrong? Ate too much of the shit you feed them here? How can anyone treat people like this?

            “Sir?” One of the muscular teens asked, bringing me back to the real world where I was standing in front of my dad’s door and I felt like a young boy again.

            “Thank you. You can wait out here; I don’t think I’ll need you in there.” I hesitated for a moment before reaching out and turning the silver handle and pushing the door open.

            John, Henry’s right hand man, and two more Stained stood stiffly beside something covered by a black sheet. John looked up as I entered the room and sighed deeply. “Come on in Erik.”

            I ran a hand through my soaked hair, flicking drops of water to the ground, and stepped over the covered thing and flopped down in the seat behind the desk and kicked my feet up on the table, wiggling my sandaled feet a little and watching a few drops of mud hitting the perfect stack of papers.  My sweatpants were socked straight through, and I had to force a smile back when I realized they were destroying the papers beneath them. “Where’s Henry?” I asked irritably, expecting him to be here early as always.