The Wicked One

Chapter Eight | Gateway, Part One

                 

"I didn't ask for any of this, you know. I didn't ask to be born with a mind craving for science— for truth. Hell, when I was a kid, I wanted to be the wind. Yes, something never seen, but always felt, always giving life...Perhaps that is what she saw in me when we first met. A child with foolish ideas. A man with even more foolish ideals. She did stay with me, though, until the very end of it all...I dare not think about what she would think if she saw me now...risking my life...going against the military...kidnapping children. God. I have become quite foul in these last few years, haven't I? Yes, I do believe I have, and I don't expect to see any bright light when I finally pass on, but I must see my boy before I do. I must. You understand, don't you?"

            The little girl inside the cage stared at the man wide eyed before breaking out in a big smile. The man looked on in mild surprise for a moment, but couldn't help but smile in return. "God, you are quite the listener. I'm sure I have been prattling on for hours now...I need to get back to work."

            "I want to be wind, too." A soft voice spoke up.

            The man looked back towards the cage to see that one of the boys had finally stepped away from the back corners. Though, when he realized the man was looking at him, the child immediately blushed and began to retreat.

            "And whys that?" the man ventured, sitting up from his seat and walking towards the cage.

            The boy only pushed himself further against the corner with the rest of the children.

            "Benny says he wants to be wind cause it once blew the roof off his house," said the girl who remained closest to the man, smile still on her face. "He says he wants to be that strong too!"

            "Did not!" Benny argued, before realizing the man had caught sight of him again and quickly retreated back to the corner.

            "He did!" the girl whispered to the man.

            The man couldn't help but smile again. "Well, you can tell Benny that I think that is very admirab—er, nice of him to say."

            The girl nodded before turning around and yelling out: "Hey, Benny, the man said-!"

            "I heard what he said, Marie!" the boy shouted back, not moving from his corner.

            "Benny's just mad cause he misses his mommy," Marie whispered to the man.

            The man looked on at the cowering children in the cage before sighing and walking back to his seat. "I understand," he said as he sat back down.

            For the next few minutes, he worked at his seat, doing things too complicated and flashy for the young girl to understand, though she watched any way.

            "Hey, mister," the girl called out after a while. "How's this supposed to save Adam?"

            The man flinched at that name, and how the girl had remembered it. He had said it only once, in passing, and he couldn't even remember bringing up the fact that he was trying to rescue him.

            "I...am not sure, to be honest, Marie," he said after a moment of silence as he stared at the bright symbols. "I'm not even sure what is going to happen when it all...starts, but it's my best chance...My only chance..."

            "I understand," the young girl replied.

            The man felt his heart skip a beat. He knew this girl was only a child— she was only mimicking what she heard him say a few minutes ago, and did not know it's true meaning. She couldn't know. But, for one instant, one tiny space in time, the young girl spoke as if she was reading his very heart.