The Boy in Black

T W E N T Y - S I X

There was innocence, and then there was darkness. Innocence is what God intended for the world; it is what he wanted it to be full of.

Flowers, green fields, millions of trees, everywhere not a flaw could be seen for miles. Until, however, he created man. And ever since, the innocence that God intended for the world became demolished in the flames of war and people that hurt others for pleasure.

Jaxson Maddox thought about it as he stood in front of his mirror like he had everyday for at least twenty minutes. He began to trace his fingers along his jaw and lick at his chapped lips at the thought of Mattie being finally his.

It's been five weeks. He counted each day and hour, tracking each time she threw up by writing it in his small, worn black journal.

He then dropped and did push ups until sweat beads formed upon his forehead. And with each drop, his muscles flexed as he felt more power flow through his pulsing veins.

He was addicted to feeling strong, addicted to being in control. And he would do what ever it took for everything he's ever wanted to fall right into his sweaty palms. For he felt as though he deserved it.

Mattie knew she deserved something too. She did not know what of exactly, but she knew.

She laid in Jaxson's bed with her hands on her stomach, her breaths semi-shaky, for she tried to calm them down by swallowing the lump in her throat that felt as if she inhaled fire and smoke.

She felt as if she were choking on air and dying on life on the inside, but on the outside she wore a mask, a mask that would have Jaxson thinking everything was okay.

Also, her mother had stopped speaking.

Not in a sugarcoated, not talk for a day type of way. But in a legitimate, not talk for weeks type of way. Weeks, she thought mentally with a bitten lip and a churning stomach.

She felt her stomach rumble under her fingertips, and began to think to herself why she was throwing up so much. She thought a lot about disease as well, and it scared her.

Did she have cancer? She thought as she began watching Jaxson get up from his push ups that he did daily before looking back into his mirror. She noticed that he always looked at himself in a way that he wanted him to look at her.

He always looked at her lovingly, but the way he looked at his own reflection was simply indescribable. It's like his face was a piece of juicy meat and he was a flesh eating wolf; he loved who he was becoming. Mattie did not know yet, but he did.

She finally turned her head from him, and then begun to think of how she could go see her doctor without Jaxson coming along. For he always came along.

She did love him, but even since her mother had stopped speaking and became locked up in her bedroom, Jaxson insisted on having her sleep over at his place more often. Which also involved her barely getting any time alone.

She was worried about her health, and was concerned about her daily nausea. If Jaxson didn't have that condition, I would have believed that I was pregnant, she thought, half relieved and half worried for what could be wrong with her.

A stomach bug for weeks upon weeks? She thought mentally again, feeling her mouth begin to water and bile rise in her already burning throat.