The American Nightmare [BoyXBoy]

.:13:.

I hated seeing him like this: beaten and bruised. It had been 13 days since the first part of the preparation, meaning that the second, and last, section was tomorrow and I honestly would rather shoot myself than carry it out.

Kellin was not healing very well. I had found out that he had very fragile skin, so the bruises were far from fading. However, the biggest problem I could see was his left leg. I had tried to bandage it up as best as I could but, with a large chunk of his flesh basically hanging off as if it was about to completely tear and drop, I knew that my abilities would not help much. He needed a doctor, someone who could sew him up. I would have tried to do it as well, but Mother demanded that I leave him be, except for stopping the bleeding. We needed him alive (and she also stated that the chunk of flesh was large enough to cook for our pre-sacrificial feast).

I gulped and ran my fingers through his moist-with-sweat raven hair, then down his face.

"I'm so sorry," I whimpered, a sob escaping my parched lips. Why did it hurt so much? It was not supposed to hur; it never did, until Kellin stepped in and introduced me to music; taught me all about American history; explained Pythagoras' Theory, and showed me kindness which I had never felt before. He showed me love.

And what did I show him? How hard I could hit.

For the first time since I came down here, Kellin turned his head towards me and gazed at my teary face through his thick lashes. The long scar on his cheek was very distracting, but I kept my eyes on his. It was like he was analyzing me and looking for a glint of mischief, but I knew he found none when I saw him lightly shake his head.

"You're lying," he whispered and closed his eyes again, turning away from me. But, did he not see the sincerity on my face?

"Why would I lie about this? I really am sorry!" I choked out, my eyes still leaking.

"You have to be lying," Kellin replied quickly, "there is no other way. The thing is, I've always been good at reading people. I knew when they were secretly happy about something awful happening, or when they hid their pain behind a smile. I always knew those things, from simply looking into their eyes. But, with you, it's different. I can't tell if you are lying or not. I just don't see anything. It's like you're empty."

"Years of practice," I sniffed with a fake, wonky smile.

Maybe I did not know myself well enough, or he knew me too well, but it suddenly just dawned on me. All these years of being forced into a cult, forced to torture - and sometimes do worse to - innocent people, forced to hurt strangers who did nothing wrong. It affected me so much that it made me empty, hollow. Up until a short while ago, I was void of emotion. With Kellin, that changed but, now that the fact that he was going to die was etched into my mind, it felt so much more real. I guessed that I subconsciously trained my brain into avoiding all thoughts of the man before me. That way, losing him would be easier and I could be empty again.

But I was so close to going numb again that the least I could do was apologise, so that was why I was here in the first place. This would not end well, and I think we both knew that.

There a long period of silence, during which I constantly kept glancing up at Kellin to make sure that he was alive (which he luckily was) and he was the first to talk.

"So, what will happen to me next?" He asked coldly. Obviously he finally realised that I was no use. I could not help get us out of here without the help of someone from outside of the farm, but I did not know anyone of the sort. No body would even be willing to help him! So Kellin was alone, even if he had me for the time being.

"Tomorrow is the second stage of preparation," I replied in sombre, "then, in exactly a week, will be your execution."

"And that's it? Nothing in between?" He bugged.

"I don't know!" I lied, for the first time. I certainly was never a liar, but this would be better for him. If he did not know, he would not have to worry until the time came. And he already had enough on his mind.

"Ok...ok, that's fine, but what will the second part of preparation consist of?"

I clenched my fists, as my palms started to sweat. No, this was something I could not tell him. One of the main reasons was the fact that I would not be able to force the words out of my mouth, and the other was that I had nothing to do with it.

Our family usually took turns and, now, it was up to Mike to carry it all out. He was always very keen on it, but I did not know why - it was cruel, disgusting and inhumane. If I were to do it to Kellin, I would probably break down right then and there, which would result in both of us being killed.

"I can't tell you," I murmured, slumping my shoulders further (if that was possible).

"I understand..." Kellin trailed off. He did not understand though, and I knew that for sure, and my suspicions were only confirmed by his next words: "Will it be better or worse than what happened two weeks ago?"

The uncomfortable lump in my throat made it so difficult to get the single word out, because he was so much better off not knowing, but he had the right to know.

"Worse," I sighed softly, "so much worse."

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A/N

Hi guys. This chapter is kind of short, but I wanted to separate it from the next one. I just want to warn you that there will be some pretty horrible stuff in there, but I don't want to spoil it, so please don't read if you are easily triggered.