Thorns (Sequel to A Dozen Roses)

Chapter 26 My Story

IMPORTANT A/N
I've had this chapter written off to the side for over a year. I knew I was going to take this take on it. I hope everyone can respect this aspect of the story and understand why it is how it is.

Chapter 26
Ghost POV (DUN DUN DUN)

They say demons run when a good man goes to war. But the demons are just fooled by the illusion. No matter a man, good or not, his intentions towards destruction take away his ability to remain a good man.

Even the most beautiful people can become corrupted.

I walked the floors of my old home, our old home, the place where everything began. The ceilings have cobwebs and the surfaces are covered in dust. It's been almost 30 years since I've been here.

The livingroom is how I left it. Our old scratchy couch is still sitting against the wall across from the small TV. Useless magazines piled on the coffee table. Nothing felt the same though.

I can see his door from the middle of the living room. Just at the start of the hallway is a faded white door with a dusty gold knob. The name Harvey scratched into the door. I dare not open the door for fear of the memories I don't want to remember.

Two doors down from his is another with a faded white door. This ones open and I cannot help but stand in the doorway and stare inside. A twin bed lays bare on the far wall and all of the toys that once covered the floor are gone.

Slowly I raised my hand to trace the name Ronald scratched Into the door. I try not to remember but I do.

I was sitting at the table reading the paper when they came running from their rooms.

"Hey dad! We're off to school." Harvey called rubbing the sleep from his brown eyes, his hair tousled into a sleepy mess. He was only 7 years old.

"Alright you two have fun. Behave yourself today Ronald." Ronald giggled and smiled his boyish smile. He had brown eyes and brown hair just like his older brother. "And come right home after school I need you two to help me fix that leak in the roof."

"We'll be home!" I leaned back in my chair watching them scramble to put their shoes on and run out the door to make it to school on time.

I rip myself from my peaceful memory. I don't want to remember them, I don't want to remember what happened. I can't!

At the far end of the hall is our old room, I can't go in there. I can't remember her anymore. Turning away I walk into my office.

The dusty desk is still there and I know my notebook is under the floor board. I retrieve it and take a seat at my desk. It's been years since I've sat here.

"Alexander you spend all day at that desk writing." I raise my head and she's standing in my doorway. "Open a window or go outside for some fresh air." She walks past me to the window and props it open letting in sunlight and a fresh breeze.

"I'm going to finish this book my dear Marcella. A tale of knives and heroes and a damsel in distress. It'll be a favorite among many I assure you!" Marcella laughed and shook her head, her beautiful golden locks moving with her. Her blue eyes shined like the ocean.

"Well be a dear and be sure to wash up before dinner. It's almost done."

I shake my head violently trying to make the memories go away. I didn't want to remember any of them anymore. After all my wife and son were dead.

I open my journal to a page, to last entry. I know what's written here and it hurts me inside.

Dear Journal,

I have not been keeping dates these last few weeks. It's been too difficult. With the loss of Ronald and Harvey being at the doctors all week..it's just been to much.

I'm unsure of how I'll pay this cost for his medical services. But today a man approached me outside the doctors office. He knew about my son and asked to assist me. Normally I wouldn't take charity but things were looking bad.

He assured me Harvey would be okay but we would have to do exactly as he ordered once Harvey was awake. I'd do anything to help what I have left of my family.

After loosing Marcella at Ronald's birth and loosing Ronald himself in that hunting accident with those neighbor boys...I just couldn't loose Harvey.

I stand up from my desk and shut the notebook shoving it in my pocket. When Harvey has awaken two days later he hadn't remembered a single thing. Not his own name or how to write or read. Nothing.

The man came into the room when Harvey awoke. The boy was frightened and confused. I expressed to him I was his father and that seemed to calm him.

The man slowly smiled and patted his arm reassuringly.

"My name is Daniel and I'll be taking care of you with your father alright?" The boy slowly nodded and asked what his own name was. The man smiled.

"Your name is Seto. The name of a warrior because that's what you will be."

I lost my son that day. He was still around but it was never the same. He wasn't my Harvey who remembered playing with his little brother. He was growing up to be a monster.

I couldn't let myself get attached to him again. That was Daniel's orders. I was to train him to fight and work with knives. I was training my son to fight.

A few weeks after he turned 10 was the day I knew he was gone forever. The day he took his first life. A young boy I a few years older than him. The boy who had shot his little brother while hunting.

But he didn't know that. He just knew that it was a target. My son was a murderer, a killer. He wasn't my son anymore. He was a monster.

So I took him away. I took him away from this god awful man. But the killing didn't stop. Seto liked the smell of blood, the feeling of the Crimson liquid running down his arm and dripping off his fingers.

I tried to keep him contained so he wouldn't kill anymore but he resorted to injuring himself to see the blood. He was sadistic.

I decided to get him a friend. I did all my research and settled on the perfect boy. Tyler Ellis. His father drank and his mother was a escort. Nobody would notice if they went missing.

So I set the house ablaze and pulled the boy from the fire. I had never meant to burn his eye beyond use. He was only seven.

I trained him separately to be just like Seto before I introduced them. Sent them off to kill the other brother that had murdered my young Ronald. From then on they were inseparable. It started to occur to me that I had the perfect murdering duo and I could use them for anything I wanted.

Including taking down Daniel and his two brothers Max and Jordan. They were the ring leaders behind all this. Lord knows how many other people they had done this too. But I'd planned to train the two boys until they were ready.

Unfortunately I never got that far. They both fell in love with other people and rebelled. Now it was time for me to take down the monsters I had created.

It was time for me to put my son, my monster, to death.