Children of the Elements: Prey to Him

Chapter Fourteen: My Truth

Chapter Fourteen: My Truth

“And then I killed him” Will finished coldly. Throughout his whole story he had shown no emotion towards the events he described. Ash couldn’t feel her feet, bum or hands. She had settled herself against the dank corridor wall, hugging her legs to her chest as she listened intently to Will’s story. He, on the other hand, leaned against the back wall of his cell, his hands resting in tight fights on his legs. He spoke with tired eyes.

“W-well,” she stuttered both with cold and with shock. “What happened then?”

With closed eyes, Will shrugged. “Craig told me never to disobey him again. He trained me for the next 5 years in the same way.”

“Did he… you know?” Ash gulped. “Did you disobey him again?”

Will’s eyes opened to slits. “Yes.”

“And…?”

He sighed painfully. “He tried to make me kill more people; prisoners, women… children.”

Ash’s eyes widened in horror. “And did you?”

He said nothing, but turned his face to the floor.

“You killed children? Innocent people?” she exclaimed with disgust.

“I only killed one child…” he trailed off as he realised his defence still wasn’t helping his case.

“You should’ve just said no!”

“Do you think I didn’t try that?” he snapped suddenly. Ash flinched, and he sighed impatiently. “You don’t understand. I was in that godforsaken room for days at a time. I fought tooth and nail to not kill her, but he forced my hand.”

“What’s the point of refusing and then submitting afterwards?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t. I never said I’d do it. But he dragged me to this child, this 7-year-old girl…” his fists tensed until his knuckles were white. “And he made me watch as he sliced her open. She was bleeding out. Her screams were… agonising to even listen to. He had a gun on me and told me if I didn’t end her pain, she'd just be cut into smaller and smaller pieces until she died of blood loss. So I looked her dead in the eye and shot her.”

Ash couldn’t find the appropriate words to say. She was conflicted; on one hand, Will seemed to be the victim to Craig’s disturbed teaching methods, but on the other hand, he seemed to do these things anyway, like kill the child.

“And now you think I’m not worth being here. I don’t blame you. Leave if you want; I won’t judge you.”

Though Ash wanted more than anything to leave, she refused to move. “Why didn’t you run away? Like you did at the orphanage?”

Will shook his head. “Craig had me clamped down most of the time. If I wasn’t training, he had me locked in my room.”

“How could you stand it? Being prisoner to him, of all people?” she whispered, recalling her time in Craig’s prisons.

“What other option did I have?” He stared at her with clear eyes once more, protecting his inner self. “If I left, I would be back at the orphanage, or I would be living on the streets.”

Ash’s mind swarmed with questions. “Can I see…?” She gestured to his arm. “If I’m not being rude.”

Will rolled up his sleeve to reveal several large ugly scars all up his left arm.

“I thought you said there was only one.”

With difficulty, Will got his other hand around the handcuff and pointed to different pigment-less marks. “This one,” he said informatively, directing her gaze to the clear large letters in the centre of his arm. “Is the one I told you about. The first one I ever got. The mark underneath it is part of the same burn. The other ones are, what he called, reminders of what I’d done and why I shouldn’t do it again.”