Murderer

Chapter 27: Brendon

I was not quite sure how to train myself with the knives, so I had to improvise. I figured that the main uses of the knives would be swinging them and throwing them at people, so it shouldn't be too hard. I would just have to learn how to do that coordinatedly and I would have to learn how to defend myself.

Turns out I am horrible at all those things. I tried swinging the knife around like I was trying to stab someone but I looked like I was watering some flowers with a garden hose. When I practiced throwing the knives at a tree, I was either too weak to get the knife to stick in the bark or I missed the tree completely. The only self defense strategy that I knew was to run away, and I can't do that.

I didn't understand what I was doing wrong. It doesn't look that hard to use a knife in movies, so what was different now? I felt so hopeless, what kind of idiot doesn't know how to use a knife?

I decided to give it a break, I worked countless hours with no improvement. There had to be something wrong with the way I was training. I need more technique, more strength, and speed.

Walking through the forest, I focused on the twigs, tree roots, and plants on the ground. I looked for wild flowers, picking each one I found, forming a beautiful boutique. I had to get rid of the one that I picked a day ago, the flowers were curling and dying.

It was a peaceful day for a walk, a blue sky hovered over me with big fluffy clouds that were perfect for cloud watching. Birds flew overhead, and squirrels jumped from tree to tree.

I had abruptly came across something shiny, and I had to focus on it in order to realize that it was a chain. I followed the chain to find something horrifying. It was a trap, and in it was a rabbit that was limp and breathing slowly. Its eyes were wide open and when it saw me, its breathing quickened.

Bending down, I gently scratched the rabbit behind the ear. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of this thing."

Pulling the trap open took all of my strength, but I was determined to help the poor furry creature. It too was hurt by a human. Like Leslie and Ryan.

Once I pulled the trap wide enough, its front legs squirmed and yanked its body away from the trap, but I noticed that its back leg was twisted and bloodied, and the sight of it made me ill. I picked the rabbit up and craddled it, rubbing its head gently with two fingers. Its nose twitched as its breathing slowed and its eyes shut. I knew what I had to do.

It was in pain, and it wasn't going to survive. The leg was so torn up by the trap that I could see the bone. I wished that I could help it, but I couldn't. Seeing it in pain hurt too much, and I knew it was slowly dying from its injury. I hated seeing it suffer.

I slid a small knife out from my back pocket and unwrapped it from the cloth. I closed my eyes and quickly slid my knife across its neck, and it was over. I opened my eyes to see its perfectly white fur on its neck covered in blood. Its innocence was tainted by its death. And it still died at the hands of a human.

Hours went by, and I had just sat there, cradling it in my arms, looking down at the poor dead rabbit. I thought of Leslie, and how much alike she was to the rabbit. I thought of Ryan, he was next. He was the rabbit at its trapped stage, and if I didn't do anything about it soon, he too would have a knife slit across his throat. I instantaneously felt anger find its way through my veins, causing my hands to tremble and my body temperature to rise.

I quickly dug a hole for the rabbit with my bare hands. Carefully, I put the rabbit's cold corpse in the hole, then covered it with the extra dirt, patting it down so no animal would dig it back up. Before I left, I placed down the boutique of flowers that I had collected earlier on top of the grave, another funeral for an innocent soul.

I was enraged with what had happened these past few months and it all went back to Christopher. He was the match that caused the explosion, and I would be the one who puts out the fire within him and the people he loves. He will suffer as much as everyone he had impacted these past few months, or years. Who knew who else he had hurt before he took Ryan.

I picked up a knife and threw it at a tree, and it stuck there like a dart on a dart board. This was what I was missing. The mindset of a murderer.