Public Enemy

☣️001☣️

Thump thump, thump thump, thump thump...

My heart pounds loudly as my surroundings slowly come into focus, along with the sounds that accompany them.

"Let us out!" A little boy's hoarse voice cries out as he hammers his tiny fists against the large metal door in front of him. Blood from his hands begins to smear all over the surface, but it doesn't seem to faze him - it seems as though he's been at it for a while.

"Stop it, Hayes!" A soft voice slips out of my mouth as I sit huddled in the opposite corner of the small, white room. "Dad said if you make him mad one more time-"

Hayes freezes and turns his head toward me; his bloodshot eyes narrowed and nose wrinkled. "Who cares what dad said?"

I stand up and glare at him fiercely. Though I don't quite know why, I'm terrified. I know that something bad is going to happen if he doesn't quiet down, but the memory of what it is lingers just out of reach. 

"Don't you say that!" I cry defensively. At this point I realize that the words coming out of my mouth are my own, but I'm not consciously uttering them.

Hayes frowns. "He doesn't love us, Zero. When are you going to realize that?"

I feel a sudden surge of anger rise up in me when he says this. "Yes he does!"

"Is that why he locks us up in here?" He places his hands on his hips, smearing the blood from his hands onto his white shirt while his eyes flicker with rage.

I know he's angry and confused, but he always seems to take it out on me. He doesn't mean to, I know that, but it still hurts all the same. "He... just ...wants to keep us safe..." I stammer, desperate to calm my brother and keep him from drawing any further attention to us.

"No!" Hayes shouts, grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me, leaving bloody handprints behind. "That's just what he says to the other grown ups who ask him questions! How can you believe that?!"

Before I can say another word, the heavy metal door squeals open, and a man wearing a dark suit appears in the doorway. His face holds a cold scowl as he watches the two of us slowly back away from each other. "What's going on in here, boys? What have you been doing?" He quickly eyes the blood on our clothes with irritation and clenched his fists. "Perhaps I shouldn't ask.."

"Nothing." The two of us answer over top of each other.

This man... it's him, he's what I've been afraid of all along. I fear him, but part of me also takes comfort in his presence; I'm dependant on it, though for what, I'm not so sure. In no time I find myself slowly approaching him, trembling as I gazed up into his dark beady eyes. "...Dad?"

"What is it?" He looks down on me with disgust, as if I'm nothing but garbage; his eyes burning holes through my very being.

"You love us, right? And... you want us to be safe? That's why you keep us in here sometimes.. Right?"

"I need you two to be on your best behaviour today." He explains, placing a hand on each of our shoulders and leading us toward the door, completely disregarding everything I'd said. "And you need to change out of those clothes as well. You look hideous."

I stare up at him with tears in my eyes as we continue down the long, white-tiled hallway in silence. I begin to wonder if Hayes had been right, but still can't bring myself to believe that he doesn't love us. He's our father after all. I know that parents were supposed to love their children, so that has to be wrong. 'Tough love' was what some people told me it was, and I like how that sounds.