Criminal Minds

Smoke And Mirrors

"No mom!!" I begin to scream with all of my might and lift my arms up to wrap it around the dangling pole, it's the only thing I could see in sight. Everything is so dark. Who are these people?

"Kid shut the fuck up." They slam me into a chair as I let out a harsh scream, I'm not used to be treated in this manner. But why do these people look so familiar? I could've sworn that I do not know who these people were or even spoken to them before. But in the eyes of a child, when I was about 6 years old, that man on the right that's wearing a black mask over his mouth and a black leather jacket, I would see him tied up with handcuffs on top of the police car, by my own father. He always held a suitcase with him, what's in that suitcase you ask? Well I'm afraid to find out myself. Apparently they are connected and linked to illegal drug deals of cocaine and marijuana as well as robberies and if it came to the point where they were almost caught, they would take it to the extremes to take someone's life. But why? They don't even seem like good criminals but no one sees or catches them, they know when to strike.

All of a sudden, I feel a sudden sting to my cheek as my face starts to burn up. "Did we say you could daydream? You have to listen to us." He grabs the collar of my shirt and forms a ball with his hand and it's an inch away from striking my cheek, I turn away, maybe it'll hurt less if I suspect it. "Man the fuck are you doing?" I feel his gigantic hands let go of me and push me back into my seat. "He's just a fucking kid." "Stay the fuck out of this Greg." Greg? I look him in the eyes but I can't see him clearly since strands of my hair are hovering over my eyes, this is where I like to pretend that I'm in my own little cave, that no one can see or hear me. The man yanks my arm and throws me into this interrogation like room.

I stand there, chains wrapped around my wrists, examining the room. Why is there so much blood on the walls? Mommy never told me about the danger of the "real world" but why do I need to be apart of it? She told me I'll always be safe but mommy lied.

This man is so scary. "Lee Taemin, correct? Now if you treasure your life little boy, I think you may want to consider to cooperate with me. Your father was our worst enemy you know that?" I feel my body twitch, my legs freeze as my lips begin to tremble together and move at a quick pace. "Don't be scared. Real men never get scared." "But I-I'm just a boy.." The man laughs and it sounds so eerily similar to the laugh I overheard my mom talking about over the phone. He slams me onto the floor, I land on my knees, wrists jammed together, hair covering my face blocking my view of really anything that comes to form in front of me. "I don't want to hurt you. You do know me. We haven't spoken before but you have heard of me. You ever saw your old man pinning me against the window of a police car?" I say nothing as he viciously grabs my chin to force me to look at him. "I demand you to look at me and pay attention to my words, that's if...you know what's best for you of course. Your father loved you so much and he took away my loved ones...now I'm going to take what he treasured the most. And who did he treasure the most?" He points a mischievous smirk at my direction. He boops my nose and says "You. So now I took you away so you can feel the pain. "B-but I have done nothing to you..." I say as my voice trembles. God I just want to go home. "I'm not like you." I say boldly and all of a sudden grew a pair. He's just blankly staring at me then raises his hand again. "You know what...I actually like you. Why don't you say you join us, kid?" "The name is Taemin. Lee Taemin." He laughs. "Stop being a smartass, it's not like you have a choice." "Did you kill my mother? Why wasn't she moving? Why didn't she move to protect me?"

"She pretended to be dead." That doesn't make any sense, I mean why would she? "You're such a liar. She would nev-" He cuts me off. "Do you really think your father died in battle? He purposefully got himself killed. He didn't want to come home. He was a coward. A self centered, little bitch man who didn't care about no one but himself. He got himself killed.." The man goes to my ear and whispers "To get away from you." Anger starts to build up inside of me, the beast wanted to rip his heart out and teach him a lesson. No one disrespects my family. When all they ever did was protect me...
"That's not true! You don't even know him!" "Kid, I mean Taemin, I've been involved with him for so many years how could I not?" My mom...what did they do to my mom.."I'm going to ask again...what did you do to my mo-" "Your whole family abandoned you. Everyone abandoned you and gave up on you. They only protected you to hide you from the truth. Everyone could see it except your naive, immature self." "You don't know me..How-" "Why do you think we came after you? It was to save you. Your father actually committed suicide and your mother...well..she couldn't take it anymore, you were a burden to her, to all of them except us." "So this is why you brought me over here? To tell me all this bullshit and have me join you guys? I'm not like you." "Were more alike than you think." "But why would mommy lie?" I say with tears marking their way down my cheeks. She always told me to never cry but she's not even here. She's not here to tell her little boy that it will all be ok. "They left you. That's why no one came to save you. You can only obey us." I keep my head lowered down in the direction of the floor, a sense of shame washes over me. Why am I giving in? Maybe it is the truth. Why would mommy lie? Why would father lie?

"I guess I have no choice." I can feel a crowd of people circle around me as their glares beam at my lowered head. "This here is our leader, you can call him boss."

I look up to see who it was that they were talking about because if I didn't obey their commands, I could end up dead.

"Your family is gone but have no fear son, we're here." His smile....why does it look so familiar? I faint under their feet, maybe then I'll wake from this dream. Better yet, this nightmare. My family is gone, I'm gone, my life is just gone and there's nothing I can do about it.