Population: 1245...And then Some

Chapter Nineteen

I woke up to the sound of laughing. I felt a huge lump on the back of my head. I lifted my arm to try and feel it but when I tried to lift my arm it was stuck. I looked down and saw that I was chained to a chair. My feet were chained to the ground and my arms were chained to a dark rusty metal chair. 

I looked to the side and saw Keith tied up but instead he was in the same wooden chair that I was in before and he was tied up with the same rope as well. Keith's face was filled with dry blood that crusted over his clear skin. His brown hair was wet and he was unconscious. I looked up and found Hunter cleaning his knuckles with a cloth. I glared at him - the creature. 

He stared at me with his blue pacific eyes. He turned around to his trolley of weapons and things, and he got out a bucket and walked over to Keith. He dumped water on top of Keith’s head. Keith startled awake. He snuffled and tried to move around to get out of his confinement but failed miserably. 

"I'm going to get some more tools. I'll be right back. Don't do anything stupid." Hunter snarled as he left us alone with the trolley, way too far for our reach. The door to the room closed with a loud bang. 

I cleared my throat, trying to grab Keith's attention. He stared at me with his brown eyes. 

"Um, Keith..." I started.

"Yes?" 

"What did Hunter mean by you two were old friends...?” I asked, quietly staring at my chained feet. 

There was an eerie silence in the room as I waited for Keith to speak. The only thing that broke the silence was the water that dripped onto the floor from his hair and face. 

He cleared his throat before he spoke. "Well, I guess it's about time you knew…" 

"Knew what?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

 "I uh well, I was a patient at BlackClaw Asylum..." Keith's head hung low, so low that I only saw the top of his head. An unbelievable shock went through me. Keith was a patient...my Keith?! 

"You…What?!" 

"I know I -"

"You lied Keith, you were - I - I thought I could trust you, I thought you were my friend!" I looked at him dead straight in the eyes. I saw panic and guilt run through his face.

"I am! Kathryn I am your friend! Please just let me explain..." He mumbled the last part. I sighed and stared at him. I closed my eyes, I gave a silent nod to continue and explain. I reopened my eyes and stared at the ground. 

"I was in BlackClaw Asylum since I was ten. My mother put me in there. She was a horrible mother. She was very abusive to me since a very young age. She also was sick; she had to take all these different kinds of pills to make sure she didn't act out or anything. But then she refused to take them. She would tell me that she would hear all these voices, telling her to do things and to say things. Well, the voices in my mother’s head told her that I was the sick one that I needed to be put in a mental institution. Of course being the women that she was, listened."  

I heard a little sniffle come out of Keith; I looked at him and felt sorry for him. "You can go on Keith," He nodded and continued.

"Well, when I was in the asylum for six years. I never talked to anyone, never told them how I was feeling. I tried telling them that I wasn't crazy, that I was perfectly normal...but they wouldn't believe me. It was horrible in there, so many horrible vile people. Then there was that little kid who didn't do anything wrong, who just had a horrible mother...I met Hunter along with the other patients, but Hunter never showed me a shred of kindness. Just hurt…he'd hit me.” 

I felt pity, and saddened at picturing a little Keith in a asylum when he didn't even need to be in one, and picturing a little Keith lost, terrified and alone. But then I was confused.

"Where was your dad Keith?" 

"He was out in the Iraq war. He had no idea that I was in BlackClaw. He had no idea what his wife did to me. Once he returned to Blue Mound, he searched for me. He found me when I turned sixteen. He took me home and got my mother arrested for the beatings and for sending me into that place. He got me help and sent me to a therapist. He was very protective of me from then on. Over the summer I got better enough to go to school, so I got enrolled into Mound High, and that's where I met you Kathryn. I never told you anything because I didn't want to be an outsider, a freak, a loser. But then I realized that you were like me: a damaged soul who needed somebody. So I befriended you." 

 I stared at Keith with sad eyes. He went through hell and back, he went through something that no nightmare that I had could compare to. I felt like saying sorry would be the wrong word to use in this situation so I stayed silent. I just stared at my tied up self, with a mouth that was shut with glue and eyes that shined with emotion. 

"And, now I’m getting you out of here," I heard his voice from across the room. I looked up confused. I found Keith's beaten bloody form standing, holding the back of the chair for support. The rope that was used to tie him up was on the floor. 

"How...?” I lost all my words out of shock and excitement. 

"My dad taught me how to get out of a tight situation," he replied with a big toothy grin. I gave a small smile. 

He walked over and picked locked the chains on my hands and feet. I was about to get up but the door banged open, and there stood Hunter holding a couple of different knives and whips. I looked up and gulped. Oh no.

Hunter growled. He dropped his weapons onto the ground and lunged onto Keith. He punched Keith again and again onto the ground. I felt fear rush through my heart. I gulped what I do!? Do I do something? My breathing hitched when I saw Hunter whip out a pocket knife. He

pressed it up against Keith's neck. My gaze landed onto the trolley filled with knives and weapons. 

Adrenaline rushed through every inch of my body and I ran and grabbed the biggest knife that I could. I ran towards Hunter and shoved him off of Keith.

I punched Hunter in the nose. I heard a crunch. He dropped his pocket knife and put his hands to his face and cried out in pain. I snarled at him. I pushed him to the ground and I leaned over him. I pressed the knife into this neck. I saw trickles of blood drip down his neck. I stared at him with a dark gaze. Hunter stared at me.

"Do it, kill me." 

His blue gaze was filled with provocation. Blood gushed down his face and onto his mouth. His cool sly lips curled into a cruel smirk. He put his left hand on top of mine and pressed harder into his skin. 

And so here we are, with a murderer, a kid with a troubled past, and me: the freak. There's just one thing. Do I kill him? Do I end his life and let this madness all end? Do I take the easy route? Do I go through with it and let the town go back to normal? Do I end up like the future me? A future murderer and psychopath? Or do I let him go, and take the harder route? Let him kill more innocent people? Let him wreak more havoc on this poor town and the people in it? 

I gulped. My throat felt rough. My heartbeat was increasing has I felt the cool smooth blade of the knife on my fingers. It would be so easy…just one quick move and this will all be over. He already did half the job. I just need to move my arm to the side…I can save innocent people...But I have to kill in order to save. 

So the question still remains.

Do I kill him?