Forgotten Pride

Greenskin: Chapter one

Chapter one: Code of Conduct

“We…we found the…” Ken can’t seem to get the guts to tell him. He is just a little boy who has been through an extremely traumatic experience. He didn’t ask for this. The boy is still in shock anyway. He could barely explain what had happened to his parents, let alone guide them to the sewers. The worst is that they’re blaming the child.

“Bodies…” the boy in turn replies.

At this, Ken nods his head, shaken by the boy’s courage, trying to put himself in the child’s shoes.

“Can you…uh…give us any information on the killer?” he asks.

“Bodies…skin…green…sewers…wood…flesh…murderer,” the child addresses, a neutral expression still on his face.

“I’m sorry about your parents, Nate,” Ken expresses.

“Skin…green…” the child confirms.

Approaching the child carefully, Ken isn’t sure what to think. Why did he come back to the offices anyway? Seeing the boy is sitting by the table, safe and sound, he isn’t as worried anymore. He hears the boy mumbling to himself, probably still in shock. He can’t see Nate clearly through the vast shadows of the night. All the lights in the office were turned off a few hours ago.

“We need to be careful, don’t we?” the child mumbles.

“Yes, I think we do,” Ken returns.

The boy is quiet for a moment, and then continues to say, “We weren’t talking to you.”

Moving over to the boy much more cautiously, Ken feels his mind overwhelmed with fear. His body trembling, he tries to overcome this nightmarish event on his own, a foolish mistake.

“Skin…green…bodies,” the boy murmurs. He then turns his head over to the worried captain, revealing the acronym ‘R.I.P.’ sewn over his mouth, the boy’s eyes wide open.

Ken gasps, realizing it had only been a dream. He finds himself sitting up straight in his bed, breathing heavily. He soothes himself by gazing at the beauty of the images the light is projecting through their decorated curtains, and then turns his gaze over to his wonderful wife, Sarah. He lies down and rests on his wife’s shoulder, holding her tightly. He kisses her neck and then relaxes his head, his eyelids slowly becoming heavier and heavier…

“Don’t let them get me,” Nate whispers in his sleeping state in his soft, cosy bed, his blanket hanging off the side.

“Not again,” he mutters.