Monsters

15 Years Ago

The little boy peered through the forest, hiding in the darkness of night as he watched the older man in front of him. He’d found the man yesterday and had recognized him instantly and wanted to reveal himself to the man, but was unsure of how to do so.

The man was weeping, ashamed of himself to the point of despair. “What have I done? I’ve become a monster just like them!” He picked up his sword, intending to end his own life, and the boy knew that if he was going to do anything, he had to speak now. 

“Mister, stop!” The boy burst through the brush and used the man’s surprise to push away the arm holding the sword. The man was shocked at the sight of the child, about to snap at him as he took in the bedraggled boy. The child was about average height, with hair that couldn’t seem to decide if it was a dark brown or black, and he had amber brown eyes filled with emotion the man could not read.

Something about the boy’s face put off the man, and he couldn’t put his finger on it before he finally saw the mark on the boy’s shoulder, revealed by the slightly too big shirt he wore. It was the tribal tattoo that marked the family of the two men he had murdered to avenge his wife and son. 

“You…you found me. I suppose you want to kill me yourself. Go ahead, finish me!” The man wailed, welcoming a fatal blow, anything except for what actually happened. The boy launched himself at the man…and hugged him tightly. “What are you doing? Why aren’t you killing me?”

“You saved me Mister! If you hadn’t come when you did, Father would have figured out what I had done and probably killed me, but now the others think you killed me as well, and I got to run away!” The child explained quickly, though he pulled away just as fast, afraid that maybe this man did not like to be touched like most of the child’s family.

As the boy moved away quickly from the hug, practically scattering and cringing as the man moved to put his sword away, it occurred to the man that this boy had been probably beaten, and that him being killed by his own family was not a far off idea. Those people were monsters…but this boy in front of him was not. “I am glad that you managed to escape. Where will you go to now?”

The little boy looked down at the ground, obviously worried now. “Erm…I don’t know actually. If I turn myself in to be placed in a home, I think that they would put me in the worst place and let people hurt me. They probably would think I was a monster just like my Mother, Father, and big brother were. Can I…can I stay with you?”

The man was shocked; he had murdered this boy’s father and brother and he not only had thanked him, but the boy wanted to stay with him! “I don’t have a home though, or a family.”

“That’s okay! Neither do I! I’ll be a good boy, I promise, I won’t yell no matter what happens to me! And you don’t have to worry about Father’s family finding me, because I locked away some of the stuff to find me, and I’m the key!” The little boy begged with folded hands, and the man could see how desperate the boy was to no longer be alone. Sighing a little, he also felt like he couldn’t leave the child alone, though this boy had probably been forced to learn how to survive alone in dangerous places by the time he was 7. He came from a brutal family after all. “Fine. You may travel with me. What is your name?”

“My name is Kamenwati! But…I don’t really like it, and I was named after my great-great-grandfather, so other people won’t like my name. I wish I had a different name.” The boy fumbled with his fingers, looking down at the ground again, ashamed of the name he was given at birth.

The man agreed with Kamenwati; people did not like the name of the serial killer who had never been captured. If he were ever going to hide his blood relation to him, he would need a different name. “Well, that’s okay. You ran away and chose a new life, so you should be able to choose a new name. We will think of one before we go into a town.” He smiled as the boy cheered happily, the man having forgotten his plan of killing himself that night. He had another life to care for, and he had to thank the Spirits for giving him another chance.