The Blog

Berwald 4: Marked

Berwald jolted awake, gasping for air. His heart was racing as he realized he had just had a nightmare about his past. He sat up in bed, trying to calm himself down, when his phone buzzed. It was a call from his old schoolmate, Allen.

"Hey man, how you been?" Allen greeted.

Berwald took a deep breath before responding. "I'm doing okay. How about you?"

"I'm good, I'm good," Allen replied. "Listen, I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

"Some of my friends want to meet you," Allen said. "I told them how you used to help me and two of them are interested."

Berwald felt his stomach drop. He knew exactly what Allen was talking about. "Allen, I'm begging you! Don't tell anyone else! I'm not going to do it!"

"Or what?" Allen asked. "What are you going to give me?"

"I'll give you some of my paycheck! My stuff! Anything!"

"All seems like great offers but..." A sadistic smile crept on his face. "Go down on me like you used to."

Berwald shuddered at the memory. He couldn't believe he had ever let himself be coerced into that. He had been so young and naive back then. But now, he was older and wiser. He was stronger.

"Fuck off, Allen," Berwald growled. "I'm not your little toy anymore."

Allen scoffed. "What the hell, man? I was just messing with you."

"Well, it's not funny," Berwald said. "And I don't want to hear from you again."

He ended the call and threw his phone across the room. He lay back down in bed, trying to calm his racing thoughts. But they just kept spiraling out of control.

Not a week goes by where he doesn't think about those middle school days. It makes things worse when you cross paths with that person almost daily. Living in a district of this size, you're bound to run into the same people on your morning transit.

Berwald is now more than capable of defending himself but his mind drastically changed after that. He became more aware of the world, and just how degenerate and vile it can be. He'll never forget the day that he was so happy when Allen was arrested for robbing a gas station. He never saw him at school again after that.

Berwald could only sigh at the ceiling as he struggled to go back to sleep. Maybe if he plays some video games, the dark thoughts will go away. The computer screen shined bright in a room of darkness.

He doesn't pay much attention to the sidebar with the trending news on it since it's clickbait the majority of the time.

Except for tonight. A certain title popped out to him.

Woman Sentenced To Twenty Years For Killing Her Rapist Is Now On Parole After Serving Five Years

He immediately clicked on it.

The man in question was an art history professor who used his position to violate several female students. One of the victims, Kalylah Bouchaud invited him over to her apartment where she stabbed him more than seventy times.

"Holy shit." His jaw hung open as he read more details about the case. The article eventually took him to other news articles and a Wikipedia article.

By the time that he looked up from his PC, it was sunrise. He could smell the brewing coffee from the kitchen. He spent hours looking up people who killed their abuser and his subconscious came to a chilling conclusion.

He's not the one who needs to die.