To Be Put in Ones Place

Memories

Frank recoiled away from the bedroom door and leaned his back quietly against the adjacent wall.

Thoughts flooded his mind as he tried to remain calm. Frank swiftly but quietly made his way back to his bedroom, shutting the door silently behind him. He removed his mask as he went to his bed and sat, placing it next to him. He stared down at it, the moonlight hitting the mask at an angle which made the sadistic expression look sorrowful.

As Frank was digesting what he had just witnessed a lump began to form in his throat and he swallowed tears. To Frank's surprise he was not so much as shocked by what he saw as to what he had heard.

"I can be better than him...I want your favor..."

Julie's words echoed in his head, bouncing off his skull.

Frank clenched his fist his eyes still fighting back tears. His friend that he had known before the Entity took them all, and who he had known for all the time they had been here, and who knows how long that had been, was going behind his back desiring to replace him.

Frank never really thought about the Entity's favor, not like Julie did anyway. He was the Leader of the Legion from the beginning. He started their initiation...he brought out who they all truly were. Killers. He lifted them up and encouraged them to not hide it...to not suppress it.

Frank closed his eyes and tried again, to reach for memories before the Entity. It threatened to slip through the cracks but Frank focused, honing in on an image forcing his mind to concentrate. The image became more clearer as he took deep breaths, lowering his heart rate.

The image was of Julie, she was standing over a man...no...a boy - he was their age at the time. The image began to move and a scene started to play in his mind, he recalled a memory.

Rain was pouring down on Julie and Frank as they both stare down at the teen who was crying in pain on the cold sidewalk. They were in an alleyway, in the back of a burger joint they would all frequent often.

Julie's hand was shaking, her knife visibly bouncing from side to side. Her hood had fallen off and the rain drenched her hair, dripping wet.

The boy watched them both with wide eyes, his tears mingling with the rain and his arm covering the stab wound from Julie's knife.

"Please! Please, I'm sorry! God, please! I'm sorry for making fun of your masks...I didn't understand it was so important to you guys, please God!" He was pleading, his voice cracking.

Frank glared at him from behind his mask. "What are you waiting for, finish him Julie."

Julie raised her head and turned around to look at Frank, her mask soaked with rain as it trickled down, shining from the singular light mounted on the brick wall.

"I...I can't do it..." She sounded defeated and Frank recalled it was her first kill.

"This is it Julie, this is who you are. Don't you remember the things you told me, the desires and urges you have? This is how we release them. Finish him off." Frank's voice was authoritive but he spoke softly to her.

She turned her head back to the boy on the ground and his expression became more panicked than before.

"No! NO! Please!" Full sobs came from his mouth and Frank worried they would be heard.

"Julie, hurry...do it now. This punk has been bullying us since 5th grade, remember when he shoved Susie so hard to floor she started crying? He's over due." Franks voice was cold now, dark.

The boy started to back up kicking with his feet, inching farther from Julie, his eyes on her knife.

Julie looked at Frank one more time and nodded. She slowly walked up to the boy and Frank watched as she hovered over him and he knew she was taking it all in.