The Flaws Behind Perfection-currently editing

Chapter 27: Jason

"Wren, you were just a kid. You can't blame yourself for what Dad turned out to be. You didn't make him turn into the Creator! You didn't make him kill all those people! He's the one with the blood on his hands, not you."

"It might as well be me!" he screams. "I could have stopped him when I saw how crazy he was becoming. I should have destroyed his machines, his blueprints, him. But I was selfish. I knew that if I did any of those things, I wouldn't be able to go back in those worlds. And, knowing what it was like in those Simulators, real life was so dull. I couldn't face reality anymore. It was so gruesome and plain next to what Dad had made me experience. I couldn't go back. So I watched him spiral, watched him become a monster. I pretend I couldn't see what was happening to him. I stayed in the worlds longer, even created a few myself. I didn't stop the man, I helped him. Even though I could hear the screams coming from the basements of our new home, the screams of the people he was torturing, I still didn't lift a single finger to stop him. I figured I was safe is I stayed out if his manic path. I got lost in the worlds, and when I was forced to stay in the real world, I drank myself silly.

"One night, I came home so drunk, I went up to him and confronted him about what he was doing. I told him I was going to run, and tell the world what he was really doing when he was alone. How he was using innocent people to create new worlds. He got so angry. He had screamed: "THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED. I HAVE DONE THIS, ALL OF THIS, FOR YOU!""

Wren let out a heartbreaking moan. Tears now ran freely from his bloodshot eyes. He might have been trying to act strong before, but he, just like me, had broken as he came face to face with his past. It always found a way to catch you off guard, send you crashing to your knees, and make you weak. He hiccupped through the rest of his speech.

"S-So he p-put me on o-o-our old Simulator. T-T-The first o-one he ever m-made." He shut is eyes, as if to make the terrible memory disappear. "He s-strapped the m-metal h-helmet to my he-head and s-sent me into t-this world. I-I w-was s-s-so af-afraid, Jas-on."

He couldn't continue, his cried drowning out his words.

"Hey", I called out. "Hey, Wren. HEY, STOP CRYING!"

The cries stopped and my older brother looked up to me, startled. "Stop beating yourself up over this!" I say, my tone harsher than I had meant. "Look, you can beat yourself up all you want about what you did in the past but it won't change anything. You made some mistakes, Wren. Pretty bad ones, I must admit. But what are you going to do about it now, huh? You can't exactly go back in time and change what you did. That machine hasn't been invented yet."

He smirks, the tears no longer rolling down his face.

"Wren, you can sit here and cry over your mistakes for the rest of your life if that's what you want. But something tells me you still got some fight left in you. And if you do, even if it's just a little, don't give up. You can make all of this right if you forgive yourself and promise me that you'll do everything you can to help me kill our monster of a father. Make your past irrelevant."

He lays his glassy eyes onto my face. "You sure know how to make a speech."

I can't help myself. I laugh, even though the moment is more than dire. Wren cracks a small grin as well.

"Look, you sure can talk, little bro, but... how can we stand up to a guy like Dad? He's got everyone wrapped around his finger. We say a single word a possible rebellion and we'll be dead before we know what hits us."

"I think I know someone who can help. I meet her in on the worlds while I was on the run from Dad. I think she can help us."

He eyes me suspiciously. "How do you know we can trust her? I mean, for all we know, she could be a spy."

"Ya, I've encountered one of those before" I say bitterly. You have to trust me on this one. This girl isn't a spy, I'm sure of it."

"Alright, if you're sure. When can we leave this hellhole?"

I grin. "As soon as you're ready." He grins back. It was good to have my brother back.

The End

...

See you in Book 2