Insanity Stains Red

eighteen

Everyone dispersed after lunch, the children went off to their various activities and even Gale excused herself to her office, claiming she had business to attend to. That left me with Glen, who cocked his head at me in a cheeky way. He offered his arm to me like a gentleman. “Allow me to escort you from the room, Milady.” I snorted, even as I linked my arm in his.

“I am hardly a lady, dear Sir, but an escort is always welcome.” I smirked. ‘See? We can be fancy if we want to be, thanks to Rose reading her books to us, anyway. We’ll miss her a lot.’ I allowed myself to feel the twinge of pain for a moment, to hold onto it and remember, and then pushed it down and brought my thoughts back into the now. Glen laughed merrily and held to his words, leading me around the house for my own personal tour. It became apparent to me that the house was much more extravagant than I’d first thought. They even had a home theatre set up and a pool out the back. 

Glen saw my amazement and guessed what caused it, “We’re not your average half-way house, that’s for sure. Gale is some hot-shot lawyer and I’m pretty sure she had family money before that. This was her house before she opened it to us, and she liked her comforts – we all do too.”

“So how come she turned it into a half-way house then?” Usually people with this much money didn’t have time for strays, or at least had no interest in helping them.

“I don’t know. I honestly think she just likes being able to help. We all have pasts after all, maybe she does too?”

“I’d never thought of it like that, but I guess it makes sense.” We walked in silence for a few minutes, taking in the sights. We saw a few of the other children as they went about their business, and Glen stopped to exchange words with one here and there, but mostly it was just the two of us as we walked from room to room. Until eventually, we found ourselves on the second floor balcony, overlooking the pool.

“So what’s your story? I ventured, knowing it was rude to ask but curiosity getting the better of me. I’d been thinking about it as we walked, trying to figure out how and obviously likeable guy had ended up in a place like this with no family to speak of. I had come up blank.

“I’m an army brat.” He said with a touch of sadness in his voice. “A lot of the kids here are, actually. For a long time, it was just me and my mom travelling from base to base – wherever they assigned her. It wasn’t a great life, but it’s what I knew, and my mom always looked out for me. And then a bit over a year ago, I got a knock on my door, and a guy from mom’s unit was standing there, all grave like, and I just knew. He told me my mom had been killed in action, and my world just kind of dissolved.

“After that, I bounced around on the streets for a while, and got into a bunch of trouble – I’m not proud of some of the stuff I did. It was a bad time. Anyway, I ended up in court, and Gale was the one they assigned to defend me – she does a lot of pro-bono work, see. We won the case, and she brought me back here and taught me how to stay out of trouble, I’ve been here ever since, helping her out, living the life.”

I nodded. What he said seemed like a fairly standard story, as far as they went. And then I saw the glint in his eye and knew what was coming next. I should have realised when I’d asked. “So, fair is fair. I told you my story, so what’s yours?” I sighed heavily and leaned my back against the balcony railing, looking at him steadily. I didn’t want to tell him my story, but he was right, it was only fair to return the favour, seeing as he told me his story.

“Alright Glen, I’ll tell you my story, but it’s not as simple as yours.” He looked at me expectantly, so I took a deep breath and ploughed ahead. “My father was-is a powerful man. My mother died when I was too young to remember her, and my father was left to raise me. But my father had this way of talking that made everyone want to listen, and he figured out how to use that to his advantage. Everything went downhill from there.”

"My father discovered an old god, one that had been forgotten for a millennia, that wasn’t worshipped or respected, one that valued strength above all else, strength like what my father had. So he decided it was time to bring this old god back, and give him the attention he deserved. My father began to speak, and people began to gather, to follow. And then there was a flock of sheep to listen, and then an army. My father had created his own cult, one that began to sprout factions across the country, and even in several cities overseas. I was just along for the ride, too little to understand.

“Then the girls began disappearing. Just a couple at first, I’d see missing posters for them on my way to school, and then at least a dozen girls appeared in my house. Father never told me much about them, just told me that it was my job to take care of them. They screamed and cried, and begged for me to help them escape, but father had told me too look after them, and keep them quiet. I wanted father to stay happy with me, so I did what he asked; he was scary when he was mad.”

There was such concern in Glen’s eyes now that I couldn’t bear to meet them anymore. I turned my back on him and stared at the unmoving water of the pool, lost in my story. “I stood by and watched my father and his men break those girls. They raped them, tortured them, and finally offered them as human sacrifices to our god. And then they brought in another bunch of girls, being careful to take them from different areas so that no suspicion would fall on our shoulders.

“I attended school, walked the streets of the real world, and didn’t ever consider going to the police, because that was my life – the way my father had raised me. How was I supposed to know it was wrong? So I was the good little girl who did what she was told. But then, then Rosaline came along. See, the girls began to hate me, once they realised that I wouldn’t help them escape. But Rosie never blamed me. I think she saw through the other shit, she saw that I was keeping the men from hurting them so much more than they were. And Rosie and I became good friends – she was my only friend.”

My voice grew harsh and angry. I didn’t want to think about this. I didn’t know why I was even telling Glen this much – I should have made up something; he wouldn’t have known. “And then my father beat Rosie to death in front of me, and damn near killed me also. I escaped, and went to the cops and turned him in – brought down his whole, sick organisation. So here I am, traitor to my family with nowhere to go.” My shoulders were set and hardened, but I refused to cry, damn it. I was stronger than that. I would survive this mess. I had put myself here; I would find my feet on my own.

The silence stretched on for a long time, until I wasn’t even sure that Glen was even still standing behind me, but I didn’t turn around to look. Eventually, I felt his light touch on my shoulder, and managed not to flinch from it. “I’m sorry.” His voice was soft, but held no judgement. I turned my head to the side, just enough to look at him where he had moved up beside me, and he gave me a sad smile. “That’s tough, what you had to go through. But you’re here now, and things will be different, you’ll see.” He offered me his hand. “Come on, let’s go find something fun to do.”