The Darkness Beneath

-10-

"Okay, Matthew. I'm going to start, but I have to warn you that it's going to hurt."
Matthew nodded, putting a tough face on. "I'm ready."
Arthur muttered an incantation similar to the one he had done the last time, except stronger and fuelled with much more hunger to succeed. If he failed this time there wouldn't be a second chance. He refused to let that happen.
Matthew didn't whimper like he did the last time. He held in his pain for as long as he could, wanting to stay strong for Arthur's sake.
About halfway through, the boy had bitten into his lip so hard that it bled, but he still kept quiet.
Arthur was glad that Francis had raised such a strong child.
But he wished he could have helped.

Matthew's POV:
The pain was unbearable, truly. Matthew couldn't explain how it tore through his body like an endless fire.
And through the worst of it, he could hear a voice that sounded familiar, yet so out of reach.
There once was a woman who fell in love with a very bad man. She loved him so much that she had two beautiful children with him.
But he hit her so often and one day she saw him hit her children.
She didn't love him after that. She kicked him out onto the street and decided that nobody would ever touch her babies ever again.
Two years past and the children hadn't even left the yard. She ordered everything she needed for them and never left her children's side.
But then one day, one of the bitchy moms in the neighbourhood got snooty and called child services. She fought so hard to keep those boys in their home, but those men restrained her and stole her precious children away from her.
Later that night she took the most jagged of her kitchen knives out of the drawer and used it to end her life.
She swore that nobody would hurt her children ever again and let her soul drift away until it found her youngest son.
The twins ended up with some idiot and a grumpy asshole who clearly would never show the right amount of affection to the boys. The woman decided to harm him first. Especially after he started to get suspicious.
She started by using her son to kill off the man's older brother. It had shaken him for a while, but not enough. She then decided to blow up the television when it was showing some unsavoury footage that could possibly defile her children's eyes and, once again, used her son to cut the cheerful Frenchman.
When none of that worked, and the latter only seemed to make things worse for the children, the woman decided that she wanted to kill the man himself. He made the boy pour liquid soap on the floor in the bathroom in a spot where it wouldn't be seen but would most definitely be stepped upon. She hadn't factored in that there would be guests coming, and so, she ended up killing one of his friends instead.
As vengeance, the man used words to force her out of her son's body. But the words weren't strong enough and the boy didn't want to let his mother go. She managed to claw herself in, just a little. And she can do it all the way if her son will just let her in. Please, Matthew. Let me in!
"Never!" Matthew shouted, using all of his being to shove his mother out of his body. He felt her leave along with all of his energy. His legs gave out and he started to fall, but he landed in a pair of welcoming arms. They felt like home to him. More like home than his mother's had ever been.
"Dad..." Matthew sighed into his father's shoulder as his body went limp. He heard Arthur choke out a noise that was neither laughing or crying, but somehow both.
"I've been waiting so long to hear that again." He choked out.
Matthew smiled as the energy left his body. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

oil paint takes years to dry I'm serious. At least my cat won't walk on this one because the last time it was a disaster