Nicholas and the others sat in nervous silence, awaiting the arrival of Jesse and his other two brothers. Well, they were waiting for the arrival, Nicholas knew he was better off waiting for the crate he sat on to turn into a bean bag chair. Jesse was too strong to be taken in by anyone other than one of the god‘s themselves. It didn‘t matter how strong his brothers were, they didn‘t have what it took to bring him in. From looking around the room, he knew that he was the only one that realize that.
Suddenly the door burst open and Anthony and Chris came stumbling in. They were covered in bruises, blood, and all kinds of dirt. Obviously the fight had gone as well as Nicholas expected.
“So I’m guessing you didn’t get him,” he said sarcastically.
Anthony and Chris both looked up at him with exhausted expressions.
“Nice to see you too Nicholas. No don’t worry, we’re fine,” sighed Chris.
He was holding his ribs and leaning over the table. His face was riddled with pain.
“He’s not the same person he used to be. He’s sadistic and cruel, and very powerful and he had some little chick helping him,” said Anthony, leaning against the wall by the door. His arms hung at to his sides and looked like they were numb.
“So Lust is with him, alright. That’s good for nobody at all. Hmm, I wonder who could have told you that this would have happened? Hmm, maybe the man’s fucking twin!?” yelled Nicholas.
He stood up and walked in between his brothers. Shifting looks of pure rage at both of them. Then giving one of disgust to his father.
“The three of you expected to be able to go at this like the man you’re facing is the same one you lived with for seventeen years. But none of you understand who he is on the inside. Do you?” he paused and looked around. Not just at his family, but at everyone in the room. “His friends have already expressed how little they knew about Jesse’s real life, but how much did you guys know. Did any of you three know about his drug use? Noel? Clarissa? His depression, his suicide attempt, the first time he saw the beast inside himself?”
Nothing but silence inside the room. Everyone stared at the floor, refusing to make eye contact with anyone else. An overwhelming feeling of sadness and failure filling the room. Nicholas yelled in anger and kicked over a stack of crates.
Luis walked around and stood in front of Nicholas. The two locked eyes and clenched their jaws. Tears were brimming in Luis’ eyes, but Nicholas was still angry.
“You kept me from him. You told me to never come back into his life. Of everyone in this room, you should feel the most responsible for this. I wanted to be there for him through everything. I felt every moment of pain, every hint of sadness, and every suicide attempt,” Nicholas flashed his arms to show the scars from where a blade had been dragged across his skin from elbow to wrist, “This is what I did for him. I embodied his sadness, took it from him, and took it out on myself. What about the rest of you?!”
Nicholas stared into the eyes of his father as he held his arm up to his face. Tears were now running down his face as he stared at him. Angrily Nicholas turned and walked out of the room. He slammed the door hard behind him, breaking it off the hinges.
Everyone in the room sat in silence, still refusing to look at each other. From the other side of the door, they could hear a rhythmic thud. It started out slow, then progressively faster. After a while it sounded like a stone falling on mud. The wet sound of bloody fist smashing against a stone wall. Nicholas shouting profanities, only pausing to breath in from his sobs. Finally the sound stopped, and the world fell silent.
YOU ARE READING
The Tenth Dragon: Death Of A Youngling
FantasyJesse Ruiz has had a rough twenty years of life, but as things finally start to settle down for him, he gets thrown into a hell that he could have never imagined. Joined by his fiance Rydar, friends Seaver and Clarissa; he must face his past to ens...
