In the Beat of a Wing {boyxboy}

Chapter Eighteen

~Monday 25th February 2013~

"Hey, Edee, it's Malcolm. I really want to talk, I'm sorry about what you saw and I know how cliche it sounds but it's honestly not what it looked like. Just... please, bunny, please call me," Malcolm sighed heavily as he pressed the end call button, leaving his seventh message to Eden that day. He had finally come to the conclusion that he couldn't hide from it anymore, he had to tell him what happened because he couldn't risk losing him.

The guilt of what he did with Shai, the sickening memories that clung to the forefront of his mind, they would just have to be outed by word of mouth. Eden would hate him for what he did, he would think Malcolm was some perverse sex addict with obsessive tendencies but at least, in the far far future, there would be a chance of the boy forgiving him. He hoped.

He couldn't cope anymore. It had been almost two weeks since he had last had a genuine conversation with Eden, he couldn't stand the silence anymore. He thought giving him some time and space would help, hell he even thought that it might give him a spontaneous excuse that he could use instead of confessing his dirty little secret. Yet it didn't, all it did was darken his mood and make him barely capable of doing his job anymore.

"Pining over him will do nothing, take action, Malcolm. He can dodge a phone call easily, it's more difficult to avoid you in person," Malcolm sighed, his eyes meeting with that near-identical copy, staring into the empty blankness.

"What would you do? If you had control, full control, what would you do?" a smirk crossed the fake's lips, Malcolm knew it liked to be asked its own take on the situation. Malcolm was sure it just liked to scare him, it was probably more than amusing.

"Well, first, I wouldn't have left it so long. I wouldn't have let Shai walk out of here, not on his own anyway. I would have crippled the boy, maybe snapped a femur or two to keep him in here whilst I collected Eden. I would have explained to Eden what we did with Shai, every last sickening detail, simply because I know he would get off on it. He's kinkier than you give him credit for, y'know.

"I'd kill Shai in front of him, something clean since it would be the first kill he witnessed, well, almost..." Malcolm didn't like the way the fake sneered, "then I'd bend him over the desk and fuck him. Hard. He'd consent, because who the fuck wouldn't? He'd love every minute of it. I'd make stupid promises to him. Vows to protect him, vows to keep him happy, anything that came to mind probably, just something to..." the fake paused for a moment, his sneer fading away to nothing, "just anything to make him smile," Malcolm couldn't help being a tad shocked, having never heard anything close to empathetic come from the fake's mouth. The fake was the beast Malcolm kept locked away, clad in chains and strapped down to a chair in a tiny box in the corner of his mind. It was the worst aspects of the man all rolled into one cruel, sadistic form. It didn't have emotions, it was as apathetic as they come, and the jagged black hole in its chest certainly didn't have room for any size of a heart.

"He's changing us," the fake muttered absently, staring down at its own hands in its lap, "how is that possible? How can he be changing us?"

"I don't know," Malcolm was honest with that answer, the most honest he had ever been. He had no idea what the fake was talking about, had no idea how Eden had managed to have that effect on it. It may only have been small but it emoted. It shouldn't be able to emote. It was programmed to be an ass, to be callous and chilling, not to care. Malcolm was held the aspect that cared, gave that full control, he wasn't sure what would happen to his personality if there was no darkness in his soul at all. Malcolm was about to speak again when there was a soft knock on his office door.

"Leave me, let me give my opinion," the fake said before Malcolm could end the ritual. Malcolm hesitated for a moment, narrowing his eyes a little, then flicked his wrist, shifting the fake to stand at the wall to his left.