The Devil Within

Chapter 8

Austin's POV

I thought back to the day when Dad and I first saw Damien. Ethan and I were in front of the TV, flickering through the channels, hardly interested in it. At that time, Ethan was still nine and withdrawn. That was shortly after our mother passed away. He hardly talked after he was discharged from the hospital, but I couldn't blame him. He witnessed something traumatic. I didn't go out of my way to comfort him, because I too, was also reeling from the loss. But I was  old enough to know that something wasn't right when my brother's hair started to change. Black traveled down from his roots like ink in water and covered his hair. I think I jumped when he turned to me with startling pale blue eyes.

I remembering hollering for Dad, while he glanced at me sideways, as if I was making a din for no apparent reason. When Dad came over hurriedly, he looked at me and Dad with an unblinking gaze. Dad grabbed Ethan by the shoulders, and kept asking if he was alright. "Ethan...that's not my name," he answers calmly. Then he fell forward and we watched in bewilderment for the second time that day as the black colour slowly faded from his hair and he falls asleep. When he woke, he had no memory of the change that came over him. We were caught by surprise, but it wasn't exactly a strange thing in our family because Mum and Dad both had abilities. So chances of Ethan and myself having abilities were high. At least, that's what we'd convinced ourselves. He didn't behave oddly after the incident, so we'd just let it slide. 

The next time it happened, it was a year later. We were in Dad's car. Luckily, I yelled quickly enough for Dad to jam-brake the car, before Damien sent a mental image to us. I remember sitting up in a trance, grabbing the side of my head in pain, because the image of an abandoned warehouse flashed repeatedly in my head. Dad on the other hand, looked as if all the blood had been drained from his face. He clutched the driving wheel tightly, and I would never forget the look of dread in his face under the glare of the sunlight.  

"Ethan?"

"That's not my name," he says, just like he did before. It was a statement which had bothered me back then, and even more so the second time he'd said it. Dad's lips starts to quiver. He reached over as far as he could, and cupped Ethan's face which was devoid of any expression. "Then...what is your name?" he asked gently.

Damien reached up to remove Dad's hands. "My name is Damien," he says, scaring the crap out of me. Dad was positively on the brink of tears.

"Damien, do yo-do you remember?" 

He nodded, and it was a robotic movement. "The warehouse, where I was created," he said softly. 

Dad sobbed openly and hugged him tightly.  But he'd fell asleep on Dad's shoulders. 

Dad carried his unconscious body back into the house. By the time we'd got him inside, the black on his hair disappeared into the roots of his hair again. I looked at Dad, unable to form words in my mouth, but somehow, I knew that he had an explanation to this. 

Dad hugged Ethan close to himself, softly patting his head. Although I wanted to urge him, scream at him, to tell me what the hell is going on, his pained expression made me held back a second. Finally, he turned to look at me with a pained expression.

"Your brother split his mind."

To this date, I can still recall Dad's hushed voice as he said this. I was too naive to comprehend the meaning behind his words, but gradually it became clear.

Ethan split off the part of himself that held that horrific memory of his kidnapping. From then on, I had not one, but two brothers. 

Damien appeared more frequently, often silent, often emotionless. But quite clearly, he had Mum's ability to see and project the past. When he appeared, he would be standing in front of Mum's picture, holding it up and gazing into it.  On the contrary, Ethan hadn't realized that he'd been subconsciously avoiding the picture ever since that day.