Smoke and Mirrors

Chapter 22

  "When we were in the lake, I couldn't help but notice the scar on your stomach.  What happened?" Val eyed the other boy up and down, waiting for him to reply.
  "It's a long story," he grumbled back at him, not wanting to talk about such a thing.
  "It's a long walk to where we are going though!" The black-haired boy grinned, showing his pearly whites; he looked like a child who was waiting to get an ice cream cone.
  "Fine, you win; I'll tell you. . ."
  Aske looked at himself in the mirror to see all the bruises his father had left for him, almost as if it were a present; he looked like a whole gang beat him up in an alley, and left him to die. It had been a year since his mother was killed.  Once she was shot, his so-called father ran out after him; once he had been found, he picked him up, brought him home and locked him in a closet, leaving him without food for a day.  Now that his mother was gone, the beatings had gotten worse since there was no one there to save him anymore, and he obviously couldn't save himself either.
  Knock, knock. "Are you done yet, boy?"
"Give me a second, sir," He pulled on his pants, and walked out of the bathroom.
  "About time," his father complained, standing in front of him with his arms crossed over his chest; it almost looked as if he were hugging himself. "What were you doing in there that took you so long, anyways?"
  "None of your business," he pushed his father out of the way, headed into his room, and stuffed a bunch of clothes from his dresser into a spare suitcase.
  "Where are you going with those clothes?"
  "Far away from you."
  "I take care of you, feed you, and give you a place to sleep, and this is how you repay me?" Viktor shouted at him.
  The young boy didn't answer; he just kept packing.
  "You won't last a day out there, not even an hour."
  Aske spun around, glared at him. "I won't last another moment in here."
  He started to spin back around, but Viktor grabbed him and threw him to the ground.  "You're not leaving!"
  Aske started to crawl away, and he got pretty far until his father grabbed the hem of his shirt, pushed him against the wall, then grabbed a knife on the dresser next to him.
  "P-Please don't do this!" Aske was scared; he wanted to be with his mom, but not this soon.
  Viktor took the knife, sliced open his stomach.  Blood gushed out, causing his son to cry in pain.
  "You may go," he said, pulling out the knife. "Let's see how long you last now."
  He escaped his father's grip.  Once he was out of that house, he ran and ran, clutching his stomach to keep his innards in.  He had finally escaped that monster.
  "Then, people rescued me, fixed me up, then sent me off to be on my own."
  "Wow, I'm sorry," Val apologized, even though he did nothing wrong. "You shouldn't have gone through that."
  "At least I'm still alive," he replied with a fake smile. "I believe that I stayed alive for so long because I was born to do something greater than myself, you know?"
  "Yeah, I believe that too," the blond complimented.
  "Come on," he patted Val on the back as he passed him. "I'll race you!"
  Then, he darted off as fast as he could; Val was behind him, trying his very best to keep up.