Twisted Souls || Michael Langdon

Chapter Six: Is This A Scam?

"Michael?! Where are you?" I yelled into the night, frantically trying to catch sight of the man with the striking cerulean eyes.

"Shut the hell up!" A bald man popped his head out of a window, annoyance evident in his voice. "No one cares where your boyfriend is!"

"First of all, he isn't my boyfriend! Second, why don't you go back inside and mind your own business, Baldy!" My middle finger shot up and was aimed directly at the man as he retreated back into his home. "Idiot."

"Do you really go around calling people names?" Michael's soft voice laced through the air and I spun around, spotting him sitting on a bench beneath a willow tree. "First my grandmother and now that poor hairless man. You could've really hurt his feelings."

"I only call people rude names if they deserve it." Shrugging my shoulders, I joined him on the wooden bench and gazed at his side profile. His sharp jawline was illuminated by the moon's warm glow, while his eyes remained dark as the night. "I was worried about you."

"Why would you waste your time worrying about a monster?"

"I wouldn't. I said I was worrying about you." Michael glanced up in surprise at my words as the pain in his eyes began to fade. I tucked my midnight hair behind my ears and crossed my legs, trying to get comfortable.

"What they said in there was what I heard my entire childhood. All of them despise me.... They all wish I was dead. Hell, my own mother tried killing me once while I was asleep." Tears brimmed the corners of his eyes and I watched as a single drop slid down his flushed cheeks. "I just wanted someone to love me.... But I guess some people aren't worth it."

"Don't let what they say have any power over you. You're stronger than that. If you keep giving their words attention, you'll start to believe them."

"But they're right. There isn't any hope for me. I'm the worst thing that has ever walked on this planet and I can't change... I can't change at all." He let out a shaky breath as more tears began to grace his angelic face. "What's worse is that I dragged you into my life. You're part of it now. I never should've asked for help!"

"The fact that you had the courage to make an appointment and meet with me says the exact opposite, Michael. You can change, and you will." Without giving a second thought, I enveloped his hand with mine. Blue eyes darted up to my emerald ones, uncertainty clouding his pupils. "You just have to keep fighting, okay? Fight for who you want to be, fight for the ability to prove everyone in that house wrong... Fight for the version of you that's been dying to get out in the world the moment you were born."

"But what if I can't do it? Grandma doesn't believe I can." Tears continued to streak down his beautiful face and I felt my heart ache at the sight. "In their eyes, I'm the most despicable waste of space that ever lived."

"People are allowed to have opinions on others, even if they're wrong." The corners of my mouth turned up in a grin. "Constance, Tate, and Violet... What they said is far from the truth. There's good in you. I've seen it."

"Oh, really? Like when I brutally murdered that priest? Sent dozens of knives through that butcher's body? Yeah, I'm sure I'm not a hopeless case." He scoffed, words saturated in sarcasm.

Shaking my head, I gave his hand a squeeze. "I see it whenever you show kindness to Ms. Mead. Whenever you smile or laugh at the littlest things, because they bring joy into your heart. I saw it tonight when you rushed inside the house to save me."

He blinked a couple times, torn between believing my words or not. I took his silence as a sign to go on.

"There's good in everybody, but sometimes, it gets buried beneath their anger, or pain, or sadness that they've experienced. It's harder for them to reveal that side of them, because they've gotten lost in the darkness." My eyes diverted themselves towards the moon and admired the comforting glow. "All they need is some guidance, a nudge in the right direction, to make it easier for them to shine the way they're meant to."