PRE-VENOM
'You aren't human, and it's time you act like it.'
Perhaps the only way to describe Damon Hill involves the use of the word 'devilish.' After all, he's got a curious birthmark to match the giant trident-sized hole in the back o...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER SEVEN: FOR I HAVE SINNED
━━★━━
When a baby enters the world fresh from their mother's womb, the first sound they hear is of their own cries. Their tears are the first to touch their skin, rendering them the smallest amount of comfort. They are born from pain to inflict pain—to abuse, to maim, to assault, to kidnap, to corrupt, to blackmail, to ruin, to murder.
A parent cries their loudest twice in their life: once when their child is born, and once when their child has died.
Eddie will never forget the night he heard the cries of a mother who was not his own as he stood from a distance, his murder weapon parked in his father's garage with blood dripping from the grill.
He remembers seeing her look to the sky, cursing the person who stole her young child's life. He remembers coming home to see his father with a belt in his hand, ready to give him another one of his daily beatings.
This time, it was different.
This time, Eddie felt numb.
Running from home felt like the smartest thing to do at the moment, and he doesn't know if he'll regret the decision or not until he reaches the pew of the church he's started to believe feels more like home than his own. When he gets there, the sight of the boy he hasn't seen in a month graces him, and regret floods his body.
He doesn't want him to see him like this—a monster in the making.
"Father Pike?"
His voice is broken, a direct parallel to his bruised ribs and ripped skin. It doesn't take long for him to drop the car keys in his hand and fall to the floor, his knees hitting marble as he hunches over to let out a silent cry. There is a pair of hands that drags him up and gently places him at the pew, and he looks up for a second to meet the eyes of the last person he wants to speak to.
"What happened, Eddie?" Father Pike rushes over to the kid immediately. He takes the keys from his hand, hands them to Damon, who has an inexpressible look on his face, and gestures for him to sit down beside the shaking boy. "Did your father—"
"Father Pike," he cries, and the pain from the gashes on his back subside when he thinks of the heinous crime he committed an hour prior. "I did something really bad, and I tried—I tried so hard to make it better, to confess, and he didn't let me. He told me I'd be next if I even thought about telling the cops, and he—he did this. But his abuse means nothing anymore. I'm gonna be the one going to Hell. There's no... God, there's no salvation for me—not anymore. There's no atonement, Father."
