"Hey, Rhett!" I hear someone call over the gradually increasing noise of the crowd. I turn around to find Mary shoving through the clusters of student cliques. She watches me with her glittering sea foam eyes, her brown hair flying as she rushes to get to me.
Mary stops in front of me, giving me a large hug, "Hey, Mary." A clique of girls turn to look at me with that glimmer of a crush in their eyes and then turn around to giggle with each other. I pay no mind to the giggling clones, each and every girl tosses their blonde hair.
"Are you doing anything after school?" she smiles up at me, blissfully ignorant of the malicious glares coming from all the girls around us.
I smirk as I shove my hands in my pockets. Mary's like a little sister, the other girls have no reason to be jealous of her. Though her beauty is something to be jealous of. She's always been so beautiful even in her awkward stage, she's just never known it, "Mary, I have to do something after school. Sorry, I'm busy."
"Rhett! We haven't been able to hang out in forever! Do you hate me?" she frowns.
"I've always hated you, Mary, why would I ever like someone like you?" her expression changes into a horrified one at my sarcasm. "I was just kidding, Marebear. I really need to do something after school... It's important. I'll hang out with you tomorrow, okay?"
She sighs, pulling her hair to her right shoulder and running her fingers through its silky waves, "Fine, but I'm going to hold you to your promise." She offers a pinkie finger for our handshake. I grasp it with my pinkie finger and kiss my thumb as she repeats the action. "I'll see you later, Rhett."
She prances off to the exit of the school as I close my locker, the buzz of the crowd slowly decreasing as more people leave. My eyes scan the hallway as everyone leaves, fleeing to find their safe havens at home, ignorant that for me it is the other way around. School is my safe haven and soon, I will have to return to the madness of my father. If it weren't for Mary, I would be like him, insane and alone, basking in the darkness that is madness. I still have trouble with not being enveloped in his shadow. His insanity can spread like a disease. No one knows about my father, if they did, he would kill me, literally.
My feet pace back and forth involuntarily as I take a deep breath.
Time to go home.
Pushing the doors of the school wide open, I begin my journey back into the abyss of madness. Images of my father flash through my mind; blood raining in each image. I wish it was his blood. I hesitate as I mount my motorcycle, pulling my jacket off my shoulders and putting it underneath my seat. I ignite the engine and surge forward onto the access way towards my home.It felt as if the death march, as if the future ahead of me is inevitable, as if I can't escape it. In anger I speed up, fiercely passing any car ahead of me. Pulling into the neighborhood, I go straight for the house at the end of the culdasac. The garage opens at my arrival and I see a pair of feet poking out under the garage door.
"Rhett. Welcome home," my father smiles, seemingly normal. The motorcycle pulls in the garage with ease as I rest it on the side of the wall. As the garage door closes, my dad pulls on his labcoat and I could see the red stains like one red rose in the midst of a white rose bush. I avert my attention to my jacket and backpack which I pull out quickly and speed walk inside. "Rhett? Where do you think you're going? We still have to finish what we started yesterday."
"I-I've gotta do... h-homework," stutters escape my lips.
My dad tsks, adjusting his glasses on the crook of his nose, "Oh, son, you wouldn't wish to disappoint me, would you? Let us go down to the basement." He grabs my arm, overpowering me, and shoves me towards the far end door on the right side. My dad laughs psychotically as he leads me down into the cellar, torches lighting up the stairs. The stone walls remain as cold as ever, bringing back memories. There he was, little Rhett being led by his father into his lab. I felt as if I were that same tiny child, being led further into the darkness.
"No... please no..." I whisper, helpless as my father forces me down into the cellar. The descent finally ends when we reach a white lab with red markings, handprints, and smears all over the walls and metal tables. A struggling voice comes from underneath a blanket on a metal table.
"Look here," my father pulls away the blanket from the woman's face. She looks at us terrified with a gag in her mouth; breathing deeply through her nose. She loks at me, questioning for mercy. "She has her eyes and hands. Don't you see? I need you to get them for me. Here's a butcher's knife, a scalpel, and a scooper."
A faint scream comes from the woman's throat, she pulls on the restraints that hold her down. I stare at her with tears rolling down my eyes, "Why-why can't you do it?"
"Haven't you always wanted to pierce the fragile skin of humans?" my father stares down at the resisting woman; her green eyes stare back at me with fright and a scar runs down the side of her porcelein cheek. Her scream is reminiscent of the nightmares I always have. My dad hands me the butche's knife and holds onto the woman's hand, steadying it for a clean cut. I almost vomit in my mouth from the sick feeling in my stomach. The woman's eyes are like hers... "Don't you want to kill her? Isn't that a burning passion of yours? Might as well keep it going."
Guilt builds in my chest. Why does he always remind me of it? Why does he remind me of the mistake I made? If it weren't for that mistake, my dad wouln't be insane, I wouldn't be miserable, and all these people wouldn't have to suffer. But they do have to suffer, all because of me!
I lift the knife high in the air and begin to laugh psychotically; in a flash, I let gravity pull the knife downwards, towards the woman's wrist and then, it rained blood.
