Prehalia's Demons(Completed) I #Wattys2019

33 I RATS

The two pass by Nevarium as if it was never there and Sanchez continues on driving.

"We must arrive in about two hours." He informs and Keelian nods, still half-asleep. She's been dozing off for the past few hours.

"Just five more minutes, Jessica." She murmurs, still sleepy and at the mention of her sister, Leonardo's blood runs cold. He is suddenly aware of how big this wound inside of Keelian is and how long it will take for it to heal. Maybe it never will.

Sighing, he is reminded that in Prehalia there are no people without regrets, there are no people who hadn't gotten hurt. But looking at Keelian's face now, as selfish as it may be, Leonardo hopes that this is the first and the last wound that the girl will have to live with.

—

They both decided to go to Pretorium and live in the Samuels mansion for the time being, realizing after some contemplating that Jessica wouldn't dare to go back there. Not if she suspects she might meet her sister before she's ready.

Because Sanchez is sure he hasn't seen the last of that bunch. Jessica's warning rings in his head, making his usual headache all the worse.

Leonardo is scared; not for himself but for Keelian. Her sister still has her ID and Troy Lex is on her side so they can virtually do anything. The cards are in their hands and Keelian's future depends on which one they decide to play.

In any case, though, there's no way Sanchez would let them hurt her: for the first time he can use his obsession for something good.

They didn't talk through the details about going to the mansion and Leonardo is scared that he might run into her mother or her father, or anyone for the matter. He has never step foot inside the place other than that one time on Keelian's birthday but it was only the children that were attending the party.

He's seen her mother but she has never seen him. Fortunately for him.

And he used to be a nobody, so he was safe. But now, when he has power and he has money, even the richest of the rich know his name and his face, so it will be hard. If they meet, he'll have to endure. For both his and Keelian's sake.

Even though she has never told him anything specific concerning her family life when they used to date back in the day, he could always see the horror in her eyes whenever she was talking about her mother. Leonardo is no fool: despite not knowing what it's like to have a parent, he still knew that her family is probably in shambles.

The pressure of being known and the worry over money breaks something in the person that they need to function properly. Indeed, he knew since then that there are no sane rich people.

He became one crazy bastard after he found success so he is no exception to this rule.

If anything, his experience only confirmed his own observations.

There are days when he almost misses being a nobody. Whatever he did back in the day, it had no impact on anybody's life. If he had lost a life that day when he tried to strangle himself, nobody would've cared, nobody would've known.

But after he murdered his parents and became a monster, he couldn't let himself die. He had people who relied on him and he had a target. He couldn't just hang himself even though he sometimes wanted to.

He still does.

And knowing how awful it feels, he has to own up to what he did to Keelian and live or die with the sins he has committed.

Truth to be told, after Keel left him that day in the barn, when he exposed himself to her, he became even more depressed. He couldn't find a reason to live: no name, no parents, no money, no Keelian.

So he tried killing himself again and again, and again until he actually got the hang of it. (No pun intended.)

And then he started killing himself once, twice, three times, four, five, six, seven- and he stopped when he was so overwhelmed by almost making himself disappear from the face of Earth in the matter of a few days. He would die and then he would wake up as if all of it was just a really bad dream, even though he knew better.

After contemplating over everything, that's when his hate was born. Hate towards Keelian for not understanding, hate towards his parents for not being there and hate towards everything even beyond his reach.

His hatred didn't stop at the borders of Prehalia. The entire world became his enemy.

So, now, after a year, he might have what he dreamt of before, but he wishes he did everything differently. He regrets not finishing it off then. If he had died, he would've saved so many people and the world wouldn't have known and feared the name Leonardo Sanchez.

He knows he well deserves to die.

Leo parks the car safely out of the road and opens the driver's door. He checks to see if Keelian is still sleeping. She is.

So he walks out and looks around. As they're getting closer to the rich, there are more and more cars on the road, especially heading in the direction of Pretorium. Their direction.

"Here we go. Now we can be even." He beams.

Leonardo steps in front of a car, letting it hit him. Death is instant.

And just as if it never happened, he opens his eyes, one of his cheeks against the cement. He smiles. The road is warm from the weak sun exposure. The driver of the car that took Leo's eighth life didn't even stop. Of course he wouldn't. No Pretorian would. Other than Keely, that is.

No, no. Keelian Samuels wouldn't have stopped, either.

Keelian the Rat would've. So technically what he claimed first was correct: no Pretorian cares enough for anyone else other than themselves.

He gets up from the road before someone else runs him over and he loses his last life and finds the girl in his car still asleep. She must be exhausted. He doesn't blame her as he also is.

He sits in his driver's place as if nothing happened and turns the ignition on, the engine already roaring to life in a few blinks.

"Morning, sleeping beauty." Leonardo says with his sing song voice.

"Leonardo..." She sighs, still trying to chase away the sleepiness, "Please never ever speak like this again."

"Why?" He tries again and Keelian groans.

"I'm asleep for a short while and you're already back to being an ass?"

"First of all, you didn't sleep for a short while. You slept for like five hours." He points out with his ordinary voice, "And second of all, I was never not an ass." He gives her a thumbs up and smiles smugly while she proceeds to give him the finger.

As he watches her stretch out in her seat, he's glad she didn't see him do what he did. She would've been horrified for the thousandth time today and probably scarred...for the thousandth time today, as well.

The sun is getting higher and higher in the sky, and it's light blinds the two. Keely whines in frustration, because her sleepy eyes haven't adjusted quite yet, but Leonardo finds himself smiling instead.

Now these two are just Rats with a lot of money to back them up.