Not About Angels (A Tom Riddle Story)

Chapter 27

"There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable." -Mark Twain 

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That summer, they went back to the orphanage. Tom explained this plan, and Abigail reluctantly agreed. 

As the were dropped off at Wool's orphanage, Abigail was thrusted into the dark past. However, this time, she had him by her side.  

She held on to his cold hands as they walked up the steps of the ancient, broken building. She studied every crevice, detecting no change in her childhood home; only it was colder now. 

Familiar faces greeted them, not with the usual scorn, but now with an unexplained fear. It made Tom feel at ease. It made Abigail uncomfortable. Penny walked behind them, holding her chin high, as if gloating to the children of the orphanage her newfound abilities. 

"Why are we here? Let's go back." Abigail asks him again, already regretting coming back to the birthplace of her nightmares.  

He shakes his head. 

"You'll see. Be patient." He explains, a darkly mysterious smile laced onto his face. How dazzling was his rare smile. How absolutely, blindingly beautiful. However, it hid something much more sinister underneath. 

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The next morning, the entire orphanage was awoken by Mrs. Cole's horrified scream.  

Thomas Lind, dead, his body mangled and broken inside the nursery, his blood on the wall. 

At last. Tom Riddle had vanquished the monster of his childhood. He finally possessed the power to do so. He had destroyed the man who destroyed him. Simple death was too sweet for a man like Thomas Lind. Riddle made sure it was living hell, up until the last insufferable moment.   

Abigail shrieked, seeing the grotesque, deformed corpse across the concrete floor. her eyes meet the shining dark eyes of Tom Riddle, whose upper lip curled mysteriously into one of his famous half-smiles. Abigail shuddered. Was Tom really capable of this? This was not just killing. This was torture. The body, barely recognizable, marked the monster that destroyed it. She felt sick to her core. a violent nausea took hold of her.  

Tom only shook his charming head to the children, while offering polite condolences to the shaken Mrs. Cole.  

Tom's dark eyes met hers, and in them she saw victory. Power. Euphoria. Nobody else could ever read Tom Riddle like she could.

She backed away, scared for the first time of his menace. The blood. The stench. The murmuring, crying children, the hysterical Mrs. Cole, and Tom Riddle's sharp gaze. The room overtook her completely, and forced her out.  Abigail ran out to the seaside, unable to bear another moment in the festering room.  

"Abi." He said, sitting down next to her, by the beachside. 

"Tom-Tom how could-" She whispered, not daring to finish the sentence.

"Thomas Lind got everything he deserved, Abi. He deserved much more. Don't you hate him?It's only fair." 

"Fair? Fair? What's fair about murder?" She cried. 

"I did it for you too, Abi. Remember the way he hurt you? I haven't forgotten." Tom said, grabbing Abigail's thin arms and showing her her old scars. "He did this, Abigail.  He did this to both of us." 

"Tom...I'm worried. I scared for you. What of they find out? What if-what if..." 

"Let them find out then. They're only muggles. They can't touch me. I can destroy them, just like this." Tom said, followed by a snap of his fingers.  In his eyes were a glare of reckless, dangerous carelessness.  

Abigail shook her head. For the last two years, she watched the cold but still soft Tom Riddle slowly fade away before her eyes. There had always been a trace of goodness inside of him, she found. That trace, however, diminished bit by bit as his powers grew. She desperately wanted to bring that trace back. 

"Tom! How could you say that-I-I." She stopped, calming herself so she could articulate her words. "Sometimes I feel like I don't know you anymore." She whispered.  

"You're so naive, Abigail. Naive and stupid. I'm doing this for the both of us, can't you see! One day, Abi, you'll understand why. You'll see before your eyes all I-no we- will achieve and you will understand."  

"Understand what? Why you kill? Why you torture? Tom Riddle..." She sobbed, shaking her head violently.   

He held her shoulders, his eyes peering into hers. "It's a harsh world, Abigail. That's the way it is. Survival of the fittest, isn't it?"  

She shook him away. She was scared. 

"You're a monster." She uttered. The moment these words fell out, she instantly regretted them. 

His eyes grew hard.  He pushed her away. Had even Abigail turned on him? His most trusted companion, his most prized treasure, had she turned away from him? Did she stand with them now? 

"Tom-" She She whispered, feebly grasping his arm. With cold fingers, he pried her off and walked away, never looking back. 

She hurt him. He would never allow it to happen again. Never. He would have control.