Beautiful But Deadly

THIRTY

Genesis's POV

"Hey buddy, what's your poison?" The bartender asked as I took a seat at the beaten up old bar.

I frowned, pulling at a strand of hair that had come loose from my braid. "I prefer potassium chloride usually, why do you ask?"

There was an awkward pause before I looked up to see what the problem was. The young bartender stared at me with his brows furrowed and his jaw slightly open. It was then I realized what I had said. "Oh, you mean- I'll take a dry martini please."

After a moment the bartender shook his head and nodded offering me a small, confused smile.

I let my head drop onto the rough wood of the bar and sighed heavily. It had the only been a few hours since I'd been back in town and I was already regretting calling Axel to pick me up.

I'm sure I would have figured out a way to get out of police custody without him but honestly, I didn't have the energy and just chose the easiest option which was Axel.

Recently I had just been so exhausted that I couldn't find the energy to do the simplest things. Maybe it was because I hadn't really stopped since that horrible day.

It was the only way I could keep going through because if I stopped my mind would play everything on repeat and I would be stuck in the constant cycle of 'what if's' and that was a place I didn't want to be.

I was already on the edge, balancing on a razor blade. It was already becoming harder and harder to stay still. I was getting close to falling over the edge and I knew there would be no coming back from there.

There would be no redemption or savior. It would just be me and the darkness that would consume me.

I couldn't put a name to the pain that ached inside of me. I didn't know if it was grief, or anger or regret.

The pain was like the ocean. It came in waves, engulfs and overwhelms. The darkness unfolded, strangling my veins with a bitter vengeance. It cobwebbed and tangled my brain. My heart and soul were forced to play helical mind games.

I was lost in time, trying to seek the light that would offer me the relief I craved so deeply. The tears that I refused to let fall built up in my eyes like a flooding dam and I wasn't sure if I could hold them back for much longer. Ease, comfort, and peace refused me while this pain continued to abuse me. Leaving scars and bruises that weren't clear to anyone but me.

The voices laughed, playing in my head like a broken record.

Whispering while I stood, sat and lay numb. It surged with every expelled breath, always reaching higher peaks, never sufficiently soothed by my long intakes of the damp air.

"Genesis." My gun was out and in my hand before the person even finished saying my name. The weight of the weapon felt familiar in my hand and that somehow brought comfort to my damaged soul.

A glass smashed from somewhere but I didn't focus on the other patrons that surrounded us. All I could see, hear, smell was the boy in front of me. Because that was all Thorn Kingston was really. A boy.

A boy who had been raised into an execrable world. Where criminals escaped justice, the corrupt ran our countries and social media destroyed our self-esteem.

That's why people like me existed. Sure I was just as bad as the others but I didn't kill innocents. I killed the people who helped destroy our world. Who turned it into a place that people no longer wanted to raise children in or live in for a moment longer.

When you think about it I'm doing everyone a favor. I couldn't put a stop to the cruel intentions of social media. I couldn't stop the thing that reduces your self-control and increases your vulnerability to advertisers. I couldn't stop the theft of your free will and your given intellect. But I could stop people like Thorn's parents. The people that only wanted kids for their own personal gain, who tried to raise a monstrosity but were only disappointed to find that their kid was stronger against the harshness of life than they thought.