The Duns

Earlier

Chapter Eight

Peter

About 7 years ago

My father passed away when I was just ten years old.

I had no one to accompany me to soccer matches, to talk about girls, or goof around and play with just to pass time.

Two years later, my mother came home with a large, bulky man who I started calling 'Uncle'. I never liked him- his gifts were mere pieces of plastic that tried to take over my heart. One more year passed and mom said "I do" and just like that, Ester started living with us.

He never went to work and was always at home, only to leave the house at 5:30pm every evening. Mom never asked him where he went, and being the introverted, unbothered thirteen year old I was, I never asked about his whereabouts. But as this continued for a year, and he didn't even think of getting a job, I finally gathered up the courage to ask him where he went every evening and why he could miss office hours every day for every week and not worry about it like a normal father or even a grown man.

Unfortunately for me, mom wasn't at home and Ester got a chance to teach me my first lesson: Don't ask him any questions. I skipped dinner that day, complaining of a stomach ache, where my symptoms actually included a black eye, bruised lips, and purple volcanoes placed all around my back.

Another year passed and Ester's constant instructions and taunting and hitting forced me to take up self-defense and soon enough, I could block his throws and manage a few hits of my own too. Now when I think of it, he had been preparing me to join our community years before I even knew of its existence.

On my fifteenth birthday, Ester asked me to get ready- we were headed out.
There are some moments in your life that you can never forget, maybe it's an object with a memory associated with it, or maybe it's a person who left you stranded. Mine was a conversation that went as follows:

Ester [throwing open my room door]: "Move it, we're going out."

Me: "Where are we going?"

Ester: "Just get in the car."

I shuffled along helplessly, knowing I had no way out and no excuse to help me.

On settling down in the car, Ester nods to me and says, "We're going to a secret society. This trip will not be mentioned to anyone- and I mean anyone at all- ever. Do you understand me?"

"Ester I'm not nine." I chuckled.

"Trust me, when you see it, you'll know what I'm talking about."

A few honks concluded our talk and they remained the only noise playing throughout the drive.
I think that trip was the first and last time I trusted Ester and he didn't let me down.

-

I had to go through a simple test- simple for me because Ester had already been getting me ready for hand-to-hand combats since the last two years. I passed with flying colors and from then on, I would accompany Ester to the venue, which at that time was inside a locked museum, and sit with him throughout all the rituals. Normally, a ritual would start with a simple prayer to The One, otherwise known as Igetis, then the sacred song, and finally, we would get our targets.

Even back then, I was never too keen on killing, but I realized that if I wanted to continue being a part of this place, I would have to prove my worth- similar, I would say, to how I lived at home.

Just a year after joining Oi Alloi, I was known to be a capable member. However, the same did not apply to everyone: the location had been given away by a rather foolish ex-member, and now my new High School took its place. My Ceremony was to take place the following year and till now, all my cases ended with satisfactory results. Ester took pride in this, calling me 'his boy', but I could never, I would never, agree to it.

I just smiled and played along.

-

Flashback continued
13th March
2046

I was already running late and so when I heard a murmur in the hallways, I was shocked. The meeting should have already started, no one would dare leave in between- and no one would want to be late.

I followed the voice to a shaken shape of a young, short girl. Her hair cropped and messy, her expression- I freeze on the spot. It was my sister. My own sister.

I knew I had to kill her, even then I realized how important it was that the location and the society were secrets that stayed just that, no outside human must stand witness to these sessions and harming them was just simple protocol- I often felt guilty knowing that killing her didn't hit me harder. She was just another target in my manipulated mind.

Even then I knew that Oi Alloi was a part of me that was as important as my own breath. It was something I would not be able to live without, no matter how much I hated it, and cursed it. Much like middle and high school- sure one despises it but without enduring those torturous years... fill in the blanks.

-

He was proud of me, our master, Igetis. He said I was a true member, a worthy member, and I deserve only the best. That day in particular- the 13th of March- he made me stay back after the rituals were finished. He told me he trusted me, entirely, and asked if I would be able to handle the stories that define Oi Alloi. I nodded, excited

"Oi Alloi was founded at least a thousand years ago. It is a secret society aiming to right the wrongs." He continued, saying that we kill to make life go back to normal, so things that aren't supposed to happen- don't. Igetis praised the society like one would praise their best friend, their sole companion, and back then, I felt no hatred against his hidden face and perhaps lonely eyes. After all, how can we hate someone who's just lonely?