Chapter 95: Chapter 95

Chapter 95 His pitiful cry

Colton chuckled. It was guttural and cold and he tightened his grip on the pistol. "It's a little too late for that, don't you think?"

Colton's finger rested on the pistol, watching as his father cowered away in fear, shielding his face with his shaking hands as he prepared for the bullet.

He pulled the trigger and his father let out a pitiful cry.

Seconds passed.

Minutes passed.

The soft sobbing of the old man was the only thing that could be heard.

The pistol had shot a blank, and Colton knew. He did it purposely just to mess with his father's head and it worked.

Upon seeing that he hadn't been shot, his father lowered his hands, shaking and crying quietly. "How pathetic." Colton whispered under his breath.

"What do you want? Please don't hurt me!" His father begged for mercy. After all he had done he was the one begging for mercy?

"Did you stop when I begged for mercy just as you are now?" Colton lashed out viciously, a new bitterness taking over his tone.

"What? I don't underst-"

"I said," In a swift movement, Colton was by his father's side, grasping his neck tightly and jerking him up closer to his face, "Did you ever stop when I begged for mercy?" He whispered into his ear, causing his father to shake even more.

The old man simply shook his head, still not understanding as his tears fell. How pitiful.

"The right fucking answer is no. No you did not." Colton answered. He relinquished his grip on his neck and stepped back. "My cries fell on your deaf ears. No matter how much I pleaded for mercy, you still rained your cane down onto my back."

"What?" His father gaped, dumbfounded.

Colton's fists shook with rage. "Since you're such a dumb fuck let me be more clear for you. Was it worth it?"

"W-was what worth it?" His father cries, his voice cracking as he speaks.

"The alcohol, the drugs? Was it worth selling your son?"

It all made sense now. The father slowly looked up at Colton, eyes swimming with tears and jaw dropped. He shook his head in denial, pointing a shaky finger at Colton's face. "No, no, you can't be-"

"I am," Colton spoke, hanging his head low and shaking it, "I am."

At once, his father fell onto his knees at Colton's feet, sobbing and clutching at his feet. "I cannot even fathom the right words right now. I cannot even express the guilt from what I've done to you, my son!" His hands which were holding him up were shaking, his knobby elbows shivering as he became undone on the floor of his home.

Colton growled in fury, how dare he refer to him as son. In a fit of rage, Colton landed his boot right into the center of his ribs and kicked hard, throwing him back against the wall. His head met the surface with a resounding crack, causing him to groan out in pain.

Then he was on him in an instant.

His mind tormented him with the physical and mental abuse as he pounded his fists into his father's face. Throwing him back into flashbacks and memories he wished not to ever see again.

"Unlovable!"

"Worthless!"

"Weak!"

"Forgotten!"

Colton grit his teeth, crying out in anger and frustration as he released his inner beast. Bright flashes of light seemed to swirl in his vision, carrying him back into his past. Suddenly, he could see the chains that hung from the dark ceilings. Suddenly, he could see the way those same chains dug into his raw wrists as he was beaten with a switch over and over again. Voice numb from screaming and eyes puffy from crying.

The hand that cast the switch upon his back was none other than a pimp, screaming obscene things at the ten year old boy as he taught him his own flawed rules of obedience.

That ten year old boy was Colton.

His mind then took him to the person who had started it all.

His parents.

His mind threw the memories at him, one by one, those memories came back and only egged him on.

He remembered the way his father would put out his cigarettes using the skin of his arms and back. He could feel each burn as it broke his soft skin. He remembered all the glass, so much glass. For the longest time, he cowered under the shadow of beer bottles raised above his head, ready to strike.

Screams.

Lots of screams petrified his mind.

They were his screams.

Always his screams.

Darkness.

Darkness was something he knew well because darkness was ingrained into his early memories as a child. He remembers very vividly as he cried, stumbling around in a small, pitch black room that his parents had locked him in for three days.

No food. No water. No bathroom.

He was only five.

Countless memories and more flashed through his mind. So much terror, so much trauma, so much turmoil he found himself wrestling with.

Colton felt alive as he watched his tormentor getting what he finally deserved. For once, revenge tasted sweet. Revenge fulfilled him. Seeing a man such as his father, crumpled to the ground at his feet, a begging and sobbing mess made a certain fire ignite in his bones.

"Too fucking late to say sorry, don't you think?" Colton said, words deathly calm.

Blood.

Warm blood seeped onto his hands now. Of course, that was nothing new. But to him, something was different.

Because he wasn't pummeling the father he used to know.

He was pummeling a father that he doesn't know.

His father no longer had the dark, menacing eyes nor did he have aura of evil around him. A changed man is what he was and that infuriated Colton.

He arose from the bloodied, beaten man with rage. Rage not all directed at his father anymore, but rage also directed at himself.

He was confused. He was angry. He was frustrated. It just wasn't fair, he came to carry out revenge against an evil man, not a seemingly broken one.

He came to carry out revenge against a vile man, not one that cowered before him at any slight movement.

He came here to fight, not execute a fightless man.

He stood up once more, only this time, backing away from the now unrecognizable face of a human being he once knew. Blood was everywhere, tears were everywhere. They weren't Colton's tears, of course.

Colton shook. His fists, his body, his knees. It felt like he was going to be sick and it felt like his knees could buckle at any moment.

Up.

Down.

Up.

Down.

His shoulders followed that pattern with each heavy, labored breath he took.

"You lost the right to call me your son the moment you raised your cane against me and turned your back on me as a father." He spoke, voice shaky and breaking.

He didn't expect the man he refused to call father to speak.

But he did.

"I-I know. I deserve to die and I understand why you've come here to claim m-my life. After all I've done in my life, I deserve to die by your hand, and your hand alone." The man admitted.

And what he did next surprised Colton.

He shakily got on his knees, placing his hands atop his thighs and lowered his head. He put up a great struggle to do so, it was obvious he was in a fear amount of pain from the beating he sustained. "I surrender. I surrender my life to you, for it is yours and yours alone."

Colton pulled out his gun.

Colton aimed his gun.

Colton rested his finger on the trigger.

Sweat dripped into his eyes and his own hand shook as he tried to find aim. His heart pounded and throbbed so much he feared he would have a heart attack.

He hesitated.

Now was his chance. Now was finally his chance to blow the brains out of a vile man and be done with it. Revenge he could touch, but revenge he could not take.

He cried out in frustration, the inner battle within himself was becoming too much. All too soon, Lily's words came rushing back to him. The way she spoke about revenge in a negative light, always telling him how it will only cause more pain and suffering to arise.

And she was right.

Looking back onto his life where he blindly chased revenge, she was right.

It always did bring him more suffering and it never was the ultimate cure for all the pain he's feeling.

And when his eyes saw the trembling man before him, the broken man before him, the weak, pitiful man before him, something inside of him stirred.

It was his heart and conscience.

He came here to annihilate the strong. He came here to annihilate the evil.

And before him was a man that no longer held either of those attributes.

Colton didn't want to kill anyone else, even though that person was the one who ruined his life. He didn't want to risk it all in the name of revenge, he didn't want to feel the weight of guilt for taking a life that deserves to die the worst death imaginable.

But revenge was not his to take.

For the first time in his life, he realized that revenge was not his to take.

So he lowered the gun.

He was a shaking, emotional mess as he approached his victim on the unforgiving floor and squatted down.

"You deserve to die, but giving you death would bestow too much mercy upon you. Live your life heavy with burdens and remember that you have completely broken your own son. Congratulations, isn't that what you always wanted?"

He got up, and left the question hanging in the air as he turned his back on his father - not once sparing another glance.

For it was time to move on.