Chapter 24: Chapter 24

My tears have stopped but I still feel pain for him. A child should never have to witness something so gruesome. It’s to know that he was tossed aside. I am happy that someone showed him some care. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose the only family you have though. I’m glad that I still have my mom even if I don’t have the chance to see her that often.

I push my head deeper into his chest as I wait for him to speak once more. I know there is more to the story. When he described the man I couldn’t help the fear that overcame me. His description of the monster was spot on. Even though I know some parts of the story now I still want to hear the rest. I want to see if there is something that I have missed. To know if the arms of another monster have now become my comfort.

“The monster I mentioned name is Imone. I do not intend to give a name to your torturer, but I feel that it is something you should know.” I nod against his chest to let him know that he is okay to continue. Perhaps it is a good thing that I am now on his lap, so he can’t see the obvious fear on my face at the mention of him. “Imone became my caretaker, but he was hardly that. After Howard was killed, he liked to tell people that he took me under his wing. In front of people I had to act as if I was happy with him. In front of his men though it was the opposite. I will hide a lot of detail here, but I will tell you some things” he says.

“Why hide them from me?” I ask him needing to know.

“We do not want the images in your head or you dwelling on them. They are things that made us stronger now and no longer bother us. Oh Maximus wants me to reassure you for some reason that there was no sexual abuse. Does that make you feel better?” he ask. Not know that that is what I needed to hear I release the breath that I was holding.

“Yes, I’m sorry. It’s not that I would treat you differently if that is what had happened. It’s just that I wouldn’t, well I wouldn’t have a clue how to help you in that case.” I say explaining my reaction.

“Okay” He says pausing for a moment. “Well Imone was a bastard and a dictator. He used to walk around the camp saying ‘I’m One” to let everyone know that he is number one. When he was angry everyone steered clear of him. He loved to use his fist on others where no one else could see. It made breathing very difficult if you were the one he used them on” he pauses once more I believe waiting for my reaction. Unable to speak I trail my fingers along his arm, and they tighten around me as he continues.

“When he saw something he wanted, he took it. For children in the camp he would tell us we had to earn our place. He sent us begging in the streets. If we didn’t come back with enough then he beat us. We had to work every day and be back when the sun was going down.” He says. “That is how I met you. I will never forget how you looked that day at the park. I walked over and asked your mom for some spare change. You looked at us the entire time. Just before we moved on to ask someone else you grabbed our dirty hand and told us to eat with you.” He says and I can hear the smile in his voice.

“You looked hungry to me. I was just trying to help. My mom couldn’t help so I thought that if I gave you some of my lunch it would make you feel better” I say with a chuckle as I remember my ten year old self.

“We were mesmerized by you as soon as we looked into your eyes. They were so kind and such a beautiful shade of blue. We had already been handled by Imone for years and no longer knew kindness. You were like a breath of fresh air, but we were cautious. We had learned by then that kindness from anyone came at a price. Even though Maximus wanted to leave I begged him to stay. It had been days since we had eaten, and we needed the fuel. To this day that sandwich was one of the best things I have ever tasted” he says with a chuckle.

“Do you remember how hard I tried to get you to smile. I would go home trying to find the best jokes I could to tell you the next time I saw you. I remember it being one of my only goals” I ask him as I remember our Saturdays at the park. “After that first time I kept waiting each time to see if you would come again” I admit a little saddened at the thought.

“We didn’t even speak that first day besides saying thanks for the food. He was afraid to go back thinking that you wouldn’t like him anymore” Martell says slyly.

The smile falls from my face, and I feel it in the air as I realize the fun part of our conversation is over. “When we returned home that first Saturday, we had barely made our quota. Imone was unhappy and I could barely be bothered. I felt hope that first day meeting you. It was like he could tell there had been a change in me. His solution as always was to beat it out of me. It was the only other time he didn’t spare my face. I couldn’t return to the park until it healed. We didn’t want to frighten you.” He admits.

“I thought that you guys couldn’t be easily injured. Didn’t I read that in a tabloid a while ago” I ask him.

“Yes, that is true. However it is up to the dragon. We can choose to make ourselves vulnerable. At that time we felt we didn’t have a choice. If he couldn’t see the efforts of his beating then we didn’t know what he would do. I was already so weak because of his treatments that I could barely protect us as much as I did.” He says. I frown at the thought of him allowing himself to be beat. I wonder why he didn’t just leave. For some reason I just don’t have the heart to ask. He was a kid after all.

“For two years we met you at the park on a Saturday whenever we could. It was the only time of my childhood that we can remember being happy besides with Howard. When we returned back to the camp we had to hide our happiness, however. Especially the day you told us a terrible joke and we finally laughed. After two years of only smiling at your antics you were finally able to make us laugh. I even tried to tell you my secret that day” he reminds me.

“How was I supposed to know that I was the only one who could see you. I honestly thought that you were playing a joke on me. That made the idea of you being a dragon unbelievable too. You looked so sad when I didn’t believe you, so I told the dragon joke” he goes silent for a moment, so I repeat the joke. “Why are dragons good storytellers?” I pause a second for effect and then deliver the punch line “Because they all have tails.” I chuckle at the silly kid joke and feel as he does too.

“That joke is just as terrible as it was then. I still don’t know how it made me laugh” he says with mirth.

“It is a terrible joke. I was just so happy to finally hear your laugh. It took me two years” I remind him with glee.

“I couldn’t hide the way laughing with you made me feel. I walked into camp that night on a high that I have never felt before. When I saw Imone looking at me expectantly when I walked in I realized that I had forgotten about my quota that day. I ended up spending the entire day with you and forgot to ask anyone for money. To say he was pissed would be putting it mildly. It immediately swiped away all the happiness I felt. But he didn’t act on his anger. He sent me to my pile of blankets and told me to go to bed” he says with an angry huff.

“Over the next few days I grew to be even more confused. He woke me up and made me stay by his side the whole time. He fed me when he ate. Even when he had what he would call his meetings he left me standing next to him. The only time I wasn’t by his side was when he was committing one of his atrocious acts. He still made me watch. It was horrible and instead of feeling safe from his wrath, I grew to fear him more” he states.

“On that Friday I had made up my mind that I was finally going to run away. I was going to leave his camp. I just had to wait until he left my side. He didn’t though. He even stayed in the room while I slept. I was grateful each morning I woke up that week because I thought that perhaps he would kill me in my sleep”

“When I awoke Friday things were different. While I slept his tent had been changed. There was now a bed in it and a few candles lit. My corner seemed so small then in comparison. When I saw that I was alone I rushed to walk over and exit the tent only to find him waiting for me. He had a strange look on his face as he grabbed me by the shoulder and led me back in. He sat me down in his chair and told me not to move. I was terrified at what he would do. I knew that eventually I would see his anger. I was just waiting for the moment. When he snapped his fingers a woman was brought into the room” His tone of voice has changed now.

All of the life is gone from his voice as he speaks, and he almost sounds robotic as he tells me what he witnessed. A chill goes down my back when I realize that I know where this story is going. “She was bound with rope and tossed onto the bed. As he violated her I was made to watch. Her screams were deafening. When I turned away he had someone hold me and he only made her scream louder. As he violated her a second time he started to hit her. She tried to fight him as much as she could, and I will never forget the look on her face as she silently pleaded for me to help. She held my eyes as he choked the life out of her”

“When he was done he told me that I could go. As soon as I left the tent I threw up everything I had eaten. When I could I ran. I ran all the way to the park in the dead of the night. I crawled into one of the slides and waited for morning. I didn’t sleep that whole night. I was started to grow frantic when you weren’t there at your usual time. I was so happy to see you when you showed up, I was overwhelmed” he says, and the relief is obvious in his tone.

“I was so shocked when you hugged me. I hadn’t laid a hand on you since that first day when I grabbed your hands. Something just told me to hug you back and that you needed it. We didn’t even play that day. We just sat there talking about our dreams. And then you told me that you wouldn’t see me for a while. That you were leaving.” I say quietly.

“After what I saw, I couldn’t risk him finding out about you. We were going to take you with us, but I knew that you wouldn’t leave your parents. We would have offered but I couldn’t take you away from your happy life. I really didn’t know you would cry. It haunted me after you left that the last image of you I would have is of you crying” he states.

“Two of his men caught me as I was leaving the park. The knocked me out and when I woke up I was back in Imone’s tent tied to that chair. I knew as soon as I met his eyes that I had lost all hope of leaving. The only comfort I had was that you were safe. I can’t even tell you what I felt when he proved me wrong” he says with anger.

“I know the rest of this part of the story” I tell him. “I remember the threats. I remember his disgusting touch. I remember it all including how you saved me” I say with tears in my eyes.

“I thought that you had gotten away when I told you run. I didn’t know until a few days ago that you saw what I did. You should know something though” he says as he shuffles behind me. I can tell by what he is going to say that he is nervous. Trying to stop his nervousness I speak first.

“I went through years of therapy working through what I saw. I have analyzed all the feelings about that night. I know what you both did. I saw it. You making me relive it won’t change what I saw. You both murdered him” I say with conviction.

“I know. However, you should know that Maximus didn’t know what I did until the next day” he admits as his whole body tenses.

I roll out of his lap as quick as I can and stand meeting his dragon gaze. “What!?” I don’t understand. What does this mean. “What did you do?.”

He rises to stand and takes a step toward me. When I step away I can see the hurt on his face, but it doesn’t matter to me right now. “I didn’t have a choice. Maximus was so innocent then still. He would have let him live knowing what he is capable of. He has seen how those that pissed Imone off were chased down. He was forced to watch as Imone killed them. He even watch him violate a woman and heard it on other occasions. I couldn’t let him live knowing that he could do that to you! I pushed him away and did what was right!” He screams at me losing his calm façade.

“You think that it is right for you to take a life! I admit that he was a monster but was there really no other way!” I scream back at him.

“NO! Not when it came to you. I may not have known that you were my mate then. I may not have known why you made me happy in a world full of hate. But I knew that I could allow nothing to hurt you. Nothing could be allowed to take out the only light I saw in a world of light. My only ray of hope and the only person I had left to love. I knew I loved you then and I wasn’t willing to take the chance on him or his goons finding you again” he screams as he paces.

“I want Maximus back!” I scream in my anger. A part of me understands why he did it. I just can’t look at him as I try to think about it. I can’t look into the eyes of the monster anymore.

“I will bring him back, but you can’t blame him. I locked him away just as I have done today. He couldn’t make the decision, so I did. He doesn’t deserve your anger” he says as his eyes plead with mine.

At his words, my breathing picks up. I know it may seem irrational, but I am afraid. “Is that why you brought me here today. Did you lock him away so that you could take care of another problem? Oh, god and you wanted me alone and I listened” I can feel myself panting now as I start stepping away from him. It feels as if I can’t breathe. This is all too much. I don’t want to die.

If I weren’t panicking so bad I would have noticed his face. I would have seen the anguish in the eyes of the dragon. I would have seen the tears that appeared on his face as he reached for me. I would have even seen as he looked at me defeated knowing that he couldn’t help me through this. As I tripped over something when rushing backward I turned my body and fell. As I laid face down in the grass in a twist of limbs, large sobs tore from my chest as I waited. Waited for the anger of his dragon because I knew that he was capable of. I cried for the girl who had just realized that she was falling in love with a monster…