I would lie if I told you now that I was not tempted to do something to him, and that all I thought of was to let him go. Looking at him, now tied to a chair before me, I felt like I had control over him for the very first time. All the memories of him relentlessly bullying me flooded my mind, the anger just kept rising.

In the dimly lit room, time seemed to stretch endlessly as I could not tear my eyes away from Isaac. He looked so helpless, revenge was within my reach. But then, an inner struggle began to consume my thoughts. Should I follow through with this vengeful act or should I stop?

A persistent headache throbbed in my temples as I grappled with my inner demons, while the Crow looked at me in silence. I questioned myself whether I was already lost, whether there was any hope of redemption for what I had done. Deep down, I understood that Isaac didn't deserve to die, and ending his life would not truly resolve anything. However, letting Isaac go seemed impossible, the Crow never let his pray go, a threat no one could escape, not even me.

"I don't know if I can do this," I finally admitted.

Isaac began to wake up, he looked very confused. "Adrian? Where are we? What are you doing?"

A voice echoed in my head, perhaps I really need to do this, there is no going back. I questioned my sanity as I stood and approached Isaac, the voice growing stronger.

"Let me go this instant!" He demanded. But when he saw the look in my eyes, and when he realized the position he found himself in, he changed his tone.

"Adrian, please don't!!" He pleaded, his voice trembling. "I know I was kinda a dick towards you, but I don't deserve to die, please."

The Crow appeared behind me, placing his hand on my right shoulder.

"You were so excited just moments ago!! You should do it!"

I was not sure if I could do anything.

"Just do it, you need to do it!" A voice started talking to me. I wondered if I was going mad.

"This is your only way out! You must do it!"

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I took the knife and slowly approached Isaac, the voice kept repeating itself inside my head. I had to do it.

I went behind Isaac's back, he could turn around, and he started crying. I bent over and placed my knife on the knot that tied his hands. Should I let him go? The Crow stepped out of the shadows. No. I can't. I started cutting off his pinky finger. The knife was dull, and I could not cut it all the way to the end. The pinky finger was hanging while Isaac screamed in agony and pain.

I stopped.

"ADRIAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? DON'T KILL ME MAN PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T!!! I'LL DO ANYTHING!!"

"You are not so brave and tough as you were before, what happened?"

"Please man, please. I-I will never lay a finger on you again."

"You won't when I'm done with you." I finished what I started. I cut off his finger and took it to show it to Isaac.

"I think you lost something." I laughed.

The voice in my head was laughing as well.

"Okay, that's enough."

I turned around, the Crow was standing behind me.

"I changed my mind." He said in a deep voice.

"Yes sir please, I will never do anything to your son ever again, please just let me go home.-- I----..." A hand flew right across his face.

"Shut up, I am talking." He was calm and Isaac stopped yelling.

"Do you want to live?" He asked him.

"Y-yes," Isaac answered.

"You will live only on one condition, you have to work for us now."

Isaac looked confused but he didn't say anything, his pants were wet and his whole body was shaking.

"Father!" I yelled protesting his decision.

"Shut up, I am not talking to you." He didn't even look at me.

"You heard him didn't you?" He asked me all of a sudden.

"Heard who?"

"Don't play dumb with me boy, you heard the voice didn't you?!"

"Yes....yes I did."

"Well, that is why your friend here will take away some responsibility away from you. You are not ready to meet him just yet, it is too soon for you. You are too weak!"

I didn't know what he was talking about.

"You will work for us, I can see it in you that you'll adapt very well and very fast. I can see it in your eyes." He continued talking to Isaac now.

"I will do anything." Isaac didn't dare to look him straight in the eyes.

And that was the end of it, that day Isaac joined us. I didn't like that, now that I think about it, I felt jealous, why did he choose him?

"Why should I share this with anyone else," I thought to myself.

That night left me with more unanswered questions, like who was that voice inside my head and why was I too weak to meet him?

I watched Isaac as he stood in front of the big tree where he sacrificed some of his blood to it, that way he officially joined us, he was bound with blood.

"If you betray us, you'll die. Remember that boy." The Crow said.

"I won't do anything like that."

Isaac went home and told a lie about playing in the junkyard where he lost half of his finger. It was not a clean cut so his story was believable. In school, he didn't say a word to me, for a while he didn't even look at me, but he did smile, he smiled a lot.