I opened my eyes to a blurry world; it was like I was viewing my surroundings through a pair of incredibly dark and foggy glasses. I turned my head to the left but the scenery remained the same, although I could make out a few vague shapes as I took in my surroundings. Trying my best to stifle the rising panic which came due to my being somewhere I was unfamiliar with, I decided to distract myself with other things; knowing no other way to calm myself I turned to my thoughts.

“If what scientists say is true and that we evolved from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys?”

An odd question to be sure but with my paranoia seeping in there really wasn’t anything else I could do to distract myself. Besides, it was a good question; it kinda makes sense if you think about it.

“Only simpletons believe such drivel”

I jumped at the sound of a robotic voice which resounded from my right. On instinct, I quickly sat up and rolled off of whatever I was laying on. My head swivelled from left to right in an attempt to locate the speaker but with my vision being what it was, the only thing which I saw were blurry outlines of objects I could not identify.

“I must apologize to you, Liam. It was due to my actions that you are now in this precarious state, I hope you can find it within your heart to forgive me”

His statement only served to increase my confusion, I reached a hand out and felt it brush against something soft, I frantically patted the surface which my hand rested on yet I could barely make out the shape. It was then that the events from last night popped back into my head along with the memory of the unbearable pain I had felt.

“I…I can’t see”

My heart skipped a beat as the words left my lips; I felt my whole body tremble as the harsh reality began to settle in.

“I can’t fucking......see”

The panic which I was trying to supress came back with a vengeance, like ten thousand Norse warriors rushing into battle. I restrained a sob as I grabbed onto whatever it was I was laying on and began rising to my feet, you know that saying about not knowing what you had until it was gone? Well, it’s true.

“I can’t imagine how you must be feeling, Liam. Words cannot express how sorry I am about what you’re going through knowing that it is my fault you’re in this situation in the first place. Truly, I am sorry”

The speaker, who sounded like the man from last night, said with a tinge of sadness laced in his voice but right now I could care less about what he had to say. Sadness quickly turned to anger and for good reason, I wouldn’t be in this situation if this asshole hadn’t butted into my life.

“Oh yeah? Keep talking, I wanna see how sorry you are”

With gritted teeth I used the bed as support while I struggled to walk over to where I last heard his voice; walking was kind of hard given the fact that I could no longer see where I was going so well, so it was a given that I bumped into a couple of things along the way making my threat seem less…well, threatening.

Still, that did little to quell the rage I felt building inside me; at the moment I wanted nothing more than to hear the pompous asshole scream like I did. My less than graceful advance was halted as I stumbled over something and landed on my face, a string of curses flowed out my mouth like a river.

“I would imagine walking is a difficult task for you”

The same monotonous voice of the bastard made its way into my ears, taunting me in a roundabout way like any true asshole would. Of course I could be wrong and unfairly judging him and he was genuinely just making an incredibly obvious observation, either way the fact remained that he was a dick and I was going to punch his face until I felt his nose break under my fist.

I struggled to get to my feet, grasping at the air for something to stabilize myself with, I heard footsteps approach me and then I felt hands grasp mine and helped me to my feet. I wanted to lash out, wrap my hands around his throat or something but I knew that wouldn’t solve anything; in a situation like this where I wasn’t sure where I was and the only person who could help me was standing in front of me, no matter how angry I was I wouldn’t try to beat the shit out of them.

I took deep, shuddering breaths to calm myself all the while trying to convince myself to be the bigger person. When I felt myself calm down enough to not be impaired by my anger, I asked the question I dreaded hearing the answer to but wanted to ask the most.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Where….where is my mother?”

My heart sped up as soon as I asked, it was one of those moments everyone has when you need to know something but you’re sure you wouldn’t like what you would hear or see but you still just had to know anyway. I swore my heart stopped when I heard him sigh, thoughts of the worst possibilities sprang to the front of my mind as I waited with baited breath for him to continue.

“It would be easier to let you see for yourself”

I winced at his poor choice of words but followed nonetheless as he led me by the arm, I heard the sound of keys jingling followed by a door opening before I was led down a series of twisting hallways.

I had to say; whoever designed this place had a serious fixation on mazes, who needs this many twists and turns on one floor anyway? Our journey down the winding halls soon came to a halt, the whirring of gears made its way into my ears before a low hiss followed; the smell of antiseptic and strong detergent drifted into my nostrils as I was led into a room of some kind. By the sound of the different machines I heard I’d say we were in some kind of sickbay or something, I hated hospitals.

We continued further into the room, the beeping and strong smell of disinfectant only got stronger the further we went, like someone tried to wash away the smell of death with bleach. I had to stop myself from slapping the back of the asshole’s head several times for being so rough, I stumbled several times as he led me along the way.

“What you’re about to witness is possibly mankind’s most guarded secret, not even the president knows what I’m about to show you”

“So you’re just going to let me in on mankind’s most guarded secret? Just like that?”

I felt him tug my arm and place it on something fleshy and cold; I traced my arm along the surface until I reached what felt like a skull, an awfully misshapen one at that. From what I could make out with the little I could see, the thing or person or whatever it is was abnormally tall and thin. I retracted my hand and backed up a couple steps before I bumped into something, causing it to fall onto the floor with a loud clatter.

“Do not be afraid, Liam.”

Don’t be afraid?? Sure, it’s not like I was in a room with a fucked up corpse or anything. I hesitated, briefly pondering how far I would make it if I just ran out of the room screaming my head off before I was dragged back inside. What was the point of this anyway? This wasn’t what I wanted to know, all I was concerned about was finding my mother.

“Listen asshole, I don’t care about whatever this…thing is. All I want to know is where my mother is so if you could just bring her here so we can go home that’d be swell”

I tried my best to keep my tone level but to be honest this was beginning to freak me out a little. This man was clearly touched in the head; no forget that, he was completely insane. This was just too much, I need to lie down.

“I know this is hard to digest but I need you to listen to me very carefully, Liam.”

My captor no longer sounded dispassionate, his voice was now tinged with grief and it brought me out of my shaken state long enough for him to deliver his next statement and boy did it hit home.

“Your mother is dead. The woman you called your mother was murdered by the creature before you and used as a cover to evade us. We had been hunting it for more than two months now after it escaped our holding cells during transportation, on behalf of my colleagues I must apologize”

I fell to my knees lifelessly; I felt my heart ache as tears fell down my cheeks; this was just too much for me. His words kept ringing in my ears and bouncing around in my head, threatening to drive me insane all while tears kept streaming down my face.

“Dead?”

That was all I managed to say, my mouth felt like lead and my brain was little more than mush in my skull at this point. My body began to feel unusually hot but I was too lost in my grief to even care, all I could think about was that I would never get the chance to see my mother’s smile again or listen to her nagging me about the dishes or taking out the trash.

It was funny in a way, all the things I considered annoying back then were the things I would miss the most now that she was gone. Memories resurfaced in my mind about times long gone, she was inarguably the strongest person I knew. I remembered seeing her sitting alone at the table when I was younger, it was just after dad left; I fell asleep watching her stare at the wall while she struggled to hold back tears and although she never said it, I knew she blamed herself for him leaving.

My heart ached for her then, just like it aches for her now.

“I have a proposition for you, Liam”

I glanced up and saw the blurry outline of the man in the suit as he gazed down at me, I looked at him silently, I didn’t have the strength to respond so all I could do was stare at him and wait for him to continue.

“Join us. Help us eradicate scum like the creature that killed your mother so that no one else has to go through what you had to. We will cover all your living expenses and training fees, our doctors will also do their best to help you get used to your.....condition.”

My tongue refused to move; even if it could I wasn’t sure what I could say. Sadness had spread to every part of my body until I felt numb, I felt like I was trapped inside of my own body. I didn’t know how to feel or what to think but one thing that I did know was that I would destroy every last one of those misshapen, ugly fucks.

Even if it kills me.