Page 66 of Darkness

“Now-” I walk away from my desk towards Mr. Yang. “You come into my business, wanting something, and the answer is no. The answer is always going to be no. I’m warning you, the next time you come here, you won’t be walking out. Now get the fuck out of my office.” I lean back on the desk, watching them. They are ready to make a move, but I have to wait and see when they make it.

Mr. Yang looks over at Logan and mom and smiles before turning to face me.“You hide them, you lock yourself away, but I see them. How long can you hide them from the world? Say hello to your family.”

I keep my face straight, not waiting for him to see it’s affected me, because he knows who I am, and who my family are.

“Mr. Yang before you leave. You have until midnight,” I tell him and he stops by the door with his family.

“For?”

“You always told me, if someone tries to kill you, never let them walk away. He tried to kill me, I want his hand in a box delivered to me by midnight, by him. If not, you'll get a gift ofyour own.” I cross my arms over my chest, as he looks at his family before turning to me.

“A gift?”

“Of his head, which I’ll rip off myself. You have until midnight.” Mr. Yang leaves the office while I was mid-sentence. Lincoln walks in shutting the door. I turn to mom and Logan. “Get to Uncle David's house, now. Don’t stop anywhere, get straight there, if you want to tell your fucking brothers to be there. Fuck!” I shout, and turn to Lincoln. “Family meeting, call them. All of them.”

Walking away from everyone, I punch the wall, because this is going to get fucking messy, and I can’t have my family not knowing what is going on and what could happen. I need to tell them about Mr. Yang, The Pit, and how this might play out. He will do anything to make sure I’m dead.

I told Autumn I had to leave, but that she was not to leave the apartment. I know I scared her, but I promised to tell her everything once I get back. I didn’t have time to tell her, and I know there is no way anyone will get into my apartment. Unless they cut my fucking finger off. Plus, I needed to get to Uncle David’s house. I don’t know when the bastard is going to make his move, and they need to know they could be in danger.

Parking up at the house, I look around already knowing he’s watching, and he will kill whoever means something to me. Fuck. I shout to myself. I know my life is always in danger, someone will one day come for me, but now the time has come and I have to protect the little family I have.

Walking into the dining room, my mother almost power walks over to me, and slaps me. “Who are you? You told that man you’d rip his head off, without any-”

“Stop!” I shout at her, and walk away seeing everyone is here. If she thinks I’m in the fucking mood for this shit, she’s wrong.

“No, what happened to the boy-”

“What happened to the little boy you once knew?” I shout the question to her, and she stares at me. “That little boy died the day his bastard dad killed my father. That little boy died the moment he wanted his mom to tell him it’s all okay, but she didn’t. That little boy died when he looked up at his mom and saw she had replaced him with a boy holding on to her leg.” I take a step closer to her. “That boy died the moment you walked out the fucking door.” She wipes the tears away, and I wait for Logan to say something, but he doesn’t which surprises me. I know he hates me because he thinks mom loves him less, but all I ever felt from her was she replaced me with him.

“I wanted my mom to tell me everything will be okay, and not to fear the monster under your bed-” I laugh a little. “That’s a fucking lie, there is a monster under your bed, and he will eat you alive. Sleep with one eye open is a saying, but there, you go to sleep and you’d be lucky to be alive by the morning. You fucking think I went to fucking paradise? No, I went to hell, to a place where there is only one way out. In a fucking body bag.” I ram my hands through my hair, trying to calm myself down, all because they have no idea what hell is about to rain down on them.

I turn around to look at everyone, but not looking at anyone in particular. I have no idea where to start. I don’t know what to tell them. Clearing my throat, I turn to Uncle David, my jaw clenching with what I’m about to tell him.

“I can’t give the family who is coming for me, what they want. I won’t give it. And because of that I’m putting everyone in this room, but them two-” I point to Blake and Travis. “-in danger.”

“Cain-”

“You have to let me finish.” I stop my uncle from talking. I know he will have questions, but if I can tell them everything about grandad, maybe I’ll answer them all before he has to ask them. “You have to fight for everything:- food, water, fresh air, even fucking sleep.” I feel the pain in the back of my throat, this is hard. I knew it would be, it’s the reason I never told them before. “If you fight, you pick the person you want to fight. There are no rules down there, not fucking one. The bastard wanted freedom for a day, and he picked me to fight. Thirteen years old fighting a man. Mr. Yang. I watched him fight, he could kill me fast if he wanted, but I wasn’t so lucky.” I remove my jacket, and put it on the chair, as I undo my buttons slowly, knowing no one in this room has seen the scars on my chest, yet. “If I fell asleep, then I was used as an ashtray, whipped with anything they could find, you’ll see the scars. I don’t want to tell you about all of them, but the ones you need to know about I will tell you.” Just saying the words is making me sick at the thought of replaying that day in my head. Finding the words to tell them about, wishing I could go back and do things differently. Fight harder.

“I fought, I swear Uncle David I fought. Three broken ribs, a broken nose-” I remove my shirt, and I hear my aunt gasp in shock, whispering my name.My Uncle doesn’t take his eyes off my chest. I hear the twins whispering ‘fuck,’ and I ignore everyone else. “He put a spear through the gap between my shoulder, both of them, pinning me to the wall, and fuck…he took the chance to do whatever he could to me. Burned me with a rod-” I point to different scars on my chest to explain what they were. “-Grandad… grandad shouted to stop when the blood was dripping from my mouth. Grandad took…” I shake my headand replay the worst night in my life. “He took my place. He fought him, no matter how much I begged him to stop, and I can fight. Grandad didn’t listen.” I take a deep breath and look at my Uncle. “Grandad came over to me, because we both knew what was going to happen, and he said. ‘Cain no matter what happens, tell my son I love him, and I’m proud of the man he is today. Cain, you are strong, You’ve got to believe in yourself.’ Then I watch Mr. Yang fight my grandad and…” I break eye contact with Uncle David and look at the floor, while I set all my emotion to the side, before looking back up at him. “Mr. Yang laughed while he looked me in the eye and broke my grandad's neck. There was nothing I could do, I swear I fought. If I could go back and change-”

“Cain, stop,” my uncle shouts at me.

“I would never have let him take my place.” I can’t stop, I’ve waited so long to get the words out. They need to hear it. They need to know why I am like I am.

“Cain, you were thirteen years old. Not once have I blamed you for dad’s death, and I’m not going to now.” He stands in front of me and cups my face so I’m looking him dead in the eyes. “I don’t blame you You, my son, are a brave boy, and have become a powerful man.” He wraps his arms around me, pulling me into a tight man hug.

“How did Mr. Yang get out?” Hayden asks.

“When Grandad was taken out, I was alone. I learned a lot with grandad there, but it also meant I was the target for a lot more fights. It’s easy to win with a thirteen-year-old. Until one fight, Mr. Yang offered to take my place, didn’t give me the choice, just walked in before I could. Fuck, I was still recovering from the fight from the night before, so I didn’t stop him, I had nothing in me for another fight.” I put my shirt back on and button up a few of the buttons. “Next thing I know he’s teaching me how to fight, how to read a room, to listen to things,remember things I would never think of remembering. How to read a dark room, everything I do now, it’s because of him. Uncle David, you always joke about how I know it’s you when you walk into the office. It's because you walk with a heavy right foot, and a lighter left foot,” I tell him who looks down at his feet. “These are the things he taught me. Over time, I became an even better fighter, smarter, and I only had one goal. Own The Pit, and kill his son. When I started winning fights, taking more control, Mr. Yang noticed what I was doing. That’s when I took a step back from him. But when I finally took over, I let Mr Yang out. He killed my grandad, but he also saved my life. I told him for helping me, he can walk, but for killing my grandad his son had to stay. He took the deal, but now he wants his son, and I won’t let that happen.”

I stare at all my family. My mom has been silent this whole time, but I see the tears flowing down her cheeks. It was going to upset her, but she needed to hear what her son went through.

“Who is this Mr. Yang?” Uncle David asks.I was waiting for that question, it’s the reason why I’m telling them about The Pit now.

“Mr. Yang is the leader of the New York Chinese mafia.” I hear them all take in deep breaths. If you look into that family, you’ll see the fucked up crap they do. The man never lost a fight in The Pit. He made some people suffer for days before killing them. I don’t know what he has planned, but I need you all to know you could be in danger.” I watch Uncle David look between his family, knowing that I’ve potentially put them all in danger. “Uncle-”

“Cain, we are family. If they come for one of us, they come for all of us. You’re not alone anymore.” Uncle puts his hand on my shoulder and he squeezes it. I give him a nod and look at my cousins.

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