Page 42 of Repossess My Heart

“Nine…”

“He had an affair, took a break from fucking his incestuous family up top to have a play with my mom. She kept me from him, but love… it’s a funny thing. It makes you keep going back to the people who hurt you, and that’s what she did. When she got pregnant the second time, there was no hiding it from him. Of course, the almighty sun chosen family couldn’t have a scandal like that. Much less from a woman already known and loved for exposing corruption. She felt safe… she should’ve been untouchable.

“They cast you down…”

He nods. “I still remember how it felt clutching her hand that day. I was five… maybe six. I remember the kiss of the sun and the moment it went away. The lower we went into the ground, the more my heart clenched in my chest, the more my mom cried. I was always taught not to stare at the sun that it would damage our eyes, but my mom tugged me close…” He takes a deep breath and I can feel the caress of it on my goosebump pebbled skin… “her hands petting me, trying to console me although at that time I couldn’t really understand why. Through her own sobbing, she told me to look at the sun. She told me not to take my eyes off it until I had to cause she knew it would be the last time I ever saw it. She knew that we would die down here, and she did years later.”

The words leave him in uncertain spurts, like they are being forced off his tongue. Each one lashing at him like a whip. His eyes finally leave the floor, capturing mine. His lack of response tells me they are empty still. Although I don’t see how. Each part of his story is worse than the rest. “Years passed and her resentment for my father grew. My little brother Michael never got to know her the way she was Above, he didn’t miss the sun like we did. Didn’t understand why she was so…bitter. The older we got, the less she devoted time to us. Everything came after her work… her obsession with exposing the corruption Above.” He swallows hard, his Addams apple bobbing, “Finally she got the big break she wanted, a piece of information that would blow it all to shit, so she said. She finally found what she needed.My father… and the Officials killed them both for it, slaughtered them while Ihid.”

“You were a child-“

“I was a fucking coward, so I made sure I would never fail them again. I sold my soul, my body to the Officials. I’ve had many targets, laid so many at my feet I’ve lost count, but none of them are as important as theultimatetarget. The one I’ve dedicated my life to hunting-”

“Your father.”

His hand reaches up, cupping my cheek and I can’t help but to lean into it, letting his finger trace my bottom lip. “You’re thinking too small. I’m after the whole fucking world sweetling. I’m going to sink it all into the sea.”

The sea? Like an ocean…

The weight of his words settles into me, smothering the shock of existing oceans. That we might be above them, “You’ll kill-“

“Everyone.”

I shake my head, my breath coming out unsteady as my chest tightens, “How do you know it was him that had her killed? What if you’re wrong? That’s- that’s global annihilation…”

“The Migs that killed them… said she had pissed off the Boss. The ones that ran the world were tired of her running her mouth, that they’d make sure she could never use it again.”

The ones that run the world…

“You’ll kill thousands of people over a single murder?”

“I’ll kill millions to root the fucking pus-filled canker sore that they made this world.”

“Nine you can’t-“

“You needed to know. Now you know, let’s leave.” He compounds his words with a smooth jerk, covering my lower face in a mask.

13

A Crisis of Faith

Mymindisstillcatching up as I’m drug into the dark hallway. The infrequent placing of lights on the walls makes it look ominous at best. Downright threatening at worse. My feet falter as the door slides closed behind us, the strong smell of machinery and filth assaulting my nose.

His whole villain origin story is a fucking lie.

When I’m tugged past a map engraved in the stone walls, my heart finds a way to beat harder, making the alarm sound from Nine. “Breathe.”

I don’t.

Someone else’s shoes do their job well when I dig my heels into the ground, using my weight to wrench my arm free. “Where are we?”

“Reverie, this is not the place-“

“Where are we-“ I yell, making my voice strain until his gloved hand snaps roughly over my covered mouth.

“Trust me, you don’t want the attention of anyone down here sweetling.” He rasps as the alarm warns again.

Down.

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