Page 1 of Kronos

Chapter One

Kronos: Age Fifteen

Saltwaterassaultsmynoseas I jog down to the docks with my father’s men. He told me he had an important mission for me to complete tonight. It’s my fifteenth birthday. The day I become a man. At least, that’s what my father told me. Hell, he’s told me many things, but to believe him would be to kid myself. He’s a natural born liar and will do or say anything he can to get his way.

The shiner I’m sporting from earlier this morning throbs, and my blood pressure rises as his men guide me to the dock house. My brothers are home—and safe. That’s the thing to remember. If I keep them out of it, I can deal with what my father wants from me. Besides, they are too young to deal with him. To know the damage he causes and the havoc he wreaks in people’s lives. Yes, much better to keep them as far away as I can.

“About time you fucking showed up, son.” My father’s voice grates onto my nerves as he grips my shoulder and bares down with his fingers. The cuts on my back aren’t healed yet, and he knows it. “Go on in there and kill the person sitting in the chair.” He mockingly points toward the door.

“What?” My head snaps back toward my father and he grins. He must be joking right?

“You want to be a part of the family history. You have to do what I tell you.” His voice changes from mocking to stern within a second. His fingers dig deeper into my flesh, and I almost bow under the pressure.

My father has made me do some crazy shit over the years. All in the family's name. I want to tell him to go to hell, but I don’t. Disrespect in front of his men would sign my own death warrant. He hands me the knife, and I notice Dr. Forsythe by the door, looking at me with a fierce grin. I’ve never liked him, but he patches us all up. He’s covered the abuse for years, but that’s probably so he doesn’t die.

“Make me proud, Charles.” I close my eyes at the sound of my first name. Father loves to either call me son, boy, or shit face. When he uses my real first name, I know it’s serious. He won’t acknowledge my nickname: Kronos. He says I haven’t earned God status yet.

Trembling hands don’t stop me from walking into the room. Nope, I ignore them and open the door, close it, then stand there with my forehead against it, trying to reel in my thoughts. The thing is, I don’t want to turn around. If I do, I have to face the person I’m going to kill. My stomach turns sour as I count to a hundred.

“Charles?” A soft, innocent voice calls out to me. I stiffen, nerves battering my body.

At first, I think I’m hallucinating, but she says my name again, and I know she’s the one I have to kill. Tears threaten to fall from my eyes as I tremble, standing still. Frozen with the conflicting fear of having to do what I must and who I want to be…for her.

I refuse to turn around. No. Not… Not Ayres’s mother. No. She’s been a mother to us all. Treating us with such kindness and wisdom. She’s the balm we all need to keep us from being the monster that our father is.

The day she came into the house Hypnos and I were in the living room playing checkers. Ayres was standing beside her, barely able to reach her thigh. He ran over, fell, and then got up and smiled as his busted lip dripped blood onto the all-white carpet. I was sure then that my father would have killed them, but instead he laughed and picked him up. He doctored him and sat him down next to us and told us to watch him.

That was the nicest my father had ever been to any of us. “Charles, what’s going on?”

Her voice brings me back out of my memory, and I turn to face her. She’s bruised from head to toe, and her head wobbles as she tries to sit upright. The tears I’d been trying to hold back flow down my face. This woman has been a mother to me for so long, it feels wrong to see her like this.

“I…” My words die in my throat as she looks at me with horror once she spots the knife.

Momma shakes her head and there’s a sigh from her. “My sweet boy, it’s alright. I know you must do this. It’s alright. Just know you are better than this, Charles. Don’t follow in your father’s footsteps.” She pleads with me as I take slow, dreadful steps closer to her.

If Ayres found out his mother looked like this, he would go ape shit. He’d kill father and everyone standing in this dock house. I wouldn’t blame him.

“I have no choice, Momma.” My words should come out strong, but they don’t. There’s a crack in the wordMommaas I stand here, battling with myself. What I said is true. It’s her or me. My father won’t care who dies tonight. He only cares that there’s bloodshed.

“Yes, you do, baby. Don’t make the same mistakes your father has.” I reach her and that’s when I notice she’s tied to the chair. That’s why she isn’t running.

Her eyes, almost swollen shut, look up at me with nothing but love. A blanket of calmness runs through me as I let that love wash over me. Shame fills me as I raise the knife. “I can’t let him take it out on Ayres, Momma. I’m sorry.”

With resignation in knowing I’m the villain, I ram the knife into her stomach, and she gurgles with surprise. The hate I feel for myself and my father chokes me. Taking the knife out, I ram it back in, this time into her chest.

The life in her slowly drains as she gives me a weak smile. “Take care of them, they need you.” Her eyes close and she whispers, “I love you.”

Letting the knife drop, I fall to the ground and place my head on her knee. My fate is sealed in this one act of violence. My father owns me now, and I know it. Fortunately, I can keep my brothers from ever knowing what has happened. Father has two rules: Never talk about family business, and do as you’re told.

My tears fall, leaving me hollow inside. It takes me a long time to compose myself. Something I’m sure father would gladly beat me for. I swallow down the bile in my throat and get up. I kiss her forehead and walk out of the room.

The Doc walks into the room, and a second later he comes out grinning with pride. “Death, confirmed.” His voice sounds like a drone as I keep walking.

“Where the fuck do you think you are going?” Father grabs me by the back of the neck and turns me around. “You leave when I say you leave.”

“Yes, Father.” It’s an automatic response. One I know will keep me out of trouble. I need solitude and peace for a while so I can process what I just did.

“Finally, you’ve grown a pair of balls.” He chuckles like he didn’t have me kill my brother’s mother. “Let’s go celebrate and you can finally get your dick wet.”

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