Aiden Broken

2. Aiden Broken

“AIDEN!” I fall back, staring up at the red headed girl who has to be around my age, her blue eyes staring into mine and her gentle hand lays on my shoulder.

“I didn't realize men have feelings.” Meredith says, staring at me.

“What happened just now?” Karmen asks.

“I…. Sorry… she…” I look down, calming myself a bit and trying to steady my breathing, whipping off the left side of my face with the sleeve of my shirt. Karmen looks at Meredith and then back to me.

“She what?” My eyes fall to the ground again shaking.

“It's nothing… I'm fine… weren't you going to leave? She still has to show me the east town” I state, trying to change the subject, hopefully Meredith is still up for tormenting me because that's an easy way to get my mind off of everything.

    “It's right, why don't you go back to whatever swimming lessons you were working on in the waterfall and I'll show the man around” Meredith smirks down at me but I don't react with fear this time, more relief.

“I want an answer first” Karmen crosses her arms and pulls me to my feet as I flinch.

“I don't want to answer…” They both stare at me, eyes suddenly narrowing as their bodies tense and Meredith growls.

“Oh yeah? And why is that, finally showing your true colors b*****d?” She grabs the end of her sword and glares at me.

“No… that's not it… I just… I don't want to talk about it” My hands start shaking again and my eyes flicker shut before opening again to see Meredith behind me with her blade to my throat.

“I don't care if you 'don’t want to talk about it’ you're going to talk about it, or I'm going to kill you” I sigh and close my eyes.

“Then kill me” I feel her flinch behind me, the blade shifting tightly to my throat as I growl.

“Mere… hold on” I open my eyes, Karmen stands in front of me, fingers to my neck, blocking the blade. “Look at him, someone did something to him.” I flinch, staring at her with wide eyes, she read me so easily, crap.

“What do you mean? Like what?” Meredith asks, removing the sword and grabbing my side. I almost fall in pain as a scream echos from my throat but she grabs the back of my neck to keep me from falling.

“Stop it Mere, don't you have any empathy clearly he's weak right now and something bad must of happened to him.” Meredith let's go of me and I stagger to the side away from both of them, holding my side and wincing from the sudden shock of pain.

“I don't like being called a monster alright!” I cough. They both pause, staring at me and I close my eyes. “You should've just killed me. No one needs to know what happened, and I don't want to talk about it so you might as well get it over with.” I pause and stare at the ground, “but you can't do that, you'll get in trouble with the queens. I don't want anyone else getting hurt so if you want to torture me then fine but if someone else even comes to this island then you can't hurt them, it's not fair and it's not right.” They both pause and stare at each other.

    “What's wrong with you?” Karmen stares at me and Meredith sheaths her blade.

“Mom… Dad… are you seriously sending me home with this woman? I… I don't even know her” they look at me, both clearly drunk and fear takes over my body as my mother stands.

“Yes sure, family friend right? She'll take you home since you like complaining so much Aidy” she laughs and hiccups in between some of her words, smiling at the woman next to me. I've never met this woman before and this is the first time my mother is sending me home without shouting for me to hurry up even though they're always the ones behind. The woman looks to be in her mid twenties with green eyes and light brown hair, with a dress as tight as my mother's.

“Just go, quit arguing Aiden” my father grumbles, downing another shot. I stare up at the woman and nod, still a bit nervous about going with someone I don't know but if my parents tell me to do something then I shouldn't be questioning it, but… I am.

I end up in the passenger seat of the woman's baby blue truck, staring at the dashboard, shaking as I go through all the ‘what ifs’ in my head.

“so honey, this is my first time meeting you right?” She giggles a bit and I flinch.

“Y...yeah…” I stutter.

“Cute, the name’s Mary” she smiles.

“Nice…”

“You look uncomfortable, is everything alright?” She tilts her head but focuses on the road, occasionally glancing at the mirror to look at me and smile.

“Where are we…?” I look out the window to a street that I don't recognize, she smirks and I flinch, “where are you taking me? This isn't the way to my house!” I reach for the seat buckle and undo it, grabbing for the door. The air is pitch black and I can barely see out the window but I know I need to get out of here. I try at the door but it doesn't budge. Locked!

“Don't be like this” she sighs and pulls something from her coat pocket, spraying it into the air and then covering her mouth with a cloth of some kind, driving with her knees. Everything fades to black as I try to pry the door open, no use.

~

Luckily I’d passed out before I was forced into answering all of their questions but the nightmares are worse than any torture Meredith could've planned for me, they reach into my body like parasites, slowly breaking me from the inside with only torment leading them as a goal.

My eyes shake open in pain, a sharp ache tearing at my leg and arm while a bruising pain flakes my ribs.

“You're awake” Karmen shifts to my side as I sit up in pain and ruby head.

“What happened?”

“You passed out, most likely from trauma or pain” Karmen grumbles, glancing to the door. We're the only two in the stone room, I'm on a bed with red blankets and two pillows beneath my head.

“Where's Meredith…?” I ask and she lifts an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Hm. It's weird how you're thinking of her when you're the one hurt, are you wondering where she is in a 'I don't want to be tortured again’ kind of way or in a way that you're asking if she's ok?” She responds.

“I guess a mix of both” I laugh a bit but wince as a shot of pain echoes into my chest again.

“She's with Queen Orcid, why don't you tell me what happened” she states, crossing her arms as I flinch in the bed, leaning back against the pillows to balance myself.

“What do you mean?” I know what she means, she wants to know exactly what happened to me, I guess I don't have any reason not to tell her but… it just hurts to think about.

“Who hurt you is what I mean, clearly something happened and I'm not sure it's my right to ask you but I'm curious so I'm going to ask anyways” she tilts her head at me and I sigh, staring down at my knees.

“My parent were always drunk, I grew up having to learn when I could and couldn't talk to them because if they were angry drunk then it was best for me to avoid them. They'd always bring me to the bar at twelve at night for them to drink more and smoke, I hated it, they pretended that I enjoyed being in a room with drunk people that kept trying to touch me but I hated it. One day when I was fourteen they had me go home with a….” My throat blocks for a second as I try to speak a sudden fear and disgust coming from the memory, “a woman said they wanted her to take me home, I asked them… but they told me to just leave with her, that they'd asked her to when they really didn't. I….” She stares at me, probably realizing where the story is headed because she's been there too, maybe it's worse for girls but… it was awful.

“You were raped….” She covers her mouth and I stare down, pulling my legs to my chest and wincing again.

“Yeah… but that's not the end of it…” I keep my eyes open so that I can prevent the tears I know want to fall.

“What do you mean?” She flinches.

“When something like that happens to you…. You'll do anything to get away… I managed to break the ropes one day when she left to the bar… I broke out and I was almost out of the building completely before she grabbed me… I… I had grabbed a knife from her kitchen before I ran… I.. she..” I killed her, I try to say but fail, the words won't leave my throat. “It was an accident… I didn't want to hurt anyone.” My arms wrap around my legs as I pull them closer to my chest. “As she laid on the ground… she grabbed my leg and pulled me down with her, I dropped the knife and she tried to stab me… she called me a monster as I ran, that I'm a murderer and I deserve to die… I guess.. she was probably right though” I smile slightly, trying to control the tear streaming from my left eye.

“You're wrong.” I flinch and look up at her, “you did what you had to to keep her from hurting you, it was self defense. What happened after that? What did your parents do?”

“They did nothing” I shake, glaring at my feet in the bed, “I tried to tell them what happened but they said I was lying and my father told me that if it really did happened I would've enjoyed it, my mother hit me and then sent me to my room.” I sigh. “I ran away to my best friend's house after that, and my parents died in a car crash drunk three days after.”

“What kind of parents do something like that, and woman… I can't believe there are woman out there like that” she sighs. “It's awful, the things that happen outside the safety of our island, and sometimes into awful what happens within.” She puts her hand on her cheek and stares at the ground.

“I agree. Thank you, by the way” I smile and she looks up at me, quirking her eyebrow.

“For what?”

“Well for listening, and saving my life from Meredith, three times” I laugh a bit but it fades quickly.

“After speaking with you and hearing the things that you say, I find it easy to trust you Aiden. I don't believe that you deserve the things that have happened to you and it's clear in your physical reactions that what you say is true.” We stare at each other for a moment and I smile.

“I don't think I could like about something like that anyways.”

“I wish I could help further Aiden, but once Meredith speaks with Queen Orcid, I may be forbidden from interfering with her actions.” Karmen looks down, eyes shaking open and closed.

“It's fine. It'll take my mind off things anyways, even if it will hurt a lot.” I smile and she tilts her head at me.

“You really are a peculiar one.” A smile tugs slightly at the corners of her mouth.

“I don't mean to be, but I guess I have always wanted an adventure, I probably should’ve been more careful with my wish" I laugh and she glances away towards the door, forcing me to realize that I’m not in a prison. “Where am I?” I ask and she looks back at me.

“We’re in my room, in the castle. I insisted that you be brought here with me instead of tormented in the dungeons, besides it was easier to wrap your wounds from my room since I have all the supplies here.” She says, I glance down at my shirtless chest, I hadn’t realized before just now and my wounds are all wrapped and most likely clean as well.

“Thank you… I know you didn’t have to help me.”

“You aren’t like the others, you’re… different… better somehow, the aura around you is far calmer and filled more with peace and pain then torment and hatred.” she shakes her head and I smile slightly.