Bliss in Darkness

Origins and Endings, Part 1

I took a quick look at my surroundings. I was... home? I found myself on top of a large hill covered in nothing but pure, green grass. The sun was shining warmly as if it welcomed my presence. I felt a cool breeze whip past me, bringing a cold sensation that dazed my senses with delight. To my right there were several homes, each identical in size and shape, but with varying colors. To my left was the beautiful rolling hills. At the top of the hill was a large oak tree.

Yes. Yes I was home. As soon as I took a look at that tree, my tree, I knew I had come home. I saw Claire off in the distance waving me to come over. I remember thinking she was beautiful. Long flowing brown hair, eyes more blue and deep than the ocean. She was only wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, but to me she looked like the bride at a wedding. Shining like a star. I took a deep breath and stifled a yawn. I started walking over to the tree.

'So this was home eh? Nice place. Not nearly as colorful as the world I've been living in, but it really seems nice.' I thought as the wind whipped my suddenly long hair past my eyes. I looked down at myself and found a startling sight. I was... younger. About fifteen or sixteen by my estimates. I thought this was odd, but then again everything that has happened to me in the past few weeks has been odd. The sight of my new body triggered a cascade of memories flowing into my mind. My entire life leading up to this day flashed before my eyes. I saw the day my parents got in their first fight and I ran away. I saw the day we took our first family picnic at the new house. I saw the love in my mother and father’s eyes when they looked upon me. I saw myself playing in the oak tree with my brother. I remembered the good, and I remembered the bad. Then, I remembered what day this was as I grimaced in horror. This was the day they had come to take me away.

I did not know whether I should fight my fate or not. I knew this was some kind of dream, but it didn't feel right to give in without a fight. This was the start of the avalanche of events that took my life away from me. I decided it would be best to just live through it as normally as I can. I wanted to experience my past, if nothing else then to learn what to expect from the future.  I contemplated my choice until I reached the tree. Claire's beautiful face took all my worries away.

"Hey cutie!" I called out. Normally I was not this forward, especially when it came to girls, but it felt right this time.

"Hi Charlie! I missed you!"

"I missed you too... more than you know..." I mumbled the last part.

"What was that?"

"Oh! Nothing just mumbling to myself. Anyways, what's up?"

"Just climbing our tree! Wanna join me?"

"Of course." I said with a smile. This was going to be a great day. Until they show up, that is.

The rest of the day was spent frolicking around in the hills, climbing trees, and just enjoying each others company. I loved Claire. She was unlike anything I had ever met. She complimented me in every way. We had almost everything in common. I was planning on being with her until the day I die. We rolled down a hill together and I cried tears of joy as she kissed me. This was the perfect day. Was being the key sentence.

"Hey freak!" Called the neighbor boy, John. Tailing behind him were several boys I recognized from school. There were eight of them, including John. He was the typical neighborhood bully. He had been nothing but trouble ever since I had moved there. I hated him. Mostly because of the day in school when he "accidentally" brushed up against Claire's privates. I was furious he had to come ruin the moment. I remembered the previous day I had started a fight with him in school. It was a one on one, totally fair fight and I beat him down. Obviously, he wanted to take his revenge on me by making me look like an ass in front of my girl.

"Hows it going bro?" I said nonchalantly.

"Don't you call me bro, bro! So what's up with your freaky eyes? Did your mom fuck a cat or something?"

I then remembered that my eyes were... different. They were green like my father’s, but my pupils were sharp vertical slits. I had excellent night vision, and I personally thought it made me look cool. I was also extremely strong, and had quick reflexes that seemed to increase as the sun went down. I wondered why Nightmare Moon never brought this up with me, but then I realized she had likely never seen a human before, and assumed we were all like that.

"No, its just a genetic mutation" I explained calmly, "as I told you the first seventeen times you asked me about them. Do you have a learning disorder?"

"Hey, I think he just called you a retard." Said one of his mindless followers. You know the type. Can't think for themselves, so they need to latch on to whoever they think is strong.

"I think we need to settle this. Once and for all. Obviously, you are a freak and the fight we had earlier wasn't fair. So I brought some friends of mine to even the playing field!"

"Wow. Some man you are. Tell me, was your dad always drunk? Or did he sober up whenever he beat you?" I said, my anger winding up in a tight coil in my chest, begging for release.

"Get him!" He screamed as they all pulled out kitchen knives from their belts.

"Oh. Fuck." I whispered as I took off running. Normally, I would have tried to fight, but it was not quite dark enough for my unusual strength to take effect. I was running so fast, I almost didn't hear her screams.

"CLAIRE!!" I shouted as I took off running back for her. She was not as fast as me, so they took her captive knowing I'd come back for her. I didn't know they were that smart.

"Heh heh, looks like we got ya this time you sick fuck. Either surrender yourself to us, or we take it out on her pretty little face." He said as he rubbed a steak knife up and down her perfect fair skin.

"Ok." I simply said as I fell to my knees. I could not suffer the sight of them cutting her. I would have done anything for her, and those assholes knew it. I cried. I didn't care what they thought, and I didn't even listen to their insults as they surrounded me and held me down. I saw past one of the boys, and breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Claire running away.

"I'm going to enjoy this greatly." John said as he took the tip of his knife and sliced off my shirt. To his horror, he found my scars. When I was born, I suddenly remembered, some of my internal organs were on the outside of my body. A rare condition called omphalocele, I was told.

"What the fuck are you?" He said. Not even waiting for an answer, he sliced into my stomach. Not deep enough to cause serious problems, but deep enough to hurt like hell and draw my blood.

"This is a lot more fun than Mr. Baxter's cat, isn't it boys?" They all laughed. Obviously, I was dealing with some demented, horrible people here. I always knew they were a bunch of assholes, but I didn't think they were so sick.

I screamed in pain as they carved a large cross into my chest. They each took turns carving patterns and designs into my flesh. I wanted nothing more than to die at that point.

"Just finish me... you bastard..." I said between raspy coughs.

"Oh, no. The party has just started!" He said as he got up and pointed to a gagged Claire being carried over to me by one of his henchmen. The sight was horrible. I wanted to throw up, seeing my beloved like this. Her normally beautiful hair was sweaty and mangled, and her gorgeous eyes were soggy with tears. I took a look at the sun, just barely setting over the horizon. My heart beat faster.

"...for a wounded man shall say to his assailant, if I live, I will kill you. If I die, you are forgiven. Such is the rule of honor." I recalled my favorite quote with courage in my heart. He spat in my face and laughed. I couldn't possibly hurt him, he thought. He thought wrong.

I grabbed his arm and focused. His veins turned black, and he screamed out in pain. I felt his energy seep into me, like a warm current of water. My wounds healed up, and I stood to face my assailants. With one quick thought, I extended my mind to theirs and drained them of their energy. I walked up to the first and punched him in the gut. Then he took my knee to his face. I systematically beat the ever-loving shit out of every single one of these social rejects. I was so caught up in my work, I didn't hear John come up from behind me and stab me in the back.

I felt the knife enter, piercing my muscles, and weaving through my ribs. I turned and slapped him. I had multiple bodies to feast on, and he couldn't possibly bring me down. I decided to put a memory into his head that would hopefully prevent him from doing anything but sitting in an asylum, shitting down his pants and rocking back and forth.

"So. What should I start with? Your 'normal' eyes? I heard somewhere that human eyes are delicious." I said the final word with a raspy, otherworldly voice. I was indeed a human being, but I wanted this little prick to think he was staring into the face of the devil himself.

"No! Please!" He cried as I reached around and pulled the knife from my back. The wound closed instantly after I grabbed his ankle, my unusual strength bruising the bone and straining his sinew. I took the knife in my left hand and pierced his chest. He screamed out in pain, but I was not done. Oh, no. He wouldn't get off that easy. I then took some of his friends life energy and poured it into his wound, closing it effectively. I then repeated, all over his body. I broke his legs, then repaired them. I broke his arms, then repaired them. I stabbed him all over and repaired his every scratch. Nobody would ever believe him. After I was done, I looked him in the eyes and brought his face to mine, with only an inch to spare.

"Good night, pretty boy. I'll be watching you" I said with a smile as I threw him back down to the ground, took all the knives, and pierced them in the ground behind him. I arranged all the injured bullies in a neat little pile, and walked away with pride, knowing that he would never fuck with anybody ever again. I took a look around and noticed something. Claire was gone.

"Oh shit... She shouldn't have seen that.." I sighed as I reprimanded myself for letting my anger take a hold of me. Sure they deserved it, but now Claire thought I was a monster. Maybe... I was a monster. I had no idea what was wrong with me, and how I could do that. I beat myself up over it for what seemed like hours. I decided to finally go home, stopping by Claire's house to check on her.

I walked down the lamp lit street with a spring in my step. What I had done was so wrong, but it felt so right. It felt like I was satisfied to have had a decent meal after starving for weeks. It felt like I was quenching my thirst after weeks in the desert. I was happy. I did not know why, but I was. I had just attacked eight teenage boys. I didn't even check to see if I had accidentally killed them, like the first time I learned of my power. I was twelve years old and was being chased by a wild dog.  I felt bad for the dog, but I felt better knowing I had saved my life. My trip down memory lane was interrupted by the sight of several black SUVs outside Claire's house.

Unbeknownst to me, she ran home as soon as I drained John, and used it to heal my wounds. She told her parents everything, and they called the police. The police then called some special group that deals with that sort of thing. Because that's what I was. Something to 'deal with'. Wanting to see the rest of my fate, I walked up to Claire's door and knocked. A man in a black suit greeted me, and told me to have a seat outside. I relieved my weight upon one of her patio chairs, and a large group of identical suited men surrounded me. One of the men behind me took out a syringe.

Sharp pain, then nothing as the blackness took hold of me.

Authors Notes: Sorry for the late chapter. I try to get at least one out every day. Expect brutal things in the next chapter. Who's looking forward to discovering what happened to Charlie?