Task Description:

Tributes must relect on a memory and kill either Kyros or Grigori. The task must be based off of a song.

Song Choice: Eyes Open ~ Taylor Swift

It’s been seven years.

Seven years since I made that terrible mistake that would cost so many so much, seven years since I’d even dared to relive what happened, seven years since I had said those things that I could never take back and somehow sitting here bawling my eyes out like I was a baby in a weird dude that I barely knew arm’s everything came out.

The worst part was that I knew that everyone would hate me for it…. but I had to say it. I had to go back and relive the moment that everything went wrong.

The memory’s came very easily, it seemed like only yesterday. The heat had baked the pavement like it was freaking trying to turn it to lava. Staring at it, my younger self- lets call him Little Drew- could practically see the waves of heat rising off if the ground blurring the horizon. The only place Little Drew liked to see this steam was coming off of a large plate of food, coming off of the pavement just wasn’t natural.

“I’m going to die.” Little Drew declared collapsing prostrate on the sidewalk, still clutching his knapsack and his skateboard that was much too large for him.

Little Alex turned around and ran over to Little Drew and kicked him violently in the ribs. “Get up you sissy!” He said with the lisp he’d developed ever since he had lost his front tooth when Little Drew had hit him in the face with his plastic lightsaber. “We made it this far! Don’t chicken out now!”

The hot pavement scorched Little Drew’s cheek as he turned his head sideways to respond. “How is it chickening out if I’m DEAD?” He growled irritably. “Thanks to you I’m so dead I’m never going to grow up and become Darth Vader.” Little Drew slowly pulled himself into a sitting position. He looked down at his grubby clothes that were soaked with sweat and sprinkled with a light coat of dust, he was seriously regretting only bringing one pair of clothing. He had no clue as to how this was going to last him until he died.

Little Alex and him were running away from that mean woman (Little Drew suspected that she was secretly a member of Al-qaeda) who was taking care of them and a few other kids at the moment. They’d been walking for an entire hour through the baking heat and only now was Little Drew beginning to question how good of an idea this had been.

Little Alex crossed his hands over his chest, “You know it’s not possible for you to grow up and become Darth Vader.” He said wiping some glossy sweat from his forehead.

Little Drew’s face darkened, “You liar! Morgan always used to tell me I could be anything I wanted to be, so I’m becoming Darth Vader!” He yelled as if someone was trying to murder him. Little Drew had never functioned well in the heat.

Little Alex shrugged nonchalantly as if he hadn’t just crushed his best friends dreams. “Horses are dumb. They want to make everything okay but they just can’t.”

Little Drew furrowed his eyebrows, unsure of why Alex was talking about horses. “I’m confused.” He announced after a few seconds of useless pondering.

Alex rolled his eyes, “You said a Morgan told you to become Darth Vader. A Morgan is a breed of horse. Duh.” He said plopping onto the pavement beside his friend.

Little Drew shook his head, everything suddenly making sense. His half-brother must be half Morgan, hence his name- that would mean his mother had participated in animal husbandry! Wow. Ew. Little Drew hoped that he wasn’t half possum or a cantaloupe or something. Drew decided not to tell Alex about his shady father. “So wheres the food? I’m hungry.”

Little Alex blinked. “I didn’t bring food.”

Little Drew felt his world collapse, “I’m starving! Like those kids on the other side of the world! I’m going to die Alex!” He cried out in terror, willing his friend to laugh, say he was just joking and whip out a pizza.

Little Alex pulled his beat up blue lightsaber from his knapsack, “I figured we could hunt squirrels with this.”  He beamed as if he had just invented the cure for cancer.

Drew shook his head, seeing an obvious flaw in the plan. “You creeper! I’m not eating a squirrel! Whats wrong with you?” He demanded with a expression of horror strewn across his face.

“I heard squirrel tastes like a hamburger.” Alex said shrugging and getting to his feet, pressing a button that made his plastic lightsaber light up. “So are you coming or not?” He asked extending his hand toward Drew who looked at it as if it was radioactive.

Little Drew’s response was long and dragged out,  “I want pizza.” He said finally brushing Little Alex’s hand aside and standing up. He looked down not wanting to make eye contact with his friend.

Little Alex frowned sadly. “All right then. If thats the way you want to be, loser. You're betraying me…. we were supposed to do this together and train to become ninjas…..” He trailed off as Little Drew stared at him helplessly. Little Alex’s face hardened suddenly, “I’m never speaking to you again!” He cried turning around and storming off down the sidewalk angrily.

Little Drew felt a little bubble of anger in his chest, “Well- I’m never talking to you again first!” He cried storming off in the direction that he had come.

“Whatever!” Alex screamed back angrily.

“Whatever first!” Little Drew yelled slowing his pace starting to regret his choice of never talking to his best friend. He walked a few more paces before turning around to see that Little Alex had done the same thing.

“By the oak tree tomorrow at noon? Bring your lightsaber.” He said suddenly.

Little Drew grinned, “Yeah you’re on, but I’m gonna kick your ass!”

“In your dreams weirdo.” Alex yelled over his shoulder as he ran off taking a sharp turn down an alley way.  Drew watched him disappear and then spun around and realized with a sudden disappointment that he still had to walk to his foster home…. and he wasn’t entirely sure of where that was.

Little Drew considered chasing after Alex because he hadn’t the slightest clue of where he was but decided against it. He might get even more lost in the process and end up getting eaten by aliens who had escaped from Area 51 and were desperate for revenge upon a humanity, starting with a smaller than average little boy with a mop of shaggy black hair on his head. The thought sent shivers racing down his spine, Little Drew wrapped his arms around his chest nervously.

He threw his large board to the ground and wobbled on it awkwardly. He had only just stolen it from some fat kid at the skate park a few days ago and was still learning to use it. Drew pushed off and skated about ten meters before he accidently went over the lip of the sidewalk. Little Drew screamed as his body crashed into the pavement sending a jolt of pain through his body.

Little Drew looked up hearing a loud honk, his heart beating in his chest. A silver BMW was barreling towards him, tires squealed Drew screamed pinching his eyes shut. His brain didn’t seem to be working- this was it! He was going to be road kill.

After a second Little Drew opened his eyes to see a tire inches from face, so close Drew could smell the burn rubber of the tire. A tall man with golden blonde hair poked his head out of the window and glowered at Drew. “What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing?! Get the crap out of the road before I run you over!” He yelled, his face flushing red.

If only Little Drew had listened to the psychopathic man, but no. Little Drew had to see an opportunity in this. Mentally, I watched in agony as my 10 year old self got to his feet and slammed his hands on the hood with a grin. “Mister! Can I have a ride?”

The man rolled his eyes, “Of course not! Get your sticky little fingers off my car!” He hissed borderline berserker. Little Drew came to the conclusion that the blonde man must simply be on his period. Little Drew felt really smart for coming to this conclusion, he had heard some of the older girls talking about the horrors of blood leaking out of their privates once a month and turning them evil- kind of like a werewolf. Little Drew couldn’t wait until he got to become a werewolf.

“Please! It’s not far!” He begged trying to look cute and appeal to his better nature.

“No! Now get out of the way before I run you over!” The man quite apparently had no better nature.  He would have to resort to desperate measures.

Little Drew threw himself on the hood of the car, the hot metal stung but Little Drew didn’t move. He was getting this ride if it was the last thing he did. “Fine run me over! But the cops will be after you, pretty boy.”

The man got out of his car and grabbed Drew’s ankles, yanking on them. “Just let go! You’re sweating all over my car!”

“Did you know that sweat and urine are basically the same thing?” Little Drew mocked, holding tight to the car as the man tried even harder to pull him free. The car actually rolled a few inches. “Licking is pretty bad as well.” He commented dragging his tongue across the hood.

The man threw his hands up. “Ew! What the hell is wrong with you? Stupid little wench.” He covered his face with his big hands as if he was trying to collect himself.

Drew paused thoughtfully, “Well my Mom really liked pot and animal husbandry and my Dad was a cantaloupe.” He suggested sorting through his mind trying to decide if there was anything else that had contributed to his weirdness.

“You know what? Just get in the fucking car!” He said rashly throwing his hands into the air. “Its my fucking community service of the year.” Little Drew could only compare the man’s expression to Donald Duck right before he went beserk.

Little Drew slid off the hood and jumped into the passenger side, a thick burst of cold air greeted him as he sat down of the firm leather upholstery. Little Drew shut the door and watched the man start the car. “Here are the rules; don’t slobber, don’t fart, don’t whine, don’t lick anything, don’t touch anything and most importantly remain silent. I’m in a bad mood.” The man hissed irritably as he put his foot on the pedal and started down the dusty road.

“Why are you in a bad mood?” Little Drew asked forgetting the last rule. He had always been bad at remembering things- or as his previous foster mother had put it he had a very selective memory. Drew liked that term, it made him feel like a ninja.

The man raised his finger at him warningly, “No speaking.” He snapped and a dark silence enveloped the car, Drew turned to look out the window watching the long blur of colors outside his window.

The man startled him by beginning to speak again, “If you really must know my basketball scholarship just fell through! Those bastards!  The boy they kicked me off for was a terrible player at that! I was better!” He said furiously pounding his fist into the steering wheel. “And I don’t have enough money to keep myself in college because by blasted parents cut me off. Apparently I’m spoiled.” He said sarcastically making the little bouncy bunny ears with his fingers that Drew wasn’t entirely sure the meaning of. He did know that adults and other children seemed to use it a lot around him though, so it probably was positive.

“Well you could always sell your car. I like it. I’d give you my lightsaber and a gummy bear for it. That should get you through college.” Little Drew suggested thinking about all the havoc he could wreak with a car.

The man looked horrified, “How dare you suggest such a thing?! I love my car more than most humans. No, I’m going to make all of them pay for what they have done…. now if only I knew how.” He trailed off staring at the road ahead of him as if he was in deep, depressed thought.

And that was when Little Drew sentenced the fate of his brothers, himself and dozens of other people. If only he had known how powerful words were. If only he knew that he lived in a cruel world where everyone stands and keeps score.

Little Drew beamed and the fateful words began to fall off his tongue. “You could become the Joker! Like from Batman! He got really famous for killing people… actually… it seems  like after you kill someone you always get famous. Especially if you kill a whole bunch of people creatively.” Little Drew said remembering a serial killer program Alex had dared him to watch a few nights ago. “Like you could lock a whole bunch of people in a carnival, or a mall, or a haunted house or something and the sadistically pick them off one by one. Oh! And broadcast it on TV like population control or something! That would be scary.” Little Drew shivered as the man gave him a very strange look.

They both jumped as a cell phone suddenly rang very loudly. The blonde man practically slammed his hand down on the iphone that sat face up on the console. Drew caught a glimpse of the name before the man tilted it away from him. “Who’s Azriel? Your girlfriend?” Drew crinkled his nose in disgust. Everyone knew girls carried rabies.

The man’s beady chestnut eyes shifted over to him, “Goddammit no. He’s my brother.” He whispered irritably before snapping his attention to whatever the voice was saying on the phone.

Little Drew leaned over toward him, squinting suspiciously. “Then why does he have a girls name? Is he a merman?”

The man’s face went pale, at first Drew thought it was because Drew had discovered his brother’s secret then he realized that it was because of whatever this Azriel of the cell-phone had said. “You did what?” He paused, “You moron! Thats why you pay attention when you work!” There was another quick pause. “You don’t care? You idiot.” He paused again and rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be right over.”

The man pulled to the side of the road as he dropped the phone back onto the console. He turned to Little Drew harshly, “Get out. I have to go pick my baby brother from the hospital.”

Little Drew sigh looking out the window, at least he knew where he was now. “Are you sure you can’t take me a little further?” He asked slowly, not wanting to push his luck more than he had. Honestly the man had kinda creeped him out with that look he gave Drew after he had told him to become The Joker.

“No. Get out.” The man said flatly.

Drew sigh and pushed open the door stepping into the humid air outside, “By the way,” He said suddenly, “I’m Drew Griffin.”

The man rolled his eyes, “That’s nice kid.” He leaned across the seat to close the door and  then hesitated. “I’m Atilius Rioux.” He said with a crazed kind of pride, as if suddenly he knew his name would last through the ages. And with that the door slammed shut and the silver car drove away, disappearing down the long sun-baked road.

I didn’t see him again for 7 years until his face popped up on the TV announcing the carnival. Up to that point I had almost forgotten the encounter, but his face brought everything back. I remember that nauseating moment as I realized that two of my brothers were trapped in there, I was forced to watch in horror knowing that I had planted the seed from which the monster sprouted.  

Then my brother who survived had shown up on my foster parents doorsteps and said that he had taken custody of Cory and I. He was so excited to have a family again- but he didn’t know what I had done. I doubt he would still call me his brother if he knew. I wondered if anyone would still call me their brother if they knew.

I know I wouldn’t.

So here I was now, just two steps away from death. I’d let my guard down completely as I bawled in Murphy’s arms, my scars becoming too vast for me to handle. With each syllable I spoke I felt Murphy’s body tense more. He hates me, I thought. Somehow that made it easier to cope with, I needed to be hated for what I had done to Tove and every other person in this dahm mall. Finally with tears clogging my throat and a headache pounding my skull I finished with perhaps two of the most overused words in the history of the world, “I’m sorry.” But know that I meant them with every fiber in my being.

I let go of Murphy and straightened my back and looked at him. He looked a little shocked, betrayed even, he didn’t say anything though. He just stared at me emotionlessly. Around us the food fight had ended, the survivors treating their wounds and attempting to recover. They never thought we would make it this far, I never thought that we would make it this far either. I couldn’t even bring myself to think about what would happen after this. We would be surrounded and forced into a showdown and only even had a chance at survival.

I felt Rose hovering behind me, I turned around and met her steely gaze. She heard everything too… Good. I didn’t want to have to have to say it twice. -Don’t be a moron Drew. Everyone saw this. Everyone knows what you did. They are all watching, the carnival was broadcasted chances are is that this is being broadcasted too. Your country saw this, the Nazi’s who have  all of our programs taped saw this, the aliens who also have all of our programs taped saw this but most importantly your brothers saw this. And suddenly I was terrified they would reject me…. Yes I enjoyed harassing Cory until he started screaming at me, yes I purposely teased Morgan on more than one occasion but when it came down to it I loved them. They were my family and I had gone too long without one to not appreciate it. I didn’t want to be alone again.

Rose stepped around me numbly and sat in Murphy’s lap, throwing her arms around his neck while nestling her head into his chest. I looked around the room searching for Alex, I felt a weight of dread drop in my stomach as another wave of tears blurred my vision- not him too! I turned back toward Rose, Murphy wrapped his arms around her protectively. I had to ask, I had to. I swallowed hard and forced my words from my mouth, “Where’s Alex?” My voice was shaky and crackly from the tears.

“He’s dead.” Rose said simply closing her eyes. The words hit me like a wrecking ball even though I already knew, before this in the back of my mind I had some hope, her words had killed my hope. Alex the boy who had been there for me when I had gotten separated from my brothers, Alex the boy who had been my side kick on all of my headcanon stunts, Alex the boy who before this point had been the one constant thing in my life, the one thing I could count on. Now he was dead.

I pushed back a wave of tears and looked back at Rose and Murphy. It was apparent they loved each other… they needed to admit that before it was too late. I didn’t want them to make the same mistake I had. “Just kiss already.” I said suddenly, their eyes shot toward me as if I had just pulled a gun on them. “Come on, everyone knows-” I started as a loud crash interrupted us.

I crained my neck around to see Grigori chasing Kyros with a kitchen knife. Kyros stumbled backward over Tove’s corpse that still lay with a few others in the center of the room. He kicked it irritably. My heart flipped. “Dahm body.” He hissed as Grigori made a swipe at his neck, Kyros ducked  gritting his teeth. “You can wave that knife around all you want Grigori!” He yelled with a fearsome intensity, “But in the end you’ll just be a decaying bag of bones like these useless corpses.”

My heart was beating very quickly, a sudden anger possessing me. I looked over at the body of Cole who lay a few paces from me. He still clutched a crossbow. I stared at it for a second before I lunged at it grappling it in my hands the slick metal felt cool in my hands. Clumsily I loaded it with an arrow, I’d tried my hand at his a few days ago… I think? This entire ordeal seemed to have no beginning or end in my mind it was all fused together- like the ball of gum under my desk at school.

“What are you doing?” Rose hissed behind my back.

I paused, “What does it look like?”

I glanced over my shoulder to see a wide grin stretched across her face, “Let ‘em have it.”

I stood up and lifted the heavy instrument up to the cradle of my shoulder. I felt sick, the sudden graveness of what I was doing sunk me in an ocean of doubts. I had to do it though, I’d messed up so much it wasn’t even funny, if I died I wanted to die doing one thing right. I climbed on top of one of the tables still set up as a barricade from the food fight and turned my face to where Kyros and Grigori battled. “They were not just ‘decaying bags of bones’ they were people! They were people I cared about! They had lives and futures- whether that future was being a couch bum or not who knows- but thats not my point! You took it away from them, from us and thats not fair…. So now I’m going to take that away from you.” Both men turned and stared at me, eyes wide open.

I swallowed hard taking aim.

Keep your heartbeat steady.

Keep your eyes open.

Keep your aim locked.

Kyros looked from Grigori to me, a scowl deepening his features as the shock wore off. “You’re one to talk.” He snapped reaching to pull something out of his pocket.

It was the last thing he ever said. I watched with a knot in my chest as his head snapped back and he crumpled to the ground, joining the bodies that he had dissed only a few minutes before, never to move again. My body trembled with the reality of what I had just done, I’d killed a man. Yes, he had completely deserved it, but I’d still killed him in cold blood. A wave of silence washed over the room at what I had just done, everyone staring at me, eyes open.

I didn’t have to be smart to know that the silence always came before all hell broke loose.