Capítulo 31: Agony
"There you are. Do you have any clue how long we've been looking for you?" Dean gave a low whistle while he stood at the front of his group. They'd all met up after their respective fights, now congregating together to see what would happen next. Dean looked down upon the small child on the dirty floor, unimpressed with the pitiful display. He held his right arm behind his back, concealing something from view.
The boy was pale, a stiff slab of white hair set atop his head like a Lego piece. Though his brown eyes were organic and human, the skin surrounding them was smooth like the surface of a glass table. In his arms he harbored the mangled body of a mannequin, its long limbs draped over him like a mother protecting her kin. His plastic hands clung to it for dear life, shaking its body with his trembling arms as if to wake it up.
Yet despite his best efforts the mannequin remained limp. No amount of pleading could rejuvenate the lifeless body he held. The two had found themselves backed into a corner in the sporting department, the once sizable crowd of plastic figures reduced to none as they were mercilessly dispatched.
"You really didn't have to stick your pets on us, that was just uncalled for," Mark exclaimed.
"Why, did they show you a difficult time? Don't tell me they were too much for you to handle, that'd just be embarrassing," Cinder responded, poking his elbow into Mark's ribs.
"Hey! It's nothing like that," Mark replied, showing his hands defensively. "I handled them just fine. You can't blame a guy for wanting an easy payday. Working hard is hard!"
"Really? Is that why you were so keen on asking for my help," Xavier remarked. Mark grumbled under his breath as Cinder snickered behind his back.
"Like you have any room to talk, Cinder. Your entire battle strategy is just hoping for the best while your stupid watch timer runs out. At least Mark knows how to fight," Diego retorted.
"Alright, enough with the antics. Let's just bag the freak and be on our way to the circus, right Dean? That way we can-" Xavier paused as Dean raised his left hand. Bella watched as well, unease settling in her shallow breaths as her older brother silenced everyone in the room with that small movement.
"Boys, boys, boys... why don't we all just calm down? We've been working so hard, fighting so long, searching so tirelessly. Wouldn't you say we all deserve to have some fun?" Dean walked closer to the boy. The child flinched in response, backing up against the glass counter.
"Dean I... He isn't a threat to us. Those things that were protecting him, they're gone now. We don't have to drag this out any longer," Bella coughed out after some struggle.
"Oh, don't be a silly girl," Dean said, his smirk fading as quickly as it arrived. "This little one made life so much harder than it had to be. You should be offended too. He wasted our time, prolonging the inevitable. If he were smart and knew his worth he'd have submitted and come along quietly."
Bella's words caught in her throat and she fell quiet once more. She couldn't help but stare at the half-mannequin, half-human hybrid in front of her. Though he hadn't spoken, his current state was as evident as the wetness that settled on his cheeks. The boy sunk his face into the mannequin's shoulder, despair emanating throughout the room from his body.
"Always the same with them. Finding more comfort in those things than actual humans," Dean remarked. Bella's body stiffened as her brother knelt down, gently sliding his fingers under the child's chin. "So disgusting, how do you even live with yourself? Is it hard? Does it hurt, seeing everyone you care about be killed right in front of you?"
The boy tried to turn away from him, bracing for something painful as he felt Dean's delicate touch. Dean clicked his tongue in response, running his thumb along the small kid's cheek in a circular motion.
"It's okay, I get it. It's the worst, isn't it? One second they're there, the next... poof. Gone like the wind. My poor sister and I know exactly what it's like to lose everything. You go to bed and fall asleep, praying for dreams of how things once were. And when you're finally granted that one wish, you wake up and remember just how lonely you are. Reality hits you hard and reminds you of your place. Reminds you that there's no escape from the horrors of the world."
Dean released his grip and patted the boy's head a few times, mocking the way a parent might ruffle their child's hair. He offered a warm smile, even as he spoke once more and allowed his true thoughts to flow like a sewage spill.
"You wish you could save them, don't you? You wish you were strong enough to do something as your life unraveled in front of you. But you couldn't. Because you're just a fucking disappointment."
"Oh shit," Cinder said, a slight giggle releasing from his lips.
"Here he goes, things are about to get interesting," Mark added, a hint of intrigue tinting his words.
The boy's head lowered to his feet as he digested what he was told. He sniffled and tried burying his face into his hands, preferring the overbearing darkness to the sight of Dean and his entourage. Even as he did the boy shook, haunted by visions of the bodies around him. Bodies that once belonged to those who cared for him which were rendered scrap by those who saw them as trash to begin with. He gasped as he felt Dean's palm placed against his chest, shuffling back once the initial shock from the sudden contact faded away.
"A heartbeat... it's always so strange how shit bloods like you have them. You lot don't even possess a human heart after all. I know what's on the inside. No matter how your chest rises and falls, you're not breathing. You aren't living like us. You imitate us. Desire to be like us. But in the end, you're as unfeeling as the dirt I walk on. As insignificant as the ants I step on. And more alone than my sister and I will ever be. We aren't like you. We aren't weak, sniveling pussies who rely on monsters to protect us. We stand for something, we fight back in the face of hopelessness and depravity. But you… you just sit here and waste away. Your life has no purpose, you know that?"
Dean's positive expression remained throughout it all, his white teeth fully exposed while his grin widened. With each venomous statement that tore through the child's ears, a hint of sadistic glee bore deeper and deeper into Dean's voice.
"He's not responding. I don't think this kid respects you Dean," Cinder mentioned.
"Don't distract him with your bullshit while he's working," Xavier replied. Diego rolled his eyes as the two briefly bickered with each other, all the while Dean sucked his tongue and released a heavy sigh.
"No, he's right. All this time I feel like I've been talking to a brick wall. I mean, we spend our valuable time searching for the little freak and he can't even give us the decency of responding?"
"M...Maybe he can't respond. Maybe he can't talk or- or he's too scared.," Bella explained, clutching the folds of her shirt in her hands to relieve the stress that crept into her mind. Like a disease it made her body go cold, and with each passing second the room felt like it was shrinking such that it might eventually crush her. Her vision wavered constantly, unable to take her attention away from the object behind Dean's back.
"Oh please," Dean began as he discounted her theory, his voice dripping with condescension. "He could at least have the decency to run away. To fight. To struggle! He's so boring, so useless. This isn't what we came for, is it boys?!"
Dean reached into his pocket and drew out a dime. He presented it to the young boy, and it was then that the remnants of whatever facade he maintained turned to ash. There was no longer any smile, nor was there any pretense of kindness within his eye. In a hushed whisper, he spoke. His words were clear and concise, leaving no room for interpretation.
"Let's play a game. Go ahead. Call it."
The child didn't utter a word. His view darted back and forth between the coin and Dean's face, unsure of what to do.
"I said call it. Heads or tails. I'm giving you the decision."
"Decision for... Dean, what are you doing," Bella asked. Her vision was now permanently locked onto what Dean held in his right hand, and her voice was as shaky as she found her legs to be.
"He's going to choose. Fingers or leg."
"Wha-," Bella said before she was immediately cut off.
"Fingers or leg." Dean hovered right in front of the boy, glaring into his soul as raw disgust poured from his body. "I'm giving you an option. I'm either going to break each one of your fingers, or I'm going to cut off your fucking leg."
Both Bella's and the boy's eyes shrunk in terror as Dean uttered those words. The child threw his head into his knees, a scene which struck Bella like a blow to the gut as she witnessed it.
"Ah Hell yeah, that's sick! Can we just skip the bullshit and chop the little runt? I'm getting excited just thinking about it, can I hold him down," Cinder asked, cackling at the end.
"Do you ever calm down? You're gonna give me a headache," Diego responded as he massaged his scalp.
Tears began to drip down the boy's plastic face. From behind his back Dean revealed a large ax, the sharp metal blade resting atop a wooden hilt. Bella followed the edge as Dean moved it through the air, not losing track of it once. Her face was paper pale, and even in the relative darkness the group stood in, she could see the rough outline of the child in the metal's reflection.
"Very convenient for us to wind up in this kind of store. Turns out they keep these here in some dainty glass container. But you don't need to concern yourself with where I got it from, truth be told. You have a choice to make. Better choose before I decide for you. Hell, keep me waiting any longer and I'll do both to you," Dean asserted. He mocked the boy's fright, guiding his fingers along the child's face to wipe the tears away.
Then, he released his hand from the hybrid's face and removed his eyepatch, showcasing the void in his mug to the boy before him. "Just know that ever since one of your kind took this away from me, I've gotten far less patient. Now I have to admit, I just can't wait to hurt things like you. It just makes me feel better, you know? Very therapeutic. Get it? Time is ticking. So hurry up. Call it."
Dean waved the coin in the boy's face, ensuring the blade of the ax was in the kid's full view. Still, the hybrid said nothing, and his attention began to wilt as his vision blurred. His breathing became much quicker, even more so than it already had been, and he collapsed onto the floor entirely. He pathetically tried to shield himself with the corpse he still clung to, haphazardly manipulating the mannequin's body as cover with his trembling hands.
"Y-you know what," Bella sputtered out, capturing the attention of those around her. "Yeah... I do feel d-disrespected." She pushed her way forward, looking down at the petrified hybrid.
"F-fuck you! Fuck you for... for wasting our time. For being weak. F-fuck you for not responding to my brother!" She winced as she violently struck the boy in the nose. Bella grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to the ground as he wailed in pain.
"You s-should have known your place before messing with us!" A few more times she smacked and punched the hybrid. Only then did he finally resist, fighting and scratching against her while squirming to get free of her grasp.
"Please... I'm sorry, please just take it. I'm so sorry, please don't hate me. There's nothing more I can do for you," she thought while continuing her assault on the boy. Once the warm sensation of blood touched her skin she relented, backing away and looking at her red hands.
It took all the strength she could muster to not gag.
"T-there. You get... you get what you deserve, shit blood," She concluded, spitting on the boy's body while he wept and crawled away. Bella turned to Dean, trying her best to hold eye contact. He set his items down and clapped his hands together, his face beaming with approval.
"Well I'll be damned. You finally went around and got your hands dirty. Never thought I'd see the day... Tell me, how did it feel? Did you enjoy it? Did it feel good?"
"I-it did," Bella mumbled. "He needed... needed to be taught a lesson. He needed to learn to not disrespect me, disrespect us. I t-taught him that well, didn't I?"
"Oh, you did very well. Look at him. Sobbing, bleeding, broken. Like he should be. Now he knows what you're capable of. And it'll be something he considers from now on whenever he does anything in your presence. That's respect, sister. That's power." Dean kissed Bella's forehead and embraced her, and for the first time in a while, Bella felt a touch from him that didn't hurt.
"But you know," Dean began, whispering into her ear. "As glad as I am that you got that for yourself, he never answered my question. And that's very aggravating."
Bella's heart dropped as her brother pushed away from her and gripped the ax in his hands once more.
"D-Dean... Dean no. Dean Stop! Please stop, he knows. I swear to God he knows, he's learned already!" Bella tried to pull him back, desperately tugging at his arms to no avail. She was knocked off of him with a single push. Not bearing to watch any longer, the last thing that she saw before turning away was Dean stepping on the child's chest and aiming the blade above his right knee.
"Oh, and just to let you know," Dean mentioned, looking at Bella over his shoulder. The girl didn't dare reciprocate his gaze. His neutral face transformed into a knowing smile as he conveyed one simple thing. "I really was only going to do the punishment the coin landed on. But with your little intervention, well let's just say you inspired me. For a moment, you were everything I hoped you to be. But well, I can't go and get outdone by my little sister in front of my gang. So I think I'll go with both instead."
After that, all she heard for minutes on end were screams, laughter, and the splitting of both plastic and then bone.
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