Tears Of Torment

Pain.

It is all he ever knew, and all he ever gave the world.

No, there were moments when he had joy, but as is the nature of such things, they passed quickly—making way for suffering and misery to come.

It all started before he was even born; his mother taken away from her home, kidnapped and sold to slavery, working as a cheap prostitute without access to proper medicine or birth control. She got pregnant in her first month there; nothing changed. Her owners not willing to pay for an abortion; she was forced to birth the child. That child was Lucius.

Lucius does not remember much of his mother, only remembering his namesake. Light, Lucius was supposed to be the light in her torment. That quickly changed when the owners also took Lucius when he became four years old. They broke his left arm and forced him to beg on the streets for chump change.

Whenever his arm would heal, they would break it again, until eventually, it didn't recover back again. Lucius kept up with this for eight years, until he was considered too old to beg.

He was forced to come back to where all the slaves lived. Lucius, all this time yearned for one thing; his mother. He searched and searched, yet was unable to find her. Finally, he gritted his teeth and went to his owner to knock on his door. From the other side came incomprehensible noises, especially for a 12-year-old.

The owner, a man named Thomas, said, "Who is there." Lucius would have probably found it highly comical, had he known the intricacies of religion, that such a man would be named after a saint. Now, however, Lucius found the name anything but comical.

Lucius, terrified deep in his heart, replied, "It's me, Lucius."

"Ah, of course, Luc. Come in," he replied in a tone filled with irony and a hint of sarcasm. "What do you want from me this time boy, I am a busy man, you know." Lucius hated that nickname from the core.

Inside the room, Thomas was sitting on the chair; that was not all. There was a beautiful lady with platinum blonde hair, petite figure, and almost exaggerated proportions sitting on his lap bouncing around. Lucius ignored her. "Thomas, could you tell me what happened to my mother. I need to find her."

Something flashed in Thomas' eyes as he came to a realization. He quickly glanced at the Woman, still bouncing in his lap as his gaze became lascivious. Lucius didn't miss it, he started paying more attention to the Woman, and he found out that her eyes were dead inside, they had no life in them. Her belly was also protruding a bit. Watching her, Lucius' heart started aching; he did not know why.

Thomas picked up the lady and put her against a wall, positioned so that Lucius would have a clear view of her. He muttered under his breath, "This is going to be fun." Then in a louder voice that Lucius could hear, he asked, "Kid, you want to know where your mother is, right?".

Lucius being the naive kid that he was, quickly replied, "Yes, I do, please tell me."

Finally, Thomas burst out laughing, while also bouncing the lady faster, he shouted "Well you're looking at her, runt," there was a final groan from both the lady and Thomas, after which he ushered them out of his room.

Lucius was staring at the lady, trying to take her features in, as if he was scared they would be separated again. The lady was similarly taking everything in, however, her eyes remained soulless and bleak. Finally, she reached out and touched his hair, darker than hers, looking more of a dirty gray. "Lucius, my light, my life. I have missed you," she finally spoke.

At that moment Lucius burst out crying and hugged his mother, there was no rhyme or reason as to why. It was what the universe itself was guiding him towards. This was the first time Lucius had cried in 7 years, quickly learning to stop crying after the regular beatings received for it.

Lucius' mother also burst out into tears, a light flashing in her soulless eyes. Lucius, her light, had finally returned to her.