The Kid...

**Warning: Might be disturbing...**

25 YEARS EARLIER-

Kevin, the only son of a butcher named Antony was looking at the stars from the windows without sleeping. He was just twelve years old, but his insomnia coupled with the mental abuse from his father has rendered him completely emotionless. His small happiness and sense of wonder came from the night sky and its stars.

The day began with its usual rain and Kevin lifted his school bag with his trembling hands and drowsy face, probably because of his sleepless night.

"Dad, dinner?" Kevin asked before leaving as his stomach ached in hunger. He knew very well that his father will never make him breakfast, but still he asked.

"Get the fuck out... if you want to live?" Evan calmly threatened his son and gulped his whiskey.

"Love you, Dad" Kevin left the house and hurriedly wiped his eyes as he was already hungry and didn't want to lose some strength in shedding tears.

On his way, he saw the usual disgusted looks towards him and his attire from the 'Perfects' residing around his slum. He simply smiled at them and continued to walk forward.

Kevin's life was a very tough one. He lost his mom to suicide because of his father's abuse. Because of the trauma and the daily stress, he developed anxiety-related problems at a very young age. But, he still had this tiny optimistic attitude to face his problems. Whether it was getting bullied by other kids from reputed families or his own father, he always took the beating with a smile.

Kevin entered the classroom - the only classroom in the semi-ruined building. The teacher welcomed him with a smile.

Kevin's school was a very old damaged building where a lady teaches students who are not getting any education, because of their poor economic background and social status.

"Hi, Kevin! Why so late?" the teacher asked him with her usual angelic smile. Her smile was one of the rare things in the world that comforts Kevin and gives him hope.

"Sorry, mam... it was..." the grumpy sound in his stomach stopped him in mid-conversation.

The teacher understood his predicament and grabbed his hand. She brought him close to her.

"Go to the ground floor. We have a savior here," she whispered in his ear and glared at him, signaling him to go. Kevin nodded and left the room hesitantly.

He reached the ground floor and heard some clatterings of dish plates and glasses. He slowly reached the room and peeked inside. A very thin man in his 20's and wearing a white chef uniform was washing off the plates and glasses. He looked so worn out and weak with bloodshot eyes.

But apart from his appearance, the thing that caught Kevin's eyes, was a cup of milk and a cup of ice cream with a plate full of chocolates. The Cook mixed them in the mixer grinder. It was a milkshake.

"What do you want, kid?" the dishwashing thin man asked Kevin without even looking back.

"How do you know? and... who... who are you?" Kevin asked with his trembling voice that shifted from high pitch to low pitch in each word.

The dishwashing stranger chuckled and put the plates aside.

"I'm the new cook for your little school. You can call me... hmm... Cook. Yeah, Cook will be apt"

"My teacher doesn't have money—"

"I don't need money. I'm planning on opening a restaurant, so... just consider this as a trial... I consider it" Cook winked and brought himself closer to Kevin while keeping his hands folded behind his back.

"What is it behind your back?" Kevin stopped him.

"Oh... Thought it would surprise you" Cook took out a big cake and bowed in front of Kevin handing over the cake.

"Happy Birthday Kevin!" the teacher and the students shouted standing behind Kevin. With gifts and cards in their hands, they flocked around Kevin. Kevin cannot decide on how to react. Overwhelmed with emotions, his eyes welled up.

The teacher gave a knife to Kevin and held his trembling hand, helping him to cut the cake. The Cook clapped his hands, while the kids sang the birthday song. Kevin looked at his teacher with tears.

"Hey, no... This is not a day for the tears, all right," the teacher wiped away his tears and pinched his cheeks with both of her hands making him smile.

The day was a blast and Kevin enjoyed it more than his last birthday; the day he lost his mom. The Cook delivered some delicious dishes to the kids and Kevin ate them to his heart's content.

As the school timings ended, everybody returned to their home, except Kevin who confined himself to the classroom. He was so happy today, that he basically cannot return to his hellish home again where his dad beat him every night and having another date with a sleepless night. Suddenly a hand grabbed his shoulder. Kevin was terrified, thinking of his dad, and fell to the ground.

"Please, don't father—oh Cook!" Kevin relaxed after seeing the cook.

"Father? Not dad?... or daddy?"

"We are not that close"

The Cook felt something in his throat and ran off from Kevin. Kevin followed him back to a corner, where the Cook coughed blood. His eyes became redder.

"Just a matter of time, it seems..." the Cook muttered.

"What happened to you? Are you suffering from... the blood vomiting disease—"

"It's cancer! Okay, don't try to be like those cute kids from movies, I may cough up blood from laughing too"

With a towel hung over his shoulder, Cook wiped off the blood.

"Change the towel—"

"I know... Mr. Kid, you won't see this towel in the kitchen... Don't worry, you won't get cancer" Cook chuckled, "Now tell me what are you doing here?"

"I can't go home... It's too much after a day like this—"

"Why?" Cook made his question short and clear.

"My dad... He beats me. I can't even sleep... It's been months since I got a complete sleep. Can't I even ask for—" Kevin broke down in tears. The sudden happiness for the day and the warmth he felt from others became too much for Kevin to handle. A basic thing like love and warmth that everybody gets was too pricey and asking it was greedy in his life; that's how he lived so far.

But for the Cook, it was not too different in any way from his life. He lived a similar life and felt his pain, but he also knew that it was pointless to cry. He left the kid with a glass of milk and Kevin dozed off to sleep after all the crying.

"You need to have the strength, kid," Cook whispered, so Kevin doesn't wake up. He gently patted his head.

"So, you do care" Anamika, the teacher startled the Cook. Cook held his scream.

"I almost shouted. Don't scare me like that" Cook whispered but loud enough for Nancy to hear.

"Haan... the rumors are true. So, you do care" Nancy continued to troll Cook. Cook simply nodded and accepted defeat.

"So, how about joining me. We can raise these kids"

"Really? I'll cook, but these—"

"It's been ten years since you hibernated, you are reaching your limit... You need a purpose, right? The kids are the purpose. Just go through the damn process."

The Cook was left speechless and puzzled. Part of him said to agree, but returning to society was a bit too much for him. Nancy seeing the hesitance held his hand tightly.

"Do it. Live a little longer. For the little ones... For me."

Cook sighed heavily looking at her and with a lot of thought, he finally accepted the offer, nodding his head.

Nancy jumped in happiness.

"Hey, Shhh... let the kid sleep" Cook warned jokingly and left the room. Nancy stayed to wait for Kevin, to take him home.

After a few hours, the night came. Kevin opened his eyes on hearing a woman screaming.

"Sir, please!"

The blurry vision slowly became clear. Kevin was shocked at the horrendous visual.

"Hey, son! Thanks for the meal," It was his father along with some men trying to strip a woman.

"No, no, no, no... No!" Kevin screamed. The woman was Anamika, his teacher.

"I heard, you look after those poor kids and their education. I really salute you for that, but..."

Kevin's dad took a knife and walked towards her unzipping his pants.

"See, I have huge respect for your social service. Taking care of the poor kids. Developing the lower order people... I get it. But, I received a hefty amount of money... to end you and this school. Because some people in the higher end didn't like this... your little service. My boys are already taking care of that Cook as we talk and now it's just you..."

Anamika struggled to stand as they already cut off her tendons, so she crawled away.

"Just thought... why don't I have some fun in the meantime," Kevin's dad continued to comment.

"Stop!" Kevin rushed to his teacher's aid, but his father easily threw him away to the desks, breaking Kevin's shoulder.

Kevin screamed at his father and his own uselessness. He again picked himself up and grabbed his father's legs; To plead him to stop. His father kicked him in the face, till his face got swollen and Kevin lost his grip, letting him go.

Anamika cried and crawled to the corner.

Kevin as a last resort jumped on his father and started biting his ears and pull his hair. The other two tried to pull Kevin away from his father. Kevin's dad grabbed his son and slammed hard on his floor. Kevin rolled in pain. His dad kicked hard on his son's stomach pushing him away from the path. Kevin squealed.

Kevin's dad got near to Anamika.

"You know something... I have this fantasy of doing", He slowly sliced her throat, "with the dead."

Kevin saw his teacher going through a painful death and hit his head hard on the floor, crying.

"Ok. Now, let's get to the fun stuff. Call the other guys and tell them to throw the Cook's body away— what's the sound?"

Within seconds, a man entered the classroom like a bullet smashing the wall. His face and hands are covered in blood.

"What the fu—" one of the thug's head exploded at the very moment the fork in the man's hand touched his head.

In the moonlight, to their eyes, he looked exactly like the Devil himself. But, unfortunately to them, it was the Devil himself.

The Cook, the Devil grabbed the other guy's head and lifted him in the air, then slammed him hard on the floor. The thug got squashed like a mosquito.

The Devil slowly turned his gaze towards Kevin's dad. The coward immediately knelt down and bowed to the Devil.

"I was late, kid... I have no right to avenge her. You were there... You tried. Tell me—"

"Leave him"

The response took the Devil by surprise and shock.

"Why? Because he's your—"

"Teacher taught me... Killing him won't bring her back"

"I already killed two of them. Not a big deal"

"But it won't bring her back... it won't bring her ba..." Kevin's tears overflowed and he broke down crying.

"Die, you motherfucker" Kevin's dad rushed towards the distracted Devil to stab him.

Kevin still looking at Kevin dodged the coward, by moving a little to his left and slapped him on the face, on which the head explodes in the impact.

But Devil felt nothing from killing him. He knew it too.

'It won't bring her back.'

The Cops arrived and Devil handed over the kid to them but requested one final conversation with him before he leaves for the orphanage.

"Hey! So you are going to the orphanage. The officers said that to you, right?"

Kevin nodded his head.

"You see... the thing is, I want to adopt you, but... I'm gonna take this new position... A very big one. People will loath me and if I took you in... they might turn their anger towards you... I don't want that"

"I don't want you to adopt me. We just met only a few hours ago"

"You are right in a way... But for me... No! I heard a lot about you... from her. Your ordeal. And your will to not lose your hope—"

"From mam?"

"Yes... She believed in you... She saw you... the potential in you... to be Me... a flawless Me. You may not understand but I believe her too... You forgave your father, after all," Devil patted him on his shoulder, "Go and study... And hopefully one day, you will take my position... but people won't loath you like they did to me."

Devil gave the cross-chain worn by Anamika to Kevin and held his hand tightly before bidding goodbye.

"Change your name," Kevin stopped the Devil.

"What?"

"You are called the Devil. How people won't loath you"

"Then what name—"

"Hmm... How about a name that has respect in it... naturally"

"Naturally?"

"Yeah... how about... hmm... How about Priest?"

Kevin rushed off to the van and waved goodbye to the Devil.

"Priest... hmm" Priest waved him back. He looked at the sky preparing to pour its annoying rain.

On the way, the van stopped.

"One minute, kid. Just a phone call" the driver said to Kevin and moved away from the van to attend the call.

"Your highness, the kid is with me"

"Good" the voice of the Cult supreme at the other end, replied.

"A kid belonging to the 'Perfects' has killed another boy in a small gang fight. We can swap the files and lock this kid up. But..."

"What but?"

"He was handed over by the Devil himself"

"Oh, the Devil" The Cult supreme clenched her teeth in anger, "stage an accident, report him as missing"

"Okay, mam"

"But, lock him in the Rotten Casket."

"What?" the driver shocked with the reply.

"Erase his memories. Put him through extreme physical and mental torture. Orchestrate scenarios to corrupt him. Rip all the kindness and love that impressed the Devil away from his heart," the Cult supreme puffed her cigar, "He should not return to society. It will be too much of a trouble to the social chart if a 'defected' becomes successful. He is destined to be a failure... a criminal... and his death will be in the hands of the Devil himself. That's... his destiny."

The driver returned to the van and saw the poor kid playing with the cross-chain without knowing the cruel fate awaiting him.

Now, 25 years later.

Kevin, the leader was on the floor knelt down wearing his cross staring at the Devil. He saw something strange on its face. The Devil's eyes looked shiny. It was teary-eyed.

"Why does the Devil feel remorse for doing its thing?" Kevin asked.

"Because... I know you kid."

With guilt piercing his heart, Devil gently patted Kevin's head before ripping it off from Kevin's body and threw it away, which rolled and touched Maguire's feet.

As everyone's attention was too focused on the massacre, the blood, and the monstrosity, the tears from the Devil's eyes fell on the blood splashed ground unnoticed.