Chapter 5 - Parricide

Point-of-View: Alexis Tucker

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God fucking dammit, what the fuck was that!? I finally made enough money to run away from home, I come to New York, nearly get gang raped by a bunch of fucking thugs, and then a fucking superhuman saved me!?

Ugh, I can't believe that I cried and thanked him so pathetically, how embarrassing...though I only did so because, in that moment, I was genuinely grateful. But you know what, fuck this! Going through that shit at all is downright traumatizing, and I've got plenty of that already.

I used about half my saved up money to get here...guess I'm using the remaining half to get back to my shithole home in Albany. If I have to pick between gang rapists or my cunt of a father and bitch of a mother...it's a tough choice, but I guess I'll go with the latter.

It's not like I have any streams of income to rely on, and the amount I do have probably would get me more than three or four nights at a cheap inn or motel...in hindsight, running away so impulsively was stupid, I should have planned this out a lot more, not to mention saved more money.

But the moment I made enough money to run away, I just couldn't think of anything else, all I could focus on was running away, and as a result, didn't really think this through. In other words, thinking I could get away so easily was a delusion...and I'd rather not live on the streets and risk experiencing a repeat of what I just went through again.

Yeah, I'm going back...

...

A few hours later, I was back home, having used up all the money I'd saved up on a stupid, worse than pointless round trip, feeling immensely dejected and miserable. And now that I'm back, I doubt my mood is going to get any better...they'll make sure of that.

I was standing outside the front door of the house that I was born and raised in, a front door that, a few hours ago, I genuinely thought I'd never see again. Well, it was a nice fantasy while it lasted, there's no place in the world that gives me more anxiety than this house. Well, after today, I think dark, narrow alleyways might be a close second. Ugh, I hate everything.

I reluctantly stepped up to the front door and rang the doorbell, and before I even realized it, I felt my breathing starting to get all ragged and panicked, as I heard footsteps approaching from inside. The door then swung open and a hand shot out, grabbing my collar and pulling me inside before slamming the door shut.

"You little bitch, where the hell were you!?" Snapped my father, throwing me onto the ground angrily, I let out a wince of pain as my elbow hit the wall.

As usual, he reeks of booze and cigarettes...I think I might be starting to regret coming back, after all. Heh, I can't believe I'm actually considering rather taking my chances with those rapists than with my own parents...

"I-I was just-," I began with a scared stutter.

"And I see you didn't get the vodka you were supposed to bring back...useless fucking cunt!" He yelled, kicking my stomach hard.

I let out a gasp of pain and coughed with a slight wheeze, my vision blurring.

"I-I'm s-sorry, I-," I started to reply, before he cut me off with a vicious slap, my head hitting the wall and dazing me.

I hate this...I despise him so much, and yet, I can't help but become meek and weak-willed around him. As much as I want to stand up to him and defend myself, I just never can bring myself to do so.

No matter how much I muster up my courage and steel myself, the moment I meet his gaze, I just freeze up completely...it's like he has a psychological hold on me that I just can't shake...and he's not the only one...

"Oh, you're back...where the hell were you? Fucking every guy in town, you little whore?" Inquired my mother coldly, throwing an ashtray at me, which narrowly missed my head and struck the wall, causing my blood to go cold.

My chainsmoking, cokehead bitch of a mother...

"Hey, careful, woman! You're gonna chip the paint, we just got the new coat a few weeks ago," Growled my father irritably.

"Tch, I think my ashtray cracked. Hey, you shitty brat, we're running low on cash...I'm assuming since you were out for all that time, you made yourself useful and brought back some money?" She inquired with a frown, taking a threatening step towards me as she stared down at me disdainfully.

Both of them are unemployed and heavily in debt...so they forced me to drop out of high school when I was fourteen and take on several part-time jobs, only to take all the money I earned for themselves.

Though for the last year or so, I started secretly saving a portion of my earnings for myself in order to run away...but you know how that ended up going. In my sheer desperation to get away from them, I didn't even plan it out, I didn't think any further than saving up the money and then using it to run away, I didn't think about anything beyond that.

It took me a whole year to save up what I felt like was enough money. And...I spent nearly all of it today, so clearly, it was far from enough. All I had left was, like, twenty dollars.

"No...I-I don't have any money on me," I replied averting my gaze.

"Huh? Are you fucking serious? You useless little bitch!" She snapped, slapping me across the face.

"Damn straight, you're nothing but a waste of space if you ain't earning your keep. Hmph, maybe we can get some more cash in if the little tramps whores herself out for money...," Suggested my father, his eyes lighting up before turning to me with a look of disdain, "Hey, you eighteen yet, bitch?"

"N-no, I'm seventeen-," I began timidly.

"You certainly are talented at disappointing us, aren't you?" Frowned my mother spitefully, causing me to flinch.

"How inconvenient...guess we gotta wait till next year, ain't gonna risk getting involved in no pedo shit. Tch, what a waste. Get out of my sight, and tomorrow, you better bring in some money and booze, got it!?" He snapped furiously, before the two of them stormed off.

I stood up with a groan of pain and stumbled back, leaning against the wall with a sigh of despair, fighting back tears. I...I've had enough of this...I'm sick of being pushed around by them...I'm sick of crying because of them, I'm sick of them breaking me over and over, my dignity, my humanity, my ego, my confidence...I want to be able to have those things again...but...but there's nothing I can do to change this.

I tried running away and almost instantly regretted it...well, it was foolish to think that just a year of saving up pocket change was ever going to be enough...what's the point of running away if I'm just going to end up living on the streets? I'm nowhere near able to pay rent for a place to live, and even if I could, I can't imagine a minor would be able to find a cheap yet liveable place so easily.

I stumbled through the house, my body aching as I did, before I reached the backdoor and opened it quietly, stepping out onto the backyard with a sigh. This place just keeps getting messier and messier, each time I come out here, there's new trash that wasn't here before. And yet, I feel so much more at ease out here than I do inside the house.

As I walked over to one of the few clear spots in the backyard, a small grassy patch behind a half-dead bush-...I blinked in surprise as I realized that it was no longer there. The bush was still there, but the nice, comfortable patch of grass behind it was no more...in its place was a small crater, with what looked like a dimly glowing glass ball in the middle.

What is this? It was glowing a faint blue hue and as I squatted down near it to get a better look, it felt like the air around it was kinda static-y. Judging from the depth of the crater, this must have crash landed here from quite a height...maybe it fell out of some kind of aircraft or something?

No, that can't be right, if something made of glass fell from that high, it would definitely have shattered, right? This doesn't make any sense...unless this is made of a material that isn't glass. It definitely looks like glass though...but maybe it feels different, let me see-...the moment I touched it, it felt like my body was rapidly getting hotter, the ball was glowing brighter and brighter as I desperately tried to pull my hand off of it, but to no avail.

What the hell is this, it feels like I'm burning alive-...oh, wait, no I don't. In fact, I feel just fine all of a sudden...and the glass ball, or whatever it was, was gone. Huh? What the hell? Am I going crazy?

No, the crater is still there, I didn't imagine it...what the fuck just happened to me? I don't get this...and I don't think I want to. I'm just...so goddamn exhausted, I want to go to sleep already...

Yeah, I'll worry about this in the morning, it's not a concern for right now...is what I'm telling myself because I'm completely and utterly emotionally drained by today, and I've had enough. I headed back in and made my way to my room...which was the broom closet in the house, it wasn't even big enough for a mattress, I had to curl up like a shrimp to sleep.

Damn it, they left the hallway light on, as usual...I'm the one who's forced to work till I'm ready to drop and then pay the electricity bill, along with the other utility bills, the least they could do is switch off the goddamn lights! Those fucking assholes!

Heh, what's the point in me getting so riled up? It's not like I have the guts to say all this to them directly...fucking hell, what did I ever do to deserve this? Anger and hatred welled up inside me as I walked over to the light switch and moved to turn it off. Even if they die, I'll still be stuck paying back their fucking debts, so no matter what I do, they've made sure to drag me down for as long as I live...

In that moment, as my hatred surged to a point I'd never let it get to before, the next thing that entered my mind was so casual and nonchalant that it terrified me...I want to kill them. The frighteningly eerie calmness in which that thought flowed into my head sent chills down my spine, as I pressed on the light switch...

...and a sudden spark of electricity crackled around my finger, before the switch exploded, along with the lightbulb above, the shards of glass crashing down onto the ground, not far from where I was standing.

I stumbled back in shock, unable to believe what just happened...and before I could even begin to process it, my heart sank as I heard the door to my parents' bedroom swing open with a loud thud and a pair of footsteps stomping their way over here.

"What the hell was that!?" Exclaimed my father, before halting as he reached the hallway and saw the broken bulb and scorched light switch, a baseball bat in his hands.

"What did you do, you little bitch!?" Screamed my mother furiously, shoving me violently.

I lost my balance and fell down, letting out a scream of pain as my left shoulder and arm landed on the spot where the bulb shards had fallen, several piercing into my skin agonizingly. I-it hurts, it really hurts...damn it, why is this all happening to me...? What...what did I do to deserve this?

"You better clean that shit up!" Snapped my father, swinging the bat down, hitting the floor right next to my face, as I hurriedly scrambled to get back on my feet in terror, barely even noticing the pain from the bulb shards pierced into me in my panic.

"Useless little whore, I expect you to replace the bulb you broke, or else!" Yelled my mother, taking another threatening step towards me.

They were both screaming and shouting in unison, I couldn't even make out half the words. As I sat up with a wince of pain, my father kicked out at me viciously, his foot slamming against my chest and knocking me back, the back of my head hitting the floor painfully.

They're both still screaming, but I was too dazed to really listen, their voices sounded like a vague, dull roar in the background...oh, I think my father is yelling about having stepped on a piece of glass...

I felt another kick at my abdomen as he began ranting about how it was my fault that he's bleeding, I let out a gasp of pain as my hearing and vision blurred, their spiteful shouting getting drowned out into incomprehensible noise. I can't take it anymore, I...I want them to die. God damn it, I...I want them to die so badly...!

I gritted my teeth as I trembled with rage, and yet, felt an eerie calmness about me...

"...-ut up."

"Huh!? What was that, bitch!?" Snapped my mother, stomping on my stomach.

"I said...shut up," I replied in an icy, calm voice, glaring up at them defiantly for the first time in my life...I don't understand this, but somehow...I just feel like I no longer have a reason to fear these two monsters...

"Excuse me!? I've a good mind to tear out that insolent fucking tongue, you little-...!" Began my father, before trailing off and stumbling back with a look of shock in his eyes, my mother doing the same.

What is this...electricity was crackling around me, blue and yellow streaks violently sparking across my body...it felt like my body was surging with...power? It felt like it was contained in my body...and by letting it pour out...I was generating electricity.

As I stared at the electricity crackling around me in awe, there was only one thought going through my mind. It wasn't disbelief at this sudden display of superpowers or whatever this is, or anything like that, no...the only thing going through my mind was this, a single sentence; with this power...I can kill them. I don't even recognize myself in this current state of mind, but that doesn't matter...all that matters, is that I can kill them...

"What the fuck is this!?" Exclaimed my mother in shock.

Yeah...I can definitely kill them with this, I don't have any proof, I just know it somehow. Mom, dad...for a long, long time now, I have hated you with every inch of my being, I've absolutely despised you. And I've had enough of you...both of you...

"Even dogs listen better than you two shitheads do...what part of 'shut up' is so hard to understand, huh!?" I yelled furiously, my calm fury replaced by a burning sense of immense hatred, as I let the power I felt inside me burst out as I exclaimed, "Fucking die, you goddamn monsters!"

In practically an instant, a massive flash of electric blue and yellow burst out all around me with a deafening, blindingly bright explosion as a vicious crackle rang out.

The explosion was absolutely devastating, and yet, it lasted for less than a second, and by the time the flash faded and I could see again, I looked around my surroundings in shock.

I glanced down, to see...two scorched corpses in front of me, dark wisps of smoke rising up from their charred bodies. The walls and ceiling were gone, and the sky and street were clearly visible as the smoke began to clear, with several other heavily scorched objects all around me. Wha...what the...? What just...what just happened? The entire house, it's...it's gone...

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