Ruin & Rule

A gentle clinking as a chain loosened around the fissured wall, falling away like dead vines.

Keys suddenly fit into locks, and the wall—the horrible, frustrating, crippling wall that I’d lived with for eight long years—began to crumble.

Brick by brick. Mortar by mortar. It collapsed into a pile of earthquake-reduced rubble.

Then the pain and fogginess of being drugged intensified as every memory that had battered for freedom suddenly rushed forward unhindered.

Shards of thoughts.

Splinters of recollections.

They all flew into being, crushing me beneath the weight of knowing.

My mind!

Everything was there.

Every file in its perfect place.

Every thought where it should be.

A perfect Rolodex of childhood happiness, teenage trials, and then…

No.

Two weeks after my fourteenth birthday. The night of my parent’s murder.

No. No. No.

Please no!

My hand slapped over my mouth.

My mind snapped and the wall that’d only just crumbled was suddenly reerected, blocking out the quick glimpse I’d seen.

My thoughts scrambled, wiping any evidence free from my mind. A perfect eraser for a broken brain.

That was what my amnesia was protecting me from.

The truth about what happened that night. The truth I wasn’t strong enough to face.

I knew now why Arthur thought I would run when I remembered. I understood why he was petrified to tell me.

But he had it wrong.

So wrong.

I didn’t hate him—I could never hate him.

But I could hate the ones who were there that night—the ones who shattered not just my world but the boy I loved to the point of no redemption.

That night was heinous. Drenched in blood, deceit, and terror.

Arthur. God—

What they did to him… It was vile.

My heart spasmed, blocking out the rest like heavy smog.

The lies made more sense than the truth, but I knew which one to believe.

The reality wasn’t clear-cut or simple. It was twisted and hid so many sins.

And my mind didn’t want me to remember.

It protected me for one reason alone.

One vital self-preserving reason.

The truth had the power to kill me.

The truth was despicable.

To Be Continued....