Page 9 of Divine Violence
“Yeah, you did.” He laughed. “And that’s absolutely fine. Let me tell you a secret…”
He lowered his head down as if he really was going to tell me something special.
“I hate half of these people and the other half I don’t even know. It’s always the same crowd, the same stories, and the same, constant whining about their designer shit as if I give a fuck. I’m glad you’re not like them. You’re real.”
You’re real, echoed inside my head.
Was I really? I might not be living in an ivory tower, detached from the rest of the world, but there were days where I didn’t really know who I was anymore. Constantly stuck in the limbo between being a sinner or a saint, I had no idea which part of me was real anymore.
But if he thought I was real, I could pretend for one night. I could tell him everything he wanted to hear and some more, but I couldn’t give him more than that.
He didn’t get to see the real me.
“You are not what I expected,” I said. “Not that I knew you would be here tonight, but still.”
“What did you expect me to be?” he asked as we continued walking toward the boat.
“A pompous prick?” I squinted at him. “An entitled, spoiled rich man who couldn’t see further than his own nose?”
“Ouch.” He placed a hand over his heart, feigning hurt. “You wound me, little one. Not all of us are that bad, you know?”
I shrugged. “I am yet to be proven wrong, Alex. But I guess that you’re on the right track. As long as you don’t leave me with them.”
And by them, I meant all the females who would most likely like to throw me into the water for merely walking with him.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered just as a honking sound came from the boat. “You’ll be safe with me.” He pulled me with him over the metal board erected for us to step onto the boat, all the while holding my hand in his, as if I would slip away if he didn’t hold on to me. “I think you’re going to love it tonight.”
“I hope so too,” I added. “It is my last night in Ignis.”
Something flashed in his eyes as he looked down at me, but it disappeared and that carefree look came back again before I could question it.
“Well then,” he mumbled as we stepped onto the boat. “Let’s make sure it is an unforgettable one.”
Quell Island was justa wayward thought the whole time I lived in Ignis, yet I, just like many others, heard the stories about the tragic history of this beautiful place.
The island existed for as long as people could remember. A natural habitat for several species of birds and lizards, but it wasn’t its flora and fauna that made it so interesting that even the tourists that came to Ignis wanted to see it, even if it was only from afar.
Back in the sixteen hundreds, a wealthy couple moved from the Eastern World to the Western World, wanting to start a new life. And even though they held the picture of a perfect family, there were sinister things lurking behind closed doors. Only Mr. And Mrs. Hatherow with their children knew the truth.
The island that was once bare now held the secrets of that family and all the monstrosities they had committed. The eldest son of the couple, Jacob Hatherow, was every woman’s dream at that time, but none of them knew the wickedness hiding behind his kind smile.
In the time where White people thought they were better than other races just because of their fair skin color, blue eyes and blond hair, depraved secrets hid behind the walls of the mansions of those wealthy families.
Jacob Hatherow was a monster who tortured the women that worked for them. Women that weren’t fair. Women that didn’t have a family to support them and help them.
The story said that he lured them into his web of lies with sweet words and promises of tomorrow, only to torture them in the basement of the house, before having sexual intercourse with them. More than fifty bodies were found buried on the other side of the island, but Jacob Hatherow never paid for his crimes. I wished he was the only monster that used to exist on this side of the continent.
His sister was even worse.
I shivered at the mere thought of everything she did to both men and women who were foolish enough to trust her. Wrapping my arms around my middle, I stared at the dark water and the flickering lights peeking through the tree line of the island.
Some said that to this day, you could hear the screams of all those poor souls who lost their lives to the wicked brother and sister. Others warned to stay away from the maze that occupied the middle area of the island, just behind the grand mansion the Adair family refurbished when they moved in.
I had no idea what to believe, but I knew very well that every single story held at least a little bit of truth. What happened here wasn’t just some cautionary tale older people told just to scare little children.
Monsters were real.
They were real back then and they were real now. The only difference was that now they knew how to hide their true faces better.
