Aidan was right. The first drops of rain fell gently. Not long after, it came down in showers, like needles falling from the sky, pricking his skin. He threw the hood over his head.

  Milan’s heart felt heavy. His mind went back to the other recording the good-for-nothing attorney had mentioned. The description of the crime made him want to throw up. Milan didn’t just ‘kill’ them. He plunged Damien’s knife inside their abdomens as his mother screamed his father’s name. After they were dead, he continued stabbing them and proceeded to record himself describing how he’d done it. In detail.

  Milan trudged along the road. Growing up, it hadn’t bothered him that much that his parents hated each other. He couldn’t hear them screaming and fighting at night. Or during the day, for that matter. On the outside, everything was great. But Milan knew deep down how they felt. If he hadn’t been born, they would’ve left each other. Their misery was Milan’s fault. But what was worse was them lying to him. For years they had lied to his face, hiding the ugly truth beneath their fake laughter and made-up bliss, trying to pull this ‘we’re-such-a-happy-family’ bullshit. They’d never been happy. Not truly.

  Milan walked for miles. His socks were drenched, and he felt as if he was walking barefoot through a puddle. What would happen if a police car showed up right now? He’d get arrested, be taken into a detention center, go on trial and get his life sentence. Then, he’d spend the remainder of his life in a cramped prison cell with other criminals like himself. Murderers, thieves, robbers, abductors. He never thought he’d commit murder. But here he was. If there was a tiny chance he didn’t kill his parents, he still almost killed that guard back in the electrical room. He didn’t know what came over him. The only thing he could think of back then was the need to escape. He didn’t want to go to prison for something he didn’t do. He’d been so sure he hadn’t done it.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  A peal of sharp laughter scratched against Milan’s ears. His eyes shifted around, but it was impossible to see through the curtain of darkness. Then, he realized no one was there at all. It was Milan himself.

  He was laughing.

  He glued a hand to his mouth, but he couldn’t stop. Had he officially gone insane? Ambling in the middle of the road, his laughter filled every inch of the way. He gave up trying to hold it in.

  His fingers went numb. So numb, Milan thought they’d fall off, one by one. Why had the temperature dropped? It was late Spring. It shouldn’t be this cold. Something came over him. He wanted to take the coat off and feel every drop of rain on his body. Maybe if his insides went as numb as his fingers, he wouldn’t feel a thing. Not the pain of losing his parents, nor the pain of the thought of him ending their lives.

  But the rain stopped as fast as it had begun. Milan threw his hood down. A gray building perched in the distance, shrouded by tall grass. As he got closer, he realized it hadn’t been used in a while. Graffiti was sprayed all over the dull walls, the grass reached his knees and the air inside was damp and musty.

  Milan eyed the sky, where dappled light seeped through the thick clouds. He’d been walking until dawn. His legs trembled, and his eyelids felt heavy. He trotted inside and fell asleep within a second.