I've seen and experienced more fucked up shit than I ever thought I would recently. Part of me was hoping to get a reprieve from that by coming back home, roughing up my dad, and leaving with my mom. Now though, as I stared my mom, devoid of her free will, and trapped in a cage, I felt an all consuming rage wash over me.
I was mad at not just my piece of shit adopted father, but at myself as well. While I was off getting powers, getting married, and lazing... my mom was suffering, and it was far worse than I ever could have imagined. I was aware that the majority of the blame fell on Marcus for turning out to be such a fucking monster, but I still began to hate myself for not coming back sooner. How many months of this torture could I have prevented?
"I'll kill him. I'll kill him. I'll kill him."
These words repeated in my head over and over again, and while I heard the faint noises of something like a scream, I couldn't seem to focus on it. All I wanted to do was find this monster, and tear him apart. There was a tug on my arm, and I ignored it at first, but then I felt a voice in my head this time, feeling instinctively that a skill was being used.
"Eli... please look at me..." The voice pleaded, Cici's voice... it was enough to partially break me of whatever trance I was in, and the red in my vision lessoned as I looked down, and was met with pleading green eyes.
Her lips began moving, and now with the rage cleared a bit, I could hear her actual voice this time.
"You need to calm down, my love. I know you're mad. I am too." She said, and it was now that I could see the tears in her eyes mixed with the subdued anger behind them, "But getting angry right now won't help her. She's scared Eli, and you're going to make it worse. Please... for her, and for me, control yourself."
I looked over at my mother, and found that she was backed up against the wall on the bed, her eyes full of terror, tears, and hopelessness. The sight not only broke my heart, but it broke the anger clouding my mind like a sheet of ice being struck with a sledgehammer, shattering into thousands of pieces. I was still angry, but I quickly took hold of it using my willpower, and pushed it aside, locking it into a box that I would use later. Right now, the grief and the self incrimination I felt were the strongest feelings I was having at the moment. I felt hot tears fall down my face as I walked towards the small prison.
"Mom..." I said, grabbing onto the bars of the door, and ripping it right off.
"NO! STAY AWAY!" My mom screamed, bringing her knees up to her chest.
"Eli..." Cici said, and I immediately winced and felt awful again. That definitely wasn't going to help matters, but I needed to get her out of here.
I placed the cell door on the ground as gently as possible, and slowly made my way inside of the cage.
"Hey... mom... it's me... it's-" I said, but my mom screamed again as she jumped up and bolted for the open door.
I caught her, and she fought against me, screaming bloody murder as she pounded against my chest ineffectually.
"LET ME GO! LET ME OUT OF HERE! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" She screamed, and it felt like parts of my heart was being broken into small pieces.
"MOM!" I yelled, making her tense, but she stopped struggling for moment, "It's me! It's Eli!"
My words caused her body to jolt, and she looked up at me, her tear filled eyes now studying my face. She still looked scared, but there was hope in her eyes, even if only a bit, as she studied my face. As I thought of something else I could do to reassure her, I felt a slight hint of embarrassment, but I easily pushed it aside as the need to help her calm down was much stronger.
"Mama, I need hugs to make the pain better." I said, feeling my cheeks heat slightly after speaking the words of my childhood self.
That was something I said to her a lot as a kid. It always made her happy and sad at the same time. For me, it was sort of a mental thing, as her warm hugs would always help me forget about the pain I had always felt constantly. It didn't go away, but her warmth and love always helped me push through the worst of it. Obviously, I was a child, so my words were not very eloquent, but I needed my mom to calm down right now, and it was the only thing I could think of that she would recognize. I could only hope that Cici doesn't think I'm weird after that.
My mom froze, looking at me with shimmering eyes. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. I saw what I wanted to see though. There was recognition and realization in her eyes now. I had to keep talking to her.
"Mom... it really is me. I'm okay, and I'm here for you..." I said, my tearing up thinking about what she'd been through since I left her, "I'm so sorry... please forgive me for leaving you..."
She just kept staring at me, but then she began to breathe hard. Her heart rate picked up by several beats, and her body began to tremble. And then... she let out the most heartbreaking sob I'd ever heard anyone make as tears fell from her eyes in an amount I'd never seen anyone produce before. In that same instance, she threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around me so tightly that if I hadn't been a Framework enhanced being, I actually think she'd have cracked my bones.
Her legs began to give out, and I went down to the ground with her, holding her as she sobbed into me, muttering, "My sweet baby boy," over and over again, although it was barely audible through her choked sobs.
"It's okay... it's okay." I said, trying to comfort her, but with how much I was currently crying, I don't think I was doing the best job. I was so many things right now. I was happy, sad, pissed off, confused... I don't even know which emotion was stronger right now.
Soft sniffles and small sobs behind me told me that Cici was definitely not immune to the emotions of the moment either. I opened my eyes, and looked around the basement, feeling my anger boiling inside of me once more. I needed to get her out of this goddamn basement, but I was not leaving this house. That motherfucker would be here at some point today, and I was going to make him pay. This might sound cold and cruel given who he was to me, but... I was going to fucking kill him.
"Come on mom. Let's get you out of here." I said, standing up with her and picking her up into my arms.
She continued to clutch at me while remaining a crying mess. I turned around to find Cici, her body trembling with rage and sadness as tears flowed from eyes like a stream.
"If you don't make him pay for this, I will..." Cici hissed, and the anger coming off of her was more than I thought my kitten would ever be capable of.
I didn't answer her with words, but my eyes were the only answer she needed. I began walking up the stairs with my mom in my arms, and my wife right behind me. I had to clean her up, try and fix her body with my power, and then try and get her to talk to me. I already made up my mind about how I was going to deal with that fucker, but I still wanted to know just what the hell was going on. He was bad, and a real piece of shit for a while, but this... this is something only a true monster is capable of.