Ten years.
It had been eleven years since Wyatt, or the demon orphan as he was now called, had been blamed for killing his foster parents.
And needless to say, it had been complete hell for Wyatt.
Sister Lucy kept to her words and made Wyatt suffer in the orphanage. From small portions of food to huge amounts of labor, and not to mention the insults and beatings rained down on him every day.
The only one who believed him and stuck by him was Annalise. Or at least she did before she was adopted three years ago—no doubt Sister Lucy's doing.
Now it had all become the norm for Wyatt. He hated everyone for what he went through, and the person he blamed the most of all was God.
God, the creator of heaven and earth, the supreme being that rested atop the heavens, was the one person Wyatt hated the most.
Since the beginning of his life, it had been one misfortune after another. God must probably hate him for putting Wyatt through all he had been through.
How could the "father of all" hate one of his "children" this much?
Wyatt sat down on the cold floor of the "purgatory."
A sort of punishment room in the orphanage. Children who misbehaved were kept in the dark, hot room for a few hours, depending on their offense.
The purgatory had become a second home for Wyatt ever since his return. He was always being thrown in for every little thing he did. There was a time he was put in purgatory for not saying "Amen" loud enough during prayers.
"Cheddar, cheddar, cheddar..."
Wyatt sat in the windowless room, fingering his silver locket which hung from his neck, repeating one word over and over.
It had become his coping mechanism for pain. All these years it had helped calm his nerves—why stop now?
"I wonder where I got this from..." he thought aloud, referring to the locket.
He couldn't remember how he got it. All his life, this locket had been around his neck—maybe it was given to him by his birth parents.
"I wonder what my parents were like. Did they have my weird eye thing as well?"
Wyatt had been in this orphanage all his life; sometimes he even believed he was born there.
Everything—from his name to his birthday, even his age—was all given to him by the orphanage.
"But then why'd they leave me there, all alone?" he asked no one in particular. "I bet An wouldn't have left me alone."
Once again, he thought about the one person who always brought a smile to his face no matter what...
Annalise.
He smiled as he thought back to that day—the day he came back to this place.
Ten years ago...
Sob... Sob...
The only thing that could be heard in a pitch-black room was the sobs of a child. Well, that and...
"It wasn't me, it wasn't me... I swear it wasn't me..."
The murmurs of six-year-old Wyatt could be heard in between his sobs.
This was the day Wyatt killed his foster parents.
'Everyone hates me.'
"Why do bad things happen to me? What did I ever do to deserve this, God?"
A pause.
"Please answer me." His voice slightly raised.
A longer pause.
"WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU, GOD?" Now he was screaming.
"I WAS A GOOD BOY, WASN'T I? I WAS FAITHFUL, I PRAYED, I KEPT YOUR COMMANDMENTS—SO WHY? WHY ME?" He held his head, screaming like a madman.
"Why me..." he repeated in a low voice.
"Now everyone thinks I killed those nice people. The whole world wants me dead." He sobbed. His heart ached, and his eyes and throat were sore from crying all day. He had gone through so much.
"Maybe I should just end it all... kill myself and get it all over with. No more pain, no more hate."
"I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?" He raised his head to the ceiling as he said those words. Then his mind wandered to his only friend—would she still love him now that he was branded a killer? Was he truly alone in this world?
Creak...
The doors of purgatory opened, finally letting light into the dark room and distracting Wyatt from his thoughts.
'It's been seven hours already?' Wyatt wondered.
Then, a loud thud was heard.
"The next time you dropkick a reverend sister, it'll be the whip for you, young lady."
Sister Rita looked further into the room, finally acknowledging Wyatt's existence.
"Why don't you spend time with your murderous friend, as your form of penance, of course," Sister Rita smiled deviously. "Maybe he'll kill you too," she said under her breath.
As soon as the door locked, Annalise shot from her position straight to where Wyatt was, tackling him with her hug.
"Thank goodness you're all right. Those stupid sisters wouldn't let me see you, and I got worried." Her usually strong and defiant voice was trembling.
Wyatt just sat there, his formerly lifeless eyes now filled with tears. She came in here... for him.
"Annalise..." He finally wrapped his hands around her. "I'm so scared," he whispered before crying his heart out.
Annalise's heart felt tight. Her best friend was trembling so much in her grasp.
She had never seen him so sad, so broken.
She could hear him muttering as he sobbed.
"It wasn't me! It wasn't me..."
"I believe you, Wyatt," she smiled painfully. Wyatt had always been weakhearted, crying at the smallest thing, but she had never seen him in this much pain. It hurt her deeply, but she fought back the tears.
Wyatt's eyes widened in disbelief. Someone actually believed him.
"I believe you," she repeated again, as if to confirm his disbelief.
Wyatt squeezed her tightly as he cried in her arms.
He cried so much that he eventually tired himself out and slept off, right on Annalise's lap.
Annalise watched Wyatt sleep. The sad smile soon left her face as tears dripped down her cheeks.
She tried as hard as she could to remain strong for Wyatt. She couldn't let him know she was also in pain.
She couldn't bear to see him like this. She couldn't bear to hear people call him a monster. She couldn't bear to see the hatred in people's eyes when they spoke of him. She hated all of it. He didn't deserve all this.
"I swear I'll always be there to help you, Wyatt." She soothed his hair as she finally let all her emotions out... and cried.
She wasn't sure if she imagined it or not, but Wyatt smiled in his sleep—a small, sad smile as if he had heard every word.
"And you always were," Wyatt smiled.
The doors of purgatory slammed open, and Wyatt squinted, not expecting light to suddenly enter the room.
Sister Lucy didn't even spare him a glance as she threw a newspaper at him and locked the doors back.
Wyatt cursed at her before picking up the newspaper.
'What's her deal?' he hissed internally.
The point of purgatory was for you to be isolated and cast away from others, so why would she give him a newspaper? He didn't even read newspapers.
He checked the front page.
[Demon child]
Of course they would talk about him even after all these years. It was surprising how a small village like this clung to juicy news.
"Did she really give me this just to spite me?" He rolled his eyes, then went further down the newspaper.
[Deviant attack and kills civilians of Spurs Borough]
He barely scanned through the numerous photos of victims when his eyes landed on a particular picture—a picture of Annalise.
"Eh?"