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Samuel boots Kain in the stomach again, but Kain looks… limp.

“You’re going to kill him! Stop!”

Over and over and over his boot connects with Kain’s stomach. “Please,” I whimper. “Kain, I love you!”

He coughs, blood spluttering onto the concrete, eyes barely connecting with me as he attempts a smile. The one person I couldn’t stand, has now become the person I can’t stand without, and he might be on the brink of death.

Dorrian trembles, his hands fisting at his sides with what looks to be barely restrained remorse, shame, and anger.

Hit, after hit, after hit.

“STOP!” I screech when Samuel straddles Kain, his hands fisting around his neck, the tendons of his hands straining.

Dorrian’s restraint snaps and he launches himself at Samuel, knocking him off Kain’s limp body. I slacken as Dorrian’s fists pummel into Samuel’s face with a ferocious weight, bone cracking with every hit.

Heath recoils, eyes wide and arms flailing at his sides. “Dorrian!” He whirls, wide eyes analysing the chaos around him. “I fucking knew it. Knock them all out.”

The last thing I see is Kain’s barely moving chest before the knife is yanked from my leg and the hilt connects with my temple.

36

Dorrian

Aged 5

Ahum pulls me forward as I make my way through the old, grimy church walls. Mummy locked me in here today again. She said I wasn’t allowed to watch her and Daddy get married, that it’s a ‘special union’ for adults only. It’s not fair. All my friends get to watch their mummy’s and daddy’s get married!

I was supposed to wait for her to come and get me, but the noise is really loud and I’m scared. I want to find her. I need a cuddle.

The hum gets really loud when I reach the door to the main church hall balcony. My heart is beating really fast as I twist the handle to open it. I gasp when a red-light spills into the hallway and the humming gets louder.

That’s where it’s coming from.

I’m scared, but I also think that’s where my mummy might be, so I open the door further and step onto the balcony.

Looking down, I see lots of people in cloaks and hoods. They look like the ones I see in my nightmares all the time! I thought they weren’t real!

I crawl on the floor, then grip the wooden bars of the balcony as I take in the scene in front of me.

Daddy is standing in an all-white suit at the altar with Father Joseph, who wipes his forehead with a napkin. The hum stops abruptly, and the hooded people stand in unison.

I gasp, putting myself more into the shadows.

I hope they can’t see me.

Footsteps pull my eyes to the entrance of the church. My mummy walks to the middle of the church benches in a big wedding dress. She looks like a princess!

She’s in front of Daddy now. I can’t see her face, but I can see Daddy’s.

His eyes begin to glow red, and a smile with too-big teeth stretches across his face.

“You shall not birth another bastard son to the church.” Father Joseph’s voice sounds scary like a monster.

I begin to shake.

Daddy grips Mummy, turns her around and places her on top of the altar table.

He lifts her dress up.