The Monster They Created - Chapter 1-3

"Have we ever told you the story of the Arewed of Evil?" Mom asked, her voice barely above a whisper as she handed me a cup of water. The candles cast long shadows across her face, making her look older than her thirty-five years.
“No,” I replied in a small voice, gently sipping, careful not to spill a drop.
My dad yawned,”You are aware how King Adigast is a powerful magic welder called an Arewed?”
I nodded my head, the braids on either side bouncing up and down with each movement.
“Well, his Good magic had a Evil opposite who died many centuries ago, causing the strong Evil magic to disappear,”
Mom continued,”We have lived free of fear of this magic and its destruction for many generations, but five years ago, this magic returned, fulfilling part of a prophecy from our First modern King, King Madson, Arewed of Good. This prophecy stated that this Evil magic would return to cause our Kingdom to fall into darkness.”
My eyes widen in fear,”Will the world fall apart?”
My mom nodded,”Yes, unless this monster is killed by a savior who is unknown to us. This savior is destined to free the world from the darkness before it completely is surrounded”
It took a moment to process what he said,”Well, I hope the savior can kill the monster before it can ruin the world.”
Dad held me close,”Me too, Olive, me too.”


Ten Years later


A metal taste filled my mouth, one that I was too familiar with,
Blood.
Edmund’s fist collided with my jaw like a hammer to a nail, knocking a tooth from my gums loose.
“What was that for?” I yelled, dropping the bucket of water I collected, it now spilling at my feet turning the dirt to mud.
“It’s for all of Elira!” Edmund’s betrothed, Sarah, hissed back
I scrunch my eyebrows, “What, you don’t seriously think I’m the Evil Arewed again?”
In the blink of an eye, a kick landed on my stomach, knocking me to the dirt. The dust filled my eyes, causing tears to form. From the moment I felt the first drop, I knew it would cause more suffering.
“Awe, is the monster crying?” Sarah asked, looming over me like some high and mighty being,
Being on the ground was a stupid thing, I know that. Nevertheless, I could not get up before the beating continued. All I could do was turn my body into a ball to protect my head and curse my weakness.
“Get off of her!”
I opened an eye to see G shoving Edmund away.
“Oh look,” Edmund sneered, “It’s the woman-boy protecting the monster.”
G rolled his eyes, “Before you call her a monster, Ed, look in the mirror,”
Sarah touched his shoulder, “Come on, Edmund, we should leave the freaks alone,”
He huffed before begrudgingly walking off, leaving G and I at the well.
Every so carefully, I stood up with blood staining my skin and dress and dark red.
“By all that is Good, why must I always save your ass, Olive?” He asked, grasping his hand around his face,
I spit a mouth full of blood on the mud, “Because you are my best friend, and that’s what they do,”
He chuckled, “If I knew this is what I would get myself into, then I would have never talked to the little girl in the back of the class.”
I attempted to laugh, but it hurt too much, no doubt a bruised rib.
G ushered me forward, “Oh come on, let’s get you fixed up.”

Chapter 2



“Ow!” I hissed as the burning liquid mingled with my cut,
“This would not hurt as much if you fought back or at least ran away,” G muttered, dabbing more of the healing potion on my wounds
We sat beyond his house in the orange fields his family tended. It was the only place where we had any resemblance of peace in his home with seven other siblings overflowing from it. G sighed, looking at my bruises, “Iris was so much better at this stuff,”
The medical box was hers, the ointments were hers, the bandages were hers. All of which she left behind for us when her family left town.
“How are you doing? It was a year yesterday,” I asked, attempting to distract myself from the pain
“I’ll find her when I leave in a week, I just have to wait a little longer before we can live happily as we always dreamed,” He tied the bandage tight around my arm and turned his focus to my mouth,
I turned my head to the rows of trees, “That’s the dream, to live with the one you adore.”
“Open up your mouth. Olive, you are too traditional. You could go off with Azreil and leave this blasted town, but no, you must just watch as they come and go from Troprin,” He dabbed the ointment on my gums and exhaled a heavy breath,”I shouldn’t get angry at you. It’s just a tradition that we must follow. I can’t be a guy and marry a woman. You can’t go off with your Trader’s kid and get beat up because some idiots see you as the Arewed of Evil. It’s just so…wrong.”
G removed the swab from my gum, allowing me to reply,”It is, and trust me, I hate these traditions. But I must follow them for my parents,”
G grabbed my wrist showing the scars to the sun,”Those fools who caused your hand to give you these? By all that is Good, can’t you stand up for yourself physically and mentally?”
I took my wrist back, embarrassed, “I’m trying,”
G pushed his long brown hair out of his face,”I know. I’m just scared for you Olive. In a week I am leaving town and I don’t know how you will survive without me there to protect you.”
G is my closest friend, and I hate how he sees me as weak. But he is true, I can’t stand up for myself, I give in easily. Hell, he knows me better than anyone else and knows how weak I truly am. All the brains I have do not amount to anything when it comes to fighting back.
“G,” I put his hand in mine, squeezing it tightly,”you are the best friend a person could ask for, but I beg of you, don’t worry about me. Live your life outside of this blasted island and know I’ll be fine,”
He handed me a pill for the pain,”Just promise me one thing, please approach your parents about the secrets.”

Chapter 3


I sat on the couch in my home. The plush feeling of it is familiar beneath me. Tears streamed down my face as rain patted down on the roof. Dad paced in front of the couch with mom to his right, his arms crossed.
“We raised you to be better than this! We raised you to be Good!” He yelled
My brown hair hung loosely in front of my face, I kept it longer back then.
Mom stepped forward, “Why wouldn’t you tell us about your friends?”
Iris and G had been discovered together with me at the beach just two hours prior thirty minutes ago, Iris’ parents made the bold choice to move away to protect their daughter from our sins.
Dad stopped his pacing,”Don’t tell me you think they are justified to do such an act?”
My breath hitched, I was fed up to say the least. Sitting in the same bench at rituals, worshiping passed Areweds who had some reason made rules on how we should live our lives. It made me sick. But seeing G cry as she was taken from his arms caused something to snap inside of me.
I tilted my head up to them,”I do, in fact, I support them.” Confidence spilling from my voice
Dad approached me again with his eyes lit and struck me across the face,”You sound like an Evil. Is that your intent, to be Evil?”
The slap stung my face as more tears streamed down. I never had this courage before, and now I was tempted to stop, but I felt compelled to finish what I started. G had inspired something within my soul.
“Maybe they are right.”
This invoked another slap from my father,”Do you worship the pain of others? Do you like the destruction of the world as we know it? Do you think the Evil Arewed should come to power?”
All courage was knocked out of me, so I simply shook my head no.
“Well that is what it seems like now.” Dad said just as mom stepped in,”We raised you to fight against Evil. To be a Good girl. What made you think like this?”
My whole body shook as I gave the truth,”I’ve always felt this way. But now, I don’t feel like hiding anymore.”
My parents froze in their thoughts, as if they saw a ghost from the past.
“W-what did you say?” Mom asked
My voice became quieter,”I don’t feel like hiding anymore.”
Mom covered her mouth and looked up to my dad. His face shifted from scared to angry in a matter of moments. He grabbed me and brought me to the door,”I never wanted you,”He confessed, twisting the knob,”I can’t wait till you are no longer around.”
He threw me into the rain and closed the door. Mud splattered my dress as I quickly got up to bang on the door. I begged them to let me back inside until my throat became hoarse and my fist began to bleed. I sat on the doorstep as the rain and dark overwhelmed me. I hate the dark.
Was I an Evil monster? I wanted my friends to be happy, was that such a terrible thing? No matter how much I tried to stop these feelings, my love for Azreil, my support of G and Iris, there was no way I could stop these feelings. I am a monster, I should die for these thoughts. They should have killed me at the altar.
After what seemed like an eternity the steps illuminated from the war glow in the house. Dad pushed passed me into the storm.
Mom stopped next to me, her eyes wet with tears,”Go inside and clean up. We’ll be at the pub. We can talk about this later.”
Soon she followed behind dad into the night. I watched them leave me alone. I stood up and walked into the house, dripping mud and water onto the floors I cleaned this morning as a part of my chores.. As I began to walk to the bathroom, from the corner of my eye was the kitchen knife. It’s shining blade called to me. Without thinking I took it and climbed to my loft.
I sat on my bed, not caring for the mud I was getting on it and held the knife in my hands. It still had the pineapple juice on it from dinner. I inhaled my last breath and placed the knife vertically on my wrist, opposite dictatorially from the other scars I placed upon it.
This is it, I can’t do it anymore. Living is too hard so I must accept defeat now or suffer much more.
As I pressed the knife in ,the sound of footsteps radiated from the first floor. I paused as a figure climbed my ladder. And there stood G, red eyed and drenched.
He looked at the blade shining in the light,”What are you doing?”