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 thirty-five years.
“No,” I replied in a small voice, gently sipping, careful not to spill a drop.
My dad yawned,” Are you aware that 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 an 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,” Is the world going to become evil?”
My mom nodded,” Yes unless this monster is killed by a savior 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 to his chest, so much so I could hear his heartbeat,” Me too, Olive, me too.”






Chapter 1
Ten Years later
A metallic taste filled my mouth, one that I was too familiar with. Its taste is like nostalgia, the warmth of it like a mother's touch,
Blood.
Edmund’s fist collided with my jaw as a hammer does to a nail, knocking a tooth loose from my gums. It dangled by a thread as the blood poured into the creases of my mouth.
“What was that for?” I yelled, dropping the bucket of water I collected, now spilling at my feet and turning the dirt into mud.
Edmund and Sarah stood before me in their self-proclaimed holiness. Like a king and queen, they ruled the children of our wonderful, humid, tropical town, Troprin. The two of them took it upon themselves to deem who was Good, and who was Evil. No one knew if it was because of fear or love, but we all but bowed down to them. Within a moment, they could end the life of a person by accusing them of being Evil.
“It’s for all of Elira!” Sarah hissed back
I scrunch my eyebrows, “You don’t seriously think I’m the Evil Arewed again? Come on, can we get over this childish feud and move on like the adults we soon will be?”
In the blink of an eye, a kick landed on my stomach, knocking me to the mud. Air escaped my lungs, large gasps trying to refill them. The kick was painful as one could assume, causing a screech to come from my throat and tears to form in my brown eyes. From the moment I felt the first drop of water fall upon my cheek, I knew it would cause more suffering.
“Awe, is the monster crying?” Sarah asked, looming over me like the high and mighty being she claimed to be,
With the breath of air I had managed to gather I questioned them, "What is your reason this time? Did I pray during the night, read a banned book, wear black on Wednesday? Please tell me how I betrayed the Good."
"Wendy heard you humming an Evil tune yesterday," Edmund spat like the words themselves were made of poison.
I attempted to get up, "Wendy is lying! I don't know any Evil songs!"
Sarah pushed me back into the ground with her foot on my ribs, "Stop spreading your malicious lies, demon!"
Being on the ground is a stupid thing in a fight, I know that much. 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. I cursed my weakness as each bruise formed against my skin, turning it shades of purple and blue.
A voice echoed from my left, “Get off of her!”
I opened an eye to see my closest friend, 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 me at the well.
Every so carefully, I stood up with blood staining my skin and dress dark red.
“By all that is Good, why must I always save your ass, Olive?” He asked, grasping his hand around his face like a disappointed parent.
I spit a mouth full of blood onto 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.”


“Ow!” I hissed as the burning liquid mingled with my my open cuts, causing the blood within them to bubble
“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, not physically showing he cared for the pain it caused me.
We sat beyond his house in the orange fields his family tended. The trees walls surrounding us with the ages they had stood on the land. It was the only place where we had any resemblance of peace in his home with seven other siblings overflowing from it. It was not ideal, but at least his parents didn't care as much as mine did about stuff like this. One time during a rough patch with my own family, I ate dinner at the Hamilt house and spent the night. They none beside G knew I was there until the next morning when I thanked them for the meal.
G sighed, looking at the bruises forming purple circles upon my skin, “Iris was so much better at this stuff,”
The medical box was hers, the ointments were hers, and the bandages were hers. All of which she left behind for us when her family left town because of us..
“How are you doing? I know her birthday was 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 isn't it? 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 with each trading season,” 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. Not to mention how you get hurt because some idiots see mistakes you make as signs of 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. You know them, they care for me and want me to be safe so I should stay for them.”
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. You know it's been a year since my last attempt. I'm getting better.”
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,” Promise me one thing, please approach your parents about the secrets.”
"That's a heavy ask,"
He tilted his head and exhaled deeply, "Just please, do that for me."
Before I could reply, his eyes became wide, looking upon a bird perched merely a foot away from us.
I sighed and smiled,"It's not going to hurt you, G"
"They know I'm scared of them. "
"G, it is seriously just a morning dove, it's brain is smaller than a peanut, it has no idea that you fear it."
The dove tilted its heads sharply to the left, its eyes darting about distracted by everything and not caring for G now cowering behind me. Three more landing around us.
He grasped onto my shoulders tighter, "You are walking inside with me,"
"G, what happened to fighting back against those we fear?"
"That advice was for you, not me." He moved me backwards,"Come on, we are going inside. "

I sat on the couch in my home. Its plush feel was 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 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 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 on the same bench at rituals, worshiping long gone 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 to them,” I do support them.” Confidence spilling from my voice
Dad approached me again 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 at 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, and 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 past me into the storm, not caring about the damage he caused me.
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 if you'd like to.”
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. Its 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 shaky 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 all the times past.
This is it, I can’t do it anymore. Living is too hard so I must accept defeat now for I cannot suffer much more of it.
As I pressed the knife in, footsteps radiated from the first floor. I paused as a figure climbed my ladder. My breath hitched to see G, red-eyed and drenched.
He looked at the blade shining in the light and then to me, his eyes filled with much more grief than any man should have to suffer through” What are you doing?”