“Richard!” Christopher shouts. “Let them go and punish me. This is all on me. They did nothing wrong but be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Take me.”
“They trespassed. There are signs. They are the rule breakers and must be punished.”
Not waiting another moment, Papa Rich shoves the girl and then the man with enough force to make them fall over the edge into the pit of water. Oily, black, mineral-based, and full of acid that no one can survive.
Both scream on the way down, followed by a splash. Then an ear-piercing howl as their bodies struggle to climb the walls as the liquid eats at their skin.
Christopher leans forward which also forces me to. I know he wants to see for himself, although his soul is screaming for him to close his eyes and block it all out. But it’s impossible. I’ve tried. Oh how I’ve tried.
Looking the other way only makes you see it over and over in your nightmares instead. You must face the horror head on as your blood turns cold and your inner self melts along with the poor souls dying below.
The screams rattle the rafters above and dust falls down upon us.
Their sounds of agony will forever be with me. I will forever be the keeper of their charred and stolen spirits. They are locked inside of me with all the others.
Papa Rich stands and watches. He’s proud. He’s done what he considers his Godly duty. He always looks the same.
Dark eyes, firm jaw, and arms at his side. And then when the last gurgled scream happens, he raises his hands to the sky as if in offering to God.
21
Christopher
“What have you done?” I hiss as I struggle to hold on to sanity.
Richard walks toward us slowly. “It’s what you’ve done, son. You did this. Those poor people are dead because of you.”
My eyes dart to Ember who has tears running down her face, but she seems to have a look of acceptance. There is no outrage, or even fear. She just sits with her head down and in silent sorrow.
And if I didn’t understand her fear and how controlled she is by Richard before, I do now. If she has had to witness this awful… Fuck… if she had to watch this before… I can’t even—
It isn’t just having to watch two people die in the most horrific way possible that has my mind reeling. It’s also the knowledge that any chance of escape is crushed and will forever be. The burning in my feet from the wounds is nothing to the pain in my entire core. Defeat and loss of hope is far worse than a cut of a blade.
“And now, Ember, it is your time to suffer your consequences,” Richard says as he walks past us.
I position my body in front of Ember to the best that I can considering the ties. “You leave her the fuck alone.”
I’ll die before I’ll let him touch her. I will follow that couple into the pits before I will let Richard harm her in any way.
He ignores my threat and leaves the mill.
I pull Ember closer. “I won’t let him hurt you.”
She looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Christopher. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t ever apologize for that man. He’s not you. You have no control over that crazy.”
“Those poor people…”
“You didn’t do that. I didn’t do that,” I lean forward and kiss her cheek.
“I knew what would happen. I knew. I should have never let us leave the schoolhouse.” She looks at the pit. “Now they’re dead.” She looks at my bloody feet. “How much pain are you in?”
Before I can answer, Richard reenters the mill holding Ember’s cat in his arms.
Ember instantly cries out and starts shaking her head.
“No, Papa. No. Please no!”
“You are to blame for this, Ember,” Richard says as he approaches the pits with the cat. “It broke my heart watching you try to run away from our home. Our home! You allowed sin to enter our home! You know better. I raised you better.”
“I’m so sorry. I truly am. I’ll do anything. Just please let Pine Cone go.”
The cat tries to break free from Richard’s grasp and meows in distress as she does. He only holds tighter and shakes his head.
“You must be punished.”
Without another word, Richard tosses the cat into the pit and the sound of Ember’s scream mixed with the hissing and screeching of the cat nearly drives me mad. It’s the worst sound I have ever heard in my entire life. Pain of the animal mixed with agony of its owner nearly destroys me.
I hold onto Ember as she lurches toward the pit, ripping her skin with the rope and chain. If it weren’t for her confines, I have no doubt Ember would throw herself into the pit in hopes of saving her cat.