Page 71 of Nightshades

Shade coughs, more blood spearing into the air, and he bolts forward, spitting red wads onto the floor.

“That’s it. You’ll be okay. Get it all out. I’m right here. I’m not leaving you.” I pat his back, trying to let him know he isn’t alone.

“You were always right,” his mother sneers. “He isn’t yours. He can’t be. He’s too good to have any of your DNA.”

I knew in my heart those would be her last words.

His father launches himself at her, effectively steering him away from Shade by betting her own life in return.

He tackles her out of the broken door, slams her against the ground, and frees all the hate he has kept inside his rotten soul.

I flinch with every hit he gives her. The wet sound of blood, skin slapping, the loud cracks of bones breaking, her gasps for air, the way her legs kick, and her nails try to claw at his back tell me her fight is almost over.

She’s almost free.

“You are by far the worst mistake of my life,” he roars, rearing his arms back, taking turns with each bloody fist as he punches her over and over and over again.

“Mom,” Shade wheezes, grabbing for the wall to help himself to his feet. “Mom!” he yells for her with no response.

I know the moment she dies. Her legs stop kicking. Her arms stop trying to wrap around his neck, everything about her fight falls limp. I close my eyes, my bottom lip trembling as I try to control my emotions.

“Fucking bitch. Rot in Hell.” His father stands, spitting on her body.

Shade grabs a knife from the table, wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

“You’ll be the one going to Hell,” Shade says, clutching the blade tight within his hand.

His father turns around, stumbling from how drunk he still is, and laughs, pointing a blood-soaked finger at Shade.

“And what are you going to do? You’re just as weak as she was.”

“She’s been the one holding me back.”

I see it, then. This is the moment that changes Shade forever. The light that brightens a child’s eyes is gone, replaced with emptiness and fury. He lunges, ducking low as his father tries to wrap his arms around his son. Shade is smarter, not wasting any time, and stabs the man who was supposed to raise him with love.

The blade vanishes into his father’s side, the man’s eyes widening in surprise when Shade pulls out the knife, only to plunge it into his gut again. Shade throws the knife to the side, wraps his hands around his father’s throat, and drags him to the ground.

He straddles him to get more leverage, the vein popping in his neck from the amount of force he is using to strangle his own father.

I don’t attempt to stop him. It’s not as if he can hear me anyway.

“She deserved everything!” Shade cries. “She deserved more than you were ever willing to give her.”

I squat next to him, trying to brush the tears that are making streaks through the blood on his face.

That’s when I notice his eyes. They are the same bright piercing blues as his father’s. This might not be the moment he became a monster, but it is the moment he became a beast.

His father struggles to breathe, slapping Shade’s arms to free him.

Shade holds on tighter every second, finding more strength within him until his father’s last breath finally leaves him.

When he stops fighting and is dead, Shade shakes for a pulse.

“Good fucking riddance.” Grabbing the knife again, he plunges the knife into his father’s chest—right through the heart. “I fucking hated you too.”

Falling to the side, he scrambles to his mother’s side. Her eyes are open and unblinking, pupils blown.

“Mom?” he calls for her in a small, child-like voice, one full of fear and vulnerability. “Mom?” Shade tries again, slipping a hand under her head and dragging her to his lap. “Mom!” he shouts with all his might, clutching her dead body to him. “No, no, no. No.” Shade shakes his head in denial, the snow beginning to fall again.