To Capture a Thorn (The Society 2)

There were at least twenty trailers, but the one I was looking for was close to the back, which I spotted.

Outside in the mud sat a young girl. She had striking long, blonde hair. She looked around seven or eight. I wasn’t good with ages, so I could be wrong.

I climbed out of my car, shouting inside my head that I should get back in my car and never look back. The instructions were clear, approach the girl and ask where her stepdaddy was.

So I did that.

She tilted her head back, and my stomach turned. Bruises covered her face, and on closer inspection, I saw they also littered her entire body. It was cold, but she was dressed in shorts and a vest top. Her lips were slightly blue.

“He’s in the back, expecting you,” she said.

I noticed the way her lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears.

Stepping around her, I had this need to protect her, but I kept on walking, entering the trailer. The stench of sweat, cigarette smoke, and booze hung in the air.

On entering, I had the syringe in my hand, and I saw the man at what had to be the kitchen table. Empty beer bottles filled the table. A joint hung from his lips, and in his arm was a sign of an addict as another syringe dangled from his skin.

He was high, close to passing out. The man took one look at me and smiled.

The instructions were clear, and seeing as he already had a syringe in his arm, I took the needle out, still wearing the latex gloves as it told me to not take them off until I arrived back home.

Without looking at the man, I put the needle into his vein and hit the plunger, filling his body with whatever shit was in the syringe. I felt sick, disgusted with myself as I watched it leave the syringe and inject into his body, filling him up with whatever crap they wanted to fill him with.

They didn’t tell me to linger.

After the needle was empty, I was to leave it in his arms and get the hell out of there, so I did.

I stepped out of the trailer and walked to the little girl.

The cell phone was in my hand, and I gave it to her. “In thirty minutes, call the stored number. Do you know how to do that?” I asked.

She nodded her head.

I wanted to tell her it was going to be okay. That she was safe. That she would be taken care of.

I couldn’t.

Back in my car, I climbed behind the wheel and took off, driving all the way back home. This time, I pressed my foot to the gas and drove. I had no choice. I had to get home. I felt sick to my stomach as I had just killed a man. His death was on my hands.

Had I killed him?

Fuck. I didn’t know, but I had followed the instructions like a fucking pro.

Two hours later, after the long drive, and doing what I did, I didn’t go to Lucas’s house. No, I went to my own.

Parking my car, which now had an empty tank as I’d driven the long drive on fumes, I rushed inside my house, only to come to a stop when I saw my dad sitting on the stairs, like he was waiting for me.

“Hello, son,” he said.

I held my hand up, not sure what to say. I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again, and then shook my head.

“You did the right thing.”

“The right thing? I just…” I shook my head.

“I know what you just did.”

“Was this some kind of test?” I asked. “Did I pass?” My heart raced. I could go down for murder. I should go down for murder.

“With them, it is always a test. They never give us more than we’re capable of.”

“More than we’re capable of.” I stopped, feeling my throat closing up. “Do you know what I did? What I took?” I rubbed at my chest, trying to make sense of everything I’d done and why. I was coming up blank.

I’d killed a man.

“Did you see the little girl?” George asked.

“Yes. She was… She was playing in the mud.”

George nodded. “Six months ago, that little girl was hospitalized, William. Not only had she been badly beaten, she had also been raped. There was no evidence it was the stepdad, but they knew. Without evidence, no one can go on gut feeling or instinct. She’s a gifted child. Intelligent, and one day, she is going to be someone important. That man has been hurting her for the last six months, and The Society waited for the right moment to step in. That man was a piece of shit.”

“That doesn’t make it right. You think I’m supposed to feel better for it?” I asked.