A Villain by Necessity

Night had rolled itself over the city almost indolently, thick and heavy with summer heat and humidity
that left a heavy blanket of clouds hanging over. They hung pendulously and pregnant with the promise
of rain as they slowly roiled overhead as they began to miserly release fat droplets of water onto the
streets below. Soon the one drop was followed by an another, and before too long the gates were open
as the skies let out into a proper deluge. In short order the falling rain was joined by intermittent flashes
of lightning and rumbling thunder. For a young boy all alone on the streets far past the hour when any
child should be out let alone unattended; the rain was warm as blood against his skin.

Hitoshi didn’t know what he’d done that could have been bad enough to deserve this. He had been
trying his hardest to be a good boy for his mama and papa. Really it was all his stupid quirks fault. He
honestly couldn’t help it most of the time, he’d just ask a question. At the first he thought his mama and
papa were being a lot nicer lately, giving him cookies or playing with him whenever he’d ask them. It’s
not like he meant to make them. But he had, and his home had slowly grown cold and quiet while his
parents became distant and furtive. He tried to ask what was wrong but by then all they did was give
him a strange sort of look. It was a cross between the ugly stillborn fear they were beginning to feel and
the abortive love he once enjoyed. And then just as suddenly as they grew strange and distant they
were leaving him at The House. They’d told him to dress and get packed, they were all going on a trip.
He had been so happy to hear that. Maybe it meant that they were starting to forgive him and that they
could be a family again. He can’t help but hate them for the lie and the hope it sparked in his young
heart. They’d dropped him off at The House and talked to the stern older woman in charge while
ignoring his quiet and worried questions entirely. He’d only just began to understand when they left
without him and the old woman kept him from following after them with a bruising grip around his
wrist.

He didn’t sleep much that night. Only eventually falling unconscious when he’d cried himself past all
exhaustion. To be honest he wasn’t ready for how much worse things would get.