Traitor-Short Story

Hello everyone! Today I have another short story for all of you! It’s not R and Elias, but I’m experimenting with a new main character for a story I’m brainstorming!

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The darkness crept from every corner, all but smothering the light from the candle that sat on the table. Stiff silence filled the air as silent as death itself. Cold leather numbed the tips of my fingers while rough wood from the bedpost pressed into my thigh. 

I gazed at the shadows surrounding me. Was this really the right decision? Leaving everything I knew? 

The leather twisted around my fingers as my foot slipped into the boot. It had to be done. Everything was wrong in this place. It had been thought through over and over. The idea wriggling into every fragment of a thought. 

A sharp breath passed through my lips as I tightened the ties on the boot. Father would hate me. His only son betraying the cause he lived for. 

But I was done. The things that went on. The things I had seen. Everything I had done. 

The floor thudded with every footstep and the walls moaned mournfully. The cloak’s fabric brushed lightly against the tops of my boots, shifting ever so slightly. 

I moved to the candle sitting across the room, blowing it out. A faint wisp of smoke curled through the air before the darkness finally took over. 

A figure shifted in the bed across from mine, causing a cold ice to creep over my limbs. I paused at the door, heart thudding against my chest. If caught, this whole endeavor could be fatal. 

Keep it from being fatal. Lips pressed together, I forced my rigid body to turn and step towards the door. My fingers rubbed against the small blade strapped to my hip. 

Hinges protested when the door moved. The cold draft blew into the bedroom, forcing a shiver to run down my spine. I brushed my cloak so it covered more of my body and lifted the hood to cover my face. 

Every footstep felt like it might betray everything as I moved down the hall. Shadows twisted into unnatural shapes as they spread across the floor. 

I’d forgotten how much I hated the barracks. It even smelled like rot. Or perhaps that was just the smell of the darkness that haunted the place. 

Most people wouldn’t have chosen to stay here. I had. Even in this twisted place, at least I had been as distanced as possible from my father. Though that meant being stuck with unspeakable things. 

I turned my head so it faced the floor, the edge of the hood slipping over my face. A sick feeling twisted around in my stomach. How had I ever lived in this place? How had I been alright with this evil? 

Forcing my breath to come out evenly, I slowed my brisk step as I neared the door at the end of the rugged hall. 

There was no turning back once I passed through the doorway. No ignoring the evil. I couldn’t come back. 

I didn’t want to come back. My chest hardened and I clenched my fist at my side as the resolve bounced around in my mind. The toe of my foot shuffled against the floor and my fingers wrapped around the metal doorknob. 

A hand grabbed onto my shoulder, fingernails digging into my skin. The arm jerked me back, throwing me against the wall. 

The air was pushed out my lungs and something sharp pressed against my throat. 

“You’re leaving.” A tight voice tore through the darkness and eyes glinted. It wasn’t a question. 

My hand shot up, tearing the knife away from my throat. I moved backwards, narrowing my eyes. “What are you doing, Ren?” 

Raendale stared at me, his blonde hair standing out on the darkness. “Saving your skin.” 

“Saving me?” I took a small step back, bracing myself for whatever came next. “Keeping me here is saving me?” 

“Does this have something to do with the mission last week?” He hissed. 

I opened my mouth to speak, then shut it again. It did. Somewhat. Images flooded my mind. Screams. Blood. So much blood. 

All because of me.

“Yes,” I said cooly. 

“You’ve seen things like that before. It’s not like you’re a first timer. What’s wrong with you?” Raendale twisted the blade around in his fingers, an almost quizzical expression on his face. 

I gritted my teeth. “I never saw it like that.”

His expression hardened. “Just come back before you do something stupid. You don’t belong anywhere else but here and you know what happens to traitors.” 

“No.” 

He turned to look at me. “What?” 

“I said no.” I moved towards the door, swallowing. “I’m not going back.” 

“Edgar, come on. You know-”

I scowled. “I’m not going back. Ever. Not for you. Not for the cause. Not for Father. Not for anyone else. I’m done.” 

The shadows distorted Raendale’s cold face as his steel-colored eyes gazed over me. “You’re a coward and a traitor,” He snapped. 

“I’d rather be that than have any title here,” I retorted. 

“I won’t cover for you if you leave.” His voice filtered through the air, as dark as a starless night. 

A heaviness filled my chest. “I don’t need you to cover for me when I leave.” I opened the door, looking out at the black field illuminated only by the faint moonlight. “Goodbye, Ren.” 

I looked one more time at his face in the shadows before turning and walking into the night. 

I wasn’t going back. 

***

Until next time, 

Aliya Gerow