The Creed: X
#4 of The Creed
Later that day
The knife sunk itself into the tree's trunk with a heavy "Thunk!" Two more knives sliced through in quick succession and buried themselves beside it, forming a near perfect triangle around the X I had marked into the tree. Beautiful, I thought, and walked up to the tree to collect the knives. Ty's text had come as a shock; after all, except for the weekend at his apartment two months ago, I hadn't seen or heard from my mate in the past six months.
Ever since he had left, his parents had started to treat me differently, maybe thinking that if they couldn't keep their own son at home, that they could keep his younger sister, but they backed off pretty quickly when they realized that all I wanted was to be left alone. That was all I really wanted, and it still is. Ty had been protecting me for years, and when he left... I had nothing except for a feeling of betrayal and a promise that I would stay in school. That was when I first decided to start learning to throw knives. Maybe not the most practical skill, but it filled a void and gave me a sense of empowerment. At least, in the moment. In class, I was harassed for every little thing from having fur to fucking Ty (That was when I learned never to trust a friend), and no matter how strong I felt I was, that strength was slowly tapped away by every sinister word. Nevertheless, i made damn sure that I kept my promise to do well, and whenever I wasn't practicing with my knives, I was doing schoolwork or studying. By the time I had received the text, I was second in my class, and fourth in the whole school. The only thing that Ty probably wouldn't be proud of would be the fact that my expansive collection of scars had increased by one each night since he left.
I found Ty's old mp3 player last week, and since then, I'd kept it going almost nonstop. Though most of the music didn't really fit my tastes, there were a few songs that I had grown to love, and that certainly took the bite off of his absence.
Another knife buried itself into the tree. Though it was dead center on the x, I frowned a bit. Ty's text had been vague at best, and I couldn't quite remember how he had phrased everything. The only clear part of the message was that he might be in trouble, and I didn't like the idea of that. As the sun set on the backyard, I finally grabbed my three knives out of the tree and went inside before the mosquitoes came out.
Once in my room, I slowly slid off my pants, shirt, and bra and looked in the full length mirror beside my bed. A body covered in markings met my gaze, and I picked up one of my knives. The multiple scars and burns from my childhood were hideous, but the rest... The rest were mine, darkly beautiful carvings into the canvas of my flesh; intimate pieces of art that were just as painful to look at as they were to create. Nobody had seen these, not Ty, not his parents, not those fucking barbarians at school. Just me, their sole creator and beholder. Hopefully, one day, my art would be complete, and almost heal, but that day would not be soon. No, today the scrolling work would grow, and so it would tomorrow, and the day after that and the next. I slowly began to trace a pattern with my finger, and finally brought the knife up to my chest. Using the sharp tip, I worked underneath my fur, barely cringing as I drew the bloody path from shoulder to stomach on each side, the lines terminating gracefully in a series of flourishes. After a few minutes of letting the pain drown away my fears and doubts, I grabbed fresh underwear out of my dresser drawer and walked into my bathroom, dropping my panties before getting into the shower.
Hot water washed away the drying blood, and the wound began to close itself. The sanguine mixture ran down my chest and legs as I lathered up shampoo and began to wash my fur. This ritual had been repeated almost every day, and by now it had become sacred: a testament to the fact that I had control over some part of me. Hours seemed to pass before I stepped out, and when I finally did, I was a new woman. The nightly transformation finished, I donned my pajamas and went to bed, mulling over the fate of me, Ty, and whoever it was that he had been hanging out with.
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A week passed. Grades rose. Nights fell. Knives were polished. Trees were slain. Cuts became even more elaborate, with the sole exception of the x over my chest. But most importantly, I finally made up my mind to find Tyres. I packed no bags, prepared no note, just grabbed the pouch for my knives, Ty's mp3 player, and my phone and left wearing a pale green tie, white converses, jeans, a jacket and a clean white shirt. I had no friends, no cash, and no ride, but I did have a thumb and some feet, and so without further ado, I made the same pilgrimage my brother did so long ago. Alice's MP3 Player
I sat on the lakefront, watching the sunrise. It hadn't taken long to find my way here, but it was far from where I started, and had taken several hours to reach. Joggers gave a passing glance, but no one disturbed the otter sitting above the shore. Noon came and went, and the afternoon was spent in similar repose. My phone had rang several times, but I didn't bother answering it. It was late in the afternoon before I finally decided to hitch a ride across the Causeway. The first car to stop was a gold Prius, but it didn't stop long. Neither did the next few cars, or the ones after that. It was around 7 or 8 before a black Audi finally stopped. "Going somewhere?" asked a voice from inside as the window rolled down. "Yeah," I replied. "To find my brother." I looked inside, and was greeted by a charcoal jackal in her early 20s. "Come on then," she said. I carefully stepped inside and shut the door. "Now," she began. "Tell me about this brother of yours." And so I did as we drove across the bridge and into the night.
I told her about how he found me, how he protected me, and how we had finally come together when he left. She listened intently throughout the whole ordeal, never once interrupting me. The only thing I spared was the part about my scars: it was too private, too revealing, and simply wrong to tell a complete stranger about it, yet somehow, I know that she knew about them nonetheless.
When I was finished, she spoke again. "You have a good heart, Alice, but you need to stop letting your emotions control you."
I frowned. "What does that mean?"
She smiled cryptically. "That's for you to figure out for yourself."
We finished the drive to my brother's apartment in silence. It was only when we arrived and I started to exit that she spoke again. "You haven't paid your fare."
I looked back towards the enigmatic jackal. "And what would that be?"
The jackal looked at me with a knowing gaze. "Call your parents. I know you don't really care about them that much, but like it or not, they raised you. You owe them that much."
I nodded and stepped out of the car, shutting the door behind me. I walked around the side, and noticed that the jackal was motioning towards me. I walked up to her, and she rolled down the windows. "Good bye, Alice." She said with an almost dream-like quality in her voice. "Good bye...." I trailed off. "I never caught your name."
"I'm just a wraith. Don't mind me." With that, the jackal smiled with her omniscient eyes and pulled away into the night of the city.
Nervously, I stepped up to the door of the apartment building and knocked. The landlord opened the door, and after a brief explanation, opened up Ty's apartment to me for the night, despite the fact that he was a month late on rent. Beside his bare mattress lay his phone with his charger, as well as several papers that looked like business applications. I picked one up. Abstergo Industries. The name sounded familiar. I checked the addresses in Ty's phone: in the text, he had said to contact a man named J if anything happened to him. I found the contact, and copied it to my phone.
Who should I call first? I wondered, staring at the two phones in each hand. Mine rang first.
"Hello?"