THE EMPATH

A KILLER IS BORN

"Let's talk about today's headlines where our sources are informing us that the four suspects of a*******n, r**e, and murder were found murdered in the police cells this morning. The four are believed to have been stabbed several times before being left to bleed to death. The police are now conducting a city-wide manhunt for the person or persons who did this and Head Officer Andrew has promised that the police force won't rest until the killer or killers are found," The nine o'clock news read. The country was both happy and confused by the news as they wondered how people were killed inside what should be the most secure place in the city while at the same time they were convinced that the four deserved what happened to them. Some even believed that the police officers had done it and no one would blame them for that. Others believed that there was a vigilante out there taking out the city's garbage. Speculations were there, and theories had emerged from all the corners of the city but the good thing was that no one knew for sure. I was the only person who knew how it all had happened and I was not willing to tell anyone and ruin their creative and imaginative guesses, but now I will tell you because I am coming clean.

It all had started after the drugs had eased on me, My guardian had me on the edge as he kept telling me how we needed to take care of the unfinished business from earlier. We had one hell of an argument as I told him I was not ready to kill any more people. I had already killed five people so far and to tell the truth, I was not at all okay with it. There was no telling how bad it felt thinking of all the blood, and the lifeless bodies. I was beginning to think that being a protector demanded too much that I was not ready to give. I argued that the girls were saved and Anne had just called me to inform me that the police had let her go and made her promise that she was not going to tell anyone about the files which she did. My Dad was just glad that I was fine and my Mum had asked me to relax and wait for them as they were already on their way to come get me. It felt like I had won and I thought that was enough. My guardian however was still convinced that I was way too far from winning. He knew the Crew would come after me and probably mine and that would include my parents and other innocent people like Anne. He kept on insisting that I had to do something. At last, I had to agree with him as he had forced me into seeing reason.

I looked at my watch and it was almost three o'clock in the morning. My guardian thought that was the perfect time to attack as no one would be expecting trouble. The doctors were probably trying to catch a wink of sleep in some dark corner somewhere, the guards were probably dozing off, and there were no more rounds until six in the morning which kind of gave me about two hours. I employed all the skills I had learned from Robert. First, I had to sneak out of the hospital without anyone noticing. Robert had taught me that the key to doing that successfully was by keeping off the cameras and making sure that no one saw me. That was easy as there were no people up and around at that time of night. The next part was to sneak into the police station, again, I had to make sure to stay away from the cameras and anyone who could recognize me later. My first stop was at the police locker room where I changed into a police uniform. I then pretended to be just another officer checking on the cells. That was how I knew where all the g**g members were locked up. The next thing was to visit them one after another and call them to the cell door claiming I had something important to tell them. I knew they were waiting for some outside help and they would all think I was the one taking it to them. By now I knew that Red's poison was strong enough to kill even if only a scratch was inflicted and that meant all I had to do was make a rough handshake.

It had worked like a charm and I would have just walked away. However, I was still so angry at the boys and what they had done to me and to the girls. I could not just scratch them, I had to do something nasty to them. They deserved something much more painful than just a scratch and I decided to give them one. After making sure I had scratched all of them and they had dropped to the ground without making any alerting noises, I went up to the police on duty who was asleep and carefully took the cell keys on his belt, I then went on to open the cell rooms and went all stabby towards the three goons repeatedly before taking a tooth from each of them as a trophy. I then locked the cells just as I had found them, returned the keys, went back to the locker room, changed back, and went back to the hospital.

"Why didn't the police find your fingerprints in the station. I have documents that indicate that the forensic teams swept the place top to bottom looking for any fibers or prints but they found none." "Well, one of my lessons with Robert, was about being invisible. That meant no prints, no fibers, and no digital footprints ever. That meant I had taken all the precautions necessary. For the prints, I had taken a pair of gloves from the hospital earlier. I also made sure to wear a hairnet so that my hair would not be left at the scene of the crime. As for the cameras, I have already explained to you that I had made sure to avoid them at all cost so none of them had a video of me ever being there, now shall we go on with the story?"

Early the next morning, the police had found the dead goons in their closed cells and that had to be the most shocking story of the week. Someone had managed to get into their cells and killed them and no one had seen or heard anything. The news were discussed, and the police had promised to investigate but I knew one thing was for sure. No one would ever solve the case not unless I helped and I was not about to. When the doctors came in for the morning rounds, I was on my bed sound asleep and no one would have even thought of me as a suspect. I still had to fake pain even though I was totally healed and ready to go home. Everything was fine except for my little toe which would never grow back.

Three hours later, my parents came by to pick me up. My Dad explained that he was a doctor and that he was better off looking after me because then he would be sure I was safe. My mum had a lot of questions she would have loved to ask but Dad stopped her by telling her that I needed pretty of rest. Dianna's parents came for her and she was transferred back to the hospital back in the village. There my Dad promised he would take care of her and her mother believed that she would be safer near home. The pregnancies were however to be kept as some of them were already so far along. My guardian told me that we had to keep tabs on all the twelve babies and make sure they grew to be protectors and not destroyers. That meant that we were going to need Robert's help. I prayed that he would be willing to help but that was something I had to discuss with him. I was still wondering whatever happened to Mory but with the fact that my parents had already shown up, there was no way for me to find out.

Trixie showed up in the hospital and demanded an explanation which I gave and made her promise that she would keep it a secret. I however made sure to leave the most inhuman details so that she could be able to move on with her life without wondering whether other things like vampires or unicorns existed. My guardian was still concerned about Tiny but I assured him that he didn't have the will to come after me. For all I knew, he was never going to join the crew ever again. Wherever he was, I still owed him one and I was choosing to pay him back by not hunting him down and killing him. For the first time ever since I made my first kill, I did not feel the weight. In fact, I didn't feel anything at all. I knew that the six had to die for a better world and I was willing to live with that. I felt a newfound warmth in my heart and every time I remembered how I had killed them, I felt some sort of satisfaction and warmth in my heart. My guardian thought it was concerning but he had no problem with it. The journey back home was relaxing and with the sedative in my body, I felt a little bit drunk and happy. I held the heavy blade in my hand and felt whisper and bond with me. My parents were in the meantime talking about their trip and how they needed to take vacations more often. I was glad that the first task was over and I was now a fully formed protector. My heart was in the right place and I had no problem falling asleep peacefully for the first time in quite a long time.

Back at home, I was met by everyone as a hero. People believed that I was the reason why Dianna and the others were found alive. I was the hero now and I guess that was how I walked out of my father's shadow. People however still wanted to know how I had found out that the girls were alive and I had just answered by telling them it was all a coincidence. Everyone was proud of me including Robert. However, he had a strong feeling that my becoming a celebrity would only bring problems and he was right as I would learn sooner rather than later. He made me promise that I would try and keep all my missions a secret. I was never supposed to be a hero to everyone as that would expose me and not in a good way. I promised him and swore that I would make sure no one found out about my heroic deeds in the future, he then went on ahead to tell me that his work with me was done and he had to leave the village as other people like myself needed his help. I had gone through my training or rather the part of my training that involved and it was time I went to the next level. He even went on ahead to open up to me and told me that just like my guardian, he was also a guardian in training. He told me that all guardians were also people one day and they had to go through their training in life until they died and then they would become guardians. That was the weirdest thing I had heard so far but it made a lot of sense and explained a few things to me. I knew now why it felt like my guardian was like some sort of possession or something. I had a clue that I still had a lot to learn and Robert gave me some books he believed would help me understand my role better as a protector and then he said his goodbyes. He gave me his land and his house which by the way would come in handy sooner than he would have thought.

Just when I thought I had learned enough, I found out that I was not even halfway through my learning yet. I went back home that evening to find Anne's parents waiting for me. Even though everyone else thought I was a hero, her mother thought I was a bad influence on her and she asked me to stay away from her daughter. A month later she enrolled her for early admission and that was it between me and her. My first girlfriend had only been with me for a month and she was gone. I was all alone again since Alice had been transferred far away and I could not visit her often. I fell back to being silent and my abilities grew at an impossible rate.

The pain I suffered from other people was becoming weary day in day out and I started becoming separated and angry. Weird and spooky thoughts started running through my mind and I developed some sort of a longing to kill. My guardian had told me that the only way for me to heal my impossible pain was by curing other people's pain, seeing that their pain was my pain only when it came to me, I felt it a hundred times over and that made me to really start feeling the need to take away other peoples pain. For the next three months, I went through some sort of a special hell. My body both physically and emotionally hurt to an extent that sometimes it was impossible to get out of bed some mornings. My happy place was gone and I had nowhere to run. My Dad had tried to help where he could but he knew that not even he could give me the kind of relief I needed and so he gave me the go-ahead to do what I felt I needed to do to find relief. My mother just thought that I was reacting to all my friends being gone and Dad and I let her believe that.

Two months later the two saw me to college and I was completely alone with new faces everywhere. I found myself in this whole new place that was filled with endless crimes and wrongdoings and that meant even more pain for me. There was only much I could bear and at a certain point I gave up on trying to withhold. I could no longer fight the pain within as it had turned me into this weirdo that everyone could see and mock. Most of the days I was even too confused to concentrate on my studies and most were times I found myself taking the wrong classes. I had to just give in and become who I was always meant to be and I knew exactly where to begin. After my second month and third day in college, I finally planned to take the next move. "Tonight is the night you get born," my guardian said and I nodded in response.