Page 228 of Satan's Spawn
I have no words to speak, which works well because I need Archer to explain the bomb he just dropped on me.
Crayton killed his mother.
I skim through every single word on this document as Archer continues to rub salt on the wound.
“The article couldn’t release the name of the child, but I guess Grandpa wanted to gather as much evidence as he could.”
“For what?” I rear back. Unable to understand why the hell a kid would be at fault for killing the person who was abusing him so badly.
“I’ll save you the headache of reading through a slew of legal documents. The state wanted to charge Isaiah for the murder of his mother. Institutionalize him.”
My mouth gapes. “What the fuck? It states clearly that Cray…I mean Isaiah insisted she was a religious fanatic who was deranged enough to believe he’s the son of the devil…who tried to kill him with a kni—”
My words fall dead.
A knife…
Crayton’s knife.
Tears sting my throat. This is so much worse than I thought. No wonder Crayton considers himself a devil.
His mother spent his entire childhood convincing him he was.
“Satan’s spawn.” Archer’s words snap me out of my daze, but do nothing to comfort me.
“What did you say?” I blink at him through glassy eyes.
“It says she referred to him as Satan’s spawn.”
A hysterical cry bursts from my lips as I cover my mouth with my hands.
That’s why Crayton reacted the way he did when I called him that.
I was referring to him by the same namehismonster did.
A swarm of guilt consumes me, swallows me whole.
I squeeze my arms around my stomach. “This is…” I stumble on my words. “This is just so horrible.”
Archer’s face tells me what he’s about to say will offer zero respite.
“It gets worse unfortunately.”
“How in the hell could this get worse? Crayton has years and years of unresolved trauma, and has been struggling with it alone his entire life.”
“Well, he did have his dad at the end.”
“Battles like these are always fought alone, Archer. No matter how many people are surrounding you.”
Archer nods in understanding, but all I need him to do is offer the final blow I know is coming.
“How does this get worse?”
He swallows. “His mother was in the system, she was picked up on a drug charge a few years before her death.”
“Okay?”
This only proves how fucked up she really was.
