Til Death... [Chan]

13

"You killed someone," I muttered the moment the gag was taken off. Even though his arms were wrapped around me in an embrace, mine were glued to my sides, refusing to show him any affection.

He pulled away and looked at me with an emotionless expression, "I did."

"You killed someone and then acted like nothing had happened," I reminded him., recalling the following morning...how he and I had connected.

"I know..."

I pinched my eyes shut, trying to imagine how he could be so sweet to me while simultaneously having such darkness in him that he could take a life.

"How many people have you killed Chan?"

"Phi..." he began.

"No," I snapped. "Tell me."

He took a deep breath. "A lot."

I tried to back away from him, but his hands wrapped around my wrists.

"It's not what you think," he pleaded with me to listen. "I'm not like Blade. I've only killed bad people."

"Chan..."

"Bad people who hurt others and..."

Others? "None of the others fought back..." Blade had said.

A branch snapped nearby making him flinch. "Can we go inside?"

He really was scared of the dark. I sighed but nodded. There was nowhere else for me to go tonight.

He carried my things but refused to let go of my hand for fear I would run off again.

When we got inside I remained standing by the door, refusing to walk deeper into the house with him.

"How many others have there been?" I asked.

"I've killed a lot of bad people Phi. I don't know," his voice cracked.

"Not killed. How many other women have there been? How many wives?"

"How did you..."

"Blade told me. He told me 'The others didn't fight back'. How many wives have there been?"

Chan looked sad and angry and had a multitude of other emotions I couldn't even begin to understand. "Four."

Four wives. Four.

"How many are dead?"

I knew some of them had to be dead. Blade had implied that much.

I hadn't expected Chan to look at me with such sad, pitiful eyes as he weakly shook his head.

All of them. All of them were dead. And I was next.

"Chan. Did you..." my voice trailed off. Did I want to know that?

"No," he croaked. "I would never...I'd never hurt any of them."

That made me feel a little better, but not much. Even if Chan hadn't wanted to hurt them, someone else did, and they'd succeeded every time.

"Did they have your kids, too?" I whispered, afraid of the answer.

He nodded.

"And the kids... where are they..."

"Gone," his voice cracked as he collapsed to the ground with a sob, pulling his knees into his chest.

It was obvious to me now that Chan wasn't a bad person. He had killed people who hurt others. He was grieving now for the people he'd lost.