Emotional collapse

Yawning, Hailie looked at Christian and smiled slightly, then pulled her chair closer to his and looked at his arms "Do you work out much?"

"I've been working out for a few years now"

"Can you lift your body with your hands only?"

"More than that, look" Standing up, Christian crouched down and rested one hand on the floor, then lifted his legs and held his body in the air with one hand.

"Wow..." Noticing Christian's shirt pull down due to gravity, Hailie quickly rolled her eyes and swallowed saliva.

"Watch this" Taking a deep breath, Christian tensed his muscles slightly, then strained his hand and lifted his palm, leaving all his weight on his 5 fingers.

"Wow" With surprise, Alan lifted his cell phone and snapped a picture of Christian.

Lowering his legs, Christian stood back up and smiled "I'm amazing, aren't I?"

"Christian, the dining room is not for working out" Bringing the thermos with hot water, Eva spoke up.

"Yes mom!" Sitting down at the table, Christian took 4 pieces of toast and places them on his plate, then turns to Hailie and speaks "What's the name of the game you were playing yesterday?"

"Primitive"

"Looks entertaining, maybe I'll play it" Turning to Eva, Christian asks "I forgot to ask, but did they legalize marijuana yet?"

"Yes, in fact, we're the biggest growers in the country, no one expected us to have everything ready"

"Bring in money?"

"We have 3000 employees and we generate monthly more than 200 million dollars, right now we were getting everything ready to launch the company on the stock exchange"

"Nice" With a bite of toast, Christian nodded.

"For Christmas the president is coming for dinner" Eva commented casually, something Hailie and Alan took very strangely lightly.

Stopping eating, Christian frowned and asked "The president?"

"Yes"

"What's she coming for?"

"To talk business, we were supposed to talk about your release"

"But that's no longer necessary..."

"Yes, but she's coming anyway"

Turning to his siblings, Christian asked quizzically "Why aren't they reacting?"

Rolling his eyes, Alan replied "For a while now mom has been having dinners with rich people, she almost always invites them home and they really are a pain in the ass, having to smile at every turn gives me a headache"

"From millionaires to politicians..." Added Hailie with a tense tone.

"..." Looking at his family, Christian really felt strange "Did something happen that I don't know about?"

Tensing suddenly, Eva looked at Hailie and Alan nervously, then stared at Christian intently.

Frowning, Christian asked "What happened?"

"Well..." Quickly thinking of a solution, Eva finally gave up and said "Let's just say your siblings are used to people like that"

"Why do they come home for lunch?"

"No..."

"Mom sent us to Switzerland to study with rich kids from all over the world" Alan finally dropped the bombshell, causing Christian to frown deeply and glare at his mother.

"You sent Hailie and Alan to study on the other side of the world with those kinds of people?"

"Christian... it was a difficult situation, and I was afraid the same thing would happen to your siblings as to you, so I left them in the safest place possible... that school is full of important people and children of the Elite, no one would do any attacks there"

"You really sent them to the other side of the world..." Looking at his mother strangely, Christian frowned and looked at his siblings carefully "You sent them to the other side of the world while they were just kids..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

A tense silence came to the place, Christian stared at his siblings and they had hard to understand faces.

"How are they doing in school?"

"..."

"..."

Noticing the complicated look on his two siblings, Christian asked again "Talk"

Looking at her mother for a few seconds, Hailie finally sighed and spoke "The atmosphere is kind of... tense"

"Why?"

"Because you sent the parents of at least 40 students in the place to jail" Alan replied with annoyance in his voice "Thanks to that we became the isolates of the school as soon as we entered... I had a hard time making friends"

"You..." Looking at Alan with a frown, Christian continued "Are you upset about what I did?"

"N-no... it's just that sometimes I think everything would be easier if you hadn't done anything..."

"Everything would be easier if those people kept raping children? Is that what you mean?" Setting his toast down on the table, Christian actually felt uncomfortable on the spot, noting what Alan really meant what he said.

"I-I didn't say that, I-"

Raising his hand, Christian speaks "Hush"

"..."

Turning his head to Hailie, Christian looks at her with a frown and speaks "What do you think?"

"I don't give a fuck about those people, we don't hang out with them" Looking at Alan with narrowed eyes, Hailie replied "But it's a... complicated situation"

"..." Leaning back in his chair, Christian looks at his mother with a blank stare and asks, "Did you know this was happening?"

"No..." Frowning, Eva looked at Alan and Hailie pointedly.

"But you knew this could happen and you didn't bother to investigate, did you?"

"..."

Looking at his family, Christian really felt as if he didn't know them, as if strangers had taken over his family's body and acted like them.

"Christian..." Noticing the look on Christian's face, Eva spoke, feeling her heart clench with grief.

"Really this is what my family became?" looking at everyone with pain in his eyes, Christian continued "My brother became just another stupid 'Elite', believing that it is better for these beasts to rape children, all so that he can avoid a bad moment in an insignificant school... my sister lies to my face without any change in her face... my mother prefers to close her eyes to the possible bullying of her children... this is my family?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"What happened to the family that didn't hide anything... what happened to the family that cared about others... what happened to my honest family... what happened to my overprotective mother, to my mother who didn't neglect her children... what happened to my family, the family I was so proud of" Feeling a great emptiness inside him, Christian continued "Really this is what they became? Another typical rich family?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I... I really went out of my way to be able to protect them from these people" Clenching his fists, Christian whispered "I did a lot of things to have the skills to be able to protect them from these people... blood, sweat and get dirty... and now what good is it? They are already one more of them... another family of the 'Elite'... I was stupid to think that everything would stay the same"

Shaking his head, Christian smiled bitterly and got up from the table "I really was stupid..."

Walking with weak steps, Christian left the kitchen under the silent gaze of everyone, including Eva who didn't know what to say.

With a red face, Alan speaks "Who does he think he is? He comes in suddenly and treats us like garbage!"

"Alan!" shouted Eva, looking angrily at the young man.

"But it's true!" With his own anger, Alan looked at his mother "He's not around for years and he suddenly arrives to treat me like a fool!"

"He left because he saved our lives!" With fury, Hailie retorted.

"But he's a murderer!" replied Alan "It doesn't matter that it was to save us, he killed those people!"

"ALAN!!!" Eva shouted in extreme anger.

With teary eyes, Alan looked at his mother "IT'S ALWAYS THE SAME, CHRISTIAN ARRIVES AND EVERYONE HAS TO REVOLVE AROUND HIM, CHRISTIAN THIS, CHRISTIAN THAT!!!"

"..."

"I'M SICK OF HEARING HIS DAMN NAME EVERYWHERE!!!"

"..."

"I MISSED MY BROTHER TOO, BUT I WON'T PUT UP WITH HIM TREATING ME LIKE CRAP JUST BECAUSE HE DOESN'T LIKE SOMETHING, IF HE DOESN'T LIKE WHO WE ARE, LET HIM JUST GET THE FUCK OUT!!!"

"YOU MISSED YOUR BROTHER!!!?" Yelling even louder, Hailie looks at Alan "EVERY DAY AT SCHOOL YOU SAY HE'S A MURDERER AND DESERVES TO BE IN JAIL, ALL TO PLEASE THOSE INUTILE RICH CHILDREN!!!"

"..."

"WHENEVER THEY TALK SHIT ABOUT HIM, YOU STAY QUIET AND ALLOW EVERYTHING, I'M ALWAYS THE STUPID ONE WHO DEFENDS HIM AND ENDS UP IN TROUBLE FOR THE SAME THING, STOP BEING SO FUCKING HYPOCRITICAL FOR ONCE!!!"

"..."

"..." With her face red with anger, Hailie took a heavy breath and continued "AND TODAY, TO PREVENT CHRISTIAN FROM FINDING OUT WHAT A SHITTY BROTHER HE HAS, I LIED TO HIM, ALL TO HIDE YOUR DAMNED HYPOCRISY AND PREVENT CHRISTIAN FROM GETTING HURT BY KNOWING YOUR TRUE FACE!!!"

"SO DON'T COME WITH YOUR VICTIM ROLE, BECAUSE YOU ARE THE WORST PERSON IN THIS PLACE!!!"

Standing behind the door, Christian listened to everything with vacant eyes, then smiled painfully and walked to his room.

Arriving at the place, Christian changed his clothes for a simpler one and put away his gun, then took his keys, cell phone and wallet.

Looking around the room, Christian shook his head and left, walking quietly through the mansion that seemed so unfamiliar to him right now.

Looking at the kitchen and still hearing screams, Christian clenched his fists and walked out of the house.

"Hisss~" On his way out, Christian saw Lilith in the doorway, causing him to smile slightly and stretch out his arm.

"Let's go little one"

Climbing into the vehicle, Christian started it and exited the place.

Driving through the streets in a daze, Christian arrived in the city without realizing it.

Parking the car, Christian got out and let himself get drenched by the rain, then looked at the store in front of him and went inside.

"Hello good how can I-" As he entered, a bell rung, causing the woman in attendance to speak quickly, only to freeze at the sight of Christian.

Not caring about the look on the woman's face, Christian looked at the instruments and picked up a guitar "I'll take it"

"..."

"Quickly please" Frowning and in no mood, Christian spoke.

"Y-yes, it's $45"

Pulling out $50, Christian hands it to the cashier "Keep the change, thanks"

Leaving the place, Christian got into the vehicle and drove aimlessly, then looked to his left with vacant eyes and nodded.

Parking the car, Christian grabs Lilith and whispers "Wait for me here friend.... I'm going to go get some air"

"Hisss~" Looking directly at Christian for a few seconds, Lilith hissed and moved to the passenger seat.

"Good girl" Smiling slightly, Christian picked up the guitar and got out of the vehicle, then looked at the park in front of him and the Detroit River beside him.

Walking slowly in the rain with the guitar in his hand, Christian crossed the street and arrived in a few minutes at the side of the river, while his whole body was already soaked by the cold rain.

Sitting down while looking at the river in front of him, Christian took the guitar and started to play without any sense.

You could say that what happened today really hit Christian harder than anything else.

That his family turned into the kind of people he hated the most and had such drastic changes really knocked the wind out of him.

"I was stupid..." Staring at the river with a blank stare, Christian continued to wave his hands madly.

Everything he did in the war, was justified in Christian's mind with a simple argument, having the skills to defend his family from those people who locked him up.

But today, all that argument went down the drain, and only immense guilt and self-loathing remained in its place.

Everything he had done, all the murders and suffering he had caused hundreds of families, all done for nothing.

"They... they don't need me anymore" With reddened eyes, Christian muttered "Alan was right..."

"I'm just a murderer trying to justify his actions on something as fickle as family... love, affection, care... all that can easily change" Biting his lips tightly, Christian whispered in a hoarse voice.

Remembering every face of the people he murdered, Christian especially lingered on the face of the little girl, causing his agony to rise even higher.

"FUCK!!!" Christian shouted without enduring any more "I AM A STUPID, AN IMBECILE, A FUCKING SCUM, AND A WORTHLESS MURDERER!!!"

Picking up his guitar, Christian slammed it hard against the ground, causing shards of wood to jump everywhere as the guitar broke into several pieces.

Collapsing to the ground with no strength to move, Christian looks down at his hands "I...am a hypocrite...I became what I hated the most"

----------------------------------------------------

Edited By: Amiss