The Mercy of a Mother

by Rjalker

There wasn't a lot of time left before the countdown reached zero. She paused beside him, as he had intended her to.

The part of her that was named Conrad Kellogg told her to let him live.

Let him suffer the fate he wouldn't blink twice at letting others suffer.

Let him suffer as the people he called filth suffered.

Let him know in his dying breath–if he died at all–that he was a monster, and this was what he deserved.

But she was a better person than that. A better mother, even if he wasn't her son.