Present

Wesker had been driving for over six hours now. Even though it was not his favorite activity, the atmosphere this time was much lighter. He even caught her showing affection every so often; every time his hand went on the gearshift, hers roamed on top of his. This time, she pushed the affection as far as to take his hand in hers.

"Albert?"

"Yes, dear heart?"

"You remember what you told me about your past?" she asked timidly.

"Yes."

"Was it all lies?"

"Some of it, yes."

"Oh."

She hesitated a moment, biting her lips to not bring the subject further.

"Ask me," he let out calmly.

"What?" she asked fakely surprised.

"Ask me."

"So, what you said about your father being in the marines and you being one as well for almost 20 years was all lies, right?"

"Yes."

"Then, what is the true story?"

He sighed, keeping silent.

"Please, I want to know…"

"Fine."

He took a deep breath and kept his most emotionless tone on.

"When I was 6, my parents and I got in a terrible car accident. Some drunken teenagers burned a red light and crashed into our car. I was the only survivor, my mother died instantly and my father died a few hours later in the hospital. Like I didn't have any other relatives to take care of me, I was placed in a foster family. Unfortunately, the father of this family favored illicit activities with the kids he was taking caring of."

"You mean he was a pedophile?"

"Exactly."

"Oh my God, that's terrible… Did he…?" she asked, shameful to push the matter further, her stomach in her throat.

"I knew my turn was coming soon, but there was no way I would let him touch me, so I hid a knife I took from the kitchen under my pillow. I remember that night perfectly. He came into my room and asked the other kids I was sharing the room with to leave to two of us alone. As soon as he tried to slide his hands under the sheet, I took the knife and stabbed him in the chest."

He smiled proudly, as if he was remembering that one time he got an A+ on his math test.

"Unfortunately, the guy did not die. I tried to explain to the authorities that I was only defending myself, that he was a pedophile, but no one believed me, and the other kids were too scared to talk. Back then, child abuse was something taboo; people would have rather closed their eyes than admit it existed. I was then placed in a rehabilitation centre for delinquent children. I was 8 years old. I quickly realized I had to do something if I didn't want to end up like 80 percents of the kids over there. I saw only one solution: study as hard as I could. My IQ was highly superior to the majority, so I obtained phenomenal results on all my tests. Luckily for me, at 18 years old, I was accepted in a decent college in biochemistry, even with my unusual background. In college, I was ahead of all the other students and my teachers were very impressed by my quick improvements. One of them was working underground for Umbrella, that's how they noticed me and offered me a job. Well, you know the rest," he finished his story calmly, regretting he wasn't anymore the only holder of it.

She looked deeply at him, tears slowly forming in the corner of her eyes. She appreciated that he would trust her enough to share his story with her. Somehow, she felt closer to him; she painfully understood where he was coming from… Still holding his hand in hers, she squeezed it softly. He looked at her for a moment, her smile comforting, and then returned his attention to the road. No one talked, nor moved for the rest of the trip.