As a child, I have always been the quiet one in school. I never made friends, and it seemed I was invisible even to the bullies. Maybe if I did not constantly get the highest grades in all my classes, not even the teachers would pay me heed. Meanwhile, Chiyoh acted as if that was exactly what she expected of me. I was patient, controlled and I tried to be resilient as much as possible. That kind of attitude has served me well, until the day came when I lost it for a short while.

It was the first time I was physically bullied. I was eating alone during lunchtime when they approached me. They were sixth-graders and my classmates, albeit older and bigger. There were three of them. One of them snatched my lunch. The other grabbed me by the shoulder out of my seat and threw me onto the ground. The third one kicked my stomach as I laid there. It all happened in a flash.

"Not so smart now, huh, Urbonas?" They spat at me as they ran away before I could even retaliate, and I knew better than to retaliate at the time.

I can remember it was a Friday when the bullying happened because there were no classes the next day. Still in a cold rage over what had happened the day before, I woke up with one thought in mind—payback. After breakfast, I went outside the castle grounds having told Chiyoh that I meant to go for a walk. She did not know I went to town. She did not know I sought those bullies out and found them smoking in the woods.

From where I stood hidden behind bushes, I picked up a large rock and threw it on the one who had grabbed me the day before. It hit the back of his head, rendering him unconscious. One of them knelt beside his friend and tried to wake him while the other marched towards where I was hiding. I sneaked my way past him through the trees and went to where his companion knelt with his back towards the rock that hit his other friend. I picked up the rock and smashed his head with it until the grass around us seeped with blood and his heavy breathing has died down. As I was doing so, the other one heard his screams and returned in time to see his friend breathe his last. Enraged, he came at me with a yelp. I still held the rock, and I used it to hit him as he ran towards me. The impact made him trip and fall down. As fast as I could, I knelt, took his unconscious friend's hand, wrapped it around the rock I held and hit the other one with it as I did with their other friend while they were all lying on the ground. I made sure the two of them were not breathing anymore before I stood up to locate the nearby brook.

I took off my gloves and placed them in my pocket to wash my shoes of any trace of blood. With my hands still dripping wet, I went back to where all three of the bullies laid on the ground. I knelt beside the unconscious one and sprinkled water on his face to wake him. When I saw that he was about to open his eyes, I wore an alarmed expression on my face.

"Wake up!" I called at the boy, "Wake up!"

"Urbonas?" He said, upon opening his eyes.

"What are you doing here? What did you do?" I asked, sounding shocked and worried.

He looked at me in confusion.

I bolted up and pointed at the blood-soaked rock he held with his hand. "Y-you killed them! You killed them didn't you?" I shouted.

The boy sat up to look around him and gasped. "I did not—"

"I saw you!" I said. "You were hitting Butkus before you passed out!"

"What? We were just smoking!" He said, standing up.

"Smoking? What were you smoking then?" I said. "It does not matter. I will call the police!"

"No! No please don't!" The boy pleaded. Panic was rising along with his voice.

"Then you better run away before they find out!" I told him. "Run far away! I will not call the police, they will find out anyway."

"Oh crap." He muttered under his breath. He cast his friends and me one last look before turning around and running away.

That boy was fourteen years old then, and I was twelve. The police found the bodies before nightfall, and I had returned to the castle just in time for lunch. Four years later, I have read that the boy who 'survived' has been captured. He committed suicide in jail two weeks later. The photograph of his corpse dressed in a prison jumpsuit and dangling on a rope made it to the front pages of local newspapers. As for me, that incident was the first sign that I cannot run from the urges that may have come with my genes. All of us did some humiliating folly in their adolescence, and I told myself that killing those boys was mine.

I have managed to submerge that incident in my mind with the dullness of my own life. For many years I never dared recall it—until now; until I stood in front of the man who purchased my existence; until I stood in front of my father.

"I will leave you two alone now." Dr. Bloom said.

When I heard the door close behind her, I almost heard myself snap. My psyche is a brittle twig that could break any time. Though I have tried to make it a stronger piece of wood, it was only as pretense. I was never stable. I have tried to convince myself that I am not mentally unstable, but I just made my state of mind more fragile in doing so.

"Hello, Abiel." Hannibal Lecter greeted.

I knew I was breathing heavily. My blood was still running cold throughout my body. I looked at the floor, inhaled deeply, and calmed myself before meeting his gaze. "Hi, father." I replied.

He smiled. "If you call me 'father', how do you intend to call Will?"

"Shall I call you 'tėvas'?" I asked.

"I remember calling my own father the same." He replied. "And yet, I cannot even remember him."

"I was set on not remembering you at all." I felt my hands grow cold as I said so.

My father slightly tilted his head to one side. "What made you remember?"

I opened my hands that have coiled to fists without me noticing. I looked at my palms. They were shaking. "Facts I cannot deny." I replied. "Truths I cannot run away from." I raised my head to look at him again, and I noticed the semblance of a smile lingering on my father's face.

"When Bedelia told me she has offered to sponsor your education, I thought you would reject her. I fancied you accepted not just because you wanted to study here in the US, but also because you wanted to see me—to see us."

I smirked. "Aren't you too full of yourself?" I retorted. "But yes. Of course, I wanted to see you. I wanted to see the people who have bought me for their child but cannot handle the responsibility."

"Abiel, we have tried our best. Especially Will." He said, the edges of his lips tugging into a slight frown.

I scoffed. "But it was not enough."

"I do not deny that." He replied. "We were happy having you in our lives, but not in our world. Just like with Abigail, I was prepared to start a new world with you and Will. Will, on the other hand, was not. He tried to be content with our arrangement though we both knew it was not good for you at all."

"Then why did you get me?" I asked, choking on the bitterness I have suppressed for too long. "Why did you buy me?"

The room grew silent as Hannibal Lecter looked on the floor as if he hoped to find answers lying upon it.

I did not look away from him. I made sure my eyes bore into him, piercing him with all the resentment I had kept bottled up for my entire life. I wanted to burden him with what he pushed away twenty-two years ago. I wanted my own existence to condemn him.

At last, he spoke. "To bind us."

Author's Note:

I'm amazed you made it this far. I'm amazed at myself too. Now why don't you review or follow and let's keep getting amazed together.