It was a pain Avery had never known. He thought he knew pain, physical and emotional. But nothing in the world could have prepared him for this. The scene before him forced him to his knees, forced yells to rip his throat hoarse like it was him that was dying, like it was his throat spraying thick blood on the wall as he hung there in the doorway of the kitchen, like it was his life taken away and his years destroyed, his memories lost… But it was, because the scene before him destroyed any good memories he had had of his mother. They were all replaced by this blood, this blood that he couldn't get out of his sight even if he looked away. And the agony, the agony of this ending to his mother's life brought tears streaming down his face as he sobbed endlessly, falling into the void of his emotions and thoughts. He was instantly trapped in his own mind. Memories flashed by in his head now of his mother, the only one whoever showed mercy, ever showed a hint of love, before his father ruined her.

He remembered the first time his father had hit him for being too loud, when he was 4, and how his mother had held him in her lap and stroked his hair until the pain seemed to fade away in the feeling of her love.

Another memory played in his mind's eye. He was 7 now, his young eyes staring in horror as the remainder of his childhood shattered at the sight of his father beating his mother for protecting him.

Then he was 10, his mother came into his room in the middle of the night and bent beside him, not knowing that he was awake, telling him how much she loved him and how she would protect him always, his father loved him too, he was NOT a monster, NOT evil, AND HE LOVED HER AND NOTHING COULD CHANGE THAT AND- then she had run from the room crying. That was the first time he had seen his mother break.

At 13, his mother called him a demon just like his father. "You look just like him, black hair and red eyes. YOU ARE LIKE HIM LIKE HIM GET AWAY GET AWAY YOU ARE HIM IT'S A TRICK, A TRICK-" He had run away then. His mother's sanity had broken.

At 15, she was a zombie, his father had broken her completely, but still, every night she would come into his room and stare down at him for a long time. She would say "I love you always." Every night, he was reminded that at least one person would grieve if he were to die.

The last memory, just yesterday, for the first time in a while, his mother seemed to be sane. She took him out for ice cream and he had seen her smile for the first time in a long time. Her smile was sweeter than any ice cream, brighter than the sunlight that they had walked through while eating it.

The memories faded to nothingness and left him looking at his father's latest murder. His beloved, cursed mother. He trembled and trembled, incredible pain washing over him in waves. It was like the world had been ripped out from under his feet and that he would never love, never feel happiness, never dare to hope for anything ever again. That's when he made the promise to himself. He would live, but only until he'd made his father pay for his mother's death. All he had to do was find him. He stepped shakily into the house, feeling like he was in a horror movie. This one would be different though, this one, the main character would conquer his fear and win. "For my mother," He whispered as he stepped into the most dangerous situation of his life. "Father, I'm coming. And I'm not leaving until you're dead."