Twelve Hours

[CW: This story contains depictions of violence, discrimination, mental health struggles, and grief]

A flock of journalists stood outside the courtroom waiting for the villainous Kanos Draven to appear.

Like buzzards, they swarmed the bottom of the steps, ready to pick his bones clean after the guilty verdict.

Flashes burst. The sharp clatter of shutters captured the infamous downfall of the corrupt and sinful.

Hisses from the wake of reporters rose as his dirty orange jumpsuit appeared, showcasing the timeless moment.

Head bowed.

Wrist chained.

Spirit diminished.

Kanos! Kanos! Why’d you kill them?

Kanos, why do you think the verdict is wrong?

Kanos, what do you have to say to the families of the victims?

Is it true that one of the victims was your daughter’s fiancé?

Kanos huffed bitterly.

The air around him seemed to thicken alongside his anger.

“Everybody, back up. C’mon, you damn vultures.”

The guard’s husky voice rang out against the noise from the reporters as he and his partner pushed through the crowd with a police escort.

Kanos’s movements slowed when a well-known reporter, Lauren Sawyer, pressed herself against a cop’s back and thrust her microphone into his face.

She shouted.

“After killing your daughter, Ivy, why did you spend twelve hours with her body? And why did you take her left hand?”

The crowd halted.

Silence.

In that moment, the world paused.

Only the falling snow pierced the layers of tension.

Lauren stepped forward.

“The week before the murders, you did an interview. You said that the integration of humans and monsters was a natural assimilation for this time period. You boasted about being the bridge between the two cultures. Leading by example.”

She pressed harder.

“So I have to ask…is this the example you wanted set? Twenty humans, plus your daughter, slain by your hand?”

Another step.

Kanos’s head rose.

He met her sharp gaze with a murderous one of his own.

She smirked. She waited years for a story like this. One that would cement her name in history while simultaneously exposing monsters.

“Is it true your kind consumes part of their enemies as a ceremonial victory?”

“Is that why you took her hand? Would you provide insight on the importance of the twelve hours?”

The frosty air whipped violently, yet the heat radiating from Kanos was almost visible as the snow underneath him melted gradually.

His green, leathery scales darkened as his anger rose.

“Final questions, Kanos.”

Lauren’s cool breath looked more like the barrel of a smoking gun.

She leaned in just enough to get a clear view of the creature before her.

And delivered the final blows.

“Are you behind the trail of killings that have surfaced this past month?”

“Why did you remove her left hand?”

The air thickened, tension mounting steadily. Kanos shifted his gaze from Lauren to the steel cuffs around his wrist, a silent debate.

clank clank clank

Watching his movements closely, officers clutched their guns at their waist.

The burly guard’s voice boomed, shifting the focus momentarily.

“That’s enough, lady. Now get back behind the line.”

“Keep it moving.”

Lauren grunted in annoyance as she was forced to move back.

The distance was welcomed.

Kanos dropped his arms while his scales lightened.

Trudging towards the prison van.

Flashes resuming as reporters pressed for answers.

“Tch. You can walk faster than that.” A cop spat as he shoved him with his baton.

Kanos stumbled, blinded by the rapid camera flashes as he landed on his knees.

* * *

When he stood up, he was in a parking lot, no longer in chains, and the crowd was gone.

The sky was sun-drenched and cloudless. Bees floated lazily near a bush of purple hyssop while a couple jogged by cheerily, offering bright smiles and small waves.

His hand went up robotically as confusion plagued his face before he hurriedly went to sit in his car.

This is the parking lot from the interview…

He remembered staying up late the night before practicing what to say in the interview.

Maybe it was those six cups of coffee from last night finally catching up.

Kanos rubbed his eyes in frustration as the feeling of unease began settling in his chest.

If it was a dream, why did it feel so real? Why could he feel the heavy snow melting against his scales? The cameras. The reporters. The—

“IVY!” He shouted.

Grabbing the small phone from his suit jacket, he dialed her number frantically.

“Hey da-” Ivy answered.

“Ivy! You’re alive.” Kanos couldn’t stop himself from blurting out. The dream of her being dead. Him being the reason for it.

The sound of her voice was like heavy rain after a long drought.

His heart thumped fiercely behind his leather chest.

“Of course, I’m alive. What are you talking about? Are you okay?” Ivy asked softly with an air of bubbly laughter.

It had all been a dream…

“No, yeah. I’m fine. It was just the coffee from last night getting to me, that’s all. Where are you?” Kanos asked, feeling a sense of relief for the first time today.

“Ivy, I need to tell you something, and I want you to listen to me.”

“Okay,” Ivy answered, her laughter dying down. “You sound so serious.”

“I was wrong. About all of it. This…integration…this foolish idea that they could accept us? Peace.” He swallowed hard.

“What are you even saying? You sound crazy.” Ivy cut him off, sighing. “You sound tired.”

“Just listen to me, damnit! You can’t marry Daniel. He’s a part of H.A.M. He lied, Ivy! You can’t trust’em. They’re killers. I was wrong!” Kanos screamed his thoughts, fighting as they raced for first against his tongue.

“Daniel isn’t like that. He sees me….. behind the scales, and the claws,” Ivy shot back.

“He’s lying! You don’t underst—"

“How would you know? None of your marriages lasted. Daniel loves me.” Ivy snapped.

“You’re just tired….and right now I don’t even recognize you. We’ll talk later,” she whispered softly.

Silence hangs in the air briefly.

“Was any of it real to you? …The things you said in the interview about wanting to live in peace with the humans. Or was it all a lie?” Ivy questioned before hanging up abruptly.

“Ivy don-” Kanos panicked as his phone screen faded black.

He moved to start the engine, determined to make Ivy see reason.

As he turned the key, he froze, falling out of the car in disarray.

* * *

No longer in the parking lot of the studio for the interview. The car was parked in front of a run-down building with a grimy red door that was cracked. A dirty, worn-out yellow sign hung crookedly on the door with bold red letters H.A.M., Humans Against Monsters, in small lettering underneath.

“NO…NO… NO,” Kanos wailed, the recognition settled.

It looked abandoned on the outside. The bricks were chipped, and a few of the windows were broken. Newspaper sprawled throughout to cover the holes as rats crept through the cracks in the walls.

Tears filled his eyes as that painful drumming he had for a heart played a familiar tune in his ears.

The smell of mildew and rot floated through the air.

He let out an animalistic howl as he dashed through the halls.

His monstrous build knocked sizeable holes in walls as he turned corners violently.

Somewhere between the doorway and the halls, his shoes flew off. He raced on the pads of his feet and hands for an extra boost.

Fluorescent lights swung from the ceiling, shaken by the force of the wind in his trail of chaos.

The sound of men’s laughter made his ears twitch.

Throwing his body faster until the only sound he could hear was his heart beating in his ears.

Smashing the door and letting out a deafening cry.

On the floor lay his daughter, Ivy.

Dead.

Her once prominent olive green scales were now a muted gray as she lay in a puddle of her own blood.

Her fiancé stood over her, cheering with the other men of H.A.M., “Death to all monsters.”

Daniel shifted his eyes to Kanos and offered a smile, “Don’t worry. I put it down easily.”

Kanos’s body heated as Daniel’s words spun around him. The clothes he wore suddenly felt restricting.

Too tight. Can’t breathe.

He ripped them in a fury as an inhuman sound traveled up from his bowels to his lips.

Time didn’t exist in the room anymore, or at least that’s how it felt.

Kanos’s movements were swift and precise.

With each strike, he gave in to becoming the predator they feared.

Time didn’t exist until he slaughtered all of his prey.

The room smelled sickeningly sweet and metallic from the blood Kanos spread.

Staggering over to Ivy, he dropped and wailed like a wounded animal.

Kanos clutched her body tight as his cries filled the room, as he pleaded with her to open her eyes.

Begging for another chance that would never come.

The cries turned back to anger as he placed Ivy on the floor, releasing a terrifying roar that shattered the rest of the windows.

His eyes glazed red as he looked around for more people.

He glanced at Ivy’s body and noticed the gold engagement ring on her left hand.

Unity…It was supposed to be an example.

Reaching for it, the fury from her death blinded him.

Her hand in his as he tore it from her wrist.

Panic surfaced again as he cried and grieved for his daughter.

As he picked her up, he carried her towards the door to leave.

* * *

It’s bright, and the temperature dropped back down.

Cameras flashed as he lifted himself from the ground a second time.

Lauren asked her questions again, demanding an answer.

The blows just as devastating as the first time.

“Are you behind the trail of killings that have surfaced this past month?”

“Why did you remove her left hand?”

Deja vu? Hell?

Grieved and broken, Kanos turned to face Lauren.

A shattered shell of the Kanos once before.

He whispered as a tear escaped, “This is all my fault.”

Cameras cementing the moment, sealing it in history’s archives.