“Put that down.” Three simple words I have heard all my life. The first time I held a knife. “Rylee put that down. You'll hurt yourself.”
The first time I held a gun.
“Rylee I swear if you don’t put that down. You're in big trouble.”
When I first saw their power and held the blood red colors in my small hands.
“Little lady put that down. You don’t want to mess with them.”
It’s funny really, each time they say that I just want to do the opposite. That’s why when the principal left and the school cleared, I didn’t take the long ten-minute walk home.
Instead, I turned down the hall following the path I knew lead to forbidden territory. I turned and twisted past places that no sane person would go and no girl would even approach. I ignored the whispers and intimidating looks as I pass through a place no one has ever willingly walked.
The cloth in my hand brings gasps from the onlookers. As I walk past, they sit and stare. I can tell I'm going up the ranks as I get farther in. Each look stays longer and each hand twitches more to intervene.
“Little girl I suggest you put that down and turn around,” I smirk. With those four words and a sickening crack of a punch, my world is changed. I feel no remorse as he lies on the ground and I am tackled down by his “family”. They should have known I don’t like those words. Not. One. Bit.
Their leader is impressed. He’s not angry and once he shooed out the flies swarming me I received a twisted smile and pat on the head.
“Promise me not to put that down.” A chilling laugh fills the room as I take in his joke. I can tell he knows what I hate and that’s when I know I’ll like it here.
The red now adorns my head, holding back the jagged cut of my bright blond hair. The stares around me increase, bringing me peace, their whispers are my fuel. Respect is crucial and so I'm brought to his side to learn. He never tells me to put anything down. So, when I hold the butterfly knife, I relish in its touch. I watch the blood drip down my hand after a gasp and gurgle. It’s too messy, I decided I don’t like it as much. When I grasp a revolver, I feel the power flow through me. People fall to me like flies and I know this is for me. Now no one tells me to stop. Not after I shoot two of them down and they find the body of my mother hanging from the roof.
Eventually, I rise through the ranks and in his heart. Those words change for me, twist, and turn until they become three loving ones. He whispers them in my ear every time a body falls. He snakes them across my skin whenever someone even tries to utter the words I despise. He makes me scream them out when I am beneath him. He weaves them into my DNA as he puts me through excruciating exercise after excruciating exercise till I'm tough as a rock.
Eventually, the world around me changes like those words. It expands and grows. With graduation comes the world. It’s his gift to me. He's three years ahead and has already concord it all. Paris becomes my playground and China my throne.
I enjoy it there where the people know how to respect authority and understand honor. They serve me gladly and I gather my own loyal followers. He enjoys it as well, he lets me have it and all its people. He is clear when he says he likes watching me up there, commanding the flies to do my bidding. I gather more power as I go.
It’s funny they say actions speak louder than words but for me, that has never been true until HE began to change. With his change, actions showed me that three words can make four when a gentle hand and soft voice hold you down. He showed it with every long night and late flight.
Really, he should have known they constrained me and I felt my world shrinking. He did give me the world after all just so I would never have to hear those words. He should have known. They were like strings tide to keep me down and I am not a puppet.
“Baby please I love you.” Wrong. A scream and shattered knee. His words plead but his eyes tell me his hate. “What's wrong baby? What happened?” nope. Two shots and his life is hanging by a thread. He's running out of time now and even he knows what's coming. “Please put that down.” Wrong answer.
The flies will descend upon the body later and I’ll make sure they know to devour it. The empire was mine before the first shot and so the world is my playground. Now I should never hear those words again now I can be free.
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