Innocence is what decides that a child is a child. When they lose that innocence, when they’re forced to struggle under the weight of the world, of reality, they have lost all bliss.
Tyros uses everything in their power to maintain Kyo’s innocence. He’s only two, but by that age in their own household, their father had already decided there was something wrong with them. Children aren’t blind to hatred. They notice the regret in your eyes, the chill in your touch, the bitterness on your tongue. They know if you resent them.
Tyros also loved Kyo and cared for Kyo because they didn’t have a bone in their body that couldn’t love him. It was unconditional, unfathomable, the love of a parent that everybody truly wants. It didn’t feel like their job to love him, it just was that way, and they wouldn’t change it for the world.
But Tyros couldn’t keep Kyo from reality, because if he was kept from it, he’d never grow.
Most of all, Tyros couldn’t keep him from the reality of their job. They’d come home late to avoid his gaze, footsteps silent, body tense. Hiding when they’re so proud of it elsewhere. If anyone, Kyo deserved honesty. He deserved to know they were just another monster under his bed.
A killer.
But a rock would settle in their stomach the moment they heard the light pattering of excited feet, the sound of a child who had been impatiently waiting for their parent all day. A wave of guilt and shame would crash over them, sucking them into the tide and suffocating them.
Tyros swore that those fearful eyes had been theirs once.
‘It’s to protect you,’ they’d say.
‘I’d never hurt you,’ they’d reassure.
Kyo would flinch away when they cupped his cheeks, blood previously coating their muddied hands now caking his smooth skin.
Tainting it.
Macee Welsh is in the 10th grade. The earliest she can remember writing is in second grade. She has a huge passion to write in the future, and is also interested in screen writing and other classes of the arts.
About this story: "Tyros Toussaint tries their best as a parent for their son. Sometimes, however, things just can't be what they wish. "