Dear Jared and Lena,
The past is behind us, but first, here is a little inside to your father, Jared. He loved you, and I loved him. The truth is I love you too. You may never understand this, and this may not be closure, but we must see our mistakes to prevent them from happening again. I am long gone now. I hope this arrives when I planned, but sometimes our plans fall through. I’m sorry for cloning the both of you. I’m sorry for a lot of things. Jared, I want you to know how much I love you. Although I will die as Clementine, my name is Chelsea Ravana. Jared, my son, I had to hide. I had to watch your father. I had to make this right. I am sorry I left you, but you know I was always with you. Your father wrote this to me when Lena first came to the compound. He never knew the truth of who I was, but he still loved Clementine. I guess love never dies. You know this firsthand. Lena, take care of my son.
Goodbye, I love you forever.
C
We sat there in awe. He didn’t speak for a long time. I was in shock, but I had to be a wife. I had to be a friend, an equal. I had to pull us through it.
I kissed his cheek. “Well, the worst is over right?” I smiled.
He looked me over. “Wow. I can’t believe it.” He looked as if he would pass out from the news.
“I know. Should we keep reading?” I rubbed his cheek. He had to snap out of it.
“Yes. Even if it gets worse. You’re here, and I love you. We will get through anything.” He smiled at me and I held his hand as we opened the second letter.
“Together?” he whispered.
“Forever.”
THE END
The Lost Letter
October 7, 2031
Dear My Love,
I didn’t write your name in case someone finds this. I have a few confessions. I have a few regrets. I figured I would start with this.
Sometimes I really wished Jared were on my side, instead of Aiden. I know what you’re thinking, why would you want someone who hates you on your side? Why does it matter?
The truth is, I loved Jared. No, I love Jared. I loved their mother. I loved all of humanity. But then I saw the world as it truly was. The world was obsessed with things it shouldn’t have been. It was obsessed with money.
In a world driven by money and power, one can only survive by playing the same game. I was going to destroy the earth and leave them floundering without their money. Drown without their power because I would be their leader.
The world doesn’t need saving, the world needs retribution, and I will be the one to give it to them. Justice. I am serving justice. I am performing my civic duty, and destroying the world for what it has become. Can you understand that?
Humanity has been lost for a long time. There is not one kind person left, or so it seems. There is not one person who hasn’t been corrupted by sex, lust, money or power. I am not excluding myself, but I am going to get rid of it all before it is too late.
Do you understand my purpose? Do you understand the duty that I have to finish it all?
If you look around, there is truly no one there who will take the time of day to care about you. In a world without compassion, there is nothing. The world today is cold. We stare blankly at the homeless man on the side of the road; we stare unfeeling at the woman selling her body on the streets to pay for her children. We turn a blank eye to all the world’s problems.
That was where it began. Sebastian wanted to protect the human race. There was nothing we would get in return. When I asked if we could help the poor, he didn’t have an answer. That was when I realized he was driven by money as well. That day I went home, kissed my wife goodnight. I decided that night that I wouldn’t stand by money. I would destroy the disease that was meant to help all people. It truly meant he and I would only help the rich.
I know it’s cruel, to kill so many and to make them under my control but I am playing the game of life. I am the ideal example of fear. Now that I have created fear, money isn’t of importance. Nothing is important any longer but the fear in the hearts of everyone. I have controlled Sebastian’s daughter who I have meant to control since day one. The problem is that Jared fell in love.
The truth is, I wanted to have Jared on my side but then he fell in love. He fell in love with my enemy. I couldn’t believe it when I knew and I felt shattered. Aiden had followed me no matter what. I wanted Jared to do that as well, and he didn’t. He blamed me for their mother’s death as I blamed him when I was angry. I caused Aiden to turn on him too and I don’t regret it but I wish I didn’t have to kill Jared, as I have to kill Lena.
Love is the one thing that can break someone, destroy their thoughts, their feelings and anything rational about them. Love broke me when I fell in love. Love broke me when I loved my sons. Love broke me when I found out my friend was like the rest of them. Love breaks us all. I set out to destroy love from the world and I have succeeded.
Gabe and Holland were once in love and then I gave Gabe power. It completes my theory how power thirst is more important than love. Power and money destroyed a love that seemed to hold a lifetime of promise.
A man turned his back on the one who loved him to be a ruler and it proves to me once more that what I am doing is right. I am murdering society’s ways. I am murdering the vile of the world.
Jared is foolish to not be with me but I won’t ever let him know that I love him. I think of him everyday. I think of how if the world were different, I could pat him on the back for finding a girl who loved him. I couldn’t let them be destroyed by society though.
If this world were the same as it once was, they would become bored with one another. Cheat, lie and lie some more. Love fails. For many reasons. But now their love won’t fail, it will live with them in death.
They will die at the prime of their romance before they could destroy one another. They should be thanking me. Power is above love, and one day he might have found power more thrilling than love.
He is broken, from the love he feels for this girl. It broke my heart inside to know that Lena would never be the girl he fell in love with after I was through with her. She would be a solider in my army.
Gabe is being punished now for his once love for Holland, but in all honesty, he is one of the most malicious people I have ever encountered.
I will put an end to this. The people that are like Gabe are the worst kind and the reason why I do this. I want to keep people safe from this by taking them out of the situation.
I can see Jared now. I know his every move. I know everything about the world because I am the sole owner now. I love Jared but I have to destroy him. He fights for the ones that are evil.
I wanted to let him think he was still winning. Let him think that I didn’t know the truth. One day I hope he knows the truth about me. I love him. I even love Lena but I can’t have this anymore. Please tell Jared for me if I am dead before I can. And if he doesn’t force me to kill him anyways.
I just need to see one act of kindness and genuine compassion to break what I have built up. To change my view of humanity. I have waited for years to see it one true act of love, and I still haven’t.
This may be our last letter. There won’t be much time for letters after this. I know Jared will come after me. I know he will kill me. I know what comes for me and I am ready to leave the world in destruction. No one could rebuild it but Lena, and look where she is now.
I want to leave the world in obliteration. I want the world to never remember what once was. I want them to remember what is left when I am finished. I don’t care if it’s possible for them to find their way in the dark. I don’t care if anyone ever forgives me for what I have done. I don’t want it. I want the world to be renewed. I want the world to be rejuvenated.
Is it possible? Is it possible to recreate a world that is so damaged?
Bigger and better is the concept of the world. I couldn’t allow this to go on any longer. I had to be the destroyer of the world, or the world would have destroyed me. I had to be the one to get throu
gh to Jared or his end would be near. In the end, I want you to know that I do love. I love everything fully but it isn’t enough to love something. It’s not enough to love a world that is so broken with corruption.
My love, my blood, protect your heart from the cruelty of this world. Shelter yourself from the new world I have created. The world I create won’t be anything you want. It will be full of heartache, like the heartache this world has created in me for years.
I know I shouldn’t blame anyone, but I blame human kind. I blame the unkind words they said to me as a child. I blame the dirty looks I acquired on a daily basis. I blame the world for turning my insides vile and brutal.
I am the man who loved so deeply beyond words before they ruined me. Just as I loved humanity before it destroyed me.
I know you wanted to ask me if I was evil. I am. I am as evil as the world made me. I am a product of my environment. I am corruption’s son. I am devastation’s leader.
Forever and eternally,
Alec
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my mom, my dad, Dina, Dimitri, Grandma, Susie, Great Grandmother and Yiayia for giving me with the courage to write this book. I have many people to thank for the courage I have now.
I want to thank Edee for being patient with me, and helping me in so many different aspects of my life.
Thank you, Christian, for taking my pictures, and being one of the greatest people I know.
Thank you, Patchwork Press, for being my publishing home and welcoming me in so many ways.
Thank you, Brittany, for always being a great friend to me. You’re always asking about Corruption, and you’ve waited patiently. I promise I won’t ever say, “I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding.”
Thank you to my family for always listening to me and encouraging me when it comes to writing. I love you all.
To my mom, I could write you a whole book of why I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For always believing in me, no matter what. I love you.
To my dad, thanks for always listening to me when things go wrong. I love you.
To Dimitri, I have two words for you, and those two words are: Delicate Crunch (lol). Love you, silly.
To Dina, We may not share a last name anymore, but you are forever my favorite, Mrs. Parker. You’ll always be my best friend, my sister, my number one since day one. I love you.
To Blackie, I love you and miss you. This was my miniature schnauzer that made my life ten times better, and passed away this year. I never start my morning without saying hello to your ashes in passing.
To Dobby, my new puppy, who almost didn’t make this possible with his neediness (lol). I still love you though.
To Grandma and Great Grandmother, I know you’re both causing a ruckus in heaven as we speak. Love you two.
Finally, thank you for sticking with me throughout the trilogy. This isn’t the end for me, and it’s all because of you.
About the Author
Taylor Hondos obtained an English degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2017. In high school, she began writing “Antidote” and finished writing it by the end of her freshman year of college. “Corruption” is the third and final book in the Antidote trilogy. She plans to release many books in 2018. She lives with her family in North Carolina.
Antidote Trilogy: The Complete Box Set Page 46
