Regret

“You whine and wail,” his stern voice echoed throughout the large, empty hall, “and yet you were certain this was bound to happen!”

The boy, terrified and small, uttered quietly: “I knew no—”

“Silence!”

His angry red face was like a devil on the verge of bursting into flames.

“You knew,” he growled, “you were certain! And yet, you chose to hide from it. You chose to live in a dream, a lie, all a figment of your imagination!”

“But—”

“You could have stopped this!” He yelled, and the boy quailed. “You could have acted, you could have put an end to this! You avoided pain, and yet in doing so, you caused more pain! You are a cretin, a petty existence, a sack of filth! Begone, and never dare emerge in my sight again!”

He closed the door as he left the hall, and the boy wept in silence.