The footsteps of the two walking down the quiet sidewalk were the only ones heard.
The two didn't say any words, due to neither of them not knowing what to say in the first place, after all, they hadn't seen each other in nearly a decade. It was awkward, to say the least. The footsteps of tapping concrete quickly turned into the sound of grass rustling, as they slowly marched into the forest, the butterflies dancing around as the cool fall breeze blew around them.
For Siren, this was just another breeze in the wind, but for Sam? He was freezing, due to him not wearing anything but some pants and a shirt.
"What, can't handle a little cool weather?" Siren teased as he looked back and smirked.
Sam groaned at his son's teasing as he let out a large sigh. "God, I hate winter." He said his voice in irritation.
"Oh, stop being a big baby, you survived being homeless for a good bit, didn't you?" Siren said.
Their connection was damaged from the years of being apart, yet there was still that similarity in their personalities.
"Siren. . . I know I wasn't there for most of your life, but you have to understand where I'm coming from."
The two stopped in their tracks as the cold wind blew slightly faster.
"If I didn't do what I did, I would have died, my friends would have died, You would have died and I didn't want that. So, I chose to fight that creature until I could escape from that dark place I was stuck in. I'm not asking you to forgive me, just to understand my reason-"
A sharp pressure made the air dense before he could finish the sentence, his body shuddering under the intense feeling surrounding him.
His eyes shot up to see Siren glaring at him, his face expressionless with his cheekbones making out an irritated or upset face.
It was unsettling to see such a held-back expression on Siren's face, as it was the first he'd ever seen.
"Can you please stop your pointless yapping?" Siren said, his voice cold and firm.
His expressionless glare was staring right into Sam's soul as if it were burning his soul.
With a hefty push, Sam stood firmly, staring down his son.
"And what's the problem with me explaining myself?" Sam asked, his voice deeper than what it was before.
The two of them stared each other down, both of their glares hollow and dull.
"I don't care about your reasoning, you could've been stuck in a cave for all I care! Your excuse being that you were stuck across the country is bullshit! It doesn't take someone nearly a decade to go that far! In my eyes, you are just another deadbeat father looking for safety from your selfish actions!" Siren yelled out, his face tensing up.
"And what would you know? You're just a kid acting on sheer emotion, not reasoning! At least I have some thought for my actions, if it wasn't for us, you wouldn't be who you are right now!" Sam yelled back.
Siren chaotically chuckled as he rubbed his face hard.
"And you think that's a good thing? I'm a fucking loser for Christ's sake! I'm a twenty-seven-year-old man with two kids, a tiresome business, I'm ugly as hell, and have parents who are horrible role models! Thanks to you, I'm in this mess in the first place! Maybe then, the people I know who have died would still be alive right now, maybe you guys wouldn't be brought into this mess if you would've just let me die!"
Sam punched Siren in the face, as he fell to the ground, looking up at his father with a surprised look on his face.
"This is exactly what I mean! Do you think whining about your problems gets them fixed? Suck it up already! You are a grown-ass man, complaining about shit that wouldn't change much!"
"At the end of the day, you're still my son, and I am your father. Whether or not I want to be here doesn't matter, cause it's my job to push you on the right track! So what, you think you suck? You have kids now so your issues come last! You chose to bring those kids into your life, and now they are your responsibility! So stop complaining about your bullshit and worry about theirs!" Sam shouted out.
The two of them sat there in silence, the truth cutting into both of their skin. They both knew deep down how low they were on the scum list, but in Siren's heart, it wasn't hurting as much as he felt that he deserved.
What people said about him wouldn't change what he felt about himself as the result would always stay the same.
He would always be a hypocritical murderer. Sure, he sometimes killed people in self-defense, but that didn't matter. He killed people with his own hands; thus, he is a murderer regardless of who it was.
And since he was a murderer, that means that he took a human life away from someone. No matter how cruel or awful a person is, taking away their life was the first and possibly only step needed to be considered a bastard in the eyes of many.
In Siren's eyes. . . They both were murderers, father and son alike. No matter how either of them tried to sugarcoat their nature, their self-inflicted hatred, their raw animalistic passion that drives their inner sinister thoughts.
No matter how much denial they both were pushing on themselves, one thing couldn't change in their hearts.
Scum is scum, just as dust is dust.