I was woken up by the sound of glass smashing against the wall. Angry words slithered up the stairs. While I couldn't understand what was being said, the anger behind them was undeniable. I sighed.
Father was home. And angry by the sound of it. 'When isn't he angry?' A snide voice in the darkest recesses of my mind whispered.
I shoved off the heavy fort I'd made around me and crawled out of my room. Mother had made me promise that I'd leave whenever father was in a bad mood, but I wanted to hear what was going on.
I tiptoed down our silver rug. It was thick and soft and I liked to walk through it with my bare feet because I liked to feel it's silky strands tickling me, and also to give mother less work. Father insisted that she wash the rug herself, along with every other chore she already did, beacuse it made sense to have your wife washing a rug when it would cost next to nothing to have a professional do the job for you. My dad was weird like that. He wouldn't buy a car for me because it was a waste of money but he had no problem taking mum out once a week to insanely expensive restaurants because 'a man of his status had to be seen at such places'.
"You stupid cunt! Do you know how much these cost? You just ruined them." The sound of weapons being thrown accompanied dad's angry ramblings.
"I'm sorry. Frank, I didn't mean to." A small, terrified stuttered.
"You never mean to do anything do you? Brainless fool, that's what you are. These are limited editions and you destroyed them with your carelessness." There was a loud thwack and mum gave a sharp cry. I ditched my ninja creeping skills and rushed into the kitchen.
My mother was crumpled on the floor amidst broken plates, glasses, pots, knives and everything father could get his hands on.
"Mum." I screamed as I ran to her. She was curled in herself, her blue blouse stained with blood.
"You." Father growled as he clamped his hands into my hair, pulling me away from mother forcefully.
I gave a sharp cry but it didn't register on his radar that I was hurting, he only pulled harder.
"This is all your fault. She started making silly mistakes ever since you came along." He shoved me into the counter before reaching into the ceramic bowl there and producing two small square gold objects. Cufflinks. They were pretty, engraved with a symbol I didn't see clearly, they also stank like hell. "It was a gift for my captain and you stupid bitches just destroyed it."
"What are you talking about?" I screeched, tears leaking from my eyes.
"She just stained my cufflinks with your bag. Now it stinks and I can't present it to the captain when he comes over for dinner tonight. If I lose my promotion because of you and your whore of a mother, I will make your lives a living hell." If I could speak beyond my tears, I would tell him that everyday with him had been nothing but hell.
My dad was an officer and he was aiming for the position of the captain once his boss retired. I didn't understand how that would be our fault if he didn't get the job but my father would beat mother up if the sun didn't rise fast enough.
"We didn't do anything.." I groaned painfully, trying to plead our case. At this point, my hair was peeling from my scalp.
"Really? So you didn't bring a bag filled with filth into this house? It stinks in here. I can't host Mr Jones and his wife, now can I?"
"It's not her fault Frank. Some girls poured dirty water on her because of a boy."
"Oh, I see." Father drawled in a smarmy voice, his hand pulling my hair harder. I trashed beneath him, trying to get his hands off my head. "You stupid whore, just like your mother. You went to school to fight over a boy? You are as useless as your mother." He pushed my face into the granite counter, hard.
"Let her go." Mother said firmly. Father let go of me in shock. I also stared at mother. I'd never heard her sound so assertive before. A slow, malevolent smile spread over dad's face. He clamped mother by her ear and dragged her to him.
"Getting bolder now eh?" He whispered in a dangerous tone.
"N...no..no. it's just. She's just a child. She didn't do anything." Mother's babbling ended on a painful whimper as he twisted her ear harder.
"Listen to me carefully Louise, I own you and your daughter. Your lives belong to me. I could kill the both of you in a second and no one, I repeat no one will question me. Do you understand?" He shook her vigorously. "Do you?" She nodded frantically and cried some more. "You have greatly upset me and as punishment for your transgression, your access to the tv has been revoked and neither one of you will step out of this house for a week."
"What about school?" I piped up from my corner. Not that I wanted to go to school after I was thoroughly humiliated, but still.
He scowled at me angrily. "For that, I am replacing the cufflinks with your college fund." Mother and I gasped in shock.
"You...you can't do that! My father left her that money to go to school. You already spent most of it, now you want to take the rest?" Mother rasped angrily.
"You dare to question me?" Father growled, spittle flying from his mouth.
"You can't take that money. It's Kiera's." Mother replied, her tone unwavering.
I saw him raise his hand, but I never saw it move. Mother was standing in one second, the next, she was flying into the brick wall. I stared in bemusement at the crumpled mess that was a human being half a second ago. She wasn't even moving...at all. I didn't realize I was moving until I was beside her cold body. None of my frantic shaking roused any reaction from her.
"You killed her!" I bellowed, swiping angry tears away from my face.
"Shut your mouth. What difference does it make if she's dead?"
"I hate you! I hate you so much." I yelled at him, hitting him in the chest. He pushed me away like I was nothing but an irritating fly. I was thwacked over the head for good measure and the world went dark.
I floated between dizziness and consciousness. Here there was no pain, no feeling, everything felt...muted. I was in a lethargic state where I could see the stainless steel of our sink but not much else. I didn't know how long I existed in this state but I heard some voices, their tone urgent and demanding I pay attention to their meaning.
"You went too far Frank." A voice said disapprovingly.
"Stop lecturing me and tell me how to fix this."
"Your wife and daughter can't disappear without traces at once. Eyebrows will be raised and then you won't get the promotion on account of personal issues."
"Shit. Shit. Motherf*king shit." A voice that sounded like my father's yelled continuously, muttering several other curse words I didn't know existed.
"We don't have time for this. Let's get them to Dr Boyle's. If she passes away in the hospital, less suspicion will be cast on you. Accidents happen all the time." The voice answered wryly. Some more discussion took place but my head felt too heavy for my shoulders let alone enough to listen to dad and the other man.
Someone carried me. Their arms felt nice, kinda rough, but nice. No one but my mum touched me with gentleness. I was dropped on something soft, it wasn't as coarse as the other man's arms. Soon, I felt myself moving. That wasn't right, it was the something I was placed in that was moving. Probably a car. It was probably a few minutes, or an hour before the car stopped and I was being carried again.
"Close the window." I grumped, turning on my side to get away from the intruding light.A sharp pain in my side made me whimper and stopped my movements. I opened my eyes to unfamiliar surroundings. I was in a room with beige colours that had nothing except two beds. I was on one and there was an IV drip connected to my wrist. On the second bed was...was my mother!"Mum!" I yelled, but she didn't respond.Both of her eyes were swollen shut and she spotted several cuts on her body and face. The blood had been cleaned off but she was still almost unrecognizable. I yanked off the drip, wincing slightly at the pain before rushing over to mother's side. She still wasn't moving, but when I put my finger under her nose, I felt her breathing. I exhaled in relief that didn't last long. The heart monitor started making erratic noises when mother began trashing on her bed. I ran out of the room to get help when I stumbled upon them.There were two silhouettes just a
My feet could no longer support me and I kept stumbling into the walls. Everything had it out for me today, even the walls were intent on tripping me. After hitting my head for the fourth time, I resorted to crawling. Where I was going, I had no idea but I just wanted to get as far as possible from them. How they didn't hear all the racket I was making was beyond me I refused to ponder what they could be so engrossed in that would steal so much of their attention. Some small eternity and two flights of stairs later, I was in the living room.Basement. Mother had confiscated a keg of fuel just two days ago from Clara, our neighbor's daughter. I doubted she had had time to give it back to her dad. If that man was intent on using me for my grandpa's money, I intended on ending everything right here. At least mum would have a chance at a new life then.Father's feet thundered down the stairs just as I clabbered down the two short stairs that led to the basement. I panicked
I put the box thing under my oversized shirt and held it together with my pants. I uncapped the keg and poured an ample amount in the small secret room, then I made a trail up the basement stairs. After checking to make sure there were no movements, I made a line out to the kitchen where I grabbed a box of matches and unlocked the backdoor and made a line out to his car. I'd wanted to burn that stupid bright red Audi since the moment I saw it. He refused to buy mum a car even though she was always running errands both for the house and for him and also when I'd asked him for a car for school-even a used one, he'd refused! Then the next day after my birthday-which he failed to get me a gift for-he shows up with a car worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. I poured as much as possible gasoline on it and moved away from the car. When I was as far away as possible, I rolled up a wad of newspaper and lit it on fire then threw it at the car. BOOM! went my dad's favourite thing in
Not the time. I reminded myself as I hurried away from the disturbing image in the mirror. It was nothing but a figment of my imagination anyway and I needed to get to mum before dad got here. Weird voices and faces that weren't mine would be analysed and dealt with at a later date. Mother was awake. That was good, and also bad. I'd hoped she would still be asleep when I got here, it would have made my work easier. "Mum!" I ran over to her and hugged her. Her eyes looked sallow and tired. She looked tired in ways no woman of her age should be tired. "Hey baby." Dad had said almost the same thing to his tramp earlier today. I cringed at the comparison. "What's wrong, love?" She asked worriedly, turning my face this way and that to get a better look at my face. "Nothing. Dad..." "Shh.. don't say anything. Your dad just lost his composure for a minute okay? He loves me, he loves us." "Really? Is this what love is to you?" I asked snidely. "You don't understand. This is a battle.
I woke to sunlight filtering in and yawned in the face of a tall, slim man in black suit. "Ma'am" He shook me gently, his voice warm and inviting. "Yes?" I groaned, yawning and stretching my arms in his face with all my strength. "The train is now in London. All passengers are disembarking." He related in a bland tone, his face betraying no emotion at my uncouth behavior. I sat up immediately and glanced around. Ours was a private car so there was no other person here besides mother, the conductor and myself, but I could here the sounds of people moving and talking. "What time is it?" "It's 6 o'clock in the morning ma'am." "Thank you." I murmured to the still standing conductor. He nodded his assent before turning smartly on his heel and exiting the car, leaving mother and I alone. "Where are we Kiera?" Mum gasped in a frightened voice, peering at everything as if they were made of poison. I groaned once again, working out the kinks in my limbs. Where had the hours gone? When
The fear choking me deprived me of the ability to scream. I staggered back from the display case, flailing about wildly until someone stopped from me from falling with their body.I whirled around to find my mother with tears in her eyes."I'm... I'm fine." I choked out, patting my arms to convince her and myself that I really didn't just catch on fire a second ago. I found several people holding their phones out and staring at us in morbid fascination."We need to leave here now." Mother whispered urgently, wiping the tears from her eyes. I nodded and we speed walked in one accord down the street.Glancing around after we cleared another block, I spied a small boutique, just like the man had discribed."C'mon mum. Time for a little shopping." I didn't wait for a reply as I entered the air-conditioned store. The clothes in here looked pricey but I had Frank's money to blow so why not do it on designer clothes.I shook myself, trying to get r
Evening was upon us once again. The journey to Llanwrtyd had taken the better part of two days. I was tired, cranky and weary. If I never took another bus or train again, it would be to soon. But somehow, I was inexplicably relieved. I'd been trying to gain entry into Llanwrtyd for centuries, each attempt a failure, but now, just when I was beginning to believe that the guardians had really been successful, I found my ticket in. I was brought up short by the thought that was mine, yet not. The voice had spoken in my head, but the thoughts were definitely not mine. I was nineteen years old and I never even knew Llanwrtyd existed before today. Why would I have spent centuries trying to come here? "Okay, I have had enough now." Mum yelled right in the middle of the street. Thankfully, there was no one to hear her. "That signs says we are in Llanwrtyd, Wales. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Wales is in the United kingdom. We are in another continent!" She roa
"Okay. Here is Gracie's BnB." He announced a small eternity later. I exhaled gratefully and jumped away from the truck. I'd never met aan who spoke for long periods of time as Bill. He didn't even care that we weren't contributing to the conversation.We knew literally everything about Bill. From the size of his ranch, to the names of his children, to that of his parents and his favourite spots in Llanwrtyd but the man didn't even know our first names.'Must love the sound of his voice' the voice piped up once again.The building he brought us to was antique and also charming. The wooden steps led to a brown balcony and a woman in a rocking chair and a black cat in her lap. She closed the book she was reading and clabbered to her feet."Guests! Oh, what a beautiful sight." She exclaimed happily, even clapping her hands together.'Sheesh, desperate much?' The voice sniped again.