What do you think?
AURELIA'S POINT OF VIEW.Stunned.That was the expression on my face-on our faces as we stared at my grandfather, the elderly man who stood behind his desk, a smirk on his face like he knew something we and the rest of the world did not know."What are you talking about?" Levi speaks on my behalf, stepping away from my embrace and moving us closer to him.My grandfather sits on his chair, and rests his cane on his table, before opening one of his many drawers--the compartments that have always kept me in fear and shock for as long as I can remember. He pulls out three things.A file.A recording.And a laptop."This is what the police and all of America have been looking for for the past decade. If you want it, it's yours...however, there's a price." My grandfather says, a vicious smirk on his face.Levi and I narrow our eyes at that. My grandfather doesn't do anything for free, and when he takes a price, it's usually very heavy."How do we know it is real?" Levi asks, his jaw clenche
AURELIA'S POINT OF VIEW.He walks in like a man ready for war, uncaring about the fact that my very dangerous grandfather stands in this very room, the owner of the house he just barged into.He has no idea, but he just breached one of Grandfather's rules.My house is my fortress. No one comes in or out, not without my permission and approval.His voice drones in yet again, reminding me of another lesson from years ago. The sight of Desmond's broken fingers is on my mind. One of his friends from college had followed him here, unknown to Desmond, and grand grandfather punished him for two things.You were unaware of your surroundings.You let a stranger into my gates without my approval.That requires a lesson,I remember standing there, fighting tears at the sight of my strong brother, hunched in pain and anger. The promise of pay back clear in his eyes, and my grandfather saw it."That fire in your eyes, keep it burning. The day it goes out, I snuff you out as well.""Vale! To what d
AURELIA'S POINT OF VIEW.He looks up at me from where he stands, his short form standing before me with a menacing smirk on his face.Looking at him as a young teen must have made him seem taller, more frightening, because all I feel as I stare at him is nervous."Aurelia, after all these years." He says, his tone of voice cool, calm, unhurried."Grandfather, I need your help." I go straight to the point. I've learnt one thing from dealing with this man: there's no time wasted with him. You must let him know immediately, no questions asked.Wasting time is not in our bloodline, Aurelia. Many have fallen for the time wasted; don't be one of them.His voice comes to mind, sparking a memory of another hard lesson from a year ago. The image of me on my knees, knuckles bloody from his cane as I fight the urge to tremble before him.He always hated any sight of fear.Fear is for the weak, Aurelia.His voice comes in again, the same memory from earlier still fresh and raw."And what might th
AURELIA'S POINT OF VIEW.Stepping out of the car, I smooth the invisible wrinkles off my skirt. The need to appear perfect, without blemish, before him, rising again, as I remember the way he would scowl at me when I appeared before him with any form of blemish.Grandfather likes things organized, put together.I remind myself in a quiet voice as I look over myself again, checking if there's anything about me that can set him off.The guard at the gate looks me over with curiosity and interest; his huge gun in his hands terrifies me.All of a sudden, the memory of a few years ago flows into my mind, the sight of the gun triggering a memory I thought I had buried."Stand there." Grandfather says his focus is on his gun.His loaded gun.Trying my hardest not to tremble or show any form of fear, I stand in front of the tree, my eyes on the small rabbit eating nearby."In life, there are the weak and the strong. No matter what, aspire to be among the strong, or else..." He cocks the gun a
AURELIA'S POINT OF VIEW.I run out of the office, not caring that I look crazy to everyone here, my hair probably all matted as I dash out the doors, hoping to meet the one person with enough power to turn this around in my favor.The one person I swore to never meet, not after what happened years ago.I remember it like it happened a minute ago, the wound still fresh in my mind."Get out of my sight, Isabella." His cold voice spat out at my mother, as he stared down at her, his icy grey eyes unfeeling, uncaring about his flesh and blood, not about the way she shivered in the cold, the December snow pouring down on her, my brother, and me."Father, please, we have nowhere else to go." She pleased, her grip on us as tight as possible, as though she feared she would lose us to the cold."No. You made your decision thirty years ago, when you decided to walk away from your legacy, all for a farm boy." He spits out, his lips curled in disgust."I was in love." My mother responds, her voice
A FEW MONTHS LATER.AURELIA'S POINT OF VIEW."Kill him!!" The shrill cry from the blonde woman on the television screams back at me as the mob outside the prison my brother is kept in charges on, their placards, cardboards, all draped in red angry letters.KILL DESMOND CROSSKILL THE RAPISTKILL HIM NOW.All of a sudden, the walls of the office blur, so do the people, the papers, and everything else in existence as it all crumbles and fades into nothing.How did this happen? Everything was going so well.Levi and I have been in our little bubble, as he chases me around the classroom, his house, his bedroom, until he finally wins, and pins me on any surface, fucking my brains out, till I end up sprawled beneath him, breathless and thoroughly fucked to oblivion.I have remained at the top of the class, beating everyone else, retaining my top spot as the best this school has ever seen, and I am among the last five left in this office.Levi has fired more people than he said he would. Thi