Chapter 3

The moon was void tonight. I had no idea how long I had been asleep, but I could tell it was late. My body was stiff and frozen as I moved back to my feet. I tried to be quick because I knew being late meant trouble, but I couldn’t get myself to move much. The stiffness in my joints loosened the more I moved, and I was able to start moving at a decent pace. The forest was as quiet as it was scary here at night. The only way back was from memory as the darkness engulfed the trees around me.

I was grateful I knew my way and started towards home agonizingly slow. The crunching of the forest floor beneath my feet echoed slightly in the dead of the night. It was to quiet here. There was nothing around me. Not even the owls were making their voices heard.

I shivered. It felt like someone was watching me. I could have sworn I felt eyes behind me watching my every move. I paused and looked around, but I couldn’t see anything except the dead and bare trees around me. I quickened my pace as much as I could and tried to keep my mind from thinking of the worst possible scenario. I was so close to the tree line. Just a few more minutes, and I would be in the fields and almost home. I tried to calm myself, focusing on my breathing, and kept moving forward, but I still felt eyes on me. It’s as if a ghost were in the shadows. I turned around, frantic, and tried to see around me. My breathing turned into hyperventilation as my heart quickened its pace.

I heard no one but myself around. No bushes. No branches snapping. Nothing. Yet the eyes knew where I was and followed me no matter how far I walked away from the waterfall. Relief enveloped me when I saw the tree line disappear behind me. The field was close to my home. I was within reach now.

As I cleared the steps, I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. Opening the door slowly and making sure to lock up behind me, I was left in the dark living room. The house was quiet, and I knew I was very late tonight. I was supposed to cook dinner every weeknight at home. Hopefully I wouldn’t be in to much trouble tomorrow for missing tonight’s meal, but the odds were never in my favor. If it weren’t Friday, I would have been in more trouble than I will be tomorrow for this. I had missed cooking dinner tonight.

I took off my shoes and held them in my hand as I climbed the stairs and went back to the attic room. It wasn’t much, but it felt safer than the woods tonight. I’ve never felt anything like that before. Now that I was in my room, I could take a moment to think about it all. It was almost as if someone was following me, but the forest was so quiet, and I never heard anything or anyone moving. It made the hair stick up on my arms and goose bumps form across my skin. I didn’t want to think about this anymore. I huffed and pulled on an extra top to keep in some warmth and lay on the cold wooden floor. A mattress was a luxury I was no longer allowed to enjoy. I was not allowed anything I needed besides the basic survival needs. Food, once or twice a week, water was given a few times daily as long as I was good and wore out thin clothes. Just enough not to freeze or starve to death. Unfortunately, this was very lucky for a human now. Most of them were killed instantly or given to the vampires to be eaten or enslaved.I tucked and wrapped my sheet around me and closed my eyes. I had a few more hours until I had to be up, and hopefully I could try to sleep. Eventually, I found myself falling asleep to the silence of the night.

After a few hours of rest, I heard the loud ring from my alarm. It felt like only minutes had passed since I closed my eyes. Every part of me was sore, and it took every bit of power I had just to get myself up and dressed for the day. Just like every morning, I was quiet and slow. I made my way to the pack house in silence this morning. I didn’t even think today. Just walked in silence. I knew this morning I would be in trouble for last night, and the only thing I wanted was to get this over with.

I sighed, finishing the last of breakfast and and started the rest of the morning routine when I heard the kitchen door slam open. I could smell him before I turned around, and I knew who was there with me. That stench always scared me, even before he became a monster. He was hungover again. I paused mid-wash of the pan and dipped my head low. His powerful aura wrapped around me like a snake, and fear filled every cell in my body. I unconsciously started to shake as I heard his heavy footsteps approaching me.

“Where were you last night, Amelia?” His voice was firm, controlled, laced with the anger I knew he was feeling. I stayed silent and just kept my head low. His hand went to my head, and I felt his fingers grip my hair to the scalp and yank me so I was forced to look him in the eyes. “I said, Where the hell were you last night? ‘” His face was red with anger, and I could feel a tear slip from my eye as the pain radiated across my head. I knew speaking would do nothing to change what he would do to me. It was useless to beg. He was no longer the father I once knew

Holding me firm in place, his left hand came in contact with my face. The slap echoed in the large kitchen, and I could feel my cheek become heated and swollen within mere seconds. I cried in pain and touched my palm to my face in a feeble attempt to cool the aching skin. “You stupid, pathetic human. When I ask you a question, you answer me. " I felt the hard floor come in contact with my face and realized he had yanked me down. As I lay on the floor, he began to kick my stomach. I heard a sickening crunch with his second contact to my abdomen and knew it was my ribs starting to crack under the force of his boot. All the while, he was spitting profanities and slurs at me.

I refused to let him see me cry, and I refused to cry in pain. I felt my facade cracking with each crack. The tears forced their way through my eyes and down my cheeks even as I pleaded with my mind to stop them. After a few minutes, he seemed happy with his damage and took one last swing, hitting me right in my nose. This one hurt horribly.

The world became blurry, and I couldn’t hear him anymore. As the darkness entered my vision, I slowly closed my eyes. I wished for death. I wanted to be free again. I let the darkness consume me and gave in to its call. The last thing I remember was begging whatever was out there to please just let me be done. But in life, you don’t always get what you ask for.