Emperor of Destruction [EDITING]

prologue✓

TW
Mentions of SH!!!

Calamity usually strikes on days like this.
The days you least expect bad things to happen. The days you were taught to celebrate and love no matter what.

Days like your birthday.

I've never thought I would spend the last minutes of my birthday on the edge of some building. I was the kid who promised to always cherish and celebrate my birthday, no matter how old I was. I wanted to be eighty and still have a surprise party ready for me at home like I did during my childhood.

And now I'm not going to live until I'm eighty. I'm cutting it short at the prime age of fourteen.

I peer down at the busy street below me as memories rolled in my head like a slideshow—showcasing all the fun I've had and the pain I've had to endure my whole entire life. The people that walk the streets of New York were completely oblivious to the fact a body might drop on them at any second.

My feet trembled at the edge and I held the bars behind me for balance. I thought I'd be crying but I wasn't? It was weird. Everything felt surreal. like it wasn't happening, when in fact, it was. I knew standing on the cliff wasn't a fever dream, but reality.

If someone told little Autumn she would be ending her life early, she wouldn't have believed you. No one would. Because I was a happy girl with a happy life and two parents who were present in my life.

That was before the divorce which ended with my Mom winning full custody over me and dragging us on a one-way ticket to America from Vietnam.

I loved my homeland greatly and didn't want to leave, but my protests were met with a belt each and every time. I knew of Mom's fixation with America but I didn't think she would ever take it this far.

Mom liked making Dad feel bad about himself and the one story house we were living in, while she did absolutely nothing to support us.

Evelyn often would compare the two countries to get under his nerves and say things like, "When I move to America, I'm going to find me a rich husband who will take care of my needs better than you."

Spoiler alert, she did. His name is Stephan Kelly and he works in real-estate as an agent.

My hatred for Stephan went deeper than him ruining my family. I hated him for multiple reasons. Examples. Watching my own Mother put me down constantly and not do a damn thing about it.

Attempting to rape me in his study when Evelyn wasn't home. Buying pets for me to play with and killing them in front of my eyes when I did something to annoy him. Dragging me over his lap, spanking me as a form of punishment when I knew it was so much more than that.

I told Mom about his abuse on several occasions and she still chose not to believe me, even when the proof was all over my body. Sometimes I think she didn't notice the scars he left over the ones she left behind.

My dad would kill both of them if he ever found out the abuse they showed towards me. He's the light you'd desperately search for in the darkness, he's my happiness. He's my hero. I missed him so much that it hurt.

It hurts to keep loving someone knowing you shouldn't when not one day passes when they think of you. Evelyn said he had a choice to come to America with us—with his daughter and chose to be selfish and that if there was someone I should be blaming, it's him.

I called him every day—every night, awaiting a text or even better, a call back. He said he'd stand by me and protect me but that was the opposite of what he was doing.

Tears. I reached for my cheek, feeling the substance roll down my face and into my parted lips. Salty. How long have I been crying for? I didn't realise until now. My body trembled again and my lips whimpered.