The Missing Bianchi Twins

Chatper One- The Twins

POV: Dante Bianchi
I groan and roll over hitting my alarm to shut it up before remembering about my step parents. I bolt up from the bed and shut the alarm off whilst squeezing my eyes shut listening for even just the slight creak of a floorboard to show any sign that they woke up. I sigh in relief after 5 minutes when I don't hear anything and turn over on the old torn blanket to see my sister sleeping soundly next to me.

"Lucia" I whisper whilst gently shaking her arm.

"I'm up I'm up" she groans quietly whilst sitting up, she looks over to me and frowns whilst gently placing her fingers on the cut above my eyebrow from last night.

I flinch slightly and she just stares at me with sadness in her eyes. This is how our life has been ever since we can remember and the pain is never ending.

"Come on we have school in two and a half hours and I need to disinfect your cuts before we start on breakfast" she whispers whilst sitting up. I look over at the clock to see it's 6am and breakfast needs to be made for seven and school starts at 8:45 but we usually leave the house really early to avoid being here and wander for an hour or so.

I wince as I stand up from the bruises spread across my torso like a sadistic piece of abstract art. I slightly limp to the bathroom with Lucia following behind me and when I get inside I crouch on the floor by the wall and close my eyes and tip my head back. I can hear the rustling of Lucia going  through the cabinet to search for the first aid kit and let my thoughts consume me for a moment.

It's all your fault

If you would've just fought back harder this never would've happened

Weak.

Suddenly I feel Lucia hold my hands and rub circles on my palms and I open my eyes to see her squatting in front of me with the first aid kit sat beside her. She smiles at me and gets the the cotton balls and dabs them in disinfectant before gently rubbing over the cut above my eyebrow, I flinch slightly for the sting but stay still until she's done where she cuts small pieces of medical tape to keep the cut shut before grabbing the gel for my bruises which she passed to me before she goes to retrieve us some clothes.

I lean against the wall for support as I drag myself to stand up before walking in front of the cracked mirror to apply the gel. Lifting my shirt I see the purple almost black bruises that decorate my chest and back and grit my teeth as the memories come back.

**FLASHBACK

"YOU'RE SO FUCKING WEAK" punch
"LOOK AT  HOW PATHETIC YOU ARE" kick
" CAN'T EVEN COOK OUR DINNER ON TIME WITHOUT BEING A LAZY PIECE OF SHIT" slap

I'm curled up on the floor in a ball as my supposed dad continues to scream insults at me while he beats me like I'm a rag doll. I've learned the best way to cope with it is become numb. To step back into a dark place of my mind where I can't feel anything physically or emotionally but sometimes I will conjure up happy images to get through it. Images of me and my sister running round in a park laughing as I chase her while our parents sit on a bench holding each others hands and smiling at us with a fond expression. We would laugh and run and play until we simply collapse from exhaustion but even then we'd still have smiles on our faces.

"YOU ARE WORTHLESS. NOBODY WILL EVER WANT YOU. YOU'RE A SLUT AND THATS ALL YOU'll EVER BE BECAUSE NOBODY. WANTS. YOU." My dad shouts before he stomps particularly hard on my ribs which brings me out of my happy day dreams to scream into my hand in agony. I hear the foot steps of my dad getting further and further away as I lay on the ground a silent tear trickles down my cheek and drops onto the door beneath me mixing with my own blood.

** FLASHBACK OVER
After all the gel is applied I wrap plastic wrap over to shower and see Lucia stick her hand into the bathroom holding my clothes and I grab them before climbing into the freezing cold shower. I grab the shampoo and scrub away the dirt and grime before grabbing the conditioner and lathering it on before carefully and gently washing my body with the wounds and bruises still very much there. After 5 minutes I hop out and dry off with an old scratchy hand towel and remove the plastic wrap before dressing in black ripped jeans and a long sleeved Grey jumper before staring at myself in the mirror.

Dull lifeless green eyes stare back at me and I inspect my face to see the damage. I have an old swollen back eye from a couple days ago as well as the cut above my eyebrow which I know won't be much of a problem considering people will just think I got into some fight. How I got this reputation, I don't know but maybe it's because I don't talk to anyone but Lucia and who would guess that I was being abused?

A knock on my door pulls me out of my thoughts as I open the door I see Lucia dressed in black leggings and an oversized red hoodie with her hair up in a ponytail.

"Come on, D" she says as she grabs my hand and we silently walk out of our bedroom and down the stairs where we start making breakfast. I check the time on the oven to see it's 6:33 so we have plenty of time to make breakfast. I check around my surroundings carefully before snatching two apples and stuffing them in my jumper pocket for us to eat on our way to school.

Lucia starts to make scrambled eggs in a pan as I start cooking bacon in another and we work together before eventually plating toast, eggs and bacon. I spot a couple breakfast bars in a cupboard and quickly snatch two before giving them to Lucia put in her pockets before we grab our phones and backpacks and quietly exit the house.

As soon as we're out of sight of the house Lucia starts to talk.

"What do you think the rumour will be today?" She asks referring to the cut above my eyebrow. It's a sort of game we play making up silly stories about our injuries as a way of coping and finding ways to laugh even when life is shit.

I smile before saying " I got into a brutal attack with a panda and had to use my Kung fu skills to escape but as I'm running away I fall over a mountain of angry ants who were allies with the panda and get shot with tiny pebbles before expertly sprinting away to safety" all dramatically and start to laugh at myself while Lucia laughs along with me. Is it childish? Yes. Do I care? No. In a situation like this you take all the humour and happiness you can get so if making up stupid stories can take away the pain for 2 minutes, then I'll take it.

I check my phone time and see it's only 7:10 which leaves us about an hour a half before school starts so we wander around our neighbourhood before getting to a park about 20 minutes away from our house and sitting down on a bench.

"Do you think we'll ever get away from them?" I quietly ask Lucia referring to our parents before I tilt my head back to watch the sky.

"We're only two years away from being 18 which is when we can finally leave and from the money we've saved up from the library jobs from the past two years and the money we'll make up until we turn 18, we should have enough to get started somewhere." She says whilst placing her hand on my shoulder, I lean closer to her as I continue to gaze up into the sky before Lucia speaks again.

"You know your hair looks like a rats nest today" she teases me whilst poking at my hair.

" Well you look like the size of a child in the hoodie your wearing what are you 5'?' I tease back with a smirk on my face.

"Hey! You know damn well I am actually 5'6 you idiotic prick" I raise an eyebrow at her before insulting her back.

"Shithead" I say smirking
" Dickface" she responds back with a playful glare on her face
"Asshat"
"Imbecile"
"Dipsh-" she's cut off from the alarm on her phone to tell us it's 8 o'clock already.

As we get up she shoves me to the side and I internally wince at the pain that shoots through my ribs before continuing the walk to school with Lu.

We arrive at school at 8:30 before Lucia takes a step back and kicks the door open with her boot and we walk in with emotionless faces but cold glares on our faces. Our walls built back up as we gaze into the silent hallway.

Time for another day of hell.

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1569 words