Heartless People

FIVE

I think I have a pattern of being nice and lovely and then dark and twisted.

~ Ryan Murphy

CAMILA

Damn her. It was the only thought that repeated over and over again in my mind as I stared at myself in the mirror. All across my skin were the red marks that had been left from her whip. My chest was covered in so many purple-red bruises it looked like Id made love to a fucking vampire—and it wasn't just
there: there were bruises on my arms, my neck.. Fuck.

"If you don't pick something to wear we are going to be late for mass." She had the motherfucking audacity to say that to me, leaning on the doorframe of my closet, smugger than the devil, dressed in a fitted navy suit, her red tie still untied around her neck.

"Tell me, Lauren, what am I supposed to wear when I look like I was—"

"Fucked until the sun came up?" She interrupted, her eyes roaming over her handiwork proudly.

"Lauren! Its March! I can't go into church with a turtleneck to cover this shit up!" I snapped.

"Don't cover it up then."

Damn her.

Taking a deep breath, I fought the urge to smack her, instead grabbing a long cream blouse, a scarf, and a blue pleated skirt.

I could feel her eyes on me as I got dressed and tried my best to ignore her, but because she couldn't go an hour without trying to tempt me, she came up right behind me and pulled the scarf from around my neck.

"I said don't cover it up."

"Someone is getting a little bit too comfortable with bossing me around." She didn't reply, simply kissing the back of my head. Her eyes met mine in the mirror as I relaxed against her chest for a second, taking a deep breath before reaching for my heels—

"MOMMY!!"

A chill went down my spine as I dropped the heels in my hands and pushed Lauren off of me. I ran, my heart pounding in my chest as I ripped open the door to their room.

"Lucas??" I called out, only to find him standing in front of Elisa. She hid behind him, her brown hair covering her face as Lucas glared at the maid in front of him.

"She hurt Elisa!" he yelled, never looking away from the woman frozen in sheer terror. She glanced up at me wide-eyed. I felt Lauren rush past me, moving to Elisa and softly brushing her hair back.

Her face was puffy and her green eyes were fighting back tears, but the worst of it was the painful red burn at the top of her ear. I stared in shock as she winced in pain. My shock turned to rage.

"You hurt my daughter?" I glanced back to the woman, who looked no older than myself, her brown hair pulled into a bun on the top of her head.

"Ma'am, it was a mistake, I was trying to curl her hair and the miss wouldn't stop—"

"Liar!" Lucas  snapped angrily. "She keeps getting mad at us and we didn't do anything. She hurt Elisa on purpose!"

She shook her head repeatedly as I walked over to her. "Ma'am, I swear—"

Grabbing her by her skinny neck, I threw her up against the wall, her hands clawing at my wrist. I slammed her body into the wall repeatedly with so much force the picture frames fell shattering to the ground. Her head connected each time, leaving a stain of blood on the wallpaper as her eyes rolled back into her skull. "My daughter is crying. Her ear is burned and my son is upset, and you have the nerve to tell me it is a mistake? That its their fault?"