Two worlds collide|S•R

Caught

*IMARA'S POV*
Flashbacks will be in bold
TW:Child abuse, puking
~~~
7 Years Ago when Imara was 12

I continued puking as my older sister knelt down beside me and held my knotted hair in her small hands. The last time I was on my hands and knees throwing up in the toilet was only 1 week ago.

I wonder how much longer i will be able to put up with this.

I don't know how much longer i can bear it, having to watch my siblings go through undeniable pain and torture so that we reach our parents criteria to join their 'family business.' My sister Antea is only a year older than me and has pretty much raised me the majority of our life.

Growing up with 3 other siblings and unloving, absent parents isn't easy for any of us, especially with all the expectations we are obligated to conform to. Also the fact that my sister Antea has put herself through thick and thin to make sure that we all remain as happy and contain as much of a normal childhood as possible.

I.E. taking us to the park and getting us ice cream, whilst my parents were off doing god knows what.

This only fuelled my ambition of escaping this hell hole even more, to the extent at which I wanted more than anything to get us all out in 1 piece.

After a few more minutes of throwing up, I gather the energy to stand up, my sister gives me a concerned look and releases my hair.

I look to her with a sense of sadness as I realise that she has had to watch me succumb to the painful treatment that my parents put me through for a significant amount of her life.

Over the past 2 days, I've been put through nonstop training for my defence assessment.

We had this test separately every 6 months for the entirity of our young lives. All 4 of us.

"Here, drink this" I looked away from the tiled bathroom walls that I've been staring at since throwing up to my sister who was holding a glass of tap water in her hand. Staring at me with tired eyes.

I grasped for the refreshing fluids and gulped it down down in monumental speeds in a desperate attempt of getting rid of the bitter taste in my mouth and to stop myself from fainting due to dehydration.

I looked up again at my sister, who was now grabbing a rag to wipe my face clean before chucking it in the sink.

There was an air of silence, thinking about how many times we've had to repeat this. And the depressive thought that I've known the steps to help my siblings in these situations off by heart by such a tiny age.

"Thanks." I stood up and stared at the mirror seeing a pale, sweaty being looking back at me.

Today dad had me running around the warehouses that we own for 3 hours straight, every time I stopped or even just slowed down too much he would take off one of the meals for a sibling for the week.

This went on until I collapsed of exhaustion and had to be carried to the bathroom, this led up to the moment where I puked and needed my sister's support.
~~~
PRESENT TIME
*IMARA'S POV*
I sat in the bath tub with a glass of champagne, staring out of the floor to ceiling windows at the landscape of houses with the lights they held shining in the distance. Each light representing a soul, a life.