Unlocked (a Mormor Fanfic)

Part the second

At precisely 7:30pm, Sebastian was born, a scrawny baby of 5 pounds, in the local hospital which was most unusual for his family, who much preferred home-births. This was due to the fact that he was breach. Even so, he was bought home and the usual rituals followed. The first, was of all the children gathering around the bed in the master bedroom (the only time they were allowed in their parents' room) to see the new baby.

She looked at him and immediately knew that he was going to have a tougher time than the rest of them and that -perhaps this time- she would like him. She was not the eldest (that was John, who was 20) yet, nor was she the closest to Sebastian in age (that was Millie, who was 2 and a half exactly). No, to look at them you wouldn't have thought them very likely to become friends for she didn't strive to stand out like David (who always aggravated their Father and at 14 was very apt at this) or Darla (who in all 13 years of her life 'never meant to'). The only way that she stood out in fact, was that she was the only ginger person in the family (even though everyone downplayed it calling her auburn) and that no one used her full name. She was simply An. But, even so, she never really stood out.
"We've decided on Sebastian" announced their Father bringing her thoughts back to the current situation. "You can come and meet him". This was ritual, after the name was announced, all the children walked over and said 'hello' (often in varying degrees of sincerity) in age order. Having a military background , up to but not exclusive to an ex-navy Father, meant they were a well oiled machine of militant and wealthy training from birth.
An's turn came and as she looked at Sebastian in their Mother's arms, he smiled at her. His eyes would have been the standard family blue had it not been for the flecks of green in them. He had some light coloured hair -likely blonde she noted- making him 1 of (now) 4. She cast her eyes briefly to glance at their happy yet weary-looking Mother. She was a wealthy German Lady before marrying Father but now, with her greying brown hair and knowing that this was what her Father had in store for her future - a husband and a lot of children- An could not bear to look at her. She always turned away if she weren't the one who told their Father. Although she was still young (4 in fact) she knew she did not want to turn into that and cast her eyes to Sebastian, whispered 'hullo' with a smile and turned around.

The next ritual was after about a week or so. Not being precise by nature and only having one previous birth to go on, the gift-giving was a rather daunting task for An. As a wealthy family, they could afford to take it as seriously (or not) as they wished to. For Millie's birth, she had bought her a pink rubber duck at the instruction of her surly personal tutor (who she now understood had been sarcastic). She had only realised how ridiculous it was once she went shopping with her sisters and they had all gotten something better. This time, she had thought about it but not actually bought anything and was in rather a panic over it; however with her tutor, she had gone the day after meeting him and bought a fluffy tiger toy. They didn't generally buy stuffed animals (or un educational toys) and this time she knew that so she worried about the reaction. They wouldn't react like she had, instantly thinking of how he seemed stubborn, no, she was likely to be reprimanded for her stupidity.
"Was denkst du?" Naturally, with their German Mother, they were all bi-lingual from the first moment. They always had to see whether the first word would be German or English- hers had been Latin ('cave'*)she'd had a rather snooty nanny at the time.
Her tutor looked at the toy, "Er werde das nicht gern". An knew He wouldn't, but it was Sebastian.

They were all gathered in the nursery, newly done up for Sebastian. Each time there was another baby, the current inhabitant would be moved to a new room (unless the inhabitant was already 1 in which case they were moved on their first birthday)and the nursery would be freshly made up for the new arrival. Their Mother was sitting on a chair with their Father standing beside her. Sebastian was in his cot. His nanny had not arrived yet but if she had, she would have been there also. With a nod of His head, their Father started the proceedings. It was a curt nod reflective of his military days. Their Father had liked the military and all the boys were expected, at some point after university, serve some time in the military. The girls were to be married off after university if they hadn't found a reasonable position in a secure job, still, the girls were expected to give up their jobs once married to be like their mother. All of them knew that if a match was found for them earlier than that, then they would be betrothed early, even the boys.

"What is that?" Their Father's voice rang crisply through the room. An looked up to see David standing there. She hadn't realised that it was already to him, she'd have to pay more attention. Whilst not having his back completely to her - so that she could see the slight grin on his face- he completely blocked the offending gift. She had been staring at the floor and so hadn't really seen what John or Mark had gotten either.
"Don't you like it?" The mock innocence earned a few sniggers (including a barely audible one from An herself) but their Father's face remained staunchly impassive.
"Come here" He managed to command unquestioningly with those two simple words. An knew what was coming, they all did. David was often at the centre of it. He didn't enjoy it but he wanted to show the rest of them that they oughtn't follow their Father in un abiding faith all the time. Others thought like this too, but only David flaunted it so openly. Their Father held His belt in His hand and was looking at David who was in the process of pointedly taking off his Metallica Tshirt. The variety of scars were quite sparse across his torso and back.
Cracking across his back three hard times, with the buckle drawing blood, David barely flinched...barely. Their Father grabbed his hair roughly, handing the belt to John, and pulled David (who hastily remembered to pick up his Tshirt) out of the room and closed the door behind him. Padding to stand back beside his wife, their Father took the belt back from John, hid the gift behind the chair and resumed the actives. Darla's gift provoked the same reaction.
An's turn arrived, and instead of presenting it to their Father, she defiantly walked up to Sebastian's cot and placed it beside him. He smiled at her and nuzzled to the tiger.
"An?" He questioned "what did you get him?" Her breathing quickened as her turned to face Him, despite her hatred for their Father, He still commanded her fear. She looked Him in the eye, not daring to look at her siblings, who she knew would be looking disapprovingly.
"A stuffed tiger". Unlike David and Darla, she did not have a small smirk on her face as their Father called her over. She did not have a defiant look on her face as the belt hit her heavily scarred back, causing the heat of the pain to paint itself across her back. She felt the trickle of blood and knew that He had hit her harder with the belt than the other two and possibly opened old wounds. She did not cover up the pain of her Father pulling her out by her hair as he shoved her out the door like the other two had.

Instead of walking to her room, she went to David's where she knew he and Darla would be patching up their wounds. Part of their punishment was cleaning their own wounds. He didn't expect them to help each other so that they had to stretch in ways that caused more pain, they also had to provide their own bandages or first aid- an extra punishment.
She didn't knock but just walked in. To say they were surprised would be a great understatement. She had never gone to them for help. She never usually got punished but after the Incident, they all knew she wouldn't ask anyone else to help her.
"What are you doing here Red?" They looked at her questioningly
"Red?"
"Right, you don't talk to the rest of us. It's your nickname" came Darla's sympathetic reply.
"Oh. Well...I..." Instead of finishing it, she simply turned around to show them her bleeding back. Their sharp intake of breath was enough to give her knowledge of the extent to her wounds. Old ones would have reopened.
"Didn't think you liked us. Come sit here" Darla patted the bed beside them, "how'd you even know this was where we were?". She didn't reply but if she had, she would have informed them that she kept an eye on everyone's schedules, she knew all their little habits.
They spent until dinner healing their wounds. An listened to them talk about whatever. Once they were finished, the two girls snuck out and went to their respective rooms before dinner or before anyone could find them.

Their Father glared at her for a considerable amount of dinner, making her feel most uncomfortable and rather unsure as to what she had done as He didn't glare at the other two at all. Her actions had been no worse than those of David or Darla had they? Was it because she was younger? Because He didn't expect it of her? She resolved to ask someone.
As they were dismissed, she grabbed Elizabeth's hand. Whilst, not friends (An wasn't really friends with any of them), Elizabeth was kind, and An was sure she could repay any sort of kindness just as she would with Darla and David. She had a strong sense of debts for a 4 year old.
"What did I do that was worse?" None of them were stupid. They all had private tutors and did extremely well, Elizabeth knew what she meant.
"Father tried to take it away, but Sebastian screamed until it was returned" Elizabeth replied pulling her arm out of An's grip and leaving for her own room. In this family, you had be careful who you associated (or became associated) with. Once safe in the privacy of her room, she let a small smile bloom onto her face.
Yes, her and Sebastian were going to be good friends indeed.

* cave pronounced ca-way, meaning beware.
The first sentence meaning, what do you think?
The reply, he won't like it.