The Parents

What is Going On ??

His breath hit the back of my neck as his cold tone made its way into my ears. "I-I heard Oscar in there, Dad. I was j-just going in to-to get him." I had been caught.

Keeping my eyes shut tightly, I slowly turned around. Cautious to keep my distance, I made sure my back pressed up tightly against the door, with my hands flat against the wood behind me. I had to face him. I knew I did. So, I opened my eyes, only to come face to face with my father's livid expression. His eyes were staring right through me, as if I wasn't even there, and the fear in my stomach tripled as I watched his hand fold into a tight fist right beside my head. "Umm... D-Dad?" The fear I felt in this very moment was something I was never going to forget.

I couldn't move, all I did was stare at the man I had called my father for the past 17 years. My vision went blurry, but I could see Mum handling the situation and eventually Dad moved away from me. But I couldn't make out what was going on. My heart was beating like a drum in my head and all my senses were overwhelmed with fear and stress.

A hand on my shoulder grabbed my attention, and when I came back to reality, I noticed that Dad was nowhere to be found and Mum was dragging me up the stairs towards my bedroom. "Make sure you clean your room and get dressed young lady, or today won't be very fun for you." Was that a threat? I didn't know what to believe anymore. "Understood Betty? ... Betty?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, understood Mum."

I made sure to watch her leave completely before rushing over to shut my bedroom door and collapsing on the floor. Thinking over everything, I tried to put the pieces together. My parents weren't acting like my parents, but if they weren't my parents then who were they? No, that's ridiculous, of course they're my parents. Oh, I don't know.

Trying to shake it off, I slowly started to clean my room, but I couldn't quite get rid of the gut feeling that I needed to get out. I couldn't help but think about what might happen if I stayed. Stop it, Betty. They're fine, maybe acting a little weird, but other than that it's fine. Everything will be fine. A knock on the door pulled me out of my frustration. I froze. My head whipping around to face the piece of wood that stood between me and my threat.

"Come in." I said timidly. The door started to slowly crawl open, and my nerves returned as my gaze fell upon my father standing in the doorway. I backed away from him as he made his way into the room. My back hitting my desk as he made his way towards my freshly made bed. The silence was deafening as I waited for him to say something. Come on, say something, anything.

"I'm sorry about what happened, Betty. It's just..." I refused to let him out of my sight, so I watched as he fiddled with the clock on my bedside table before turning to face me again. "I just have some really important work in there and I can't afford to lose any of it." He apologized. That's new. I've never heard Dad be regretful for something he's done. There's always an excuse.

"It's okay Dad. I get it." I tried to keep my voice steady as he moved towards me. "Thank you, Sweetie." I desperately attempted to refrain from flinching as he laid his hands upon my shoulders. "Make sure you finish up in here before coming down. Your Mother's setting up a movie for us to watch."

"Yes Dad."

I kept my eyes on him as he left my bedroom. I made sure to wait for his footsteps to reach the bottom of the stairs before I, once again, rushed towards my door and forced it shut. I would've locked it if I could, but unfortunately there was no lock on my bedroom door. Calming my heavy breathing, I chastised myself for not trusting my own father.

"Are you coming down dear?" Opening my door, I responded to Mum who was yelling up to me from the bottom of the stairs. "Um, I still need to finish my room and stuff. Just start the movie without me."

"Okay dear, don't be too long." Closing the door again, I realized that this was an opportunity. I could use the movie as a distraction to go and get Oscar out of Dad's study. I'm certain he's in there, there's no doubt in my mind. Maybe I could even figure out what in the world was going on with Mum and Dad today.

Quietly opening my door, I winced as a loud 'SCREECH!!' could be heard in the upstairs hallway. No no no, I can't make any noise. Shut up door. But instead of inquisitive yells coming from my parents, all I could hear were the screams of some dumb horror movie character having her life cut short. So, I decided to use her obnoxious screaming from the T.V to quickly dart down the stairs and through the main hallway.

My heart was beating harder and faster with every step I took, as I got closer and closer to my destination. Finally making it down the seemingly never-ending hallway, I came face to face with the very last door in the house. I took a deep breath before grabbing the small, golden handle once again. Refusing to look behind me, I listened to my own heart beating in my ears as I swung open the door.

I felt a rush of liquid out the bottom of the door and my slippers were quickly stained red as tears blurred my vision. I scooped up Oscar, who pawed at my feet oblivious to what I was witnessing. I wanted to scream, cry, shout, anything. But I refused to let anything escape my quivering lips as I held my tongue.

Coming to my senses, I shut the door to hide the gory scene from my view. I knew something was wrong, I should've gone to school, I should've asked more questions, I should've called the cops, I should've done something, anything. But I didn't. My gut was right, and I ignored it. It's all my fault.

Tears fell down my cheeks as I tried to silently make my way back up to my room where I had left my phone. I needed to get help. I was shaky and could barely comprehend what was happening around me. "Betty? Is that you? Come down here please, its family time."

"But you're not my family."