Malaga

Malaga 4

Malaga and the rogue faerie's brood
Chapter four
Malaga Towers
August 3438

Josh's  change of heart astonished me .  Particularly since Josh spent a lot of time ranting about 'nonces' and obviously didn't think much of lesbians either. Whatever he said.

Most of my past was a nightmarish blur. Although I remembered my grandma and her lessons in healing with pleasure. Except when we  were having to run away with our grandmother. Before mother found us again.

When we  were very young mother just let our grandmother Ansel Towers bring us up. mother came for visits occasionally with nasty tasting potions. They were supposed to help Minerva and I grow but we were always very small.

There are large gaps in my memory after that. mother exploited the gaps by insisting that I had harmed my baby sister and was responsible for her death.  Mother constantly blackmailed me over it to keep me quiet and keep us on the move. Calling me a 'nonce' and a 'dyke'. She told me many horror stories about what happens to child molesters in prison which scared me witless.  Too witless to realise that I was hardly going to be 'put away' as a 'child killer ' when I had only been eight when my little sister died. Mother had been unable to bear any more children after that.

"Oh shut up you silly girl . You didn't have anything to do with our sisters death. We were only little ourselves when she died." Minerva told me .
"What happened? I can't remember anything." I asked.
"Mam shook her because she wouldn't go near her and kept clinging to you. She was only little. About two I think. It's after her death that grandma realised how dangerous she was. So we kept having to escape from her.
Then Mam kidnapped us and moved us back up north. We were travelling all over the place. Both with Grandma or Mam...listen Malaga, We need to stick together. At least until grandma tracks us down."

My twin sister Minerva even insisted on co sleeping with me. Whenever I suggested sleeping apart Minerva would frantically beg me to keep the co sleeping arrangements going. With our mother on the prowl, Minerva considered it the only way to be safe at night. I cared so much for Minerva  that I always relented even though I was cancerned about the sleeping arrangements incase I did something unspeakable in the night and Minerva also died.

Even during the day I always stayed with my sister.  Even when Minerva needed the bathroom I would be standing guard just inside the door. Only when I suffered from one of my numerous epileptic fits, did I leave Minerva's side. Mother knew how to induce a seizure. (Minerva told me that it was a skill Myra the witch taught her.) Mother regularly caused me to have a seizures whenever she wanted to get me out of the way. I would find, on coming round that my sister was once more battered and unconscious after whatever mother had done.

I was also made to endure frequent shaking and blows to the head. Blows to other parts of the body too. The  blows ultimately left me hard of hearing and epileptic. As traumatic as the physical abuse was, it was  nothing compared to the emotional trauma. The emotional abuse caused by her false allegations, blackmail and my perceived 'failure' to protect Minerva or my younger sister... 

Grandma must have rescued us again after that. She did not seek help because grandma was proud of her Towers ancestry and unwilling to report her own child. Choosing to flee from her instead.

After that was another gap in my memory. I vaguely remember being in the orchestra with the Queen and her children. I am not sure of the exact details but I think grandma was fleeing mother and the Queen let us share her box.

I came round at the healing centre  to find out that my sister was in a coma and both mother and grandma were dead. I felt very guilty about this.

Even though I was only a child myself.   A fourteen year old under five foot, undernourished, and exceptionally gullible child at that.