TW: Child abuse! Sorry for this one, everyone.
"Daily. Hourly. It was such a common occurrence that we'd expect it every time we saw his face." Autumn spoke at last, shocking everyone with her voice as well as her words. Her gaze was kept trained on an invisible spot on her desk, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Reece had a sour expression on his face and the other three occupants of the room, including Winter, looked to be on the verge of tears.
It was no surprise to anyone that Marjorie broke the silence again. She struggled internally from completely stopping the questioning and letting Autumn and Reece stop suffering by way of their recount but also knowing this was probably the only time that they could find out about their past to help them heal. "Were there any triggers?"
"No. It was random for the most part, the odd slap or punch here or there. But sometimes when we acted out or flunked a test or something he didn't like, he would beat us for hours. But..." he glanced at Autumn as if asking for consent for something but she refused to meet his gaze. "It was so much worse for Aut. Dad knew that she was my biggest weakness and that I was more concerned for her than I was for myself. So he punished me by taking it out on her." With audible gasps, every gaze in the room swivelled to Autumn who continued to stare at her desk, but her hands shook slightly and her gaze was unfocused. "I tried to take as much as I could though, you know, jumping in front of dad when he tried to go after her. Eventually, I started to fight back so he'd only hurt Aut when I wasn't around."
"Can I ask one last question?" Charlotte spoke up. At the lack of argument against it, she continued carefully. "What was your worst memory or interaction with your father?" Reece recoiled and Autumn looked up slowly, narrowing her eyes.
"Aut?" Reece nodded at her. The youngest person in the room looked up and rolled her eyes at her brother but spoke up anyway.
A/N I'm sorry about this one. I promise that they'll start to heal, the others just need to know what's happened to them. A couple more chapters and we'll see them smile again :)
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What goes on behind the words (is there pity for the plain girl)
Fanfiction*ON HIATUS*** Autumn Knight. A story of heartbreak and an everpresent cloud of darkness. Will she ever be touched by the light? In which Autumn and Reece share their horrific past and maybe our girl starts to heal. **TW: will be angsty and some the...
