I will break you

One

The stairs groan as I walk down them, as quietly as I can possibly manage. The house is quiet, but then again why wouldn't it be at midnight on a Tuesday night. Mum and Dad would freak if they caught me going out this late, but I just needed to go. I needed to go to my sister's stupid college party. My sister, Ginny, attends the college in this town, and has already been allowed to this party, but I wasn't. Being the stubborn, strong minded and yes, slightly jealous person that I am, I had taken it upon myself to take me there, and Mum and Dad going to bed had been an extremely slow, painful process. Normally I wouldn't bother with the hassle, but it's the summer holidays and I figured why not have some fun. I'm seventeen in two months, after all. My emerald sequin minidress rustles louder than I would like as I fumble for my keys in the blackness. As my hand closes around my purple pom pom keyring, I exit the house as mutely as I can manage, stepping out into the cool summer evening air. A chill forges a trail of goosebumps up my arms, and my lack of a jacket does nothing to help. I totter down the drive in my heels, guided only by the vague light of the faulty street lamps. I know the address of the party, Ginny texted me earlier, she was the one who actually prompted me to go. The silentness of my neighbourhood is eerie, the absence of some little kid on a bicycle screaming or even the annoying vibrations of next door’s boom box just feels wrong. The danger of me being out at this time sinks in, but I plod onwards, clutching my purse tightly. I make it a few blocks down, not far away from the address of the event, when I hear footsteps. Behind me. Coming to a standstill, I look over my shoulder, and see a figure in the distance. A man, with some sort of posh looking suit on (a tuxedo, I would guess), and no shoes on. Alarm bells clang in my mind and I start to walk faster, not in the direction of the party anymore but back to my own home. The darkness contorts the familiar streets into something sinister, making me panic and causing me to start to hyperventilate. I attempt to call Dad, but there is no service. The man continues to follow, at a steady, unnerving pace. I am running now, but I turn my ankle and land on the pavement, smacking down onto the floor with a brutally hard impact. My knee splits open and blood pours out, and shooting pains ascend from my ankle. The man is now standing over me, a menacing grin on his face. “Hello Julia.” He whispers, and the only thought I get out is, Who's Julia? before he lamps me round the head and knocks me unconscious.

I wake, disorientated. I feel not the reassuring blanket of the knowledge that I'd just had a bad dream, but the horrible feeling of your stomach dropping like a stone when you wake up and don't know where you are. I appear to be in a children's room. The walls are a light pink and are decorated with light up stars, and I am lying in a bundle of pink fluffy blankets that appear to be crusted with blood. I jump up in horror, realising that the whole room has that impression. The laminate is slick with blood in places, crimson and shiny. A rug that I can only assume was once pink is now a brownish colour, the substance having dried to form peaks in the rug, making my stomach churn. Possibly the most horrifying thing in the room, was the bright purple sign hanging completely untouched in the room. It was a name. Julia. My head throbs and the room swirls. This cannot be happening. I'm dreaming, surely. I'm going to wake up in my bed with my parents softly snoring in the next room. I am still in my mini dress, but the heels are gone, and as I walk up to the door my bare feet stick to the bloodied floor. I want to sob, scream and laugh all at the same time but above all, I want to shout from the rooftops that my name is Jasmine, not Julia. I hear footsteps on the other side of the door. I freeze. What if that is the person who made Julia bleed that badly? I hear my heartbeat thumping in my ears. Morbidly, I wonder how many more times I will hear that sound. The door creaks open, and I scramble away from it, slipping over in the process and landing awkwardly. The man in the suit is standing in the doorway, and I now get a full view of his profile. He has healthy looking, short brown hair and dark brown eyes. That was all I could remark on about his appearance because he was, well, quite average looking. He looked like an exact living stereotype of a male. He smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes and held out a hand towards me. “Come on, Julia, it's time for dinner.” He says this in a calm, neutral tone, as though it is the most natural thing in the world to be asking a girl he had just kidnapped to come and eat dinner with him. “Who are you?” I ask in a strong tone, my voice coming out louder than I anticipated. He looks taken aback by my tone; he folds his arms. “Think of me as your father. Your caregiver. You will call me Dad.”
“Will I?” I say testingly, never wanting to call that filth my dad. “Yes.” He slaps me, hard, around the face, causing me to fall to the floor in shock. “You will.” With that, he turns on his heel and walks calmly out of the room. I hear a lock click following his departure.

_______________________________________

Hi! This is my first book, so if you have any feedback, it would be much appreciated! Have a good day/night, and hopefully you enjoy this story :)