Knight-mare stories

Chapter 4

When Autumn was a young child she would sit at the table watching her mother numb herself with alcohol. On the other hand, she would also watch her father bring out the worst in himself using the same substance. When he drank things would be torn, thrown, smashed, etc. As their father turned into a satanic demon, Reece and Autumn's mother would hush them into a different room. She would cover their ears as they covered their eyes, and she would enclose them with a shield made of her body. Reece learnt a lot from her about how to best protect aut from their dad, not that she was trying to teach him. Trying to protect his sister, never should have been on a ten year old boy's mind. "TOUGHTHEN UP REECE!" Roger used to shout in his ear hole every time he shed a tear. "YOU'RE A WEAK PATHETIC LOSER UNWORTHY OF LOVE!" Roger would tell him repeatedly when he showed any sign of letting his guard down. At the age of twelve Autumn had caught onto what her mother had used as a coping mechanism all those years. Although she found the taste strong she sucked it like her father told her to do with everything tragic in her life, and just drank it like a horrible medicine. Once she had experimented with affects, she decided she'd routinely drink it. Of course this made her increasingly ill, even once landing her in A&E.

After hours of protesting from Reece, Roger eventually agreed to make the the trip to take Autumn to be seen by a healthcare professional. It was already pitch black outside in the middle of night, and on the whole way there Autumn was repeatedly coughing in the back seat next to Reece. He couldn't help but feel guilty as if he had something to do with her being so violently ill. "Oh mutton chops keep it down! Honestly I do everything for you but in return you both are adamite on being a pain in the arse!" Said Roger whilst rolling his eyes, Autumn just sighed back at him. The Knight family used mainly private healthcare, although Roger was reluctant to spend more money than he had to on his kids. But he had a feeling this was urgent and he couldn't afford to lose his favourite child. He's never loved Autumn, but the mention of Reece brought shame to him, Reece to this day still hasn't learnt that he can't do anything to get his father's approval. And he will always be a disappointment in Roger's eyes. Once Roger had parked his red fiero right outside the entrance, Reece had come to the conclusion Autumn had blacked out. He had previously believed she was just resting with her eyes closed, as they weren't really allowed to communicate in the car. "DAD!" He screeched in a squeaky voice, the pain in his chest remined him of the grief he felt reading the last words his mother had left him. "Not aut" He repeated to himself constantly in his head. "No, not aut" The tension he was feeling in his head drowned out any background noise, even the sound of his father shouting at him. "What is the matter with you Reece!" Moaned Roger, he then slapped Reece in the face. Reece shook it off as Roger arrogantly muttered, "Silly boy!" Reece would hate when Roger made psychical contact with him, most kids would get a hug, he got beaten. "What an earth is wrong with her!" Roger asked rhetorically. "What's the matter with her is she is seriously ill!" Angrily replied Reece in hatred for his father. After a deep sigh Roger walked off and said "I'm going to grab someone." Reece nodded whist stroking Autumns forehead to clear her hairs out the way. "I'm so sorry aut, please forgive me." He whispered, knowing she couldn't hear his pleads. A team of paramedics then came rushing towards the vehicle, a nurse with a stretcher in his arms, another had an oxygen mask, and the rest of them were holding walkie talkies ready to assist.

As she was strapped to the stretcher, Reece cried as quietly as possible and held her hand the whole time. Her palm was soft and warm, his fingers were cold and bruised all over, no doubt from his father dragging him all over the place. Although she wasn't a hundred percent conscious, she was still listening to her surroundings. The stretcher she was laying on felt like a hard pillow, she felt at risk lying out in the open, but she had no control of her limbs. The bright lights were glaring at her, as the sound of panicked staff flooded her ears. Was a sense of distance from reality really worth all the aggro? She felt sick to stomach, she didn't think she had that much to drink the previous night. She had no idea how her father would react to hearing his twelve year daughter had been sneaky his wine. Reece didn't pay enough attention when racing through the hospital to keep up with the doctors, to realise his father wasn't even there. Instead Roger was sat in the waiting room, buying him self a blue tin of mints from the hospital gift shop. Reece couldn't believe that whilst his daughter was being rushed into the emergency room her father couldn't be more calm, but this with incredibly on brand for him.