~Heart of Steel~

Fractured Peace

Chapter 4:

Isla lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts. The quiet of the mansion felt suffocating, and her anxiety only grew with each passing minute. The solitude was abruptly broken when she heard the heavy thud of the front door being flung open. Elias had returned from work.

Curiosity and dread pulled her from her bed. She crept towards the door, trying to catch snippets of the conversation between Elias and his father. Though the words were muffled, she made out Elias's voice, filled with defiance.

"I don't want to marry her," Elias said firmly.

Isla's heart raced. The tension between them was palpable, but she couldn’t understand the full extent of their argument. Suddenly, she heard a loud, sharp sound, followed by Elias’s anguished cry. It was clear Elias’s father had struck him. The pain in Elias's voice was chilling.

After the argument subsided, Elias retreated to his room. The door slammed shut, and Isla heard the scratching of pen on paper. She imagined him writing in his notebook, his anger and frustration pouring out in written words.

Hours later, Isla ventured into the living room, hoping to escape the suffocating silence of her room. There, she found Elias's father slumped in his chair, his attention absorbed by the TV. He was yelling angrily at the screen, his face flushed with rage.

Suddenly, he noticed Isla and stormed over to her, his anger shifting focus. Without a word, he grabbed her roughly by the arm and started hitting her. The blows were sharp and painful, leaving her trembling. She tried to shield herself, but the strikes continued, leaving her with a sense of helplessness.

When he finally stopped, Isla slumped to the floor, her body aching and her spirit broken. She crawled to a corner of the room, trying to make herself as small as possible. The pain was overwhelming, and exhaustion soon took over. Her tears fell silently as she sat there, feeling utterly defeated.

The world seemed to blur as she huddled in the corner, her body ached and her heart was heavy. In this new, harsh world, she was learning the painful lesson of survival in a place where kindness was scarce, and fear was her constant companion.