Alexia

Chapter 1

(Authors note. Anything spoken between people in this chapter is spoken in Danish. Let me know if you want the danish translation of it in the story) 
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Alexia woke up to the light taps of her little brother and his hushed voice calling her name.
When she opened her eyes, her brothers concerned face was the first thing she saw. Her whole body was hurting after yesterday's beating and Alexia couldn't help the groan that escaped her as she moved to get up. The light was already starting to break through the tiny window they had in their shared basement room. Alexia knew if she didn't get up soon and work her way upstairs to get breakfast on the table for her mother and stepfather, she'd earn herself another beating before school.
"Are you okay?" Her brother, Leo, whispered as he tried to help Alexia up from the floor she always slept on.
Alexia looked into the frightened eyes of her brother and pulled him into a hug.
"I'll be fine Leo." She told him reassuringly.
"Help me up so I can go make breakfast." Alexia said softly.
With the help of Leo, the sibling duo grabbed their school stuff and managed to walk up into the kitchen in silence.

"Did you finish your homework last night?" She asked as she was cooking up bacon on the pan.
Leo looked down in shame before shaking his head no.
"Do as much as you can now and we'll work on the rest in the bus." She told him softly. She watched him nod his head and pull out his homework before turning her attention back to the stove.
Last nights beating had been extra bad. Thomas, their stepfather had come home drunk again and he had walked in on Leo sneaking some food. When Thomas had tried to beat Leo, Alexia had stepped in and taken the beating instead. She had always made sure no one touched her brother. But of course that didn't spare him from the emotional scares he had endured from watching all the beatings Alexia took. At least Leo had never witnessed...

"I don't know how to solve this one Lexi." Leo said softly breaking her out of her dark thoughts.
She took the bacon off the pan and quickly cracked an egg into a bowl before quickly whisking it and dumping it into the pan before glancing at the math problem.
She popped two pieces of bread into the toaster as she began to explain the problem to Leo. She wouldn't just give him the answer right away. She wanted him to try and solve it by himself first. Most of the time when he couldn't understand something from his homework Alexia would explain it to him in a way that made sense which then lead to him being able to answer his problems on his own.
If they happened to be pressed for time, Alexia would just give him the answer and then explain it to him later while giving him a similar question to solve.
Despite only being 11 he was good at school. He was currently doing 8th grade math questions even if he was only in 6th grade.
Alexia finished explaining the problem as she finished making Leo's breakfast sandwich.
Glancing at the time she quickly fried up 5 eggs in the pan while putting more bread in the toaster.
Not long after Alexia plated up two plates of food. Two sunny-side-up eggs, 2 pieces of bacon and avocado toast for her mother while Thomas got 3 eggs, 5 pieces of bacon, 2 hashbrowns Alexia had thrown in the oven as well as freshly made coffee.
Placing the plates on the table she quickly washed the dishes and wrapped Leo's sandwich while Leo packed up his homework just as they started hearing shuffling from above them.
The two siblings quickly made their way out of the house and headed towards the bus stop.
Once there Alexia handed the breakfast sandwich to Leo and told him to eat.
As always Leo offered her half of his food which she politely declined, telling him she had eaten while she was cooking.
They both knew that was a lie. Thomas and their mother didn't feed either of them very often but Alexia always made sure Leo was fed. She had a small part time job she would do after school and on weekends, something she had successfully hidden from her mother and Thomas. She saved most of the money she earned so she could take Leo away as soon as possible, but she always made sure Leo had lunch money and she would sneak snacks into the basement for the nights she wasn't able to sneak a hot meal for him. She would also get Leo new clothes when he had outgrown his. The only thing she got for herself was birth control pills which she thankfully got at a discounted price from the local health department. Everything else she was storing away.
Leo finished the last bite of his sandwich as the bus pulled up. Get got in and quickly found a seat. Alexia helped Leo with the remaining of his homework and they finished just as the stop to Leo's school came up.
Leo carefully hugged Alexia goodbye knowing she was hurt before dashing into the school.
Alexia breathed a sigh of relief. His school was the one place she knew he was safe.
She then started her long walk towards her own school, popping a few painkillers to make it through the day as she walked.

Finally arriving at school, she knew she was late. Not that she cared all that much. School sucked for her. She was the weird loner girl, always waring baggy clothes. Being bullied at school was nothing new to her. Even the other bullied victims, bullied her as to not get bullied more themselves.
Teachers didn't like her either. She was always in some kind of trouble with them. Usually for sleeping in class, not paying attention or not doing her homework.
School just didn't matter to her. She had more pressing things to worry about when she was able to stay awake.
Daily beatings left your body permanently exhausted from always having to heal the damage. It was tiring.

Just after lunch the school intercom went off and the principals nasally voice came over the speakers.
"Alexia Wilson come to the principals office. Alexia Wilson to the principals office."
Everyone turned their heads and snickered at Alexia as she grabbed her backpack and started walking out of the class. The students erupted into whispers.
"I wonder what she did this time."
"God, who did she sleep with this time?"
"She so dumb, why does she even continue to come to school? It's not like she does anything except for sleep and get into trouble."
"Silence!" The teacher yelled as Alexia closed the door behind her. She knew the teacher had let them whisper while she was in earshot.

Walking nonchalantly into the principals office Alexia instantly became alert when she saw two uniformed officers standing in front of her.
"Is Leo okay?" Was the first thing she asked.
"Yes, your brother is fine, Ms Wilson. Two other officers are collecting him from his school and will meet us at the station." one of the officers said.
"What's this about?" Alexia asked, more relaxed now that she knew Leo was okay.
"We will talk at the station." Said the other officer. "Lets go." He said.
"He is a cop Lex. You can't kill him." She said to herself before following the rude asshole.

"LEXI!" Leo's anxious voice was the first thing that greeted Alexia when one of the cops let her out of the backseat of their cruiser.
The next thing was his arms around her body as he hugged himself close to her, forgetting about her injuries in his desperate need for comfort.
Alexia ignore the pain this hug caused her and wrapped her arms around her brother.
"Everything is okay, Leo." She whispered to him. She didn't know what was going on but she would never let anything happen to him.
"Please follow us." One of the officers that had been responsible for transporting Leo said politely.
She grabbed her backpack and Leo slid his had into hers as they walked into the station and was shown right into a room with a detective sign on the door.
"Sir, the Wilson kids are here." The officer told the middle-aged man sitting behind a desk. The man looked up and locked eyes with Alexia before looking at the little boy hiding behind his sister.
Alexia didn't miss the flash of pity in the detectives eyes but she didn't say anything. In fact she never said much to anyone other than Leo.
"Please have a seat." The man said pointing towards two chairs in front of his desk.

Silence filled the room while the detective was looking at the kids in front of him. The girl was looking right back at him with an indifferent look. But there was something in her eyes he couldn't quite place. The boy was shaking in fear looking down in the floor holding his sisters hand so tightly he wasn't sure the girls fingers ever got any blood.
He didn't want to, but he had to tell them why they were there.
Taking a deep breath he looked from the boy to the girl.

"I'm sorry to inform you, that your mother and stepfather is dead."