Labyrinth Dancer

Chapter Five: Home

Inara quietly turned the key in the lock; careful not to make any noise as she stepped inside the entrance of the house. She knew which boards to avoid because they creaked, knew which stairs to step over because they moaned under pressure. She knew all the ins and outs of this house she'd spent her whole life in; she knew what all could set him off again. 

It was rare she saw him anymore, she saw her stepmother more and wondered why the woman could bear to stay; yeah, she put up with more than his other girls but he still beat on her like he had the rest. She catered to him though, and for that reason he kept her provided for; she did what he wanted and he'd take care of her. 

They'd ended up having two kids together; twins, a boy and a girl who had long ago learned not to make a peep in this house or directly outside of it. Inara glanced at the clock nearby as she thought of them, they would be home soon from school the bus would be dropping them off down at the corner a few houses down. 

She heard quiet steps upstairs and then the slight waft of floral perfume; the scent her stepmother liked to wear. 

"Hey Karen, good day?" 

It was a simple question that actually meant more then anyone could imagine. Did he drink today or beat you today were typically what that question covered. 

Her gaze went to Karen who stepped up next to her in the kitchen, she shrugged slightly and Inara took a moment to take her in like she did most days. 

No new bruises today, but it was obvious it had been a hard day; the dark circles under Karen's eyes were puffy and her eyes were red from crying. She was keeping her arm close to her right side, protecting her ribs which told Inara he had hit her there again; possibly bruising or even breaking one of her ribs. 

"Do I need to take the kids to the store tonight?" Inara quietly whispered hearing more steps above, out of the corner of her eye she could see Karen stiffen up. 

"Yeah, take them to the store and get them dinner out; let me make you a list." Karen quietly muttered fishing cash out of her purse and jotting down a quick grocery list. 

Inara nodded and quickly headed back out the door with the money and list, catching the kids just before they'd step onto the porch. 

"Hey guys, we get to eat out tonight, lets go stash our backpacks in the garage and get going!" She excitedly told them. 

Though they knew their dad was a violent man they didn't know that the actual reason behind taking them out was to keep them from getting hurt on his really bad days. 

As they headed for the bus stop Inara told the kids to decide what they wanted to eat that night. Of course they picked their favorite place, a fast food joint with a kid's meal that came with a fun toy every time. 

As Inara listen to them talk about their days she couldn't help but wonder just how bad the situation might be when they got back home. Her eyes flitted down to the list she hadn't looked over yet and sighed; all the usual stuff, the basics including band-aids and wraps for sprains. 

Karen would go out later tonight while he was out at the bar to get the beer and other stuff Inara couldn't buy yet. Nodding along to the kid's conversations she couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen after graduation when she'd hopefully be leaving for college if she was lucky. But, then again she wasn't sure if she'd be able to leave Karen and the kids to fend against him themselves. 

Going to college meant getting a better life for herself but at what cost to her younger siblings? Would they be safe? Would Karen be able to protect them both from his rage? Was she basically leaving them to fend for themselves if Karen left or got badly injured?

Those were the fears she couldn't voice, the worries that haunted her daily every time she saw those two little faces. They were still both so innocent, only in the first grade and oh so ready to take on the world and be happy outside of the house. 

She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if something happened to them that could've been prevented if she'd been there but wasn't because she'd left for school. 

*A Few Hours Later*

When they got back to the house, Inara had them both go grab their backpacks from the garage and made sure they were quiet as they all three went inside. Inara walked ahead of them, quickly taking them both upstairs to their room and cautioning them both to be quiet. 

The car she had noticed was still in the driveway which meant he hadn't left like he usually did. Turning around after shutting the twin's door she cautiously crept to her own room next door to theirs, closing her door carefully she didn't relax till she reached her bed and sunk down onto it exhausted. 

No sounds came from any part of the house, not even the twin's room; they were probably doing homework and then going to bed soon. They knew to stay quiet. Running a hand through her hair, she untangled the few knots that had formed at some point in the day. Reaching over to her bedside table she switched on the dim lamp.

Her gaze went back to her window behind her bed almost longingly, hoping to see the white owl that occasionally visited her. She could fondly remember nursing him back to health, how sweet he had been and such; he had continued to visit at least weekly if not more since that night he'd been able to fly off on his own. Sometimes he brought her little things, most of which she kept in a box under her bed. 

She wore one of the items on occasion when she felt in the mood to do so; that little trinket she kept in her sock drawer. Thinking about it she quietly turned away from the window and headed over to her chest of drawers. Opening up her sock drawer she pulled out the single black sock and flipped it over to where the little trinket fell out into her awaiting palm. 

Setting the sock back into the drawer she closed her palm over the trinket and headed back to her bed, using her foot as she stood up she closed the drawer. Flopping back onto her bed she opened her palm up again and in the dim light admired the little piece of jewelry. 

It actually hadn't started as a piece of jewelry, the little silver charm in the shape of an owl with outstretched wings  had been left for her by her owl; she had added the metal chain so that she could wear it. Undoing the clasp she slipped the chain around her neck and fastened it, letting the cold silver charm lay against the skin of her upper chest, just below her throat. 

Closing her eyes she gently fingered the charm, peace flowing through her as she relaxed. At least she had been able to help the owl, even if she couldn't help anyone else. 

Suddenly she heard a door slam open followed by shouting filled with curse words from further down the hall.  Her eyes flashed open in horror as she realized he was completely enraged about something. It had been a while since he'd been this bad but every time it happened either she or Karen ended up in the hospital. 

Cracking her door open she peeked out, he had thankfully gone down stairs this time still cussing up a storm. Karen looked unharmed from where she stood at the top of the stairs watching him go down. 

Karen though turned to her, noticing the slight light from her room. Nodding towards the twin's room Inara quietly crept in there and herded them both to her room for the night. Locking her door and bolting it she helped them get ready for bed and turned off the light. 

She wouldn't be sleeping tonight, instead she'd be listening to their father rage and roar downstairs all night if they were lucky. However, with the weekend coming up after tomorrow; the chances of Inara or Karen making it through this weekend without injury was going down very fast.