Stolen at Birth

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

After Keira was sent tumbling to the ground by her father's hand, Jakob had helped his sister up and rushed her upstairs so he could instantly tend to the already forming bruise. Instead of taking Keira to her bathroom, Jakob took her into his and sat her down on the edge of the bathtub. He pulled out a first aid kit from under the sink and Keira watched him pull things out of it that would help.

Their father was a big strong man, so it was natural that from one slap across the face, Keira would now have a bruise and she's also acquired a cut lip and another cut on her cheek, most likely from the ring that he always wears.

Jakob first cleaned her face of all the tears Keira had shed from the pain with a damp towel, and then gently put disinfectant on the cuts on her face before holding an ice pack to her cheek. Even though Jakob was always teasing Keira and making fun of the way that she looks, Keira knew that if Jakob could, he would help her escape from their father's wrath.

Jakob hated that he couldn't help his little sister. Even though there was no blood relation between them, he loved and cared for her as if she really was and in his eyes, that's exactly what she is. Jakob was only a year old when they brought Keira home from the adoption centre and he could still remember that day like it was yesterday. He was so happy to have someone to play with, but even then he knew that something wasn't right. His mother, of course, was overly joyed to have a daughter, another girl in the house to keep her company, but his father never even smiled at the little baby that was Keira. He seemed to glare and hiss at everything she did. At that age, Jakob didn't understand why his father wasn't happy to have another child, but now he thinks he understands. But there was no way that Jakob was going to say anything about his thoughts to Keira. It would just hurt her even more.

"Thank you, Jakob," whispered Keira. She was trying her hardest not to cry in front of her brother because she didn't like Jakob to see her weak and broken.

"You're welcome, little sister," he whispered back. "Are you going to eat dinner, or just go right to bed again?" Keira watched as Jakob packed away all the disinfectant and placed it back under the sink, waiting for the next time he'll have to take them out again.

"I don't want to be around father right now," she said. "I'm just gonna go to bed."

Jakob helped her into her room and helped her take off her school shoes, skirt, tights and tie, then he helped Keira step into her pajama pants but left her school top on for her to change out of when he left the room. When he did leave, Keira didn't bother getting out of her school shirt and just fell into dreamless sleep.

Waking up the next morning, the first thing Keira did was check her face in the mirror. Keira winced at the sight of small bruise that would've been bigger if it hadn't been for the ice pack that still lay melted on her bed and two cuts on her cheek and lip. The bruise and the cut of her cheek would be easy enough to hide with a little cover up, but she didn't know how she was going to hide the thick cut on her lip. She just hoped that it wasn't too bug that people would notice and if they did Keira could just say that she had a run in with her bedroom door.

Keira quickly had a shower and dressed for school before putting on foundation to cover her bruise and cut. She also applied a little on her lip to cover it a little, which seemed to help hide it. She grabbed her school bag which she guessed Jakob dumped in her room last night, after she had fallen asleep. After she was slapped, she had forgotten she dropped it at the front door.

Entering the kitchen to grab breakfast, she was pleased to see that her father wasn't there, meaning he must already be at work and to see her bright and happy mother cooking breakfast, as if the issue last night never happened. That was the one thing that really bugged Keira about her mother. She didn't even seem to care that Keira was getting abused by her father; her mother just went on being happy and carefree. Keira sat down at the table and patiently waited for her brother to come down stairs so she could eat. By the sounds of her stomach, she was kindly reminded that she hadn't eaten anything since lunch time yesterday.

Finally Jakob appeared at the doorway just as their mother was serving their breakfast. Today it was chocolate chip pancakes with freshly squeezed juice. Jakob, as always, scoffed it all down as soon as their mother put their plates down in front of them. Keira on the other hand, chose to drink her juice first before she too ate as quickly as she could. Safe to say that Keira was really hungry.

Their mother didn't say anything to them that morning, to which Keira was thankful for. She didn't think she had the energy to deal with her mother at all today. Without another word, Jakob and Keira left to go to school. Keira was dreading going to school, afraid someone would notice the bruising and cuts, even if she had covered them as best to her abilities with make-up.

Getting out of the car, Keira and Jakob got a few stares, but not as much as yesterday and Keira felt like all her secrets were out on display for everyone to see. Starting to panic a little, Keira grabbed Jakob's hand to help steady herself and not faint in front of everyone. Jakob looked down at her and smiled before squeezing her hand to reassure her that no one would find out what happened.

"Do you want me to stay with you today?" he asked her. If anyone looked at Jakob's eyes right then, you could clearly see the love and protectiveness he has over his sister and Keira was thankful for him worrying about her.

"That's OK Jakob, you do have your own classes to go to, remember?" she reminded him, even if she really wished he could stay with her all day.

"Oh Keira!" he whined. "You're supposed to say yes so I can skip all my classes." He winked at her and she was thankful for him trying to get her to laugh and forget about what happened.

"Stop trying to avoid going to class," she warned. "You'll have to stay back a year level and be with me next year. You don't want your sister to be smarter than you, do you?"

"You're no fun, sis." He smiled disappeared and he became serious again. "Are you sure you'll be OK today?"

"Yes, I'll be fine. Go to class" Keira pushed Jakob away before going to class herself.

All through English, Maths and P.E. Keira was silent and Daniel and Jared noticed. They tried including her in their jokes and almost got in trouble for throwing paper balls at everyone, trying to get a simple smile out of her. Nothing worked and they had no clue as to why she was like this. She would just sit and stare at the teacher like she was trying to absorb everything the teachers were saying, but if anyone looked close enough, she was just staring blankly at anything but her friends.

At lunch, the curly red haired and green eyed Helen and blonde haired and blue eyed Lacey kept on staring at Keira and then sharing looks with each other, like they knew something that no one else did.

"Hey Keira?" asked Helen, standing up from her position on Sam's lap while Jared was glaring daggers at the two of them. It seems that Jared wasn't quite happy with one of his friends dating his little sister. "Can you come with Lacey and I for a second? We wanna talk to you about something?"

As soon as Helen starting talking to Keira, her head lifted off the table and she stared at the two girls who were now standing over her, waiting for her response. The guys at the table were silent too; it seems who were also waiting for her response.

"Yeah, OK."

Before she got a chance to asked what they wanted to talk to her about, Helen and Lacey each grabbed hold of one of her arms and pulled her away from everyone until they were standing in the girls changing rooms. They stood her in front of the mirrors and pointed out the make-up covering her bruise and cuts. The cut on her lip was clearly noticeable and some of her foundation had come off on the bruise.

"What happened to you?" Lacey whispered to her. Keira stared at her reflection in horror. They had seen her bruise, did anyone else see it?

"No one else saw it," assured Helen when she saw the scared look on her new friend's face. "Well, Jared did and he told me, that's when Lacey and I knew you were covering up something. So, what happened?"

"Nothing happened," she quickly said. How did Jared see her bruise? she wondered. "I accidentally ran into my bedroom door last night, wasn't looking where I was going." 

That's the lie she came up with and she'll stick to it. 

No one can find out that her father abuses her.