Saving Athiya

FOUR

ATHIYA

PRESENT

After a long night of listening to music full blast and drawing yet another scene from my horrific past, I admired the sunrise from my room. I didn't go to sleep after all and after reliving the memory of Danny's death, I wasn't able to swallow even a little morsel of food from the dinner plate that Marie had brought for me last night.

It was just past 7 in the morning now and Marie had, yet again, left me my breakfast of Mushroom omelet with two toasts and several strips of bacon on a serving plate with a tall glass of orange juice outside my door. I took a bite of the omelet sandwiched between the crisp, golden brown toast.

"Hmm!" A moan escaped my mouth cutting through the silence of early hours of the morning.

It was delicious. Marie made one of the best omelets in the world. She used to be a head chef in one of the 5-star hotels in New York before she moved here on the outskirts of Seattle where my father hired her as a cook in our household. I was seven when Marie came to live with us and since day one, I was hooked.

I finished my breakfast quickly, gulping down the contents to satiate my hunger that I did not satisfy last night.

"Maybe I should go put my dishes in the kitchen, for a change." I mumbled to myself while staring at the plate and the empty glass in my hands. With a new determination, I opened the bedroom door and headed out towards the kitchen just to stop short when I saw my parents at the dining table, having breakfast that looked like mine.

I walked quickly towards the sink to put my plate down without getting noticed but my fate wasn't having that.

"Hello, darling!" My mother greeted. I looked up at her while putting my dishes in the sink. "Good morning." My father's voice came next.

"Morning." I said while nodding, my eyes wandering around the room trying to avoid meeting their eyes.

"Did you sleep okay?" My father asked.

My heart thumped in my chest. No, I did not sleep okay, dad. I didn't sleep the whole night. I couldn't sleep like every night. I couldn't sleep because fates didn't want me to be happy and at peace. Instead, I replied with a small, timid smile.

"Uh hum." I hummed while nodding. "I am just going to go to my room and watch some TV." I mumbled and walked out of the kitchen before either of them could stop me.

My parents didn't know about the nightmares. Well, they knew I used to have nightmares, but they think I don't have nightmares anymore and I didn't want them to worry.

So, after a few weeks of being back, I had asked to change my room to the one that was far away from theirs. I didn't want them to look at me with pitiful eyes knowing they could not do anything about it.

Entering my room located at the back of the house, I locked my door and went to take a bath. Taking a warm bath always helped me relax my mind. With Hades, I wasn't allowed to take baths at my own leisure. He only let me have one when we were going to have one of those nights.

Once, the bath was ready, I stepped in and put my headphones on closing my eyes.

"Athiya, baby! Where are you? Look what I got for you." Hades' voice brought fear in me. I didn't want to know what he got me, "Athiya! Come downstairs!" Every surprise from him was a new form of torture from Hell.

I quickly made my way downstairs towards the family room where I saw Hades sitting with four other guys. Hades got up and directed me towards one of the couches where he sat down first then pulled me on his lap.