What She Left

chapter eleven

note: pay attention to the dates, it'll make more sense. this chapter takes place 16 months before the shooting, which is around 13 months before the other Bailey chapters.

eleven fifty-seven a.m., october thirty first, two thousand and fifteen

sixteen months earlier

    The Nikitis family loves Halloween, with the exception of Bailey.

     Bailey likes seeing people as they are. She's very good at it, too; James once commented that she reads people like a book. She's proud of it. When Daniel Loveske insults her family, she knows that he loves the rush of hurting another person, but afterward, he spends the rest of the week with guilt tugging at him. She knows that when Makayla Charles calls her a manipulative slut, she doesn't really know Bailey and she doesn't really care what Bailey does with her life, but she just does what's accepted by her particular friend group.

     What she loves more is that fact that no one knows what she really is. She doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve, she doesn't throw her emotions out for everyone to see, she doesn't open up. Bailey is not a book to be read. She's a closed book with blank pages.

     Halloween is a day when people can hide behind masks, dress up as whatever they want, be whoever they want. Bailey's knack for seeing people as they are doesn't extend to those masquerading as something else.

     One time, Bailey almost had a friend. Her name was Tessa. She was small and, when you looked at her, the word that came to mind was transparent. Thin, reddish blonde hair, pale skin, light freckles. Tessa was a girl who liked everyone and was liked by everyone. Her next project was Bailey.  But when Tessa sat at Bailey's normally empty table every day, Bailey found herself hating it less and less. Not that it lasted long. For months, she did what she told herself she would never do; she watched Tessa at her separate lunch table, wishing she would forget what Bailey had done and come back.

      So, on this particularly freezing cold Halloween, Bailey's locked in her room, ignoring Marianne through the window dressed as a devil or something. Finally, when Marianne threatens to smash the window, Bailey unlocks it and returns to her bed. She knows well that Marianne would do it.

     "Why do you always insist on bothering me?" Bailey asks her.

     "You got anything better to do?" Marianne pauses halfway into the room. "Didn't think so. Come with me. Party at Jace's, it'll be fun. You don't even have to talk to anyone if you don't want."

    "So what's the point of going?"

    "Get out of the damn house, Bailey. Jesus. When's the last time you've gone to something like, for fun?" Marianne perches on Bailey's bed.

      Bailey spins her chair to face her sister. "I don't know, but if I wanted to, I would. Take a hint, Marianne."

     "Look, you can stay the night over, chill at his place for the day. He's gonna be at work all day tomorrow. Sister bonding."

      Bailey shoots her a look, but Marianne pretends to be oblivious. "Why do you even try anymore?"

      "I'm taking that as a yes."

       Bailey stands up slowly, relenting. At least she can do whatever she wants in Jace's fancy apartment and not have her mother breathing down her neck all the time. But when Marianne flinches and stops in her tracks, it takes Bailey a second longer to realize what the banging and yelling in the front of the house means.

    Marianne yanks the window back open. "We gotta go. Bailey. Come on, man."

Bailey is frozen in her spot. She takes a deep shuddering breath and goes after her sister. But only three steps later, she cowers at the sound of shattering wood. Her door is completely destroyed.

Her father fills up the room only one step in and points a finger at Marianne. "You."

Bailey has never seen Marianne look like a cornered animal until now. "What?"

The stench of alcohol permeates the room, and Bailey finally notices the nearly empty glass bottle in his hand. She can tell that's not the only one he's emptied tonight.

"You little whore. Fucking child thinks she can just leave her mother, leave this fucking house." Marianne straightens at his words, but her eyes resemble a puppy that's been kicked.

"It's not like you even want me here. And-" she stabs a finger into the air. "it's not like you're even fucking here to notice."

"I'm here now, aren't I?" Bailey's heart speeds up at his tone, which is dangerously neutral. The calm before the storm. She doesn't know how Marianne got the courage to speak to him the way she did, when she knows just like Bailey and her mother how truly cruel he can be. "I'm here now, you bitch, and I'm your goddamned father, you know that? I fucking made you." He turns a little at the sound of feet running down the hallway. Not her mother. Aleece would never move to challenge James Sr.

But James Jr. might. Bailey's older brother comes up behind his father, sucking in a big breath. He's been running, Bailey can tell. How did he know?

Her father's visits never mean anything good, and they never end well. Her mother probably called, trying to get James to protect Bailey, because Aleece is too weak to stand up for her.

James Sr's attention is now shifted to the man behind him. James is dressed like a rich businessman, Bailey thinks with a little twinge. A button-down and tie, a long black trenchcoat, shiny black dress shoes. Her father sneers at his oldest son. "Oh, looks like the big man's here."

James' eyes flick between his sisters and his father. "Look, just leave Marianne alone." He's out of breath.

James Sr. laughs, his words slurring ever so slightly. "Leave the bitch alone." He huffs. "Bitch is trying to leave the family just like you did. But no, unlike you, son, I will not make that mistake again. Oh, no. She's not leaving."

"She's well into her twenties, yeah? An adult. Why does she have to stay here? She's old enough to have her own life. You can't hold her here."

"Damn right I can." He shoves Bailey aside like a rag doll and reaches Marianne in one long stride. Bailey's room is barely big enough for the four of them.

She winces as he pushes Marianne against the wall, his hand around her neck. When she struggles, he tightens his grip, shoving her up the off-white wall. James starts towards them, but their mother has appeared behind them, and she pulls him back. "Mom-"

"Shut your mouth, son," James Sr says, grinning. He lets Marianne go with one hand and lifts his jacket so everyone can see the gun in his belt. "I'll kill her."

"Look-" James makes it free of Aleece and makes it only a step towards his father when James Sr. pulls the gun and hits him in the cheek with it. James falls to his knees, blood gushing from his cheek. Bailey scrabbles against the wall. Her mother looks pained but does nothing.

James Sr. cocks the gun and presses it against Marianne's temple. She scratches at his hand still around her neck, making a horrible choking noise Bailey never forgets. "I will kill every-" tears are sliding down Marianne's cheeks- "single-" James smears blood on Bailey's wall- "one of you."