Someone to Die For

Chapter 2

My body was still trembling when he placed a shirt over my head. "Put your arms through, Katharine." My eyes opened, I stuck my arms through the two openings on the sides of the shirt. The fabric was white and still transparent on my body. It was long enough to reach just above my knees. Eric's eyes traveled up and down me. I wrapped my arms around my chest to cover as much as possible hoping it would work. Not that it mattered because he had already seen all of me. 

  He reached his arm out taking a hold of mine. "Please do not be afraid of me." His violet eyes were looking deep into my blue eyes. 

"Don't be afraid of you? You kidnapped me, I just saw a man get burned alive, and you basically ripped my clothes off! You're telling me not to be afraid?" I pulled my arm away and turned my head. The room was dark, and his image was ghostly. He sighed turning over and resting his body on the side of the tent.

I stared at him turned away from me. His muscles were flexing and then going back down. His breath was at a steady beat. He reminded my at my "father" back on Elmore street. I shook the memories out of my head and lay down next to Eric. I felt the heat from his back soak into mine. His warmth made the rest of me feel chilled. Don’t get attached child, he has secrets too. My eyes closed. 

           "You stubborn child," I felt the sting of the whip insert the side of my face. My foster father, Adam, was standing above me; whip in one hand and beer bottle in the other. He splashed the liquid on me causing the sting on my cheek to burn. He poured the rest down his throat then threw the bottle. The glass broke at my feet chips of it carving into my skin. I knew better then to scream. 

           "Why were you stealing food?" He struck me again, blood raced down my right arm. "Answer me!"

 

"I...I don't know. I was hungry." He stood there for a minute. Then he took me by the hair. If its food you want then its food you'll get."  He pulled me up the stairs into his bedroom. My foster mother was sitting on her bed. She slightly shook her head when he brought me in there. She stood by the door watching quietly. She had never struck me, but she never stopped Adam from hitting me. 

          He tossed me on their bed, and unzipped his pants. I didn't know what he was doing. All he had ever done was whip or starve me. "Open your mouth!" His beer stained breath burned my nose. I kept my lips sealed. He slapped me. "I said open your mouth!" I still refused. I would take any beating, but I wouldn't do this. He took the whip right across my mouth. A scream came out and he put himself in my mouth. Tears ran down my face. It had been on my thirteenth birthday. 

Eric's Point of View

  

Her scream. It was something I had never wanted to hear again. I turned to see her screaming and tears running down her face. "Katharine!" I grabbed her and pulled her to me. She screamed again and knocked me square in the face. "Katharine, please wake up. It's just a dream, you're safe." I started to shake her. Her blue eyes flashed at me and she grab me tightly. I hug her slightly rocking her, what had happened? "Katharine what's wrong?"                                        I stroke her hair as she sobbed. "It was just a dream." 

"No it wasn't!" She yelled through sobs. Her grip on me grew tighter. 

"What happened? What's wrong?" I pulled her closer. 

"He... He hurt me…again and again." I looked down at her. Her sobs started slowing. "Who hurt you, Katharine?" 

She stopped crying and looked at me. She wiped the tears on my t-shirt. Then she laid her head back on my shoulder. 

Katharine’s Point of View 

I didn't mean to tell him. I had never told anyone about him. We were the perfect family to the public. He pretended to be the perfect father, and I pretended not to be hurt. I had never told a soul that I was ever hurt. I kept my head buried in his neck. I don't know why. It must have been because I was scared. He smelled like lavender, it reminded me of my real mother. Our house smelled like lavender, probably because it grew around our house. 

Eric pulled us down. He pulled me beside him. I laid my head on his chest. The lavender smell welcomed me. He smelled like home. Not the home I had lived in since I was nine, but my mother's home. 

"Katharine, you should go to sleep again. You're okay now, and I promise I’ll never let anyone hurt you again. Okay?" His voice whispered in my ear. I closed my eyes once again gripping against his bare chest.