The Tale of Archer and Sawyer

Chapter 00 | | It's Us Against the World | | Archer

© Copyright 2014 Kailey Alexandra Marie

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Chapter 00 | | It's Us Against the World | | Archer

It only takes five minutes for everything to change.

"Stop whimpering, Sawyer," Mom told my sister, a scowl permanently edged into her face. She seemed to always be scowling these days, especially at Sawyer and me. I didn't know why. We've been doing everything her and Dad told us to do. We never spoke back or even tried to protect each other like we used to. We were the perfect daughters like they wanted.

Sawyer bit her lip, trying to stop tears from running down her cheeks. Her sad eyes were solely focused on me, and all I wanted to do was go over there and stop Mom. Sawyer's long, brown hair was all she had left to control, and there Mom was: cutting it off with a knife. I knew Sawyer didn't want her to. Her hair was everything to her, and Mom was chopping it off like Dad chopped wood.

I tore my gaze from hers, not liking the saddened expression she wore. My eyes focused on the room around us. It was simple with a small living area that had a couch and a T.V. I wasn't allowed to touch. The walls were pristine white as were the carpets. Not far from the couch was a table with only two chairs. Sawyer and I were never allowed to eat with them. Next to the table was the start of the kitchen, where Sawyer and Mom were. Everything was white in there. From the sink to the refrigerator to the stove, it was all white. There wasn't a speck of dirt either, except maybe the brown hair that was falling to the ground.

"Your sister will look beautiful. Don't you think so?" Dad said, caressing my cheek. A shiver ran down my back, but I tried to hide it. At least, for Sawyer's sake. If I moved one inch from my spot, Mom would cut her. She's done it before, knowing I didn't like it. It was like that a lot. Mom punished Sawyer because she knew it hurt me. The fifteen-year-old was everything to me, and they knew it.

Slap!

I touched my cheek where my dad's hand was, moving my jaw to see if if it was broken. It wasn't, which was good. At least, I'll still be able to talk. "Answer me!" Dad shouted, his face nearly inches away from mine.

"Yes," I answered coolly, "Sawyer will look beautiful because of Mom's experience with cutting hair."

Dad turned away from me, his fist still clenched at his side, as he made his way over to where Mom was. Mom barely looked up at him, her blue eyes like mine focused on chopping Sawyer's hair. I watched as her delicate fingers took each junk of hair before sawing it off Sawyer's head. I guess you could say my mom was beautiful in a sinister kind of way. She had wavy, blonde hair that ended right above her hips and bright blue eyes. She always wore these tight red tops that showed her cleavage, but Dad never payed attention to them, much to her disappointment. He always stared at either Sawyer or me, and I knew Mom didn't like it. It was why she was getting rid of Sawyer's long hair. She was jealous.

"All done," Mom chirped happily to my dad. She set the knife down, and I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I quickly shut my mouth, hoping she didn't hear it. But, of course, she did as her blue eyes made contact with mine. She glared. "Take Sawyer to your room, Neither of you are getting dinner tonight."

I nodded my head like a robot.

Gently, I took Sawyer's hand, in which she held onto with an iron grip. Together we made our way down the small, dark hallway leading to our room. On each wall were rows of pictures. Some were of Mom and Dad before we were born, while others were of either Sawyer or me. On instinct, I stopped in front of the last picture before our room. It was of Sawyer and me taken two years ago at the lake house. It was the last time we ever went there, the last time I ever remember being happy.