The Safe House

3 - Murder, Almost

THIS STORY IS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING REWRITTEN. IF YOU GET CONFUSED GO WITH THE FLOW HAHA YOULL PROBS GET IT LATER MAYBE MAYBE NOT. OR YOU CAN JUST WAIT UNTIL FULLY REWRITTEN!

It was freshly painted white and framed by a chocolate brown doorway. Half of me was curious to know what lay behind that door, the other was telling me to run. Fast. Curiosity always came in first when it comes to being scared, unsure or knowing that it is a bad thing to do. But not this time. Backing away, I hunch my shoulder's over and turn to run towards the door but my mother blocked me. She smile's, the same evil, fake, smile she has had planted on her face all day today. "Don't you want to see what's behind the door?"

"No, I really don't. Now if you could let me pa-"

"Are you disobeying your mother?" Her face is like a mask and never changes.

"Um...no?"

"Then turn back around and see what's behind the door." She holds my shoulders and slowly turns me around. She nudge's me forward and I do my best to walk towards the door, trying to show no sign of fear. When the door is looming above me, I start to reach for the door handle. When I look around to find my mother, she is no longer in the way; she is sitting on my unmade bed. 'This is my chance.' I thought. 'I could get away.'

There is a clear path straight to the stairs. I turn back to the door, so it wouldn't look like I was planning anything. I twist the circular door handle, which was the same white paint as the door. When the doorknob has reached as far as it will turn, I inhale, exhale, then fling the door open, turn and run for the staircase. Mum doesn't seem to move, just watch me run from my fear. Before I reach the door at the top of the stairs, I turn to look in the direction of the door and see a glimpse of what's inside it before Mum shut's it and see chains from the wall. At the end of the chains are cuffs. My heart starts to race and I run faster, sprinting past Lachlan and out of the house. I run away from the house, away from the school and find a park. When I reach it, I slow down and collapse on the swings. Tears escape my eyes and my body starts to shake. Hugging myself, I look back towards the house and froze. Mum, the stupid smile on her face, still pretending, was walking behind Dad who was fuming. He had obviously given up on the act of love and is now his evil self again. My eyes widened and my body started to shake because I was a different scared. Scared by the anger and what's in front of me instead of scared that this could be one of my last days alive.

He storms up to me and grabs me by the collar of my shirt. "What is wrong with you?" I look down at the floor. "Afraid of opening a door?" He slaps me in the face, making me wince. "Honey, stop!" Mum yells at him.

"What? Have you gone soft? What has happened to you?" Forgetting that this woman is trying to murder me, I scramble away from Dad and into Mum's arms, tears rolling down my face. "She is just a girl, Joseph!" She turns, me still in her arms and walks away. It was nice to have a few minutes with what a real mum should be like. Then the memory of what Lachlan told me flooded in. I jerk back suddenly and she look's at me, worried? No, it's just an act. "What's wrong, darling?"

"Y-yo-you -" I say pointing at her, my bones shaking violently now.

"I what?" She says, her expression becoming more concerned. Is it an act?

"Yo-you are a monster! Dad beats me up and you-you just stand there and watch, cheer!" My voice wobbles.

"I was forced to." She says looking down at the floor. "By your dad. Otherwise, he would do the same to me. I tried standing up for you. Standing up to your father and your brother. They just threatened me. I couldn't watch anymore so I-I stood up to your father." Now I'm really not sure whether her niceness is an act anymore. What if it was true? I can believe it. I wouldn't be surprised if Lachlan and Dad really did do it.