Ring of Dimensions

Chapter 3

I slam the door to my bedroom, hating my father. Today, of all days, he had to pick a fight. Of course, I brought this up in our argument. He had countered by saying that today, of all days, I had to get a detention.

"I try to be a good father, Lamia!" He had said, his hazel eyes flaring. "But apparently I've spoiled you too much! There are going to be consequences! You're grounded for one week!" I stood there, stunned. I had never been grounded before. Then, the anger took over. It took all of my self control not to do anything stupid. Not to hurt him.

"I'm 17 years old!" I yelled. "I don't have to live under your roof anymore!" I yelled, even though that wasn't necessarily true until I was 18. "I'm leaving!" I had then rushed up to my room, ignoring his shouts from behind me.

Angrily, I start packing my stuff into a backpack. I throw in as much clothes as I can, including an extra sweat shirt, not wanting to feel the wrath of the cold Pennsylvania winter. I grab my makeup and other essentials. I also throw in a few things I don't necessarily care about, like some random pieces of jewelry from my jewelry box, so that I can sell them if I need money. After a moment's hesitation, I grab my school backpack too, leaving everything else behind. I stalk out of my room, not bothering to turn the light off or shut the door. When I walk into the kitchen I see my father sitting at the table with his head in his hands. He jumps up at hearing me enter the kitchen.

"Lamia..." He says, his voice breaking at the end. My heart breaks when his voice does, but I force myself to keep walking.

I sit in my car and take my phone out of my pocket. Since I haven't checked it since before detention, it explodes with texts and other notifications. I roll my eyes at the many texts I got from Amber, questioning how my detention was going and what was happening.

Is it okay if I come over?  I text her, ignoring all of her texts.

Of course, she replies almost instantly. I put my phone away and pull out of my driveway.

The drive takes five minutes. The whole way there, I don't even think. I just concentrate on my anger. How dare he ground me? I did nothing wrong. I was speaking my mind and that dreadful teacher happened to overhear. I pull into Amber's driveway and turn my car off. I sit there for a moment, trying to get my anger under control.

Breath, I tell myself, remembering what my anger counselor tough me before I stopped going. In, out. In, out. I chuckle to myself a little bit. Who knew the lessons would actually come in handy?

Finally, I get out of my car and go into Amber's house, not bothering to knock. I hear shouting coming from the kitchen. Great, her parents are fighting again, I think. I prepare myself to dodge any glasses or vases that might fly my way. Carefully and casually, I creep into the kitchen, trying to make sure they don't see me.

"She's not here!" I hear a voice sob. Amber. I quickly go back into the mudroom and peek into the kitchen. Five people are in there. Two of them lay on the floor. I realize that they're Amber's parents and nearly gasp aloud. The third one, Amber, is on her knees. Two men stand over her. They don't have any weapons and I can't see their faces, but I can tell by the  muscles on their bare arms that they could easily overpower her.

"But she's coming," one of them say. "We saw the messages." He waves Amber's phone in the air. Are they talking about me? Amber sobs some more.

"Don't hurt her, don't hurt her, please, just-" she's cut off by one of them slapping her across the face. I feel a growl escape my lips as I step out into the open.

"Touch her again and I'll kill you both," I say with bravado that Amber's being hurt caused.

"Oh, don't worry. We don't want her," the first one says. I can hear the smile in his voice.