Under My Skin

Part 4

Christoffer Schistad blearily opened his eyes and lazily rolled over, his arm brushing his unexpected house guest from the night before. Unexpected yes, but certainly not disappointing. The sex was great of course but in the aftermath something was bothering him in the back of his mind. Why did they keep coming back to each other? Why did he spend the entire day before thinking about her?

Normally Chris was not an ignorant guy. He let impulses guide his life decisions. Part of this way of life was never bullshitting or convincing himself of something that was clearly untrue.

He liked Eva Mohn

Maybe even more than liked, that much he wasn't sure of. What he did know though was that he wanted to see more of her than just her body.

He wanted to know Eva Mohn

The realisation came with the beeping of an obnoxious alarm. He quickly shut the noise off and pressed a kiss into Eva's hair before standing up.

Chris quickly changed into his suit and tied his tie precisely, attempting to look nice for the job he dreaded going to every morning. He stepped out of his room closing the door behind him, allowing Eva to sleep off the hangover that would surely come.

"Lilly are you ready to go? I have to be at the office in an hour."

The young girl peeked through her thick curtain of blonde hair only to shut her eyes quickly once noticing her older brother's presence.

"Well I guess if she isn't awake yet the tickle monster will have to do the job." Chris smiled deviously down at his little sister aware of her half assed attempt at getting to sleep in later. He wasn't gonna play along though.

Lilly stiffened as her brother came closer to her preparing for defeat. He knew that tickles were her weakness. Damn him

Chris began to tickle Lilly and sure enough the girl was roaring with laughter in seconds, she was too easy.

"Chris stop it!" she gasped amidst her rapid giggling. The moment was soon ruined as the shadow of his mother darkened the doorway.

"Who's the slut in your room Christopher?" The woman slurred drunkenly towards her children.

Chris looked bewildered for a second before turning to Lilly, "Lils get dressed Mom and I are going to chat for a second." With that he guided his mother angrily to the other room far away enough so that Lilly was out of earshot.

"I cannot believe you would say that in front of her! Mom, you can't just show up here occasionally drunk off your ass simply because you feel like it! And by the way you have absolutely no right to judge me for who I bring home when you aren't even here half the time."

The frail woman's eyes erupted with tears as she choked on a sob. Chris was always unsure how to treat a crying woman, especially his mother who was a raging alcoholic. He hesitantly embraced her.

"I'm sorry sweetie I'll do better, I will. I promise." The woman slurred into her eldest child.

"I know mom." A tear slipped from Chris's eye.

She said that a lot for someone who was never not intoxicated. He truly believed that she meant it; that she wanted to get better, but she never did. No matter how many times she said she would.

Sandra Schistad had met Chris's father as a teenager no older than Chris himself. The two had quickly begun a brief but intense affair before everything came to a sudden stop when Sandra fell pregnant. Chris's father soon left for university as his own father had expected, hoping Sandra would abort the child. Obviously she hadn't and Chris was born several months later, that's when the checks began arriving on the 1st of the month from the man who fathered Chris, a man whom he'd never met.

Sandra worked tirelessly for years to support him until she met Rolf, Lilly's father. Rolf was a wealthy man, angry, but wealthy. He liked to hit Sandra when she burnt dinner or missed a spot when cleaning. He didn't hit Chris or Lilly but the act in itself was enough for Sandra to begin drinking herself into oblivion on the daily. At the age of 13 Chris began to see the changes in his mother and soon discovered his own affinity towards anger and violence as his fist met Rolf's face in defense of his mother. Chris was sent to juvenile detention and when he returned 6 months later Rolf was gone and his mother had cleaned up her act and worked a job.

Things were fine until Lilly was 8 and Chris was 16. Rolf had at that point consulted a lawyer and was working on a case for sole custody of Lilly. This sent Sandra back into a downward spiral as she struggled to fight for her children and her addiction to alcohol.

The fancy lawyers tore his mother apart on the stand and Rolf was gifted shared custody of his daughter. At that point Sandra was devastated and so was Chris. Innocent little Lilly was sent to her father's every friday and was returned every monday, where she was meticulously inspected for bruises or any other sign of abuse. Thankfully she remained untouched but Sandra's fear was enough for her to turn back to the bottle, which was where she was currently.

Chris empathized, he really did, but he shouldn't have to be responsible for shielding his now 11 year old sister from their mothers demons. He had deferred from university to protect his sister and support his family with a mind numbing 9 to 5 office job.

"Chris?"

His thoughts were interrupted as he turned to see Eva behind him. Chris swiped a tear from his eye, embarrassed at this display of weakness. He quickly released his mother.

"Mom how about I get you back to bed?" Chris spoke hoping that Eva wouldn't notice his moment of vulnerability.

Sandra nodded as she trudged into another room.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Chris muttered knowing full well that she had seen a peice of him that she had yet to have discover in the past.

Eva averted her eyes unsure how to act after interrupting this intimate moment.She had never seen Chris like that.

She didn't hate it though, in fact it kind of intrigued her.

"It's ok. Sleep well?" She spoke hoping to alleviate this new found awkwardness between them.

Chris smiled crookedly, appreciating her effort to not interrogate him with questions nobody, not even his friends knew the answers to.

"Sure, although it would've been a lot better if a drunken red head hadn't knocked on my door in the middle of the night." Chris replied jokingly. eliciting a rosy blush of embarrassment from Eva.

"Sorry." She spoke quickly in embarrassment.

"Don't be." Chris reassured before checking his watch. "Lilly it's 7:30, we have to leave in 5 minutes for school or we'll be latel!" He yelled up to his sister.

"Hey Eva I'm really sorry but I've got to go. I'll text you later" She nodded in understanding as he began walking towards the door.

"Bye Eva." Eva turned to see the little blonde waving goodbye to her before rushing out the door after her brother.

She stood there in bewilderment alone in a house that didn't belong to her.

What had just happened?

Hi peeps, it's Hannah here. I can't apologize enough for this continuous hiatus but I'm a piece of crap and it happens a lot. I can't believe some people are still here! I came up with this chapter in a dream and it's a bit of a different direction than I was intending on going in. Please tell me what you think.

Thanks for reading!