The Domus Daemoniorum

Chapter One

       "I woke up to a twitch in my leg that day, I only woke up with twitches in my legs when something bad was going to happen. I waited all day just to see what would go down. I thought maybe I was just wrong by the end of the day. Then, my father got a call from the hospital. My mother had gotten into a car accident and was scheduled for an operation he then had us get in the car and  we sped to the hospital. At 5:00 a.m. the next day, it was revealed to us as her time of death." I saw tears in my grandparents eyes and people sitting in their seats staring at me. I was only saying what had happened. It was all easier that way. I took my seat next to my brother, Niklaus, as he nudged me. I whispered "What?" he looked at me and whispered in my ear "Nice choice of words you doof." He is the 16 year-old version of the devil. I mean, he tore up my black sweater. "Oh, like you would've done any better. You won't even speak for our mother!" I immediately regretted my choice of words and the volume at which they came out. Everyone looked my way. I thought maybe it was not the best time to argue with him, after all, this was my mothers funeral. "Winter!" and out comes Rain, my other brother. "Rain please mind your business right now please." He pushed Niklaus over just to jump in the space between us and start whisper-yelling at me. "You are a loudmouth, you know that? What in the hell were you thinking? You are going to freak dad out and trust me, now is not the time for this." Rain was my older brother. Niklaus however, was not (even so, he still acts as if he is). Rain liked to pretend to be a father when our own father was either too busy working or too drunk to be one himself. Rain was a 17 year old father figure to his own siblings but I, of all people, hated that. I hated that he felt he was able to tell me what to do or even to make everything about him constantly and say it's not just his opinion, it's what our father would say if his speech wasn't so slurred. He was wrong almost always, my father couldn't care less, especially now. "Of all the things you could be doing at our mother's funeral, you choose to try and torment me with your judge mental mindset and bossiness?" I asked. I could feel people staring and trying to listen in on our conversation but Rain was good at keeping his composure so when people would look at us, he'd make faces to indicate it was a normal conversation to be had at our mother's funeral. 

       I would soon hear more about my behavior from a drunk father who, also, did not provide my mother with a eulogy. Honestly, I felt as if I was the only one who truly accepted that she was gone and was not ever coming back. Although this was true, I will always do whatever I can for my mother, even in death. By the time the funeral was coming to a tragic end I had nearly forgotten Tommy Brimstone was supposedly going to take me for dinner tonight, to celebrate my mother's life. After the funeral service was over and my mother buried, I drove my car home with Niklaus riding shot gun with me. "So tell me again why you wanted to ride in my car to the house rather than ride home with Rain and dad?" I asked Niklaus without making eye contact. "Well, you see, I don't really see the point in joining them when you drive faster and you aren't pissed off or drunk." I nodded in agreement and smirked at his statement. It was true, I was not angry with Niklaus, therefore I did not need to be so aggressive toward him and I would never drive drunk. I found myself wondering what life was going to be like now that our mother has passed. It was different already, my father was going on more benders than usual and Rain was especially uptight. Niklaus however, did not seem to change much. He seemed almost the same, of course he was sad, but the same person through and through. I liked the consistency of it and I prefer consistency in my life. I guess that was because that was also how my mother liked it. She liked life to have a constant somewhere. I truly did think my mother had to have been the greatest of philosophers of this day and age but nobody knew it. She was a thinker with rebellious opinions because of humanity's best interest being pushed aside by most of the leaders in the world. Her wit sometimes intimidated my father. I felt it when he wold wince at her rants on fact and fiction or as I like to call it, one of her "factual times". I never really thought about her so much before. I guess I just really missed her. I have never been far or gone very long without my mother. I guess I didn't feel the hot tears rising until they were crawling slowly down my face making it difficult for me to see. But by the time I noticed, Nik had too. "Winter? Are you...okay?" I nodded but he looked unimpressed with me. "Now you know you can lie better than that"  he leaned over to carefully wipe my tears. "You know she really wouldn't want you to cry" I stopped the car in a gas station. "I know. She would want me to sit and ponder as to why we miss people or something like that." I laughed a bit at the thought. Because I really did believe that would be what she would want me to do. I was happy for a split second. Then I saw Reggie and his "thug" friends, Tylir and Scott. Tylir asked me out as his date for homecoming last year, I rejected him, and now he and his buddies do not like me one bit. They've even wrote that I was a slut on the school's Facebook page. I never really bothered to be in their general direction, but as it seemed I still needed gas, I guess I needed to endure their company for a few minutes, which I could've guaranteed would feel as if it were an eternity.