Death's Double Trio

Chapter 23

Sapphire’s Perspective

        “Stop! Please! I beg of you, stop!” I scream at the top of my lungs, earning myself another punch in the stomach.
        “Shut up! No one said you could speak.” My ‘mother’ screeches at me. I whimper, still protesting. My ‘father’ hits me over the head with a baseball bat. Whether it was wood or metal, I can't tell. Either way, it leaves my mouth tasting metallic and coppery, no matter where he hits me.
        “Listen when Messenger is speaking!” I cringe slightly when Messenger takes a suddenly kinder tone.
        “Oh my darling Bloody Musician. You have such a way with words.” I manage to refrain from grumbling and possibly puking from the aura of kindness she gave off. It's not that they aren't nice, they are, it's just that they're either sickeningly nice or terrifyingly brutal. There's no in between for them. I hear the doorbell ring. My ‘parents’ head to the living room, leaving me in the kitchen. Having been beaten, I can't get up. I hear muffled voices coming from the doorway, then my mothers voice speaking clearly.
        “She's in the kitchen. Just be quiet. We don't want to hear a peep out of the two of you for the rest of your visit. Understand?” It's silent for a few more moments, until I hear the kitchen door swing open quietly. As if even the house itself fears mother. I hear a light tapping of shoes coming toward me. I don't hide or crawl into a ball. I know exactly who the person is. My cousin, Coleen.
        Mother would never allow for any of my friends to come into the house, it would only destroy her record and we would have to disappear.
        “I'm okay.” I whisper to her softly when she hugs me.
        “Okay? You call beaten and physically destroyed everyday ‘okay’?” She whispers back to me. Slowly, she helps me stand and walk down to the basement, my room. She closes the door behind us silently, helps me down the stairs, sets me on my bed, and grabs the first aid kit from under my dresser. She pulls out some stuff to clean and dry the wound, but no bandages. If I show up to dinner with bandages on, then father would give me another beating around the head.
        “This is going to sting a bit, so put this sock in your mouth. If you feel the need to yell, then please do so quietly Sapphire.” She tells me in a quiet, monotone voice. I don't blame her either. She'd said it to me so many times that it was practically etched in my mind. I do as she tells me and put the sock in my mouth. She grabs a rag and pours some rubbing alcohol onto it. A few seconds after she places the rag on my shoulder, where my father hit me, I'm yelling as quietly as possible into the rag. This goes on for a few more moments until I pass out from lack of air.
        My eyes open quickly as I shoot up in my bed, yelling slightly. I look around for a moment, confused of my surroundings and with tears in my eyes. After a few frantic moments, I realize that I'm in my room, that my parents are gone, and there's no one left to hurt me. My vision starts clearing up and I notice a square object on my side table. I turn on the light to see a wrapped gift box. I look at the tag to see, written in cursive, ‘To: Sapphire and Coleen, Happy birthday girls! We only wish we could have met you and maybe even saved you from that life. Love, grandma and grandpa.’ I grab the box and put it under my bed. ‘We can open it together in the morning.’ I lay back down and go back to sleep. This time, without the horrible nightmare memory.

~The next morning~
Coleen’s Perspective

        “Hey guys? Wake up! We've received an unexpected gift!” I hear Sapphire yell from downstairs. ‘Unexpected? Gift? Since when have we ever had either of those things?’ We all head down to the living room to see a wrapped box on the coffee table and a perturbed Sapphire sitting on the couch. She looks up and, immediately, her mood changes to a happy one.
        “Good morning everyone! It's addressed to the both of us Coleen. I'm not sure how it was brought into the house but…it's from our grandparents.” I look at her with a wide eyed expression.
        “We should open it.” I say quickly. Sapphire nods and we both grab our knives. I took off the wrapping paper and Sapphire broke the seal of tape. We put our knives back in our pockets.
        “You can do it.” I offer her. She shakes her head and offers the same to me. I shake my head too.
        “Together.” We say at the same time. We both nod, then open the box. ‘Masks. They sent us matching masks.’ We take the masks out and I notice a letter and two cards that read ‘Happy 18th Birthday!’. One has an address and the other a folded paper. We open the letter before unfolding the paper.
        “My dearest grandchildren, I've decided that, on your 18th birthday, we would have Slenderman give you this gift box. Even he doesn't know what's inside. Your parents never allowed you to meet us, but I am your grandfather. My name is Joshua, your grandmothers was Ethelia. She died two years before I wrote this letter. Before you receive it, I will have already been dead for four years. Zalgo plans on killing me to torture your parents. It won't work.”
        “My final wish is for you to receive this gift box and go to the address on the card. The paper in the other card is the deed. Before you start thinking that it's too much of a gift, I just want you to know that I'm doing this for three reasons.”
        “One: as a favor to Slenderman and any future families. Two: to apologize for not being able to save you both. And three: so you will always know how much I love you. I wish we could have met, my sweet girls. I hope you don't change too much after your deaths. Love grandpa. P.S. The masks were your grandmothers idea, she thought you might need them.” We unfold the paper. It is, indeed, a deed to a property. A property that now belongs to us. We put everything back in the box and go eat breakfast.