Slave to Crime

Slave to Crime - Chapter 2

Even though I prayed and hoped and wished that my father wasn’t being serious, he and Naomi married three months later.

I decided that if he married that woman, I would seclude myself in my room.  So that’s what I did.  Not a single person could drag me from my bedroom for five days.  I was losing respect for my dad every day.  I didn’t want a new mum.  I wanted my mum, like any ordinary eight-and-a-half year old.

I didn’t think things could get any worse, but they did, the day I met Naomi’s kids.  I didn’t think a woman as ugly as her could ever have children, but I guess I was very wrong.  Brianna and Parker came to dinner with their mum after she and my father got engaged.  Brianna took one look at me and screwed up her nose.

I wasn’t particularly pleased to see her, either.

Brianna was a year older than me, but seemed to think the gap was a lot larger.  She looked down on me like I was a two year old.  She was very tall and lanky, but I wouldn’t say she was ugly.  She had a harsh face like her mum, but overall she was rather plain.  Her hair was platinum blonde and her eyes were bluey-grey.  To me, they felt empty.

She folded her arms as my father welcomed the family inside.  My father leaned over and gave Naomi a huge kiss on the lips.  I wanted to vomit. Parker stood next to his mum, looking angry.

“I hate her already.” He snapped to his mum, nodding over at me.  Naomi didn’t scold him, but nodded in approval, which made me fume.  I guess Parker could tell, because he stomped his foot at me, making me jump.  It seemed to amuse him.

Parker was a little younger than me, by two years.  He was VERY tall for his age.  He was almost my height, despite being younger.  I could tell her had some sort of anger issues by the way he stood and the way he responded to questions.

“So, what sports do you play, Parker?” my father asked politely.

“That’s none of your business!” Parker screeched.  I rolled my eyes at how stupid he was.

I guess the new “lovebirds” wanted some alone time because they sent Brianna, Parker and I to play amongst ourselves in my bedroom.  I unwillingly took them to my room, with Brianna moaning the entire way.

“Ugh, I can’t believe you live in this dump!” she said, disgusted.  I didn’t answer her.  I had stayed silent for days, in protest.

“Do you even talk?” Parker scowled.  I didn’t even bother looking at him.

“HELLOOO??” Brianna screeched in my ear, banging on my head. “He said, does it TALK?!” She continued banging me on the head until we reached my room.  It was taking every strength I had in my body not to punch her hard in the face.

When we were in my bedroom, Brianna turned her focus from whacking my head, to making it her duty to inspect every little thing in my room. She went over to my shelf and began taking everything off and chucking it on the floor.  Ornaments, toys and photos of my mother fell to the ground.

I screamed.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I cried in pure terror.

“Oh, so she speaks!” Brianna smirked. “What’s so special about this stuff anyway? It’s not like you have any channel stuff or anything!” I glared at her.  I had never met someone so shallow and stupid in my life.

“Just get out! I don’t want you here!” I yelled in her face.  She just narrowed her eyes, challenging me to make a move.  I was about to slap her square on the face, when I felt a burning sensation on the back of my head and I was tugged backwards.  Parker had pulled my hair so hard a bunch of strands fell to the floor.  I began crying in pain, clutching the back of my head.

“Aw, look!” Parker stuck out his bottom lip sarcastically. “The little baby is crying!”  I felt the blood in my body boiling dangerously with anger and hatred towards my new step-siblings.  Parker was almost crying with laughter and Brianna too.  I ran out of the room crying.  When I found solitude in the bathroom, I could still hear them tearing apart my bedroom, laughing about how pathetic I was.

***

Just after the wedding, our new “family” moved in together.  Naomi convinced my father that her family house would be more appropriate, for some ungodly reason.  He agreed, so we moved out.  I decided there was no point arguing.  My father was happy for the first time in a long while.

We packed all that we could of our tiny home and moved.  Naomi told us we weren’t allowed to bring too much, because it would cramp her own home.  I was only allowed to pack the bare essentials.  My father was so blinded by love, he agreed to that too.

Love can really change a person, you know.

I hated leaving behind our house.  There were so many memories there.  It was like abandoning a person.  It just wasn’t right.

It didn’t take long to pack and transport the little items we had.  I had just packed my clothes and the items on my shelf that Brianna hadn’t destroyed.  In the end, I ended up with only four boxes of stuff.

During the fifteen minute drive to our new “home”, there was a long, awkward silence before my father spoke.

“I know it’s a big change, Autie,” he soothed “but this is what we were talking about, right? Moving forward? Moving on? Look, just try and be civilised.  Naomi is nice when you get to know her.”  I turned to face the window, my back facing him.  He just didn’t understand.

He sighed.

Like I said, love can really change a person.