Sweet Like Candy (The Series)

Chapter Nine: They're Killers

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A DARK DEPICTION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE. READER DISCRETION IS VERY MUCH ADVISED.

I had only ever felt this kind of fear once in my whole twenty two years on this earth. That was when I shot Isaac, point blank in the head. I'll never be able to fully convey how terrifying it feels to take a life. Being so on edge every single day about losing my own, to be the person to take someone else's really put the fear of God inside of me. I never could comprehend how Penny, Silas, Minnie and Louis could all be murderous as if it were nothing. I was glad I wasn't like them, incredibly glad. But that gladness - that foolish gladness - is what led me to the worst day of my life. December 6, 2018. It was smack dab in the middle of the Christmas season. Everything was supposed to be full of eggnog, Christmas lights and snow induced-family time. I had the latter, but just not in the same vein as everyone else. I was laying, defenseless on a metal slab in the center of Isaac's basement, with the people who were actually sane to my right - Carter, Jennifer and Mallory. Those who I deemed nuts and crackers stood towering over me to my left - Penny and Minnie. Louis and Silas stood directly in front of me, like a horrifying omen. Penny instructed her "boys" to, sadistically:

"Purify her". I was, as you obviously have guessed, the her. I knew what she meant. I hoped my intuition was lying to me. I really did. It wasn't. I felt my uncle, Louis' cold, yet clammy hands latch onto my exposed inner thigh, and viciously spread my legs apart. I felt like a mouse caught in a trap. I was hopeless. Louis used his spare hand to forcefully spread my other thigh wide open, exposing my vagina. I was shaking uncontrollably at this point. I was upset at the fact that I was about to be sexually assaulted by my brother and uncle, but I was heartbroken over the fact that the one man I truly loved was going to witness it. Carter should never have seen what came next.

I heard a rustling and jingling coming from behind Louis, and I peered my head around Louis' arrogant body and saw Silas, his penis exposed, ready to 'purify' me. My stomach is churning just writing this. I've never spoken or even thought about that night until now. I can still feel it. The dread. The fear. The sadness. Silas edged closer and closer to me, as my scream reached a new decibel every step he took. My mother, my own mother giggled and screeched with awe as Silas forced his penis into my vagina. I was tainted. I was raped. I could feel the faint thrusting and bruising of Silas inside me. My fear took over, and I went completely numb. I didn't feel him finish, but I knew that he had, as Louis high-fived Silas as if he had completed a marathon, and Penny cuddled him with proudness. I was numb. That is the only word I could use to describe that trauma. Numb. I looked over at Carter, Mallory and Jennifer and they were all devastated. I could see a pile of vomit next to a shaken Carter. He was clearly heartbroken for me. And, let me tell you, the feeling was mutual.

As soon as the trio of Penny, Louis and Silas were finished celebrating my rape, silence fell across the basement until it was broken by Minnie's incessant, whiny voice. "Maybe we went too far", she said. I thought I was hearing things at that point because a sense of sympathy coming from a Maguire was not something I was ever nor will I ever be used to. Penny viciously turned her angered attention towards her sister and spewed, "Are you going against us?". I saw a twinkle of worry in Minnie's piercing eye. Maybe cracks were starting to form in the Maguire circle. Penny didn't even give Minnie a chance to answer her threatening question. Penny ordered Louis to "deal with her", which resulted in him dragging a kicking and screaming Minnie out of the basement. I didn't see Minnie again that night and to this day, I do not know what Louis did to her. I knew that they are killers but do they kill one another? I bet Jennifer had some answers for me but in that current state, there was no time for a question and answers session.

Penny walked up to my metal slab, decked out in another jet black pencil skirt and a grey blazer, her hair in a headache inducing ponytail. She looked like a regular business mom. I guess that's what she wanted. Penny caressed my cheek, something she just loved to do when she was holding me captive and asked Silas a spine-tingling question, "Was she sweet like candy or maybe even sweeter?". Silas smiled a sickening smile and spoke, "Sweeter". I could feel myself bleeding as a result of that... altercation. I needed something to save me. Anything. Suddenly, the basement door swung open and the darkened Harper came scrambling down. Her hair was frizzy and her smile was yellowed from the copious amounts of blood she had been digesting.

"Oh", Silas said with surprise in his voice, "it's my one true prodigy". He was gesturing towards Harper. My eyebrows were frizzled with curiosity. Prodigy? What the fuck did that mean? Silas threw his arm around the broken Harper, asserting his toxic masculinity. He then, to my shock, horror and awe, planted a kiss on Harper's lips as if it weren't the first time. It wasn't. "My love", Harper smiled, her eyes empty, as Silas pulled away. She was absolutely brainwashed. Silas must have known I was shellshocked and confused because without I having to say a word, he explained: "This is what whispering into the ears of a comatose woman gets you: an ally". They had been setting Harper and I up for a fall from the start. Penny's empty (or so I thought) threat of Harper being my "downfall" was the beginning. They wanted to ruin every aspect of my life until there was nothing left. Out of the blue, Harper sucker punched Silas in the gut and head butted him so furiously that he became unconscious.

Was she truly on my side? No.

Harper threw Penny against the wall, rendering her unconscious. She allowed Mallory, Jennifer and Carter to go free, and unlocked the latches holding me down. I rose from the metal slab, weaker, and thanked Harper, who seemed like my friend again. She was puzzled by my thanks. "Thank you? You're wrong. I just wanted to be the one to end your sick fucking life", Harper roared, confirming she was no longer the History major friend I once had. She was a crazy, cold blooded, cannibalistic killer. I launched myself slowly up the stairs of the basement, and I entered a hallway, where I saw that the house was ablaze, something, I later found out, was the doing of Minnie. Smoke filled the air, and flames blocked my exit from the house. I decided to dart up the main staircase and make my way towards my former bedroom, which I knew had two locks on it. Harper followed swiftly behind me, acting as Silas' bitch. As I rolled past the banister and onto the hallway landing, I saw Mallory, Jennifer and Carter enter the bedroom, so I hoped to follow them.

Unfortunately, as soon as I attempted to grab the door handle and lock it for safety, Harper lodged herself onto my leg. She threw me to the floor, and punched me right in my nose, causing it to pump blood. I was not having the best day. Harper, on top of me, drilled her teeth into my cheek, as smoke filled the air, and I could see the flames illuminating the dark end of the landing from the floor below. Before long, I found myself kicking back at Harper, gaining a second wind from what I credit to be my baby. I walloped Harper in her chest, which winded her. I let one final punch out of me, landing in her teeth, knocking multiple out. Harper lost her balance, as I said a frowned, "Sorry", as Harper collapsed through the stairwell banister, and landed, smeared into the flames below, which engulfed her. Penny was right, I hate to admit. However, she got one crucial detail wrong: I was Harper's downfall.

I had that feeling again of taking a life. But this time, I felt different. I felt in control. I felt ready for war.