The Way It Is [#OpenNovellaContest2019]

• Chapter Six •

This is a load of story telling, so buckle up, darlings! (:
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Faith closed the door to her apartment after Marina left. Faith and Anna had left their stuff at the party, and Marina had been kind enough to return the stuff to Faith, who would return Anna's stuff to her tomorrow.

"Okay, Marina's gone", Faith said, walking into the living room and speaking to her father.

"Alright", her father replied, patting the space on the couch beside him. "I owe you an explanation."

Faith sat down, facing her father.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't ask questions until the very end", her dad said, looking sad. Faith nodded.

Taking a deep breath, Robert turned his body slightly to face Faith more. And then he began.

"Years ago, when you were 6 and your sister was 9, your mother and I had some trouble with the bank. The bank we had invested in went bankrupt, and they used money from their customers to keep them alive. It worked for little while.

"Then it happened again. And again. And over and over, they would take money from us and other poor people who used that bank.

"Eventually, the bank ran out of money and fell apart. However, over the years the bank had, without us knowing, stolen about 16,500$ from us. All the money that we had been keeping for 15 years. Gone."

Faiths eyes are were wide with shock? What kind of a bank would do that? It didn't explain the whole gang thing though.

"Anyway, you're mom and I were broke, we had about 100$ in the bank left, so we collected it and asked some of our friends for help. Well, one of your mothers friends let us stay with her for a bit, but none of them could get us more money.

"Then, one of my old, old friends contacts me. A friend from high school. He said "I know a way you can make money. And fast." Obviously, since I was broke, I was listening."

Faith was interested. Why didn't she remember any of this?

"The guy told us he was part of a group. Or, that's what he called it, at least. They sold alcohol, drugs, and got hired to do some dirty stuff, and that's how they made a living. But doing that, you gotta charge a lot. And so they were far from broke."

Faiths eyebrows rose. Was her dad... part of a drug dealing gang?

Robert continued. "Of course, I didn't want to do that. So I told him no. And your mother and I kept trying to find ways to make money. We were both working multiple side jobs as well as our main ones. And we were scraping along, doing okay.

"Until your sister was kidnapped."

"Wait, what?" Faith exclaimed. Katy... kidnapped?

"Just listen", her father soothes her. "It's fine. Katy was kidnapped by some young adults, maybe about twenty four or so. I don't think they would have hurt her, they just needed money as well, so they held a random for her. 5,000$. Your mother and paid it right away of course, but there went the money we had spent months making. We were desperate.

"So I called up the guy that had told us about the group. Although it was more like a gang."

Faith shook her head solemnly. Why didn't she remember her own sister being kidnapped? And her father joining a gang?

"And the guy, he told me, if you joined the gang and you did a certain amount of jobs and made a certain amount of money, they would have a ritual releasing you from the gang if you wanted. So I thought,  as long as I do that, the drug dealing and stuff, and as long as I do it for a good reason, it can't be that bad... can it?"