A Love Worth Killing For

Chapter 1

             It was Saturday night, I was holled up in the safty of my room, earbuds in my ears as Courtesy Call blared as I browsed through DeviantArt. Today might have been absolute shit but at least it was over now. Besides, the song and looking through pictures of horses made me a little happier. Suddenly, a low, dull thud cut through the silenced air around me and loud enough that I could hear it over the song. I quickly paused my music and pulled out one of my earbuds and listened, but all I heard was the distant sound of a dog barking and the rattle of the air conditioner. Nothing out of the ordinary but I still felt unsure as I glanced towards the digital clock on my nightstand. 2:37 am. Dad and Austin would’ve gone to bed long ago. I was just about to direct my attention back to my computer, when something caught my eye…..an old family picture…….the only one left that had my mom in it.

              I was 7 years old in the picture, Austin had this goofy grin on his face as he wrapped an arm around my small shoulders with dad and mom behind us, a hand draping over either of our shoulders with a loving smile on their faces and for once……...we looked happy. Hard to believe that the happy family in that picture is mine. With my mom pretty much abandoning us a year later, after that, dad decided to drown his sorrows in alcohol and has yet to stop and decided to start using me as a human punching bag, and my brother Austin…..he stopped caring about me.

              A part of me wished that things could go back to the way they were, but I knew better than that. It was useless to wish for the impossible.

              Suddenly, the ear splitting sound of glass shattering against the floor rang through the walls. This time, I was sure it wasn’t just my mind playing tricks on me. Slightly terrified at the possibility that a deranged killer might be shuffling around downstairs, I slowly got up and grabbed the metal baseball bat that I kept in my room before silently opening my door and headed down the steps. As I neared the bottom step, yet another crash resounded, this time, sounding like metal hitting stone coming from the kitchen. I raised the bat above my head and carefully crept towards the sounds. The kitchen was a near pitch black, save for the small sliver of moonlight streaming through the dark curtains. However, I could barely make out a figure moving around in the shadows.

              Fear tightened its grip around my heart as I watched the figure stumble around in the dark. Eventually, I inched closer to the intruder, my vice grip constricting around the bat, my knuckles quickly turning white in response. When I was less than a foot behind him, I closed my eyes and brought the bat down on the intruders head, only daring to open my eyes when I heard a satisfying THUD and immediately running to the light switch to illuminate the small area. When the ugly yellow light flooded…...I stared in horror at the figure that lay crumpled on the tile floor.

              “D-Dad?”

              I managed to force the word out of my throat as my dad groaned and forced himself to sit up. There was a small dribble of blood trickling down his face…..and that alone scared the most. You know, in hindsight, a serial killer wouldn’t have been so bad.

              At least the killer would’ve been merciful and killed me quickly.

              “Why you….little….shit!” Dad growled, a murderous tone burning deep into his words. I started to back away, sweating bullets and wishing that this was just a nightmare.

              “I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, dad! I didn’t know it was you, I swear!” I pleaded, glancing back in hopes that the doorway to the kitchen was in my reach. When I finally dubbed it was, I turned tail and made an attempt to run for my life, but my dad caught my ankle, and sent me tumbling towards the floor with a high pitched shriek. Even still, I desperately tried to scramble away, but before I could make any real effort to, I was flipped onto my back and my arms pinned above my head…..making escape nearly impossible now.

              “It seems I’ve been to nice to you…..Now…….” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dad grab at a large carving knife that was laying on the floor. My eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and my skin must’ve turned visibly pale as he picked up the knife to wave in front of my face.

              “Now, I’m gonna make you sorry……” Dad said with a sadistic smile before letting go of my hands and bringing down the knife to randomly and viciously slash at my skin. I screamed as loud as I could with every cut that was made, hoping someone would hear and come to help and desperately trying to bat the knife out of his hands. It wasn’t long before dad made it passed my hands and slash the side of my cheek, a deep cut that ran from the corner of my lips to the middle of my cheek. I let out a bloodcurdling scream that just seemed to cause the skin to rip even farther. I immediately moved to cover the wound, as if it would ease some of the hellish pain, only to give my dad ample opportunity to give the same treatment to my other cheek. It was only then that he decided that I have had enough. Standing up to walk away as I lay trembling and eyes screwed shut in pain in a puddle of my own blood and tears.

              “Dad?” My eyes shot open at the sound of the voice, looking up to find Austin shuffling into view from the kitchen doorway. “I heard screaming. Is everything al-” Austin suddenly stopped mid-sentence, his eyes landing on my pathetic figure huddled on the floor. I sent him a pleading look, mentally begging him to help me, an effort I had hoped that would finally get him to side with me for the first time in years. But all Austin did was stare at me, horror filling his eyes, until he finally just left. Running away as if the devil was on his heels, leaving me alone. Of course he didn’t help. And with that one last hope shattered, I cried.

              After a few minutes, I could finally breathe regularly and got up to tend to my wounds. When I finished bandaging all the cuts on my body, I walked out the back door…….and ran.

              I ran as fast as my legs could carry my broken body into the misty woods behind the house, not caring how it was to breath or how much pain surged through my body with each step, not caring where I was going. I just ran and ran until I couldn’t see straight. I could feel the vast rivers of blood from the gashes not only from the ones in my cheeks seeping through the bandages but from several others. I slowed my pace to a sluggish walk and pulled the remnants of my hoodie’s hood over my head, hiding my shame from the sight of the trees. After about ten more minutes of wandering around aimlessly, I reached some sort of wire fence. Not wanting to stop just yet, I did my best to climb over it, but ended up falling on my face on the other side. I pushed myself up and tried to look around but my vision swimmed as if I was underwater, mundane colors and shapes blending together. Figuring it was the end for me, I crawled to the nearest tree, pressed my back against the rough trunk, and closed my tired. All I could hear was the fleeting sound of rustling leaving and for once in the longest time…..I felt at peace.

              After who knows how long, I could hear the faint sound of….humming? Yes, humming. It was an upbeat and yet strangely morbid tune, now coupled the distant sound of footsteps in the grass that seemed to grow in clarity and volume with every second. My curiosity soon was too much to handle. I forced open my heavy eyelids to see a girl who looked to be no older than 16 with shoulder-length red hair in a white puffy longed sleeved shirt that was adorned with black lace and black jeans, skipping through the trees, a big smile on her face and a thin stack of papers in one arm. She only stopped once, facing the base of a large, gnarled tree to pin one of the pages in her arm to the base, then continued on her way. Questions flooded my mind; Who is that girl? Why is she here, alone? What are those papers for? What is she humming?........and Why is she smiling like that? Suddenly, I could feel blood filling up my throat, cutting off my train of thought. My body lurched forward, coughing and hacking like crazy. When I could at last get my second wind, I could see a large puddle of my own scarlet blood staining the dead grass…….then, the girl came into view.

              She was only a foot or two away, just staring down at me, still as a statue, for what seemed like ages, and I just stared back, waiting for someone to make the first move. The strange girl was the one to break first. She dropped the papers at my feet and sprinted full speed away and in a matter of a few seconds, she was gone. I just stared after her, not sure what to think as my vision was slowly enveloped in darkness.