Garden of Shadows (on Hold)

Holes Inside

So these wont be edited for...lets just say a long time.

Picture of Violet to the side!

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If you hold tight, shadows will be lost in the light.

Oh cos sometimes, fate and your dreams will collide.

So don't walk away from me,

Don't walk away from me,

Don't walk away from me.

-Holes Inside, Joe Brooks

**************************************

"Violet!"

At the sound of her, voice I lost my balance and came crashing to the floor, the books that I was stacking following me with no mercy. I laid there for a moment covered in the latest shipment of romance novels. My eyes acted on their own accord and zoomed in on the book that was currently opened across my face, reading "His hands trailed down my neck and across the curve of my breast, continuing lower until the disappeared-" I shot up quickly. I did not need to know about the journey that his hands took, but by the slow ache arising in my head, I felt as if the rest of the page was now firmly printed on my forehead.

"Violet!" She yelled again. This time more insistent.

"Coming!" I replied as I slipped my thick rimmed glasses onto my face. I made my way to the front of the store, clumsily tripping over books customers deserted on the dark mahogany flooring. Being as to how I was hidden away in the deepest bowls of the shop, I wasn't quite prepared for the intense sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling display windows. Of course, my moment of blindness combined with my overall clumsiness caused my to bash my knee into a counter that- I swear -came out of no where.

"Violet, stop playing around and get over hear already!"

"If being bent over in pain is what you consider playing, remind me never to engage in any games with you." I said, wincing as I massaged my throbbing knee.

"I don't need the attitude. Now make yourself useful and go help Eddy."

"Yes, Mother." The words tasted bitter in my mouth. Ria might have been my biological mother, but she hasn't felt like one since I was young. I limped over to the cash register where I saw my brother, Eden, with a few of our regulars. The mood over here was a lot better than the one surrounding Ria. Then again, today was the day...

Eden was in the middle of what appeared to be a heated argument with a face that was all to familiar to me. Per usual all of his responses lacked words and were instead compiled by a mixture of nods, shrugs, eye rolls, and any other gesture that could get his point across soundlessly. For every motion he made, there was an ever eager response from one of my closest friends, Rowan. They must have really been going at it because her unruly thick blonde hair was flying everywhere with each reply.

"Hey Eden." He replied with a simple nod.

"Vi! Thank goodness you're here. Eden is being absolutely ridiculous. Please tell him that Joe Brooks is better than Ed Sheeran."

"Whoa there, Row. Those are some pretty strong words. Are you sure about that?"

"Vi, honey, Ed my be one of very few gingers I would happily consume children with, but I am sure about this."

Eden and I silently stared at her for a moment. "Row, do you mean conceive? And weren't you once a ginger?"

"Consume. Conceive. What's the difference." She answered, ignoring the later part of thee question

"Well, one insinuates cannibalism. Unless you're into that kind of thing. I'm sure Ed could write a song about it and make it sound absolutely beautiful." Eden agreed by nodding his head.

"Exactly my point. The man can make anything sound good! He could make our history text book into an album and I would buy it. Hell, I would by two!" She directed the last part to eden. The two of them continued their argument as I wondered around collecting books that were left askew around the front of the shop. The lingering customers appeared to be fine on their own so I allowed myself to get lost in the repetitive movements and soon enough their voices became a low hum in the background.

My mind wondered into my subconscious and into an area I kept under lock and key, allowing memories to flash before my eyes. One in particular stood out to me. I was reasonably young, maybe around seven or eight, wearing a deep purple sundress and a cardigan while playing with some of the kids in my class. The sun was beating down on our heads pretty hard and the air was sticky so most of the other kids were in t-shirts and shorts, having taken off their dressier clothing. I went to my mother to ask her to hold my cardigan and her face took on a grim expression.

"No." she said. "You may not take it off. Now go play."

So I did. But the more I played, the hotter I got until I just couldn't take it anymore. So I peeled off the cream colored cardigan and threw it to the side. But as soon as I did that, there was a scream. I looked around and saw that all of the kids were now staring at me, fear evident in their eyes. One by one they began to cry, calling me a monster and running to their mothers. By the time my mother reached me, I was in tears as well. I reached my arms out to her to be comforted but got something totally different.

She slapped me. The abundance of shock stopped my tears all together and i looked at her in disbelief. Her once beautiful face held so much anger that I almost didn't recognize her.

"I told you to do one simple thing and you couldn't even do that. You worthless little-" she stopped there, breathing deeply. She grabbed my cardigan from the ground and yanked me along behind her, nails digging into my flesh. When we got home, she threw me to the side and locked herself in her room. I just stood there and stared at the door, silent tears running down my cheeks. When papa finally came home, thats how he found me.

"Violet! I know you can hear me!"

"Yes, Row?" I replied, idly tracing the marks on my hands.

"You've been staring at The Count of Monte Cristo for the past fifteen minutes. Are you ok?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"No, you're not. If you were you would have noticed that your mom turned the lights out and already left."

And she was right. The little light that came through the front window showed that only Rowan and Eden remained. He looked at me with a worried, all-knowing expression. He knew my mind would often drift to unpleasant memories. 

"It's nothing. Just got lost in my mind again." I had the sudden need to cover up my exposed hands.

"Of course you did." She was about to say more, but glanced down at my hands and quickly shut her mouth. She was just as perceptive as Eden "Come on. I'm eating dinner at your place today. You know I love your mom's beef stroganoff!" And again she was right. Ria might be a bitch, but she sure did know how to cook.