Faded Lines

Chapter 14.

* Eva *

Why were they doing this? How did they even remember my birthday. I barely remembered it. I hate this. I hate it. It's all a fucking show. A show for Aiken, so no one would get suspicious. Well they got what they wanted. They deserve a fucking award! I went to stand up when I felt a rough hand squeeze my shoulder very hard, making me wince. "Honey, my father tried not to grit his teeth, why don't you blow out your candles?"

I lowered my head with a quick, "Yes sir." I'd never had a birthday cake before. Or anyone ever sing happy birthday to me, so I was genuinely surprised when Aiken started the song off, and my parents joined in. I took a deep breath, "Make a wish, Barbie!"

Closing my eyes, I made sure not to cry. None of this was real, it meant nothing to anyone but me. But even if that was true, and I would regret all of this later, I smiled. 'I wish I could have a normal life.' And I blew out the candles.

Sitting back down a small piece of cake was set in front of me. "Thank you," I whispered, knowing my mother heard me.

"Alright kids. We are going to head to the living room. I alresdy signed your sheets. Have fun with your project or whatever." She faked niceness before turning and leaving the kitchen.

"Well, princess. Seemed like you were worried for nothing. Why didn't you tell me it was you birthday?"

"Why would I, I snapped, so you can just come up with something special to try and torture me? Yeah, right! And to be honest, I didn't even realize that my birthday was today. It's never been anything special before."

Shit, I really need to keep my mouth close.

"What do you mean?" He looked genuinely curious.

"Nothing, just drop it!"

"Eva.."

"I said just drop it. Fuck!"

"Fine," he glared.

I released a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"Okay, thanks. So we have 30 more minutes left. What now?"

"I don't know. What do you usually do when you get home?"

"Clean, and homework, then maybe make dinner. Lets just go to my room and watch tv." I decided. Maybe he would stop asking me questions then.

Walking into my room,  I found the remote and threw it at him. "Watch whatever. I'm going to do homework."

He shrugged and flipped the tv on, as I pulled my homework out.

"You know for a girl, your room is really bare. No pictures, posters, or anything. Are you OCD or something like that?"

"Something like that," I mumbled.

Once Aiken finally stopped asking me questions time flew and I was getting ready to walk him to the door.

"Eva, wait. I was wondering.. um," he hesitated.

"What?"

"Why did it look like you were crying when you saw your parents were having a birthday thing for you?"

Fuck. I didn't think anyone saw that. I was just so emotional. Happy that for once, something had been done for me. And mad because of the actual reason it had been done.

"Um, I wasn't crying. I..I had something in my eye that's all."

I didn't look him in the eye, if I would have, he would be able to see straight through my lie.

"Whatever you say Barbie!  See you on monday."

"Yeah, Monday, " I mumbled,  closing the door.

Hearing his bike speed away, I made my way back to my room. Only to see my parents waiting at the edge of the stairs for me. I lowered my head once more, knowing what was coming next. They were mad. You could tell without looking them in the eye. Their bodies were tensed. My father was first to react. "Worthless," he boomed, sending a powerful punch to my stomach. Falling to my hands and kneees I gasped for air. "Ugh, I can't believe we had to actually pretend to love you in front of that boy. Eva, are you fuckng him? I heard him call you princess as I was leaving the kitchen. I won't have a slut for a daughter," my mother screeched disgustingly.

"No ma'am, " I rasped still trying to catch my breath.

The next thing I knew, my mother was trying to pick me up by hair, I screamed not being able to take it. "Quiet!" My father grabbed me from my mother only to fling me like a rag doll across the room. Hitting my head on the wall first, I whimpered as everything went black.

Feeling a sharp pain in my ribs, I tried to wake up. "Come on you piece of shit. Get up. We are having company again. And you are not to be seen. By the way, no food for a week, maybe more after everything we just had to fucking put up with."

"Yes ma'am," I whispered hurrying to my room. Thank goodness I still had all the food Michelle had given me, minus that one bag of chips. Im going to have to be smart though to make it last however long I needed it to. Hearing the door bell ring, I stuck my ear to my door wanting to know who was here. All the voices sounded slightly familiar, but couldn't tell by how far away they were. Shrugging I brought all the food out from under my bed to count and see how much I had. She had given me 3 ding dongs, 5 bags of chips, 3 apples, and a bag of chocolate chip cookies. I felt my eyes start watering again, but didn't feel like trying to stop them this time. She was like a guardian angel without even knowing it, she was saving my life. Rushing to put all the stuff back up, I accidently hit my knee on my bed post, making me groan out loud. Shit! That was loud. I tried being more quiet and finished up my task. I started crying some more as I thought of having to endure more torture tomorrw from making that noise, and decided to have my self a little pitty party. I felt I had deserved it. I had just turned 18 meaning that I can legally leave. But where would I go. No one would want me, and I have no money. The tears started coming faster before I was full on sobbing and finally drifted off to sleep.