Scars | ✔

Chapter 20

"Alright guys and girls, welcome to our annual game of war!" Louis said, smiling as he showed everyone his deck of cards.

"Louis, we play this game or truth of dare every single Sunday." Violet added in, a bit annoyed at the boy's annatics.

"Oh well. Everyone, pick a card!"

Everyone picked a card, flipping it over and glancing at each other.

"I win!" Louis said, a huge smile covering his face.

"So.. Clem.. ever.. uh.. ever had a boyfriend?" Louis asked, shaking his head.

Clem stared a bit in shock, AJ smiling up at Clem.

"Oh, my god." Violet complained, shaking her head and leaning over the table, a frown taking over her features.

She looked saddened by the question.

Why did she care?

Everyone else only smiled and giggled, awaiting the answer to come.

"What? It happens. Perfectly valid question," Louis started, referring to Violet's whines. "You can ask me if I've ever had a girlfriend. I haven't, by the way." Louis finished, turning his head towards Clementine.

"Oh, i'm sure she's real surprised by that one." Violet said, making everyone's giggles turn into full on laughs.

"Never." Clem said quietly.

"Not even once?"

"Never." Clem repeated, looking at her card.

Louis stayed silent as everyone flipped over a card.

"Ha! I win." Mitch said. Clem looked over to him, awaiting a question.

"So, i'll give this to both you and AJ.. what are your guy's story? Why did you get sent to Ericson's? Why were you two adopted?"

Clem started to breath heavily, looking at the table, tracing the glass with her eyes.

Everyone stayed silent, even AJ, who was waiting for an answer. Finally, Clem looked up and took a deep breath.

"I don't know why AJ was adopted out. He got sent to Ericson's for anger issues, making death threats, and participating in my joyrides." Clem said, playing with her wrist.

"And you?" Minnie asked.

"I.. uh.. when I was eight, I lived with my mom and dad. Everything was going fine, until.. my parents were killed right in front of me, and then I was kidnapped and they burnt my house down," Clem started, feeling all the horrific memories flooding back in. Everyone stared in shock, listening intensely.

"It was a family. Timothy and Tayla. They had wanted a daughter, but after four boys.. Henry, Hector, TJ, and.. and Marshall. Marshall was the only one who cared about me. The other kids were absolute brats,"

"We moved to a different house not longer after that.. it was here. West Virginia. It was deep in the forest. We had to move because a search party was sent out to look for me. They didn't want to risk it."

"I think I remember that. A commercial broadcast was sent out. An eight year old girl's disappearance in Savannah Georgia. The search went on for days." Violet added, getting a sad look from Clem.

"I convinced Marshall to run away with me.. I thought.. 'Hey, they don't know the area, we'll be able to run away', but, that didn't go well.."

"What happened?" Aasim asked.

"TJ had went to go.. hunting? I think.. he just happened to find us after we passed out of exhaustion. After that, every was bad.."

"Timothy kept me and Marshall locked up in one of the bedrooms. Actually, Marshall would have been able to have a good life if it wasn't for me. He always tried his hardest to protect me, but he always got hurt. Both of us have the scars from when they'd beat us, or hurt us.."