Rogue Shadow

Chapter 16 - Stars and Miracles

Chapter 16 – Stars and Miracles

18:04 Tuesday, 5th July 2016

"I'm not angry," Zane told her over dinner. He was dangerously calm. A warning was going off in the back of her mind. He was never this calm. "But you know I have to find a way to punish you though."

Nat dared to lift her gaze, and despite the man's face showing careful thought, there was a dark glimmer in his eyes. His nose was slightly crooked from hours before and lightly bruised. The blood had been washed away but there were still a few droplets of blood splattered across the tiled floor.

She forced her mind not to imagine all the awful things he could be planning as punishment. She was sure nothing he came up with would be half as bad as the things she'd gone through before. The scars that covered her skin were plenty in numbers, variant in size and depth. She wouldn't go down without a fight. At least Nat hoped that's why she had the scars. Because the other possibilities were far more frightening.

Nat nodded along mutely, only partially aware of what Zane had said.

"I have my... responsibilities as a parent." Nat mentally cringed at his words but kept her face a blank canvas. What responsibilities? Since when had he ever acted like a parent? Since when did Zane care about raising her? About anything but the money he received for fostering her?

"How about you start with cleaning the kitchen? You can wash up the dishes." Nat's eyes narrowed suspiciously. That couldn't be all. He would never be that lenient with her. She knew better than to hope that would be all. She was smarter than that.

Hope was for suckers.

What about all the beatings she'd received from him? All the days without food and the nights without sleep because she was too afraid to allow herself to be weak and vulnerable when he was near.

People don't change.

She'd learnt that the hard way. People never changed. People weren't kind or good. They just took what they wanted and didn't care how many people they hurt along the way.

He raised his glass and finished the coffee within. Zane's eyes went from the empty cup to Natasha. The glint of an evil smile cracked through his face.

Bad. Bad. Dangerous. Warning. Warning. Warning! Her internal voice was screaming at her. Something was about to happen.

Zane stared her dead in the eye and released the glass from his grip. Nat saw it fall and shatter out of the corner of her eye. She didn't take her eyes off him. He was the enemy. He was dangerous. When she looked into his eyes, she saw nothing but a deep, cruel, evil. Like he had risen from the pits of hell just to torture her. She matched his stare. She would not back down. She would be strong.

For the second time that day, Zane felt a lick of fear touch his heart. If he had been sober, maybe he would have listened to that feeling. Inside that child's eyes, he saw nothing but pain and fury. They were a raging storm of fire and ice. It had never occurred to him that the yellow in her eyes weren't normal. But now he saw them – she was a freak!

"In fact, I want this whole place to be... spotless." Nat's eyes gravitated towards the broken mess on the floor. Why did it always turn out like this? Even as the pig of a man came closer, she didn't move her gaze. She felt his boot against her arm and the cold hard tiles as her head smashed against them. Nat followed through with the momentum of being pushed off the chair and rolled away until she found a wall to lean against.

"I didn't mean for the cops to find me." Nat didn't know why she had said that. Maybe she was hoping to disperse the man's anger. Maybe if he knew that she hadn't ratted him out then he'd be less violent.