Triple Trouble [T͟h͟e͟ S͟t͟e͟e͟l͟s͟]

chapter seven.

Third person.

It had been a few days after the Norway siblings had left and neither Andrea nor Athena had seen them. At the boxing ring, they both kept an eye out for them, but they were nowhere to be seen.

What was worse was that they didn't even know where the dual resided. The thought of the both of them being in trouble had caused a new kind of anxiety for Andrea. She could use her computer skills to get their location, but she had to respect their privacy.

It was good that she had given them her number so that any time they were in trouble and needed her help they could call her. Everything was up to Archer and Charlie then. There was nothing Andrea could do without their consent.

Back at the Norway house, everything had gone wrong. After returning from Andrea's on
Wednesday, they had found Robert waiting for them.

Robert had been able to lie to his boss and miss night patrol that Tuesday. He had gotten home and found it empty. So, he made it his mission in that week to remind them who was boss by making their lives a living hell.

"How dare the two bratty little shits!" He had thought to himself, "I provide them with everything they need, and they fail to even keep my house safe and make me a meal!" This had made him extra furious hence increasing his yearning to see them suffer.

Later, on Wednesday evening, the dual had gotten home all smiles infuriating Robert even further. They had walked in to the living room to find the devil sitting on the couch holding a new whip, Lord knows where he had even gotten it from.

He had enjoyed seeing how their smiles were wiped off of their faces and replaced with pure fear and dread. "Robert!" Charlie had exclaimed after a while of bone chilling silence. He got up and caught them of guard. Robert had beat them up so mercilessly until Archer had passed out. After that he just spit at them and walked out not before saying, "my dinner better be ready in an hour."

Knowing that he would need a week to teach them a lesson, he has called school Thursday morning and informed them that they wouldn't make it to school. He had to make sure to cover his tracks.

Life for Archer and Charlie had gotten worse. They were both covered in bruises and cuts. Some would heal but the ones on their backs would definitely leave scars.

The week was finally over considering it was Sunday afternoon. Charlie and Archer were both covered in bruises after another brutal beating. Archer was in pain and hence started crying. It was too much for the thirteen-year old to handle.

"Let's call Andrea. She might be able to help Lottie. Please if he beats us up one more time, I'll die. I can't take it any more Charlotte." Archer said with tears running down his face.

"I know Archer, I am trying okay. We can't call them cause then Robert would then call in favors at the station and trace us back to them." Charlie says running scenarios through her head of how they can escape.

"Go pack your bags. Make it light and brief. Don't over do it. I'll pack mine too. When he wakes up tomorrow and is off to work we'll get the important documents we'll need then leave okay?" Charlie said. Archer nods while cleaning his face of any trace of tears. Feebly, he limps to his room to do as her older sister ordered.

After the door shut quietly behind Archer, Charlie let a few of her tears escape. Her body was on fire, she couldn't feel her back as it had gone numb with pain. God knows how many scars she would get from that.

The tears were not going to help their situation, so she wiped them and got packing. She went to her closet and moved the board on the floor to reveal a hole she had dug. She picked the notes as they were not even bothering to count them and packed them in a black backpack. After that, she then moved to pack her clothes in the same backpack.

Her late mother's picture was not forgotten as she put it on top of the heap and zipped up the bag. Right after she was done, Archer walked in with his bag. Since Robert was out, they weren't afraid that he would catch them trying to escape.

"Is that everything?" Charlie asked her brother. "Yes. Everything important."

"I hope you didn't pack a lot of clothes. I don't want it to look as if we ran away." Charlie stated seriously. "Yeah. It will take a while before he realises we are gone. My closet does not look as if anything is missing."

"Good. Let's take the bags down to the car." He nodded and together they padded down the stairs and put the bags in the trunk. Nothing was going to stop them now.

Well that's what they thought until Robert pulled up at the open garage. He saw them both there and well you can guess what happened next.

He packed the car and came up to Charlie who was frozen in fear. Robert yanked at her hair and dragged her inside. His grip was so tight that she could feel him pull out a strand or two of her hair.

As they got to the sitting room, he got the whip from where he had always left it this passed week. On top of the coffee table. It was as if he was tempting them to move it so that he could find a better reason to beat them up and taunting them so that they knew he could beat them to a pulp and there was nothing they could do about it.

As he continued using the whip on Charlotte, Archer tried helping her sister by pulling at his hand. When he didn't relent he shouted at the top of his lungs, "stop! You're going to kill her just like you killed mom you cold-blooded murderer."

The whip paused midway but all through, Charlie couldn't hear anything. She was out cold. Robert then turned to his son eyes blazing but Charlie wasn't backing down this time. He had heard his mother cry for help but couldn't do anything at the time, and he wasn't just about to let history repeat itself.

"What did you say boy?" Robert spat while tightening his hold on the whip. "You heard me Robert. I'm not going to let you kill another person that I love." Archer said, his voice cold as ice but filled with venom. He held Robert's crazed gaze at him with his own emotionless empty but raged filled one.

Robert raised his whip and hit him with it at the shoulder. The whip landed on Archer with a loud whoosh which curled to his back making sure to tear his skin and some flesh there. Through the pain, Archer steeled himself making sure not to flinch nor show any sign of pain. His gaze on his father hardened and his lips turned up into a sardonic smile which had Robert second guessing himself.

"My turn." Archer had said in a dangerously low cold voice filled with promise of pain. He took the empty vase which was near him and swung it towards the man's face. Robert was caught of guard having not expected Archer to fight back. He staggered a little and tripped on air causing him to fall back. He hit the coffee table with the back of his head knocking himself out.

Archer sighed in relief and moved towards him his steps fast but calculated. He found some cuffs on him. He made sure to hand cuff him and move on to his legs which he secured together with some zip ties. You would be surprised at the amount of stuff you could find in the man's room.

After he felt that Robert wouldn't be able to get up and finish what he had started, he moved to a still unconscious Charlie and tried shaking her awake. He felt some sense of déjà vu.

When Charlie didn't move or even make a sound Archer panicked. "Fuck. Fuck!" He kept repeating to himself while tears ran down his face. He had failed to protect her too. He had lost yet another person to the monster he was supposed to call his father. He felt numb. His throat was closing up on him and his vision was blurring.

"Fuuucccckkkk," he yelled on top of his voice and collapsed in tears beside his sister.

Pain. Raw, unfiltered pain is all he could feel now.

⚪⚪⚪

1480 words.

Thanks for reading...