Dance with Death

5

Arabella sat on the floor by the fire. It was about 5 am but she had not slept all night. The nightmares of her mother's death kept her up.

The front door opened and Arabella looked over, with fear in her eyes. A man stood at the door with a bottle in his hand.

"The fuck are you doing up?" The man Arabella called father asked. Arabella couldn't find the courage to speak. She just shook her head.

"Yea? Yea? You just gonna keep shaking your head, your whole life, like a fucking mute." Arabella instinctively shook her head again. She almost cursed under her breath. That was a big mistake.

"You fucking mocking me? Tell you what, since you can't seem to stop shaking that stupid little fucking head of yours, I'll make it stop shaking myself!" He said and grabbed Arabella by her hair, dragging her to the next room and closing the door.

Arabella's cries and yelps could be heard through the entire apartment, but not loud enough for the neighbors to hear, or for anyone who could help. It was funny how things sometimes turn out.

Arabella walked into the stables and took her jacket off. She rolled up her sleeves instinctively, but quickly covered them once she saw the bruising beginning to form. 

"Morning Ella." Finn walked in happily.

"Morning..." Arabella rolled her eyes looking for a nickname.

"Inn?" She tried out trying to give Finn a similar nick name. Finn shook his head with a chuckle.

"That was truly awful. I almost feel bad for you." Finn teased.

"Yea? You come up with something better." Arabella laughed.

"I don't know. Maybe my lord or your highness." Finn joked sarcastically. Arabella laughed and rolled her eyes. Her smile quickly dropped, when her mind shifted to the events that morning. Finn stopped laughing when he noticed Arabella's quietness.

"Are you alright?" He asked concerned. Arabella's eyes shifted to Finn, then back at the ground.

"Yea, I'm fine. I'm just a bit sore. Must have pulled something while riding yesterday." Arabella lied. Finn nodded and gave her a sympathetic look. Arabella picked up a shovel and started shoveling hay. Finn followed her lead.

She shoveled while deep in thought, eyebrows furrowed. She didn't notice when her shoveling got violent, until it was too late. Arabella yelped when she felt a shooting pain in he shoulder. She dropped her shovel making a loud clank sound. Her hand shot up and grabbed her shoulder.

"What's wrong!" Finn asked in a panic. Arabella cursed herself for making a scene.

"I'm fine, really, it's just my shoulder." She said. Finn blinked and let out a sigh.

"Let me see." Finn quickly turned Arabella around to get a look at her shoulder. Being the Shelbys youngest sibling, he's seen a lot of injuries, so he knew a thing or two on how to help out.

"Wait!" Arabella protested, but Finn had already adjusted her shirt down revealing a large red and purple bruise on her shoulder. He gasped running his hand over it gently. Arabella looked down in shame, knowing she was going to have to lie herself out of this one. Anger boiled in Finn rapidly, as he figured out the wound was definitely not anything Arabella could have gotten by working in the stables. Finn knew that Arabella had either had an odd accident or someone had hit her.

"How did this happen?" Finn asked with demand. Arabella shook her head trying to find the words.

"It's nothing really. I just fell is all." Arabella pleaded.