The Secrets of Smosh (Maricorn)

Chapter 16 Mari

It was Tuesday night, I was finishing my Biology homework. I could hear my parents fighting downstairs. I turned up my headphones. Patrick Stump reassured me everything was okay.

"We're gonna die it's just a matter of time,
Hard times come,
Good times go,"

Definitely writing those down. Step number one from my publisher, write down everything and anything. My baby sister started wailing downstairs. My mother started screaming. I yanked my headphones out and raced downstairs. My father was carrying Aki, my baby sister by the ankle. My mother was screaming and crying. I gasped and was trying to imagine what could drive my dad to do something like this. Something glinted in his hand. My stomach dropped. No, he wouldn't, not his own daughter. Where was Hiro? He's usually home by now. "AKI! NO! DAD STOP! NOOOO!" Time seemed to slow down. Everything happened so quickly, but the pain of it dragged out with every second. My mother's scream reached a peak and pitch unknown to humans. The knife flashed and went through Baby Aki's stomach. I screamed higher than I thought possible. "SHUT UP YOU PATHETIC WOMEN! ITS JUST ANOTHER BABY! A GIRL AT THAT! YOU PROMISED THIS ONE WOULD BE A BOY!" My mother couldn't even respond. He was enraged. "ANSWER ME!" My just fell over trying to get the words out. He strode toward her with the knife. I ran behind her. My father leaned over and dragged the knife down her face. I started screaming, my mother was screaming. Enough of this. I snaked my hand out and wrenched the knife from his hand. "YOU PIECE-" He didn't get to finish his sentence. He never would. I drove the knife through his chest. I let go immediately. My hands were spattered in my own dads blood. "Oh my god, mom." I couldn't look away from my hands, the guilty hands, the same ones that delivered death to my own father. Hiro walked through the front door. I couldn't even imagine what raced through his mind.

We all stayed at my grandmothers that night. We called the police, but they said they only found Aki. My father was nowhere to be seen. That's when my mother made the decision to move. Me and Jake hadn't broken up yet, so I was completely against it. Well, you know how that turned out.

When we landed in Portland, my mother pulled me and my brother in. "This is all of our chance to start over. Forget everything that's happened. I've set you both up with counsellors. I love you both so much and I want your lives to be whole again. I need both of you, especially you Mari, to be careful what you say and do. You know he can't know we are here. We're set up with security with the government, so you don't need to worry about him anymore," she finished. She always seemed to know what to not say, I just wanted to forget about it. Not have my mother make a whole speech about it. I was conflicted about the move, on one hand, I needed to desperately get away from my new-old life, if that makes any sense. What I really yearned for was my old life, pre-Aki. I still remember my first impressions of the city. We walked out of the airport. It was grey, cold and raining. I was listening to "The Phoenix" by Fall Out Boy.

"I'm gonna change you,
Like a remix,
Then I'll raise you,
Like a phoenix."