Post by Kayla Richards on Jan 1, 2018 22:19:41 GMT -5
Chapter 15
The day he left.
Eleven Years Ago
I remember it like it was yesterday. The day the cracks first started to show in the facade of the wholesome family unit my father had created. The public image he showed to his friends, neighbours, workmates. The giant lie of a smiling, safe, loving family. The mask he wore as that of a great father. See from the outside everyone envied him and us. They looked at his children and smiled.
Jaxon who was 16, tall, athletic, good looking. Naturally gifted with blessed genetics from our fathers side. Never having to lift a weight or work hard to build an impressive physique. He was 6’5 at that age with more room to grow. He had jet black hair like myself and Amber, taken from our mother’s side. Amber was 14, I was 11 and Tasmin...poor sweet little Tasmin was 8. She had platinum blonde hair and unlike the green eyes that the three of us shared she had bright blue eyes as beautiful as the mediterranean sea.
People saw us and the smiles we had. Forced ones that we had learned to look genuine. All of us were actors of the highest order. Jaxon knew how to hide bruises and scars. Amber knew how to hide her inner pain. I knew how to look the other was. And Tasmin was lucky. She was oblivious...too young to see it. But one day it all changed. The day we woke up to yelling and bellowing. Not that it was anything out of the ordinary.
“Where is the little cunt?!?!” Our father yelled as I heard something smash against the kitchen wall. I looked across the room to Tasmin's bed, her little head popping up startled. She knew about the yelling and screaming but as far as anything else, she was untouched. Never feeling his unwanted touch, never seeing his hand strike mother or Jax. “His clothes are gone, he ain’t in his room. WHERE THE FUCK DID HE GO?” His voice bellowed again, I heard mother’s voice as she tried to lower the volume so we couldn’t hear. I shook my head at Tasmin and she laid down holding her pillow over her head.
I heard Ambers door open, I knew she was standing behind it, looking through a small crack. Then I heard it. The unmistakable sound of flesh on flesh. My mother's body hit the floor. The thing is I didn’t hate my father in that moment. We all knew what he was like. I hated Jaxon. He left and didn’t care about the fallout. What we’d all have to go through. This had made father angry, he’d take it out on mother. Then get drunk and angry. Then Amber would pay in a different way. Amber would make sure of it to protect Tasmin, but at the time I didn’t know it...at the time I thought I was the only one.
Ambers door shut lightly, I still heard it, but I don’t think he did. No father was too busy, to angry. I grit my teeth and growled under my breath. I switched off, I felt nothing. Even my hatred for my brother faded away for a time. The cracks were starting to show. He would have to explain where his oldest had gone...why he had disappeared. And we would all pay the price...
