Chapter Two
“Get off of her,” his voice was stern as Darius entered the room, gun in hand, and followed by the police. “Whoa there son, I don’t think you best be pointing that at me,” Annabeth’s dad growled. “What? You don’t think I’ll fire?” he shot the picture frame right beside her dad’s head and her dad instantly clambered off. She was still losing blood from her arm and her mom had started to cut into her stomach (it was just the right size to lose quite a bit of blood) so she was bleeding in three places still. She could no longer see as her vision was blurry but she could hear, she could hear her dad and mom being arrested, the police yelling and getting her on a stretcher (she didn’t enjoy them picking her up), and in the ambulance, before she blacked out for the second time, she heard Darius say hold on, we’re going to get you to the hospital. She worked at her mind to do something, anything. She’d wanted nothingness but not this kind. She’d wanted to feel alone and wanted to know she was nothing, and now she was. She just didn’t want it this way. Plus, she’d been rescued (again) by Darius (what was with him?). In the same moment her brain realized that she was thinking it remembered at last, how to form words. However, her brain seemed to think she was already gone, already dying, and didn’t form the right words. Instead, her speech came out garbled and Darius was trying to understand that she knew of for sure. “What is it? What are you trying to say?” from the sound of his voice she knew he had to be scared and yet smiling because she had spoken. She knew he was thinking ‘finally she speaks’ and she laughed at her brain. ‘Stupid brain,’ she thought. Finally, her brain formed words and she spoke. “Annabeth,” she said to him, trying to smile but not knowing if she was because her face was numb. “What?” he asked, “Annabeth, my name is Annabeth.”
….
Annabeth was searching for a way out. She’d been searching for a way out ever since the darkness had enclosed her. Her mind was seeing the thing she’d been afraid of her whole life. She was seeing her past. Her fifth birthday when her dad and mom stopped speaking to her, she had cried for a week straight but they hadn’t cared. Her last day of 8th grade, saying goodbye to Lilith and knowing that they’d meet again, in time. Her first dreaded day of high school, seeing a boy who would eventually ask her out and she’d said no, because she was scared to be raped by him. The next day when that same boy asked Lilith out and she’d said yes, eagerly. That day when she almost died, Lilith was being raped, just as Annabeth would’ve been if she’d said yes to that boy. Annabeth’s eyes opened for a fleeting second and then closed again. “Bee!” Lilith had called out, “Bee! Help me!” Annabeth had just sat there, tied to the chair, she’d closed her eyes and wished to be dead. Now she would be. She’d always thought death would be a little bit more peaceful than the way hers was going. She’d been called a lot of names. Goth chick, emo gal, freak, idiot, stupid, hell, she’d been called every name in the book. Annabeth’s eyes opened to a bright light and she could tell that she was being rushed on the stretcher into the emergency room. “Darius,” she didn’t think they’d let him in or even let them stay with her but she had heard the words he’d said. “I’m all she has,” he’d told the doctors and that had swayed them easily. “Annabeth, I’m right here,” he leaned down, “Bee, it’s my nickname, call me Bee,” she corrected him as she corrected everyone. “Right. Annabeth, you’re going to be okay,” he still didn’t call her by her nickname and she smiled, surprised that she could even feel her face, she hadn’t been able to while she’d been blacked out. “How are you being so cliché about this?” the nearest doctor asked, “about what?” she responded with ease. “We know you cut yourself, but how are you being so cliché about your own mother giving you a cut across your face that will turn into a scar, your father almost raping you, you almost dying for chrissakes!” the doctor was freaking out. “Almost dying? How long was I out?” Annabeth asked, still calm, “your heart stopped beating for twenty minutes, we would’ve called it off but your boyfriend wouldn’t let us,” the doctor that had just been freaking out was now relatively calm. “My boyfriend?” Annabeth’s voice made it sound like she was confused, and she was, at least she was until she saw Darius smiling sheepishly. “No, no it’s not like that, I barely know him,” she murmured loud enough for the doctor to hear, “well, well, if it isn’t my favorite patient,” a new doctor came into the room she’d just been put in. “How’re you doing?” he asked, “who are you?” she retorted, “I’m Dr. Buckert, I was the one who bandaged you up and restarted your heart. Do you not remember?” Vaguely. She vaguely remembered this Dr. Buckert patching up her arm, stomach, and face; he’d been gentle, kind enough. “Yes, I do, I’m sorry I snapped at you,” she apologized, “no worries, anyway, you’re free to go,” he said. “Already? I’ve been here for an hour and you’re already letting me go?” she was worried that she might get hurt again. “You’ve been here two weeks Annabeth,” Darius answered for the doctor, who had been about to speak, “oh,” she closed her eyes then whispered, “Let’s go then.” Darius helped her out to his car but she refused to get in, “what? Do you have someplace to go?” he asked her, she nodded her head, yes, and he didn’t stop her as she walked down the highway. When she reached Timothy’s Laundromat where she kept an extra set of clothes, she changed into another all black outfit. ‘Hey Lily,’ she began reading the text she’d thought about sending Lilith before she’d been hurt. ‘You’re right, I am an idiot. Okay? An idiot who doesn’t deserve to have you as a friend. The fact is, I’m probably not going to text you again unless you text me. Which I’m pretty sure won’t happen. In case you do receive this text, I’m sorry.’ Annabeth hit send on her phone, which she’d gotten back from the doctors when she’d left, and sighed. Bing! One new message from Lilith. ‘OMG! I heard wat happened! R u okay?!? Btw, I dnt hate u and ur not an idiot. I’m srry 4 spreading rumors about u, I 4give u. <3 Lily. She texted her back saying that she was okay and told her what happened, though the answer she got when she asked how Lily had heard pissed her off. ‘Darius.’ That had been Lilith’s one worded answer; Annabeth told Lily she had to go and headed for Darius’ house. On the way, she stopped off by a trash can and peeled off her face bandage, it was the only one left on her. She reached Darius’ house right as he was getting into his truck, which was a brand new red Ford F-250. “Darius,” she called, “Anna...” he gasped halfway through saying her name. “What?” she’d never seen him look that horrified, at least not in the few weeks she’d known him. He took her hand and led her into his house, stopping at the mirror in his hallway. She gasped as she looked in the mirror at her reflection. A long, jagged white scar stretched from just above her left eye to the bottom of her right chin. The scar gave her an eerie appearance and she doubted any girl could be envious of her looks now. “Let’s go to school,” she said, trying to make her voice as clear as possible but she didn’t doubt that Darius could hear the tears she was holding back. “Are you sure you’re ready?” he asked, being genuine, “yes,” she took the hand he offered her and climbed into his truck. “Are you okay?” was the question she got asked repeatedly that day. Gasps of horror and shock came from her teachers and fellow students but she never said anything to them, never tried to reassure them that she was fine, she didn’t even talk to Darius once they were in school. After that first day back in school, she decided to head over to the county jail and see her parents. Why? She didn’t know. “Annabeth! You came back for us, I knew you couldn’t leave us in jail!” her mother cried out. “I’m not here to bail you out, I’m here to warn you. This scar on my face is from you and I don’t consider it a curse. It’s a gift, for you see, now I know what it’s like to be sneered at and gasped at. I talked to the judge, they’re letting you out of jail, both of you. I tried to convince them not to but their decision is already final. If I were you, as soon as I was out of jail, I’d run. Run away and never look back. If you run, I won’t hurt you or avenge you, or pursue you, but if you don’t, I will chase you, I will hurt you, and I will kill you.” “Time’s up,” the policeman said and Annabeth stood up, and seeing the frightened look in her mother’s eyes, walked away with not so much as a backwards glance.
….
Darius hadn’t followed Annabeth on purpose. Okay, so he had. It wasn’t his fault he felt so damn protective over her, was it? He’d followed her to the jail with shock in his eyes, not because it was the jail, but because of the look Annabeth had in her eyes when she walked out. It was a look of hate, no, not hate, revenge. “Annabeth!” he called out before she could start walking down the road. “What’re you doing here Darius? Are you? Are you following me?” her eyes narrowed and his heart pounded in his chest. God, she looked so sexy when she was mad. “No I.. yes, do you need a ride?” it was the first thing that came to his mind. Take the bait he thought and when she nodded, yes, he sighed. “So, what’s with the look?” he asked, unaware that she was staring blankly out the window. “What look?” she was playing trickster with him and he didn’t like it and wouldn’t stand it for a minute. “C’mon, I’ve seen that look in many people’s eyes before, it’s the look of revenge,” he was pulling into his driveway. “What’s the plan?” he asked as he watched her pack her stuff into the back of his truck. “The plan is I go after my parents and kill them,” she answered bluntly. “Okay, I can handle that,” he grabbed a duffel bag and started packing some of his clothes. “Alone,” she added. “Um, news flash Annabeth, but you don’t exactly have weapons now do you?” he smiled a crooked smile that he knew she loved. “No I don’t,” she hadn’t thought about weapons, she felt outwitted now, like she had to take him along. It might be a good idea to have a guy there, remember, he saved you last time, a tiny voice in the back of her head was talking. “Fine,” he saw her look at him finally and he gasped as something tore through him. At the same time, something tore through Annabeth and they were both paralyzed for a few brief minutes. In his mind, he saw the truth of her past. He saw the multiple moves she’d made in the past few years, saw her mother whipping her over and over, saw the birthday party. He saw that she’d started cutting herself when she was seven though her parents hadn’t found out until she was ten. He even watched in vivid detail in his mind as she tried three times in the last day she was in Georgia, she tried to kill herself. Though he was intrigued by her past, he found himself thinking of what Annabeth was seeing and knew the answer just seconds later. “You, you killed your parents,” she gasped out, her voice shaky. “Yes,” was his one-worded answer. “Please, explain, my mind showed me how you did it but it didn’t show me why.” He’d never told anyone the truth. He wasn’t even sure if he was ready, though he knew he could trust Annabeth with it. His heart told him to go forth and prove to her that he could handle anything, that killing his parents was his choice, not anyone else’s. Yet in his mind, he felt as though he couldn’t trust, he felt as though, deep down, his parents would be ashamed if he said everything. Not that he hadn’t tried already to explain but that, he couldn’t trust Annabeth with the reality of who he was. Though he had had his doubts about who to tell, when to tell, if to tell, he simply smiled at Annabeth. “Well,” he began.
