Traitor (Chapter 1: Changes)

This is a story I made up as a way to relieve my anger with my sister. I had only planned on writing a short story, but I have finished about seven chapters already. I hope you like it, and please review and critique! I appreciate any replies! I edited it! Thank you Becca! Give me gold star if you thought it was good!

diaNe

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Chapter 1: Changes

I didn’t understand this feeling, it dominated over every other emotion in my body and I felt the need to fulfill it, to satisfy the yearning. My eyes swept over the room. There she was, the cause of my pain, the reason I’ve countlessly tried to kill myself.

I didn’t realize until now that I held the cup of coffee she had asked for. I brought it over to her and she tasted it, only to turn around and spit it out.

“What is this crap?!” she shoved the cup back at me; “Put some sweetener or something in it! God!”

I ran back to the kitchen and added the sweetener. She took it without a ‘thank you’ or any other sign of notice that I was even there. I grabbed my jacket and car keys, then hurriedly walked out the apartment.

A light breeze picked up as I half ran down the stairs and into my Mercedes. It's sleek silver coating reflected back the dark blue sky. The black soft-top wasn’t fully closed before I stepped on the gas and lurched forward. I passed by the streets at deadly speeds, but I barely noticed. My mind was going wild with the images and the words that caused me to hate that woman. I was disgusted that she was even related to me. Of course, maybe if she wasn’t my sister I wouldn’t hate her as much.

Her most recent wound to my already injured life found its way to my mind, and without thinking I took the freeway to Alexander’s house.

He answered after the third set of frantic knocking. My hand flew at him and he dodged it just before I threw myself at him and started crying. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to my convertible.

We sat in silence until my crying stopped altogether.

“What’s wrong now?” Alex asked.

“I hate her so much!” I wailed. The torrent of pain came and I told him everything from the very beginning. He nodded now and then, staying silent during the entire time until I finished my depressing life story.

“I’m kind of sad now. I’m going to be charged with murder by the age of twenty-five.”

Alexander looked at me with shock on his face, “Why?”

“I’m going to be drawn to the point when I won’t be able to stand her anymore and I will kill her.” I looked at him, afraid he might start yelling. His mouth opened and, to my surprise, he started laughing.

“That’s not right, Lizbeth. I mean, I know that what Roxanna did was wrong, horrible even, but you can’t kill her,” he reasoned.

I leaned away from him and he tried to pull me closer.

“No, you cannot tell me what I can or cannot do; no one is going to be able to stop me. I’m not entirely sure if I will be charged, or caught, but I am most definitely going to kill her. She ruined my life, I’m gonna get back at her for all the crap she’s done to me. You can’t tell me otherwise.”

He shook his head and grabbed on to my shoulders, “She’s your sister. You don’t have it in you to kill her, and even if you do, I’ll be charged with accessory to murder. You just can’t do it, Lizbeth,” he explained to me, although it seemed more like he was talking to a mentally unstable person rather than me. I felt tears starting to surface in my eyes again and I looked down.

“Are you going to cry?”

“NO!” But my voice cracked, giving me away.

“Lizbeth,” he said, sounding resigned.

“Get out! You were obviously the wrong person to talk to.”

“But,” he raised his hand to my face and I slapped it away.

“Get. Out.” I spoke through my teeth, “Now.”

He opened the car door and stepped out. Rain was beginning to fall and he walked over to the front door. Alex didn’t go in, instead he ran back to me and tapped on the window. I put it down and he crouched so that he was eye level to me.

“Please, don’t do anything dumb, think about what you do before you do it.” Then he bit his bottom lip and, so fast that I couldn’t pull away, he kissed me. My mind told me to push him away or slap him but my lips wouldn’t obey. I grabbed onto his face and he pulled me out from the car through the window. My breathing sped and from the back of my mind I thought about every girl’s dream, to be kissed in the rain. He pulled me closer to his body and I didn’t resist. Actually, I just couldn’t resist. He stopped and gave me a peck on the cheek.

“I love you, I’m always the right person to talk to.” And he walked away. I grabbed the car for support and stayed there until my breathing and my heartbeat went back to normal. Very slowly, I got into the car and started the engine. Nothing could compare to his method to every little argument, and it was always at the most convenient time for him. My moment of happiness faded when I saw my iPod connected to the dashboard.

It was the same iPod my first boyfriend gave me, with 500 of the greatest songs, and then my sister came back from Europe, completely erasing me from his mind. At least I’ve got a few years until I am 25, just 5 short years to my revenge.

When I arrived to my house I half groaned, my best friend Cassy was home early. I ran up the ten steps to the double doors and turned the knob. There she was, the craziest person on the planet other than me. Of course, she wasn’t standing up, oh no, she had both legs behind her head and her arms on the floor to support her weight. I shook my head and walked over to the kitchen. The clock on the stove read 6:57 pm. Great, another day of overtime at my office. My novelist days were barely getting started. I dropped my bag on the counter and started cooking.

After I had chopped the salad and roasted the chicken I called Cassy over for dinner.

“Come on, Cassy! I’m not getting any younger!” She skipped into the kitchen and kissed me on my cheek. She sat down and waited for me to serve her.

“You know, maybe I should start taking cooking classes. You make it look so fun, always grumbling to yourself and aggressively chopping the salad. It looks like a great stress reliever,” she smiled impishly at me and I scowled at her.

“Ha ha. That’s so funny,” I said, my voice flat.

“So, why were you crying today?”

I gasped. Had Alex called to warn her?

“How do you know?” I asked. My hand was still frozen over the salad.

“I took an aura reading class a couple months ago. I can tell. and also because your eyes are a little bit puffy,” she grinned.

“Roxanna,” I said. She knew the whole story, why say more? She raised her eyebrows and nodded.

“That sucks.” Cassie grabbed a hair tie and put her dark brown hair high on her head.

I didn’t comment any further, my control over my feelings wasn’t stable at the moment. I served her the chicken salad and we ate.

After the table was cleared, she ran into the living room and started her yoga again. I sat down at my computer and started writing more of my novel.

I barely got two chapters written when the doorbell rang. I walked over and looked through the peep hole. I blinked furiously before I opened the door. Standing before me was my older brother, Richard.

“Hey.”

I couldn’t find my voice and the silence dragged on.

“Is that any way to greet your big brother?” He smiled and I screamed with delight. I didn’t stop screaming until he put his hand over my mouth and pulled me into a hug.

“I’ve missed you so much!” I held onto him tighter. His tall figure towered over me and it was hard to completely get my arms around him, his muscles were huge.

“Yeah, I’ve missed you, too, baby sister.” He rumpled my hair and I gasped.

“Oh my god! I’m so rude! Come in, please!” I pulled him into my house and shut the door behind me.

When I looked back, I saw that Cassy was completely frozen. Her mouth was hanging open and her eyes looked ready to bug out of their sockets. I laughed and Richard turned to anxiously look at me.

“It’s okay, she’s just never seen someone from the army before,” Richard turned back to her and I signaled for her to greet him behind his back. She fell to the floor from her tree pose and clumsily walked over to him.

“Hi, I’m Cassandra, but you can call me Cassy,” she held out her hand and he shook it.

“I’m Richard, Lizbeth’s brother.” He turned back to me and I pulled him to the couch.

“Are you hungry? Can I get you anything?” I asked, already halfway to the kitchen.

“Surprise me,” he smiled hugely and I ran into the kitchen. I ducked down into the refrigerator and screamed when I turned around to find Cassy two inches from my face.

“Oh my Josh! You didn’t tell me your brother was in the army! He is so hot!” she gossiped.

“Oh no! You will not make a move with my brother! He already has a girlfriend!” I whispered at her, not entirely sure if he would be able to hear us. “Anyways, I haven’t seen him in 4 years! 1461 days ago, he left to be ‘army strong’,” I made air quotes, “and hasn’t been back! Let him get here first!”

She looked taken aback and she scoffed, “That sucks, he has a girlfriend.” Before I could say anything else, she skipped away, leaving me with my mouth hanging open. I collected myself and ran back into the living room.

Richard was looking at a portrait of me and Alexander. I froze and tried to sneak back into the kitchen. He turned around and stopped me before I could go any further.

“Who’s this?” he tapped the portrait.

“That’s me, who else would it be?” I laughed nervously. I suddenly felt like a child and a strange sense of déjà vu hit me. This was exactly the same scene when he found a photo of me and my second boyfriend under my pillow. That memory brought a sharp pain when I remembered why I broke up with him, Roxanna just couldn’t keep away.

“I meant the guy in the picture, he’s holding you a little bit too close,” he looked at me through his dark brown eyes. I grabbed the portrait and hung it back on the wall, a little too determined.

“I’m twenty years old! I can go out with whoever I want!” I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him. He mimicked my posture and shifted his weight to one leg with one eyebrow arched, just like me.

“That is my boyfriend, Alexander. We’ve been going out for three years now. He is the most awesome person I have ever met, yes he’s better than you, and I absolutely love him,” I watched with false control as Richard smiled at me.

“Twenty years old and you already fell in love,” He smiled again. I couldn’t resist and I smiled back.

“Hey, didn’t you get me something?” he asked, his palms already out. I gave him the granola bar. It probably wouldn't fill hi up, but at least he had something. He slumped onto the couch and patted the space next to him. I sat down and looked at him warily.

“Tell me more about Alexander,” he said, emphasizing his name.

“Well, he is absolutely amazing. I met him at Clatsop Community college. He majors in Fire Science and is now an actual firefighter. As you can see from the picture, he is very handsome. Oh, and he has a 4.0 in school; he’s really smart. He’s funny, and I just adore him,” I glanced at him and he laughed.

“When do I get to meet him?” he raised his eyebrows when he heard my intake of breath.

“That means you’re gonna stay for a while?” I was practically jumping out of my seat before he even answered.

“Yes.”

I screamed and jumped up, then screamed some more. My heart fluttered rapidly against my ribs and all my thoughts and pessimism completely vanished. I felt like I couldn’t have had a happier moment.

The night dragged on while we got caught up in our lives. Even though Cassy had promised not to interfere with my brother, she continued to ogle at him during the whole time.

“Why did you move here?” he asked.

“Well, I needed to get away from mom and, you know, it was just the right time for me to leave that depressing nest,” I slumped back onto the couch and crossed my legs, “but I didn’t get far from my problems,” I muttered. He looked at me skeptically and his eyes widened when he understood.

“Roxanna moved here, too,” it wasn’t a question. I simply nodded and twisted my body so that I was facing him.

“I see her every Wednesday,” I grimaced. He turned towards me and snapped his fingers.

“You saw her, today?” he leaned forward. Again, I only nodded, the ache in my heart felt like it was going to explode any minute.

“Has she met Alexander?” unthinkingly, I gasped as I thought of the possibility. If she had met Alex, would she have already taken him from me? My mind raced over the outcomes of what would happen if he met Roxanna. My breathing sped up and soon I was hyperventilating. Richard grabbed on to my shoulders and looked me in the eye.

“It’s okay, Lizbeth. By the things you’ve told me of Alexander, he probably wouldn’t leave you for her, he loves you too much.”

My breathing quickly went back to normal as I considered his opinion. Alex did love me, he repeatedly told me every day, he wouldn’t hurt me like all the men I have loved.

“She doesn’t even know that I am going out with someone, I don’t talk to her about him.”

“That’s okay, I haven’t talked to her in about seven years, you don’t need to either,” he pulled me closer to him, my heart ache faded until it was just muted, back to the way it always is.

“Are you going to stay?”

“I have nowhere else to go, my girlfriend dumped me.” Almost instantaneously, Cassy was on her feet and pulling on Richard’s hand.

“Here’s the guest room, right next to mine, it has a beautiful view of the Pacific, see?” I silently laughed to myself and followed them to the guest room. Cassy was giving him the full tour of the house, all eight rooms, three baths, and one story of it. I smiled when I remembered the day I moved in...

“Lizbeth, look,” Alex had run into the master bedroom. When I had walked in I gasped. The entire western wall was glass and it opened up to the most beautiful view of Astoria, Oregon.

“I am so happy I moved here." He picked me up and twirled me around in a circle. I had laughed and stumbled when he put me down.

“What was that for?” I laughed.

“I’m also very happy that you moved here, if you hadn’t I wouldn’t ever have met you,” he hugged me tightly and kissed me. That was our first kiss. My thoughts ran wild as his hands slid down my back and mine wrapped around his neck. Who knew how long we stayed there that afternoon. The sun had already set when he left.

I had wandered around the house and then Cassy called.

“Hey! So I heard that you moved into a new house… that’s cool, yeah…” she hesitated at the end. I automatically knew what she was going to ask. But I still played along just to get her irritated.

“I know. It’s great and stuff, but I’m so lonely,” I smiled on the other side of the receiver.

“Ha ha! Roommate!” I heard the click of the phone and twenty minutes later, Cassy was at my door with a ton of luggage. She hugged me so tight when I answered the door. I hadn’t realized that she would bring so much into my life.

I glanced around at my room. Cassy was babbling away to the now single Richard. My reflection caught my sight. I turned towards the window and I studied the girl in front of me.

She had big dark brown eyes, in them, I could see pain. I averted my attention around her eyes. Her black hair fell around her. It was long and full of body with the ends curled outward. I looked down at her slender body; her jeans stuck to her and her white collared shirt did, too, bringing out the shape of her curves. I grimaced as I now realized that I was a target for danger.

Richard walked into the room and his reflection walked over to mine.

“You are one of the most beautiful girls I have ever known,” he put his arm over my shoulder. I scoffed and he looked at my reflection’s eyes.

“Have you ever read “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer?” I nodded and sighed, how badly I wanted her life.

“You remind me of how she describes the vampires. Painfully beautiful, pale as the moon, and so graceful.” I felt my body react to his words before my mind. My bottom lip trembled and tears streamed down my cheeks. He smiled at me and pulled me into another bear hug.

I brought him to the outside of my glass wall. The cold air from the coast was blowing in our direction.

“Astoria, Oregon, ha! Who would have thought you’d move here?” he leaned over the railing.

“I don’t know about you, but I love this place. It’s great, one of the rainiest cities in the U.S.A. and there’s also the ocean,” I sat on the edge of the wooden railing and sighed. Richard seemed to be pondering something. When he spoke, his question threw me off balance.

“What’s you’re profession?” I didn’t miss that he had glanced into the room. I slowly took in a breath and thought of the things he could have seen in my room.

“Holy crap!” I whispered to myself. My memory brought back the image of my uniform hanging by my bed. His eyes narrowed and he leaned forward.

“What’s your profession?” he asked more slowly. I tried to stay in control of myself and gulped the lump in my throat.

“I’m a writer,” I said. He raised an eyebrow. I was aiming toward being a writer, but I have two jobs. "And a police officer." Richard exploded with anger.

“WHY?! What’s wrong with you? You could get hurt or killed! People in this world are dangerous! What were you thinking?!” his nostrils flared and his lips formed an angry line on his face. Sudden anger flowed through my body and I pushed myself off the railing.

“What’s the matter with me?! I only protect the people in this city! You’re in the army, you protect the entire country! I only face criminals in Astoria, I know what they are like, yet you face complete strangers and you’re saying I could be in danger!” I asked, the sarcasm coming out heavy. He looked like as if he had been punched in the gut, leaving me feeling guilty for turning the blame onto him.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. He walked into the house and I groaned. Now I had to go back and make him feel good. I already ruined his first day here. Crap.

My reflection on the glass turned into my shadow on the plush carpet as I walked over to the guestroom. I reached for the doorknob and tried to turn it. It was locked. Double crap. I knocked several times. No answer. I gave up after twenty minutes and walked over to the living room.

The small hallway was lit up with lamps and, because I wasn’t paying attention, I tripped on the step that put me into the living room. I fell on my face and for a second, I briefly considered staying there the rest of the night. Then I remembered that I had to work tomorrow. I reluctantly stood up and dragged myself to the couch. I closed my eyes and felt Cassy sit on the arm of the couch. I opened my right eye; she was staring down at me with piercing dark brown eyes.

“What?” I grumbled.

“You can be such a killjoy sometimes,” she shook her head and tsked at me. Strands of dark hair flew out of the hair tie to the front of her face.

“I don’t think that he was joyous at the moment,” I argued. She rolled her eyes at me as if I was missing something important.

“I meant me,” she answered. I sat up and looked at her.

“You are so boy-obsessive,” I stood up and walked across the room and into the kitchen.

“Comfort food is bad for you!” I heard her call from the living room, it sounded like she was leaving and going to her room. I hesitated with my hand on the refrigerator handle. She was right, comfort food is bad. But not bad enough. I raided the fridge and found the perfect antidote to my depression, cookies-and-cream ice-cream. I rummaged through the cabinets and found a spoon. I looked down and grimaced. Comfort food is really bad. The ice-cream was back in the fridge within seconds. Now I was sad and there was nothing for me to do, so I planned. I planned the different ways that I could kill Roxanna. I was a police officer, I knew exactly what the police would look for at the scene of the crime, I had an advantage. Now all I had to do is figure out a way so that she suffers. I sounded so evil, Alex’s voice called out to me, She’s your sister, you don’t have it in you to kill her.

Maybe I didn’t, but I could at least make her suffer. That’s the least I can do after 10 years of cruelty I took from her. The betrayals, infidelities, and the words, all the words that ripped my heart to shreds. I would make her pay, and there was nobody in the world who could tell me I couldn’t. Not even Alex or Richard, or Cassy, maybe not even if my deceased parents came back from the dead, no one would be able to stop me from getting my justice, my life back.

The rips in my heart shredded open and my knees buckled. Blood raced through my veins and my breathing sped. And if I could, I would track down all those pieces of scum that left me, for her. They would receive their justice, too.

I regained my control and shut off the lights on my way out. I clapped in each room, shutting out the light. My room didn’t need the light, the glass wall made an entryway for all the moonlight to illuminate my room. My clock read 12:17 am, it was tomorrow. That meant today is officially my ten year anniversary. The first day I ever had a boyfriend. It was also the day my life fell apart.