by C. A. Rene
I kick in the door and it flies open to hit the wall behind it. Wood splinters fly up and land around our feet as we make our way into her bedroom.
"Wha...?" My mother mumbles as she tries to sit up in bed. There looks to be a puddle of vomit beside her, it's fresh unlike the one on the floor which has long dried up.
"Hello Mrs. Greene." E singsongs into the room and the sound of her voice sends chills down my spine. "Gosh! You sure made a mess this last week huh?"
"Who are you…?" My mother slowly mumbles out as her head sways back and forth.
"Mother," I growl out, "what the fuck happened here?"
Her face immediately morphs into one of pure hatred, "you!" She points at me and then to my surprise, tries to spit at me, "I told you to never come back here, there's nothing for you here."
"Have you lost your fucking mind?" I yell into her face.
"You don't belong here." She snarls back.
"This is my fucking house! The deed says so."
"Fucking Robert!" She screams as she pulls her hair, "he did this to punish me, he left everything to his worthless son."
"Now, now... Christina, is it?" Ember sits at Mother’s feet at the edge of the bed. As crazy as my mother is acting right now, E looks as calm as a peach.
"Who the fuck are you?" Mother snarls back at her.
"I am Ember Craven." She looks my mother in the eye with a small smile on her face.
"Craven?"
"That's right." She nods.
"Like Rebecca Craven?" My mother screws up her face in disgust, "the one my husband fantasized about."
I watch as E's hands fist into the comforter on the bed, the only thing betraying her calm exterior, "did he now? That was my mother."
"Whatever." My mother shakes her head and lays back onto the bed.
"It's time to get up." Ember says as she stands and walks to my mother's side of the bed, "now." Then she grabs my mother's arm and hauls her up and out of the bed. Fuck, she's strong.
"Hey!" Mother begins to struggle but she is no match for E. Ember throws her down onto the armchair in the corner and grabs her chin.
"We're going to play a game." She growls into my mother's face, "I will ask you questions and for each one you don't answer or you lie, I will cut into your face." She brings out a large hunting knife and presses it into my mother's cheek.
My mother becomes deathly still and looks up into Ember's face and nods slightly.
"Good." E says and sits on the end of the bed in front of her.
"First question, was Robert Greene the Whitsborough Rapist from the early 2000's up to a few years ago?"
My mother nods and her gaze quickly comes to land on me and narrows. She thinks I told E this. She must remember when I asked her about it. I stay quiet and wait for Ember to continue.
"How many of those girls did you bring back for him?"
My mother looks back into Ember's face and turns her lips down into a frown. Her eyes take on an angry gleam and she purses her lips. If she is calling E out on her bluff then she's fucking dumber than I ever thought.
"Tsk, tsk! Mrs. Greene! We're only on the second question and you already broke the rules?" E begins to giggle. I have never heard her like this and it's starting to creep me out. "To be honest, I was hoping you would and just my luck, it happened quicker than I could even anticipate." She chuckles and pats my mother's cheek.
"Fuck you." My mother says menacingly.
"Wrong answer." Ember growls through her teeth as her hand clasps my mother's jaw. She then takes her knife and carves it down my mother's cheek, making her scream as the blood drips off her chin.
I stand completely transfixed and I suddenly feel numb. Like I'm floating outside of my body and watching this from another dimension. My mother is about to die at the hands of my best friend and I can't be bothered to care about it.
Ember releases my mother's chin and shoves her back into the chair, making her back bounce off the cushion.
"Answer the question, or I get back to carving." E says while she twirls her knife in her hand.
My mother has her hand up to her cheek and she begins to shake, "most of them." She mewls out as the blood runs from her wound between her fingers.
"Bad girl, Christina." Ember shakes her head and looks back at me. I nod once to let her know I'm fine and she turns back to my mother, "did he rape Sharla?"
"I don't know." She shakes her head and Ember brings up her knife, "I swear! I really don't know."
"So, what you're telling me right now is that you are a useless sack of shit and I should just kill you?"
My mother's eyes narrows and a small smirk ghosts her lips, "he raped your mother though. He told me all about it, him and Halbert took turns while the other held her down."
Oh fuck, this is bad. I can see E immediately stiffen and my mouth goes dry. My father and Coach actually did shit like that? And Ember's mother really was their victim? My hand comes up and I cover the gasp that escapes my mouth.
Ember quickly pulls herself together and shakes her head, "I wish I knew all this the night I came to kill him because I would've tortured him instead of offering him an easy way out."
"What?!" Mother shrieks.
"That's right, Christina." Ember nods, "I came into your house in the middle of the night and forced dear Robert to slice open his wrists with this very knife. Isn't it like fate or something that both of your bloods have kissed it's blade?"
"You bitch!"
E throws her head back and laughs, "I wish I would've taken you that night, too."
"Do you hear this?" My mother looks at me, "why are you just standing there? She killed your father."
"Yeah," I shrug, "I know."
"You know?” Her eyes widen, "you really were a waste of our time. We should've killed you the second we knew you existed."
"Wow." I chuckle and shake my head, "you would've aborted me?"
"No," she begins to giggle manically, "we should've killed your mother."
"What?" I screw my face up in confusion, "are you that drunk?"
"Your mother!" She screams at the top of her lungs, "as soon as we found out she was pregnant, we should've pushed her down the stairs."
"My mother?" I question as my head begins to spin.
"I can't have children." She sneers at me, "and I never wanted them. But your father found a favourite and continuously raped her. Of course, she was bound to get knocked up. Then, instead of killing her, he decided he wanted to keep you, as an heir. The other son he fathered would never be able to run the business because he was black." The venom spewing out of her is beginning to make me sick.
"You're not my mother." Everything makes sense. Her hateful, dismissive and cold behaviour towards me my whole life, it all fucking makes sense.
"You're so fucking stupid." She snarls, "just like her."
Ember gets up and walks into my parents' closet and I keep an eye on the woman I always thought was my mother.
"Who is she?"
"Who cares!" She screams as spit flies out of her mouth, "she's a nobody!"
"Christina," E says with warning in her voice. She steps out of the closet with one of my father's belts in her hands and she's looping it through the buckle, "tell him who his mother is."
"Or what?" She chuckles, "you'll spank me with that belt?"
"No," Ember leisurely walks up to her and slaps the belt over my mother's head and around her neck. "Tell him." She grounds out as she tightens the belt around her neck.
Mother's eyes widen and she grips her fingers into the belt, trying to pull it off her neck but E is too strong.
"So..." she starts coughing and clawing harder, "Son..."
"Who!" I scream.
"Sonja!!!"
14
I get home and the house is empty. I searched everywhere but it looks like both Ember and Travis have gone out. First, I call Ember's cell and it goes straight to voicemail,
this isn't strange because she hates her phone. Next, I try Travis' and his rings but ends up going to voicemail, too. Where the fuck are they? I head into the kitchen and make myself something to eat. I haven't had a chance to eat since Ember came home and stirred everything up.
After I've made my food and eaten it, they still aren't home and they haven't even called me back. Worry is starting to seep in and I decide to call Vin. After a few rings, he picks up.
"Sup?"
"Nada, man. Do you know where Ember and Travis are?"
"They aren't home?" He asks.
"No and I tried to call their cell phones. No answer."
"How long ago did you call?"
"A few hours? Somewhere around there."
"I spoke to Em earlier but I had to come home and talk to my moms n shit."
"It's all good, I'm sure they're fine."
"I'll call Em now and if I don't get an answer I will head over to you, okay?"
"Nah man, your mom hasn't seen you in a while. Chill there, I'll figure it out."
"I'll see you in a bit." He hangs up.
I roll my eyes and grin. Vin is completely twisted up by my sister and I love him for it. I clean up the kitchen and try both Ember's and Travis' cells again... no answer. It's getting dark out now and I can't seem to shake this feeling that something bad is happening. It's probably because something bad is always happening with us. I'm not seriously worried because I know both Ember and Travis can take care of themselves, I'm more worried about what they are actually doing.
The front door opens and I hear Vin yell out, "Emmett!"
"Kitchen!"
He comes in and raises a brow, "you get anything?"
"Nah, man." I shake my head, "I just tried both cells."
"Okay," he nods as he pulls a gun out of the back of his pants. He pulls out the mag and checks the ammo. "I think I might know where they are. Get your knives and let's bounce."
"Is it Talia?" I ask.
"I don't think so but it's always good to be prepared."
I run up the stairs and grab my knife band from my closet. I strap it around my waist and grab a black bandana to wrap around my head. It matches the one Vin has on and this way we will look like some badass mercenaries. I smirk in the mirror as I tighten it on my head, then I jog back downstairs.
"Let's go." I say as I walk past him and outside. He closes up the house and we both get into his Hummer.
"Talk." I say as he pulls out. "What the fuck am I missing here?"
"When Ember killed Travis' baseball coach, he outed some people in this town."
"What people?" I ask.
"Sick fucking people doing the same shit that coach did to my brother."
"Fuck." I breathe.
"Yeah," his jaw clenches. "My father was at the top of that list as the serial rapist of Whitsborough for like ten plus years."
"Are you fucking shitting me?"
"Nah man. This coach fucker even had a list of his victims. My mom and yours are on it."
"Your mom?"
"Yeah," he nods. "I am trying to figure out how to ask her about it without blowing this list out of the water. Ember wants to make her way through it and pick off all the fucking pervs."
"Of course she does." I nod.
"I'm thinking she went to one of two places. Either Travis' to speak to his mother or Adri's."
My heart kicks into overdrive and my head snaps around to look at him, "why Adri?"
"Shit," he quickly looks over at me, "no man, not like that. Adri was never raped or anything. Just her parents came up on another list."
"What list?"
"We're not sure what it means. I think Ember will want to ask her." He shrugs.
"They're not there." I shake my head, "I just came from her house."
He's looking at me from the side of his eye, "her house? Does Travis know about this?"
"He knows." I nod.
"Alright." He says, sounding very unsure.
We pull up onto Travis' street-I recognize it from the other time I was here-Vin speeds up and burns his tires turning into Travis' driveway.
"There's Em's car." He says as he slams on the brakes and jumps out of the Hummer.
I'm right behind him as we walk up to the front door. It's locked. I bang on the door, yelling Ember and Travis's names. Finally, after a few minutes the door unlocks and slowly swings inward. I see Travis' pale face and reach in to grab him into my arms. Vin is watching us but I don't give a fuck right now. Travis needs me. His head lands on my shoulder and he lets out a shuddering breath.
"Bro," Vin starts, "what's going on?"
Travis pulls his head off my shoulder and looks over to Vin, "upstairs." He turns and breaks my hold on him to lead us upstairs. Vin looks over to me with his brow raised and I shrug my shoulders. I don't know what the fuck we'll be walking into right now.
We follow him into a bedroom and the first thing that hits me is the smell of piss and vomit. The room is so stale and feels slightly humid. I cover my nose and mouth with the sleeve of my sweater and watch as Travis sits on the bed.
"Where's Em, Bro?" Vin asks him, placing his hand on Travis' shoulder.
"I'm in here!" I hear her yell out from behind a closed door.
I follow Vin and we open the door, hearing a thump from behind it. Ember is standing at the sink washing blood off her hands and knife.
"Babe?" Vin asks cautiously as he approaches her. "What's going on?"
"Close the door." She points to it and goes back to washing her hands.
Vin grabs the edge of the door and swings it shut, another thumping sound causes us to turn and look. I just barely hold in my scream as I see Travis' mom with a belt around her neck and one of the notches hangs from an industrial looking robe hanger that is attached to the top of the door. Her eyes are wide open and seemingly looking at me through the broken capillaries. Her mouth hangs open and her tongue lolls out of the side of it. She also has a nasty looking cut running down her cheek.
"She helped him." Ember says as she finishes drying her hands.
"Helped him?" I whisper, still too shocked to look away from the woman slightly swinging from a belt in her own washroom.
"Travis' mom captured and lured girls for Robert to rape." She starts wiping down the faucet and sink then reaches out and wipes down the door handle too.
"Oh fuck," I turn and use my sleeve to open the door, "I need to speak to Travis."
I walk back out and see that Travis isn't in here anymore. I wouldn't want to be either considering the scene in the bathroom. Vin comes out to grab the stool from Travis' mother's vanity and brings it back in the bathroom. So, they are masking this as a suicide. I leave the room and stand at the top of the stairs. I don't see him anywhere on the first floor, so I start opening doors up here. I open a few closets and a bathroom when I next come to a door with a hole in it. I open it and find Travis out on the balcony smoking a cigarette. I go and lean on the railing beside him and stare out at the surrounding landscape.
"She wasn't even my mother." He whispers as he flicks his butt out onto the driveway.
"What?" I look at him slightly confused.
"I was the result of repeated rape on one of the house staff. They decided to keep me since Christina couldn't have children. You know... as an heir to this fucked up legacy."
I don't know what to say, and I feel an overwhelming amount of sadness for him. To learn your father was a rapist and the woman you thought was your mother but wasn't, was helping him, is just too much.
"Who was it?" I ask.
"Sonja." He bows his head, "I can't find her anywhere."
"She's not here?" I ask him and he shakes his head. "We'll find her." Now that I think of it, Travis does have similar features to Sonja.
"I want to get out of here." He turns around.
Vin is leaning against his door frame and nods at him, "let's go for a drive."
T
ravis nods and slowly walks over to his brother. Vin wraps his arm around his shoulders and leads him out of the room and down the stairs. I hear the front door open and shut and watch them both get in the Hummer and drive away. Vin will look after him, I know this.
"Let's get the fuck out of this den of evil." I hear Ember say behind me.
"Yeah." I nod and follow her out and into her car. "Any camera footage?"
"Nope, she had everything turned off." She shrugs.
"That's weird." I hum.
"Worked out for us." She pulls out of the driveway without a backward glance.
“I’m really worried about Travis. Should you have done that in front of him?”
“Yeah, it needed to be done. Besides if he weren’t there, he wouldn’t have learned who his real mother was.” She quickly looks to me and then back to the road. “Thing is Emmett, our lives aren’t fucking fairy tales. It’s never going to be. He needs to start seeing what it is we all do. Then he can make the decision to stick around or not.”
“You’re right.” I nod because she is. I also know Travis has never had a fairy tale life and I’m worried about how much more shit this guy can take.
“He’s been handed a shitty stick in life,” she nods, almost like she’s reading my mind. “But I’m hoping he can see through all of us how to grab that shitty life by the horns and make it his bitch. Not the other way around.”
“Truth.”
We get home and it’s empty. No Travis and no Vin. I’m guessing Vin is doing the brother thing and showing Travis he still has family. I hope he realizes he has all of us for the rest of his life, unconditionally if that’s what he wants.
“You and I need to have a chat.” Ember says as she steps into my room. “Carm and I had a discussion in Spain and he let me know a few things about you.”
“Like?” I raise my brow at her.
“Calen?” She says through gritted teeth. “The fact that our father made sure his son was beaten occasionally as he was raised by a madman?”
“Occasionally?” I snort. “Yes Ember, my life wasn’t a fairy tale either. But I grabbed that bitch by the horns and killed it in cold blood.”
