by A. C. Ellas
Insanity comes in many forms.
Two young men travel separate paths toward their destinies. As one claws his way out of the deep hell that is his life toward something better, the other spirals down from the heights of luxury toward madness. Will the two young men persevere long enough to realize their dreams? Or will insanity drag them into the depths of despair?
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Dark Star: Origins
Copyright © 2014 AC Ellas
ISBN: 978-1-4874-0063-7
Cover art by Carmen Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Dark Star: Origins
Astrogator Book 1
By
AC Ellas
Chapter One: Nick
Nick looked up as his father came inside, wincing as the door slammed like always. His father stomped into the kitchen—where Nick was slicing vegetables—reeking of alcohol, which also was like always. The unshaven, unkempt man stared blearily at the boy, his red face wild looking and angry. “Where’s your slut of a sister?” he demanded.
Nick looked down, swallowing his anger. “Evie is outside playing, and she’s not a slut.”
His father slapped his face hard enough to rock Nick back a pace. The man stomped outside and began roaring for Evie at the top of his lungs. Nick sighed as he scraped the vegetables into the pot of boiling water. The old man had spent their credit ration on his cheap booze again, so it was just as well that Nick had been able to coax the vegetable plot along as much as he had. Otherwise, they might well starve, not that Father would give a damn, so long as he had his liquor.
Now, he heard Evie’s voice as well, rising above the bass rumble of Father as she tried to defend herself verbally. There was no physical defense possible against the huge, powerfully built man. Even drunk as he was, Ivan Steele could beat the tar out of Nick and Evie one-handed. Evie ran inside, sobbing quietly as she darted into the kitchen and the dubious safety of her older brother’s side.
Nick sourly noticed that she had a bruise to match the one he was developing. He pulled out the flour and began to make dough for some bread. Nick winked at her, making her smile a little.
The smile vanished as their father stomped back into the kitchen. “What’re you doing, boy?”
Nick managed not to sigh. “Father, I am making dinner.”
Their father’s eyes narrowed. “What are you making?”
“Soup and bread, sir.” Nick nodded at the pot. “Should be ready in an hour or so.”
“Hmph.” The old man brushed by Nick, grabbing a jug out of the cabinet under the counter. “Call me when it’s ready, boy.” He stomped back out, jug of moonshine in hand.
Evie stirred the pot, tears in her eyes as she whispered, “I hate him, Nicky. I really, truly hate him.”
Nick kneaded the dough with perhaps more force than strictly required. “Evie, he’s our father. Don’t say such things.”
“He might have fathered us, but he’s no father at all,” Evie replied bitterly. “I wish Mom were still alive.”
Nick blinked back tears. Evie had only been three when Mom had died nine years ago, so she hardly remembered the gentle lady who had kept father under control. Nick had been six, and it saddened him that his memory of her was growing into a dim recollection. It was only after she had died that Father had turned into a monster, seeking comfort in alcohol and finding only anger.
He shaped the loaf and set it in the oven. It wouldn’t rise, but it would cook and be bread, of a sort. “Will you keep an eye on this?” he asked hopefully.
Evie looked at him, her lower lip trembling. “Are you going out to meet someone again?”
Nick glanced at the kitchen door warily. “Maybe. But maybe he won’t come, either. I told him I would be there.”
“If Father finds out, there will be hell to pay, you know.”
Nick’s eyes flashed. “How will he find out, Evie? Are you gonna tell him?”
Evie shook her head. “Of course not! But people talk, you know. He might hear something at the pub. Just be careful that you’re not seen, okay?”
Nick nodded as he slipped out the back door. He ran lightly down the path, getting under the cover of trees quickly. Once out of sight of the house, he dropped down to a walk. He ducked off the path at a certain intersection of trees that marked the game trail he wanted. He slowly made his way downhill to the middle of a stand of giant pines. There, under the boughs, lounged Jim, clearly waiting for him.
Nick’s heart was pounding as he ducked under the branches to join his lover. Jim asked him no questions but began to kiss him with a passion Nick returned fiercely. Jim’s hands wandered over his body, loosening his clothes where they got in his way. Nick put his own hands on Jim’s crotch, moaning as he felt the large member waiting for him.
The sudden roar of rage was the only warning Nick had that he’d been followed. Abruptly, he was yanked back by his shirt collar as Jim ran for his life, breaking out from under the pines and sprinting with remarkable swiftness. Nick, in the meantime, tried to curl up into a ball as his father rained on him with blows.
“You little faggot!” he roared. “I’ll teach you to sneak off!”
He dragged Nick back uphill toward the house, and once they were on the path, he pushed Nick along in front of him. But Father turned off before the house, forcing Nick into the old, abandoned barn at the edge of their property.
When his father finally let him go, Nick scrambled to his feet and darted toward the house, his rear a throbbing mass of pain that shot up his abdomen with each step. He walked straight into the kitchen, bent over the garbage pail, and heaved. He felt small hands on his back as Evie tried to give him what comfort she could.
“I’m so sorry, Nicky, I didn’t see him leave. Really, I swear, I had no idea that he was onto you at all.”
Nick finally pulled himself upright, wincing at the pain that just wouldn’t leave. He saw the fear and worry in his sister’s eyes, but at the moment, he didn’t have the strength to reassure her. “Is dinner ready?” he asked in a voice hoarse from screaming.
“Yes. I took the bread out a little bit ago, so it’s cool enough to eat, and the soup’s as done as it will ever be.”
Nick took a deep breath as he got the bowls out. He filled two immediately and slid one toward his sister. “Eat in here, it’s probably safer.” He sliced off two chunks of bread and dropped one next to Evie’s bowl. He gathered the other bowl and piece of bread onto a tray.
“Do you want me to take it?” Evie asked in a small voice.
“No, I’ll do it. Eat.” He picked up the tray and bit his lip to keep from whimpering as
he carried it out to their father.
Father looked at the soup and bread and scowled. “This is dinner? This slop?”
Nick trembled in fear, but he answered steadily, “It’s all we have, sir.”
His father bashed the tray aside, roaring in anger. “All we have? By god, boy, you still need to learn respect! Go and make something fit for a real man!”
Nick watched the soup bowl as it arced through the air, impacted the wall and slid down to the floor. Soup was everywhere. His eyes flicked back to his father. “Sir, there is nothing else. I swear it!”
Father lunged up out of his chair, backhanding Nick into the wall. “Don’t you dare talk back to me, faggot! Nothing else to eat, huh? We’ll just see about that!” His father stomped toward the kitchen.
With a certain growing dread in the pit of his stomach, Nick raced after him.
Father stormed into the kitchen like a demon on a rampage, ripping open drawers and cabinets as he searched for food. He nearly ripped the fridge door off, leaving it dangling by only one hinge as he stared about wildly.
Evie shrank back against the wall, too terrified to even squeak, but that was the wrong thing to do.
Their father’s eyes lit on her and suddenly, there was a cleaver in his hand. He advanced on her slowly, moving to block any hope she might have of escape. He was breathing hard and fast. “Faggots and sluts I get for children. Well, by god, I’m going to have me a nice, juicy steak, one way or another!”
He began to lunge for the petrified girl, but he never finished the move. Nick had slammed into him from behind with the largest, sharpest knife in the house…the one he’d been slicing vegetables with earlier. The man swayed for a moment, gurgling as Nick pulled the knife out. Then, their father collapsed to the floor, blood gushing everywhere. Nick sank to his knees, face in his hands, moaning softly in pain and shock at what he’d done.
“Evie,” he finally said, “call the police.”
* * * *
Officer Jarnett could hardly believe or stomach the sight he saw. A man, dead on the floor; a teenage boy, naked, with dried blood clotted on the backs of his legs, kneeling by the corpse sobbing; a younger preteen girl, pale and weeping, trying to explain what had happened. The problem was that she was downright incoherent. He pulled her out of the kitchen.
“Slow down, miss. Start over.”
The girl gulped down some air, and then, she slowly and clearly told the policeman the entire story. The drinking, the beatings, her brother trying to protect her. Her brother meeting someone, someone who would pay for sex, giving them much needed funds since the man spent everything else on booze. How the father caught the boy, the screams from the barn and what happened after that.
Jarnett’s stomach heaved more than once through the entire tale, and in the end, he called for help.
He called not only for other officers to assist in this case, but also for the Guild to send telepaths to confirm the awful truth of the story. He wanted the boy exonerated completely, and that would take a Guild telepath to do. As more and more police showed up, taking images and collecting their evidence, Jarnett managed to coax the shocky teenage boy out of the kitchen. The boy collapsed in their living room, writhing in pain as something inside opened back up, sending fresh blood down his legs to add to the caked blood already there.
Jarnett gave up trying to get the boy to talk. Instead, he cradled the boy in his arms, wrapping the naked body in a threadbare, patched blanket the sister brought out for him. Finally, the Guild telepaths arrived. They looked around before making a beeline for Jarnett and the two children. Jarnett told them the story as the girl had told him.
Guildmember Tagad nodded. “So you want confirmation?” He reached out and placed his right hand on the boy’s head, eyes becoming unfocused as he entered the boy’s mind.
Guildmember Yriad did the same with the girl.
The coroner’s officers carried the man’s bagged body out of the house.
Officer Jarnett continued to cradle the boy in his arms, but he was pleased that the corpse was gone. That would help keep things calmer for the children. Soon, he knew, they’d have their answers. As they finished their immediate tasks, the police officers clustered in the living room, waiting for the verdict of the Guild telepaths.
Tagad abruptly broke away from the boy, his face contorted in agony. Both his hands clenched into fists, and he hissed, “I swear to god, if that bastard wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him myself.” He took a deep breath. “Not only is their story the truth, they didn’t tell you half of what was going on. They’ve both been horribly abused for years now. How this ever got past the school monitors, I don’t know, but I intend to find out!”
All the officers relaxed, seemingly as one, when Tagad confirmed the story.
Yriad came up a moment later, swearing softly in anger. “That son of a bitch. He was going to kill her…he was really going to kill her…to eat her.”
Chief Landry said, “Child Protective is on the way. Gilly’s good people. She’ll take care of these two.”
Jarnett looked up. “This boy needs medical attention pretty badly.”
Landry nodded. “She’s coming with the medics, actually.”
* * * *
Karen ‘Gilly’ Gillespie walked into the house, her warm brown eyes sweeping the room, resting on both children briefly in turn. She nodded to the Guildsmen. “Were they exonerated?”
Tagad and Yriad both inclined their heads. “Completely,” said Tagad. “They were the true victims here.”
Gilly smiled. “Excellent. The boy needs medical attention?”
In moments, she organized the lot of them, getting the boy onto a stretcher and out to the waiting medical shuttle. The girl she kept by her side, making it clear that she was taking personal charge of the two orphans. Finally, once she was done giving orders, she climbed into the car with Officer Jarnett, bringing the girl with her. They sat in the back as Jarnett drove the hovercar back to the station.
Gilly spoke to the girl. “Evie, right?” When the girl nodded shyly, she continued. “Your father is dead, Evie, he can’t hurt you anymore. But you’re a ward of the state now, unless you have any adult relatives?”
Evie shook her head.
“No? Well, I promise you it won’t be so terribly bad. I know you’re afraid, Evie, I would be, too. But look at it this way, how could it get any worse than it already was?”
Evie found her tongue at that. “I don’t wanna be separated from Nicky. That would be worse.”
“You won’t be, I promise. We’re going to go see Nick as soon as we can, and I’ll make him the same offer I’ll make you. If the two of you want, you can both come live with me. I don’t often take in foster kids, but you two need something special, I think, so I’ll make an exception for you.”
Evie thought about this. “And if we say no?”
Gilly smiled sadly, prepared for that eventuality. “Then, you’ll both go to the state orphanage, and I can’t guarantee that you’ll be fostered at all, much less fostered together.”
Evie closed her eyes. “I want Nicky.”
* * * *
The next morning, Gilly took Evie to see her brother. She allowed Evie to go into her brother’s room alone so that the two could speak privately while she got an update from the doctors.
Evie sat down by Nick, who was lying in the bed on his belly. “Nicky?”
Her brother opened his eyes and smiled at her. “Evie, you came. They told me you would, but I didn’t believe them.”
Evie put her hand in his. “The gov’nent woman from Child Protective brought me. She seems nice… she wants us to go live with her. Otherwise, we have to go to the orphanage.”
“Can we trust her, Evie? Might be safer to go to the orphanage, you know.”
Evie’s face fell slightly. “I like her, Nicky. Can we please try her? Give her a chance? She really does seem nice.”
Nick sighed
as he reached out and stroked his sister’s hair. “Okay, Evie. If that’s what you want to do, I’ll go along with it.” He smiled wanly at her. “I just want you to be happy again. I miss your laughter.”
Evie swallowed at the sight of tears in her brother’s eyes. Nicky had always seemed so strong, acting as a shield between her and Father. She was just beginning to understand what that had cost Nicky. “Thank you, Nicky,” she whispered, wishing that she could express herself well enough to say what she really meant. But her large, eloquent eyes spoke for her, and she knew that Nicky somehow did understand, for he squeezed her hand and smiled again.
* * * *
Gilly walked into the room when the two children had been silent for a while. She walked up to the edge of the bed and sat down on a low stool that put her head pretty much at eye level with the teenaged boy. “Hello, young man,” she said gravely.
She observed the tension in Nick’s body and the wariness in his eyes as he regarded her without lifting his head from the pillow. “Ma’am, are you the lady Evie was telling me about?”
Gilly smiled, trying to win this wary boy over. “If she was telling you about some wild, crazy, nice and funny lady that wants to let two teens into her home, then, yes, I am. My name’s Karen Gillespie, but I’m usually just called Gilly, and I am the officer in charge of Child Protective for this region.”
Nick’s eyebrow shot up. “You’re in charge of Child Protective, and you have the time to even talk to us?”
Gilly’s smile turned into a grin that hid her rage. “Oh, definitely. Your case is a priority, young man, because so many things went wrong. Your father should have been caught years ago but wasn’t. Nor did the school monitors pick up on your unhappiness, which they should have; they’re all Guild-trained Empaths.”
