Contents
Liberation
Copyright
Also By This Author
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Epilogue
Also by the Author
About the Author
Leave a Review
Liberation
BY
SIAN B. CLAVEN
COPYRIGHT 2019 Sian B. Claven
All characters; events and establishments in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author.
Cover Design by Simply Defined Art
Edited by Redwing Productions
Other Books by this Author
Horror Titles
“Read between the lines”
Ensnared
“Always lock your doors”
Tatum - The Butcher Book Series #1
“I told you to lock your doors”
Kallista -The Butcher Book Series #2
“You are not prepared for the darkness of this world”
The Culling
“If found, do not read.”
Watcher
“This is not a cute Christmas story.”
Killer Kitteh Khristmas
“Somethings should not be forgotten”
Asylum I
“You didn’t read between the lines.”
Liberation (Sequel to Ensnared)
Coming Soon
“You didn’t lock your doors”
Sylvana - The Butcher Book Series #3
“Gone but not forgotten”
Asylum II
“Be careful what you post online”
#RIPJohn
“Still not a cute kitty Christmas book.”
Demon Cat
Fantasy Titles
“Learning to trust is never easy, especially when the people you need to trust are running from the law… like you are.”
Unlikely Hero - A Spacehiker Adventure Story #1
Coming Soon
“The gangs all here, now what?”
Hidden in Plain Sight - A Spacehiker Adventure Story #2
“Freedom is our right. When they take that away, all we can do is fight back.”
Homeward Bound - A Spacehiker Adventure Story #3
“Everything hangs in the balance.”
Neutral Ground - Balancer Book 1
“Nothing is aligned”
Holy Demons - Balancer Book 2
Dedicated to Jackie,
You Liberate Me.
Acknowledgments
This book would not have been possible without the special people who help me make my books the best they can possibly be.
To Jackie; thank you for always being my number one fan.
To Toni and Darren, who always have my back and who always listen to my psychotic ideas and put up with my weird moods.
To my Beta Team - Karen, Shan, Franki, Ona, Lorrie, Toni and Jax. Thanks for taking the time to read my stories and make sure they are perfect for the readers.
Thank you, Elaina, for being the best editor ever, and for being so willing to put up with my ability to shoot out stories like bullets.
And to you, my fans, thank you for your continued support.
Prologue
“And this is Evelyn,” Melissa said as they walked into the final room of the orphanage. “Evelyn has been with us for a few months now. We found her wondering around without any idea of who she was or where she came from.”
“That’s so sad,” Karen said, kneeling by the little girl. “Hi, Evelyn, my name is Karen.”
“Hi,” Evelyn said shyly before going back to her dolls.
“How old are you, darling?” Karen asked softly, her husband Aubrey standing right behind her.
“They say I’m about thirteen, but I don’t know and I don’t have a birthday.”
She looked at Karen with big sad eyes and Karen knew she was the one; this was the little girl she and Aubrey had been looking for their entire lives.
Chapter One
At fourteen years old Evelyn was small for her age. Her mother, Karen Jones, always said she was not small - she was petite. Still, Evelyn was the shortest girl in her class and even her younger brothers were almost as tall as she was.
She was so happy that her mother and father had picked her from the orphanage. Without them she might have had to stay there until she was old enough to leave and start her own life. Now, though, she knew what being in a family meant and she was excited to be a part of it.
Evelyn had spent the better part of the last year getting to know as much about her family as she could, and then came the most exciting news - they were moving!
Karen decided the children needed to be out of the city and in a more natural environment, so Aubrey found a job outside of the city and they began packing their things.
When they arrived at their new home it was everything Evelyn had hoped for. The stunning large wooden house looked like a proper cabin, especially with the backdrop of beautiful woods behind it. It was as if they would be permanently camping. Her brothers were excited too and, the minute they arrived, they all tumbled out of the car and raced each other to the house.
They heard their father calling from behind them to be careful, but they didn’t care. They wanted to find out where their rooms were.
Braydon, the second eldest, took the bedroom directly opposite their parents; he was still a bit scared of the dark, even though his father insisted he was too old for that, and he liked to be near his parents in case the power went out.
Mickey and Nicky, her five-year-old twin baby brothers, picked a room overlooking the woods that was their back garden.
Evelyn wandered around, trying to figure out which one should be hers; there were so many.
“Found one yet?” Karen asked.
“No, not yet,” Evelyn said.
“Well, there is a secret room,” her mother teased.
“Where?” Evelyn asked, excited already.
Karen giggled and took her daughter’s hand, leading her to the end of the corridor. The house was bigger than it appeared outside and they had to make their way through a large hallway to get to a door.
“Here,” she said, and opened the door.
It led to a set of stairs.
Evelyn glanced at her mother curiously, before slowly ascending. The stairs seemed old, but didn’t creak under her weight as she climbed to the room her mother thought would be perfect for her.
At the top was an ornate-looking door and Evelyn smiled as she twisted the copper handle and pushed it open.
Karen followed her up, peeking in and saying, “This is the big kids’ room.”
Evelyn grinned and entered. “It’s lovely,” she said, awestruck by how huge it was.
The space was as wide as the two rooms plus the corridor below them and high enough so that Karen could stand without hitting her head.
“There’s a bay window over there,” Karen pointed out. “We can set up a nice little reading nook there.”
Evelyn looked to where her mother indicated and smiled again. “This room just feels right, Mama.”
Karen brushed Evelyn’s hair out of her face. “Let’s go grab your stuff and bring it up.”
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Evelyn ran downstairs ahead of her, hollering, “I got my room!” before rushing by her father, who called over her, “Slowly, Evelyn, you’ll fall,” before he chuckled and went to Karen.
“Did she love it?” he asked.
“She did,” Karen responded, kissing Aubrey on the lips. “I think this is going to work out great,” she said when they broke apart.
“As opposed to the blind panic you felt when we first decided to move?” he asked, caressing her cheek.
“This is a new start for us, love; a real start. A place where we are all on equal footing because we are all new to here. This will make us close as a family.”
Aubrey kissed her again, whispering against her lips, “I know, I love you.”
Karen smiled. “I love you, too, but I’ll love you even more once we have offloaded everything.”
She marched herself downstairs to find Evelyn in the back of the truck, helping her brothers with their boxes.
“Both of you take this one,” she told the twins. “It’s heavier than it looks.”
Karen couldn’t be prouder of her daughter and the way she had acclimatised to being part of their little family. Karen climbed into the truck to give her a hand.
“Let’s see, this one is for my room, so let’s put it this side for now,” she mentioned as she shifted a box. “Here we go, this is one for your room. Do you need help carrying it?”
Evelyn shook her head. “Nah, I’m good, I carried them all to the truck, so I know how heavy they really are.” She climbed off and Karen passed the box to her.
Evelyn made her way upstairs towards her room, admiring their new home as she did so. She was excited about this new chapter in their lives and couldn’t wait to see what her new school would be like once summer holidays were over.
Her brothers came running down the stairs next to her and she repeated their dad’s warning, “Slowly or you’ll fall,” but they ignored her as they sprinted towards the truck to get more things.
As she climbed to her room, she couldn’t help but feel there was something familiar about this, as though she had been here before. It felt as if she was accustomed to having an upstairs room, which made no sense at all, because as far back as her memory did go, she couldn’t recall ever having one.
The familiarity made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Was someone watching her? She set the box down in the centre of the space and slowly swivelled, looking around carefully.
It really was perfect for her. The big bay window let in so much light and she would make a comfortable reading nook in it, surrounded by all the wonderful books her parents had bought her over the last year at book stores and yard sales.
Her bed would go under the eaves; it would look great there. She then noticed a door hidden by the roof beams and moved over to it. Pulling it open, she found a huge closet and squealed.
“What?” Aubrey asked as he came upstairs. “Oh, you found your walk-in closet, did you?”
“I love it, daddy!” she said, even happier with her room now. She launched herself into his arms and hugged him tightly; making him drop the box he was carrying.
“Whoa, careful now, baby,” he said with a chuckle, kissing the top of her head.
That was when everything went black.
It was late in the evening, dinner finished, and she played with her little sister on the floor. She was young; she knew she was younger than she was supposed to be, but, oh, she couldn’t recall how old she actually was. Her mother sat in a nearby chair, knitting away as she hummed along to a song playing on the radio.
The front door opened and closed and she scrambled to get up. Someone important was home, but she couldn’t remember who.
A man appeared at the doorway and her little sister gurgled at him. She squealed happily and ran to jump into his arms. He lifted her into the air and chuckled before lowering her onto his hip and kissing her on her head.
“Evelyn?”
“Honey, wake up.”
“Evelyn, are you okay?”
Evelyn gradually blinked herself awake. She was on the floor with both her parents over her. Vaguely she was aware that her brothers lurked just down the stairs, trying to see what was going on.
“You scared us, darling,” Karen said, stroking her cheek. “I think we should take you to the hospital; you just collapsed in dad’s arms.”
Aubrey was pale and in shock, gripping Evelyn’s hand tightly in his.
Evelyn sat up and rubbed her head. “No, I’m fine, I promise.”
“Get up slowly,” her mother ordered, helping her into a sitting position.
“I’m fine, Mama, I promise.”
Her parents watched her closely as she glanced around her room. “I love my room.”
“Well, don’t love it so much you pass out on me, kiddo,” Aubrey said.
“I promise I’m okay now,” she responded, getting up.
Her parents stood as well and Karen hugged Evelyn to her. Evelyn loved the way her mom smelt of flowers and wood. She pulled away and gave them a reassuring smile.
Aubrey nodded. “You start unpacking; I’ll bring the rest of your stuff up. Mom and the boys will organize us lunch.”
“Is Evelyn okay?” Mickey asked from downstairs.
“Yeah, is Evelyn gonna die?” Nicky asked directly afterwards.
“No, you two,” Karen said as she left the room.
Evelyn giggled and rubbed her head again, wondering why she had passed out and about the dream she had. It seemed so real.
She did as her parents asked and started to unpack her things, waiting as her father brought more and more of the furniture up. She began to rearrange the room to suit her. She put her puffy bean bag by the bay window, along with several of her plush toys and throw cushions, to make it into a comfortable spot. She made sure her bookcase was within reach and unpacked her books.
Picking up a brown book, leather bound, she stopped. She couldn’t recall getting this one, and opened it to the front page. It was a journal of sorts, but on the first page someone had written ‘Kiara’s book’. She wondered who Kiara was and why she had her book. Flipping through the pages, she found nothing written there, so she put it on her bookshelf to use later on.
“Evelyn?” Aubrey called up the stairs. “Lunch is ready, darling.”
“Coming,” Evelyn responded, getting up from her seat on the floor and leaving books strewn there as she ran down the stairs two at a time to join her family for a picnic on the lounge floor.
Chapter Two
The days passed by in a blur as the family got their home up and running. Between unpacking everything, Aubrey and Karen were also insistent the children get rid of any books, toys or clothes they didn’t use anymore. They hadn’t had a chance to throw anything away while packing. Originally they were supposed to move in the following month, but the previous occupants moved out early and it was then a case of pack up everything and go.
They designated a big box downstairs for everyone to deposit stuff into, which would go to the orphanage where Evelyn was adopted from.
Evelyn loved the idea, and each time she unpacked a box she selected two or three items to give to the children she had left behind. She was so grateful to the orphanage for finding her and giving her shelter, she could never thank them enough.
She also told her mother that she planned to do a bake sale at school to raise funds for the orphanage. Her mother thought it was a great plan and said she could ask the orphanage to give Evelyn a letter of recommendation for community service to go on her college application. Evelyn didn’t do it for that reason, but saw that as an added bonus.
Days turned into weeks and, before they knew it, the happy family celebrated their first month in their new home. The orphanage had received the donated items and the children spent most of their time playing or reading.
Karen and Aubrey trusted Evelyn to take care of the boys while they were at work. Evelyn saw this as a huge responsibility. Karen and Aubrey s
aw it as an opportunity to reinforce that Evelyn was the older sibling in the family, regardless of where she came from.
Evelyn woke the boys up each morning and prepared their breakfasts. While they watched TV she would tidy the house for her mother; making the beds, doing the laundry and dishes, and ensuring the boys didn’t track dirt through the house when they came in from playing outside.
All in all it was a peaceful existence and Evelyn was glad that her parents had decided to move their family out here to the outskirts of the city, where no one would bother them.
On a Friday morning Evelyn woke up to the sound of her parents talking in the kitchen as they got ready for work. She yawned and came downstairs, greeting them each in turn and giving them a hug. She sat at the counter and had her breakfast as they discussed their plans for the weekend. Most of their weekends so far had been spent fixing up the house and this weekend was going to be no different. They wanted to paint the twins’ bedroom and redo the putty on the windows to make them more secure.
Evelyn zoned out as her dad discussed what else he wanted to do around the house and instead focused on finishing her cereal, letting her mind wander.
She stared out of the window as she did this, thinking of what she wanted to do this day while her parents were at work. Her father was employed at the local hospital as the in-house psychologist, while her mother had secured a position at a beauty salon a few miles away. Both were happy with their new positions, as far as Evelyn could tell, and she was pleased to take care of her siblings.
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