Chapter 1: Double Date
Silence. The house was dark, nothing but the soft glow of candles flickering. Hot breath shimmered in the moon light. A pair of large hands wrapped around her throat squeezing. She opening her mouth to scream but nothing came out but a strangled cry. She felt her hips ache and shift with every thrust of the head board into the wall. Tears trickled down her cheeks as knuckles wrapped against her cheek bone roughly.
Suddenly the cold anger on the outside was removed by the hot liquid on her inside. She went stiff, not moving. Blood dripped from her chest down to the blankets and sheets beneath her, and then, she was alone.
"I ain't coming back this week. You better have them damn dishes done for when I do get back, ya hear?" He ordered as he pulled a shirt on. She rubbed at her throat, still unable to talk right away. "I said did you hear me?" he snarled, walking into the room. "Don't you fucking ignore me!" He clubbed her upside the head as she sat up. Her ears started ringing as her vision quickly flashed white.
"I heard you; I wasn't ignoring you I just couldn't speak." She quickly defended. Her throat hoarse. "I wasn't ignoring you." She repeated, whispering this time. Turning he finished getting dressed and left her in the darkness. Pushing herself up she slipped a pair of panties on and a t-shirt and headed out into the living room.
Flipping on the tv she ran her fingers through her messed up dirty blonde hair and took a seat at the kitchen table. She listened to the news, her eyes gliding across the room. Landing on a piece of paper she read it over.
"This Certificate is a Representation of Success, given by the Board of Education to Xylia Lynn Sunderland. Congratulations." Blah, blah, blah. She looked away from it embarrassed. She had been the only high school graduate who didn't have anyone to pick her up from the ceremony and take pictures, or take her to dinner, or even show up. She was alone, and now instead of feeling proud every time she looked at the certificate, all she felt was shame and humiliation.
"I guess that's what I get for being the illegitimate love child of a sloppy affair." She muttered cradling her head. She'd told herself this multiple times, but it still hurt every time she said it. Her father, Frank Sunderland stopped visiting when she turned 5. She hadn't heard from him since. No phone call, letter, or even email message. And her mother, raising her up by herself mentally unstable…well, let's just say she didn't have a fairy tale child hood.
Her mother being Schizophrenic and compulsive in every shape and form of the word left her unable to actually care about the child. Sometimes, she liked to pretend that she wasn't related to her mother growing up. Often saying No, my mommy is a Williams I'm a Sunderland. They had no relation. None at all.
Of course, with her mother's lack of caring, she often found herself getting into trouble, and needless to say, she didn't remember much before she was 16. 16 years old. That fateful year. The year her mother started panicking and running around the house every morning before school with a knife screaming something about a town called Silent Hill. When she came back, she found that her mother had been sent to the insane asylum. Like she cared. It wasn't going to really make a difference on her life; the only thing it'd change is now it'd be quiet.
Sighing, she pushed herself to her feet and walked over to turn the TV off. As she leaned down to click the button the phone rang, making her jump. Walking over she pulled it off of the receiver and held it to her ear.
"Hello, Xylia Sunderland here." She greeted dully.
"Hey Lia, how are you?" A male replied on the other side. She didn't reply back, trying to place the voice. "It's Alex."
"Alex…" She searched for a last name in her head.
"Alex Wilkes?" Grinning she nodded leaning against the wall.
"Ah, Mr. Wilkes. How are you?" She questioned. The last time she'd hung out with him was a year ago after he started dating his girlfriend Hannah. Hannah was a bitch who hated Lia. Alex and Lia had been friends since middle school. Almost brother and sister like friends.
"Don't be formal Lia, or I'll hunt you down and kick your butt." He joked. She laughed lightly and shook her head, turning the tv off with the remote.
"Go ahead, it'll add to the other bruises I got." She reached up, rubbing her throat, closing her eyes, her smile fading.
"Other bruises huh?" Pulling from the wall she sat down on the couch and rested a leg over the back.
"yeah, I'm such a scrapper dude, you know that." She replied sarcastically. He laughed.
"Oh yes, such a scrapper." He trailed off. She stared at the ceiling, feeling comfortable just sitting there, listening to him breathe on the other side of the phone. She had had a crush on him for the past three years, but it seemed like the closer she tried to get to him, the more assholes she'd ended up falling for. "Hey, can I ask a favor of you?" She stopped and closed her eyes, wondering what kind of heart break she was going to witness now. She always experienced that kind of heartbreak with him it seemed. He asked for a favor and she'd end up crying for a month straight. But she couldn't say no.
"What's up?" She whispered.
"Can you come to the movie with my girlfriend and I?" She cocked an eyebrow and looked at the phone.
"Intrude on your date? Why would I do that dude?" She pressed, wondering why he would ask that.
"Well…uh. It's a long story."
"Dude, you know Hannah hates my guts, going on that date with you would be suicide." She replied, rolling over, catching a shadow out of the corner of her eye. "Hold on." She hid the phone, putting it on mute. "Anthony?" She called out. She waited for a second, waiting for the sound of her boyfriend to come busting in, hooting and hollering. When nothing happened she called again. "Anthony, did you forget something?" Pushing herself on her knees she waited, listening. There was no movement. No sound. Nothing. Hesitating she took the phone off of mute and pushed it to her ear. "Back."
"You ok?" Alex questioned, sounding concerned.
"Yeah, I thought my boyfriend was home." She replied, still sitting on her knees, her eyes glued to the door, getting ready to hang up the phone if he came in.
"You got a boyfriend? Is this one an asshole?" Alex questioned.
"You know it." Lia muttered, staring at the door. "This one doesn't like me using the phone and leaves for weeks at a time." Alex groaned.
"Lia,"
"Enough about me, you know Hannah hates me with a passion." She carried on where she last left off with the previous conversation.
"I'm not dating Hannah." Alex replied, sounding kind of proud of himself.
"Oh you're not? Congrats dude, she was a stupid bitch." Lia snickered. "Who's the lucky lady now?" She teased, looking away from the door. A cold chill ran up her spine, grabbing her shoulders.
"You might know her, Aylah Perkson?" Lia rolled her eyes and groaned, rubbing her eyes. Yet another bitch who hated her.
"Alex, you need to stop dating stupid people. Find people with a personality that isn't worth punching."
"Ha ha, she's not that bad." He replied dryly.
"Well if she's not that bad then why do you want to double date so badly, huh?" she countered. He was silent for a second, looking for something to say, before he realized that the truth was the best thing.
"I want to see you." He whispered. She stopped then looked down, feeling her heart throb. She knew she'd be dead meat if she left and Anthony came back to find her gone with another man –or gone period. But he was going to be gone for a week, and she could always come up with a lie. She was good at lying. After all, her entire life was a lie. Not a single person knew what really happened in her life.
"Fine." She gave in. "I'll go to the movie with you, but in order for it to be a proper double date, I'll need a date." She smiled.
"You're bringing your boyfriend?" Alex sounded almost scared. Snorting Lia laughed.
"No, of course not. I'll bring Evan." Alex gasped lightly and laughed.
"Wow, I haven't seen him since…well…" he coughed.
"Since you last fucked?" She snickered, remembering how those two were when they dated. They were a cute couple. Alex was the shy bisexual and Evan was the open gay and they found themselves making love in public more than once.
"Uh….yeah." Alex admitted sheepishly.
"Which was how long ago?" She questioned, remembering how they broke up 4 years ago. The question caused Alex to cough again.
"About two years ago." He admitted again.
"Alex! You two dated four years ago!"
"I know I know! He's just…well." He whimpered.
"Hot as hell, I know. And he's probably coolest gay guy in the world." She smiled. "Well, when are we going?" She questioned.
"The movie starts at nine." He replied. Nodding she looked back and saw that it was about 6:30. It was awkward though. It being pitch black outside before 7. "I'll call Evan and be there to pick you up in an hour." Nodding she agreed to the plans and said her goodbyes. Putting the phone down on the receiver she looked at the clock then at the window. A Double date with her middle school crush huh? She smiled. Now, it seems my life doesn't suck as bad as I thought. Take that and shove it up your ass Anthony!
