Hello everyone! I know I'm a terrible person for starting a new story without finishing the ones I haven't updated in over a year, and I'm sorry, but I'm excited to start a new story! Warning; there are some triggers in this story so if you are triggered by abuse of any sort or any level or if you are triggered by alcoholism, please DO NOT read this story. Reviews are extremely appreciated! And please enjoy!
Levi POV
I sat quietly on my bed. My pale fist gripping to the soft blanket that stretched across my bed like a canvas. The dull lighting from my window and the stillness of it all made it seem like a living painting. The only thing moving was a silver necklace that was dangling from my neck, spinning in slow, delicate circles. My door creaked open, ruining the painting with a light brown smear.
"Levi," the girl at the door said, "Your mother didn't make it. We give you our sincerest apologies."
I nodded slowly and gulped. A six year old boy shouldn't have to lose their mother to a preventable disease. I didn't have the money to help her. I tried but I couldn't. I had to beg, but everyone else was in the same situation as me. No one could even spare a dime. I bit my lower lip to keep my sobs in. What would Uncle Kenny do when he found out his sister died? Would he hurt me again? She wouldn't be there to stop it this time. There was no telling what was ahead, or even, if there was anything ahead at all. He would be home soon. I would need to get ready. Maybe he'd be so drunk he'd forget to check on me again. Maybe he'd fall down before he got home and he wouldn't live to see mama's dead body. Maybe...
I heard the door downstairs slam shut. Damn... He was home earlier than normal. I heard his footsteps as they hit the stairs as he made his pursuit to my room. The door was open before I even rose off the bed. Uncle Kenny took long strides over to me and grabbed my shirt. He lifted me off the ground and pushed my back against the wall in one fluid motion.
"YOU KILLED HER BOY!" he roared. Spit flew from his lip on to my cheek. His eyes were clouded with the drunken confusion that was his mind and tears glossed over them and spilt down his face. "YOU KILLED MY LITTLE SISTER! YOU WERE BEING YOU'RE SLOB SELF INSTEAD OF GETTING THE MONEY FOR HER MEDICINE! SHE WAS A CRAZY BITCH FOR EVEN THINKING OF GIVING BIRTH TO YOU! YOU USLESS MAN WHORE!" He freed one of his hands and brought it up. It collided with my face as it had so many times before. I could tell my already bruised cheek was just going to look worse. "I'LL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE! YOU ARE THE MONSTER HERE; A USLESS BRAT WHO COULDN'T DO ANYTHING EVEN TO SAVE HIS OWN MOTHERS LIFE!" These were words that he had thrown at me many times before. I let the insults, threats, and strikes do their damage. It was painful, but I had gotten used to the fact that he only kept me to get money and be a little killing machine. I learned not to fight, since it would just make it worse. Not reacting at all, however, I was yet to experiment with. "USELESS CHILD! THE ONLY THING YOU'RE GOOD FOR IS FIREWOOD!" I felt the fear course through my veins as he threw me over his shoulder and brought me downstairs. He carried me to the fireplace in my mother's room and set me down in front of it, holding my shoulders to the mantel. "I want you to burn, boy. You and the rest of this damn house and these damn memories too."
I started to breath quickly as he stood up to his full height, which towered over mine. I wanted to close my eyes and pretend that my mama was still here and well and that she never needed to ask him for help. That she never needed to bring him to our house and that I never needed to have met the man who was making my life a living hell. But I didn't close my eyes, because I knew that if I did, I would have been thrown into that fire and I wouldn't have had even the smallest chance of an escape. His foot collided with my stomach and he turned to leave as I fell into the flames. The bright red flames licked up on me like a gentle brush against the pure white canvas. As I fell, my arm scraped along the mantel. I curled up into myself. Kenny hadn't left the room and I hadn't completely sunken into the burning flames yet. Things were moving so fast and yet so slow. I let my arms fall in front of me as I was entering the fire further. They burned but I ignored it. I bent them and shoved myself out of the flames, all but my head had been completely submerged in them and Kenny had finally gone. I rolled along the floor. The coolness of it stung as my body was thrown into spirals as I left the fire place. When the fire had completely left my body and remaining clothing, I rushed to get on my feet and to the back door. Uncle Kenny said that he wanted to burn me and the house. I needed to get out of there.
I stumbled along, the burns blistering and sensitive. The back door was in sight. I rushed to it and hurried into the heat of dead summer. My eyes began to get cloudy. My stomach started to ache. I stumbled to the fence separating my house from my neighbors. I needed to get out of there. Needed to... Get out of...
Bright sea green orbs were the last thing I saw before blacking out.
That was eighteen years ago. I never saw my uncle again after that. I am living over 100,000 miles/ 50,000 kilometers away from my old home with my friends Isabel, the one with the sea green eyes and Furlan, her adopted brother. They found me as I was blacking out and brought me back to their house. They were both orphans, so we related and bonded quickly. They helped with my healing process and I helped with theirs after their adoptive mother died. We're like siblings now.
Sometimes, I still get clues that Kenny is still out there. Things that terrify me. Even if it's just seeing someone who looks similar to him in a crowd, I need to be calmed down and given medicine. I might have forgotten him by now if he hadn't scared me so severely, figuratively and physically. The deep gash up my arm from the mantel is one of my more prominent reminders. I have almost nothing left of my mother after Kenny, did, in fact, burn my house to the ground. Just her memory and her favorite necklace. It was around my neck when I was thrown into the fire. The weak silver melted slightly around the two dolphins that were dancing around a splash of water together. She always said that she was one and I was the other and that we'd always be together.
I have only taken the necklace off for things that might have ruined it, but other than that, I've been wearing it since I was six years old. I'm now twenty four and I am in hiding from Kenny Ackerman and the police with my two best friends. We've been on the run since I was charged with his disappearance. We had to steal to be safe that no one would report us. This has been the past sixteen years of my life. And I don't know how much longer we can run.
Hurray! And that's the beginning of my story! I hope you all enjoyed!