Disclaimer: I don't own the wonderful land and characters of Wonderland, but I do own Emily and her…er…'lovely' family.
A/N: Hello. This is my first fanfic and I hope you all enjoy it. Please feel free to review. It will be greatly appreciated!
No Light of Hope
"Get up, you foul little worm!" Emily's mother, Trish, shrieked up the stairs.
Emily sluggishly got up and looked out the window. It was still dark but bright enough to see the edge of the cliff and the steep bank on the other side covered with sharp rocks and boulders. She shuddered. As far back as she could remember, she had been afraid of heights.
"I'll have to cover that up again," she mumbled to herself. About a week earlier, Trish had ripped Emily's curtains down while yelling that she had no reason to be afraid and that she was stupid and whiney.
Trish's head popped back in the doorway, "Are you up yet? Get ready and get some clean clothes on! You look like trash!" Then, she was gone again.
Emily looked at herself in the mirror. She had short brown hair, a creamy complexion, and a light mist of freckles to finish off her cute looks. Then, she looked down at her clothes. Her baggy and soiled work clothes ruined her hourglass figure.
She had been too tired to change from the day before. Emily had stayed up late fixing the roof and had fallen asleep in what she was in.
She quickly changed into a clean set of clothes and rushed down the stairs to make breakfast before her mother had to go to 'work.' Trish didn't exactly work, she was more of a pickpocket. She ran around malls and other places stealing money or items around stores, which ever was more 'convenient.'
Today, Emily would make pancakes in hopes that Trish would give her a break. She could here the weather man in the background saying that it would be a hot and sunny day. She just hoped her mother would have a good day, so she wouldn't have to work all day out in the heat.
Trish came out of her room in her best work clothes and her largest purse that was almost completely empty; obviously, she expected to have a good day also.
On her thirteenth birthday, over four years ago, she had asked her mother to stop stealing when she had come home with a large boom box. Trish had blown up in her face and then left quickly with her boyfriend, John, to the bar.
John swaggered into the kitchen, buttoning his dress shirt.
"Where are you off to, all dressed up?" asked Emily, flipping over a pancake.
John usually stayed home to make sure that Emily did her chores. If she set a toe out of line, she'd get what was coming to her when her mother came home.
"What does it matter to you?" John spat hatefully.
Emily looked away quickly from a mixture of fear and hurt.
"If you must know, I'm going with your mother. We're getting behind on some bills, so I figured she needed some help."
Emily looked at her mom with a faint smile that wouldn't reach her eyes. It faded rapidly as Trish produced a pencil and a notepad from her purse.
Glancing around the house, Trish was looking for a new chore or something that needed to be redone.
Emily turned back to her work with a grimace. She slapped the pancakes on a plate and got out the condiments as her 'family' sat down around the table.
Just before she could sit down, John's cruel and gruff voice snarled, "Don't sit down, you ingrate! Your mother and I would like a beer."
Emily hurried to the fridge and pulled two of the cool bottles from the box. On her way back to the table, her foot caught on a loose floor board causing her to trip. The bottles flew from her scrabbling hands and smashed against the wall over the table.
"You little shit!" John exclaimed, after being sprayed with the rank liquid. He backhanded her across her face, sending her to the floor. Pulling off his belt, Emily could just make out between his drunken curses that she was going to pay.
She clenched her teeth as the belt came down on her back. Her thin shirt provided no protection from his powerful blows. Emily's sea green eyes rolled pleadingly towards her mother like the many times they had before. She saw no pity in those cold gray orbs.
Trish stood up and left the room without a backwards glance. Hearing the car start, John stopped.
"You little bitch! Now we're going to be late!" he bellowed accusingly. His dark brown eyes narrowed dangerously.
Emily turned her eyes to the floor, not being able to way the tall, heavyset man in the face.
"Your chores better be done by the time I get home," he said in a threatening whisper. He flourished a long list from a back pocket with a sadistic smile. John through the paper at her feet when she reached a shaking hand out to take the cursed list.
After the porch screen slammed closed, Emily shrank to the floor in tears. Her small frame shook with unexpressed anger and hate. She rocked her bruised body in a fetal position on the dirty kitchen floor.
Determinedly, she got up and picked up the phone receiver like she had so many times before. Emily dialed her father's number again, as she had on so many occasions like this. And as always…it rang busy. He never answered, but she always had the hope that he would come and rescue her. She wanted to see her brother again.
The court had decided that each parent would get a child. So after the divorce, her father had taken her little brother, Anthony, and moved far away. Or that was all her mother would tell her, at any rate.
'One day, maybe, my prayers will be answered,' she thought gloomily, starting her busy and strenuous chore list.
The day went by as her usual day did. All work and no play. She never added the 'makes a boring person' to the end, to her she could never have a normal life. Hours went by and she finally reached the last and her least favorite chore on the list…clean the pond.
She hurried through a quick meal, before going out to the murky, green pond. That's when she heard the car pull up.
'No! It can't be them! They shouldn't be home until tomorrow!' she thought frantically. She ran to the closest window and peeked out of the tattered, maroon curtains. "Oh, no!" she gasped horrified.
John kicked his car door open and fell to the ground outside it. He swayed and stumbled over to the pond in the middle of the yard with a creepy determination. He peered from under his sagging lids at the still murky water. With a small sway, he fell face first into the dirty water. He lay still.
A surprised gasp escaped Emily's shell pink lips. Had he fainted…was he dead?
To her complete terror he rolled over and crawled hazardously from the pond. A maniacal laugh split through the quiet evening air. He was drunk to a crazy stupor, nearly.
He started a clumsy walk in the direction of the cabin with a evil glint in his brown eyes. All the while he fumbled with his belt.
"Oh, God, please no…" she pleaded, backing up.
When he burst through the front door, Emily was already out the back.
"Emily!" he slurred out, "You can't hide forever!"
'Oh, yes, I can…' she thought as she took off around the house to the pond.
She could hear the front door opening only twenty feet away. Emily could hear the drunken man's labored breathing as he tried to run after her.
An extra burst of speed sent her hurtling into the pond. The thick layer on top sloshed back around her sickeningly. She swam as fast as she could away from John.
"Get the hell out of there!" John screamed angrily behind her.
Emily was so scared. She didn't know what to do. Then, something grabbed her foot…
REMINDER PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!!!