The beginning

Chapter 7

A month had passed since that first beating, and every day, Evie received another for one reason or another. That day, it had been because she was a minute late to meet him. She was now walking around with a sprained wrist and a couple of cracked ribs. She refused to see a doctor, since she had been promised a worse beating if she saw anyone about her injuries. What she hadn't noticed though, was that 4 of her brothers had realised something was wrong and had started noticing differences in her behaviour.

"Something's not right." Scott said, pacing the living room. Evie was once again out and the 4 older Tracy boys were trying to figure out what was wrong with their sister. "Evie hates to wear long sleeves, but that is all she has been wearing for a month!"

"She's been wearing flats all the time. She never usually wears them outside of school." John said, running a hand through his hair.

"What about her guitar? She loves that thing, but hasn't touched it in a month!" Gordon said, putting his elbows on his legs and leaning forward.

"She never spends time with us anymore. She is either out, or in the barn." Virgil said. He suddenly sat up straight. "Rachel! She says that she is with Rachel all the time. Maybe she knows something." He grabbed the phone and rang the number.

"Hello?" Rachel answered as he put the phone on loud speaker.

"Hi Rachel. It's Virgil. Is Evie there?" He asked, the 4 leaning closer to the phone to hear the response.

"Umm… She's in the bathroom." She said. The 4 could hear the nervousness in her voice.

"Rachel, please. Don't lie. We know that something is wrong, but we just want to know what." Scott said. They heard her sigh.

"Ok. She made me promise to cover for her if you guys rang. I don't know what is going on, but whenever we are at school, she never talks and she spends all her time in the library." She said, making the boys' heart sink.

"Ok. Is there anything that you can tell us?" John asked, desperation clear in his voice.

"There is something." She said, making the boys lean in again. "I saw her in the toilets at school yesterday, and her shirt rode up at the back. I saw a huge bruise. It looked new. When I asked, she said that she got hit in the back with the ball during PE, but she hasn't done PE in a month. And it was way too big to be from a ball." The boys shared a look.

"What did it look like?" Gordon asked.

"I don't know. But it looked like multiple bruises that merged into one." She replied. "I'm sorry, but that's all I know."

"Thanks Rachel. That was more than we knew anyway." Scott said, hanging up the phone. They all leaned back and heard the door open. They looked up to see Evie walk into the room. "Hey Belle. How was your day?" He asked.

"It was good. Rachel and I went to the cinema." She said, dumping her bag. "I'm going to the barn." She walked out of the back door faster than normal and they all heard the shaking of her voice.

"She lied. She's been lying to us this whole time." John said in disbelief. "What are we going to do?"

"She'll probably fall asleep in the barn again. When she does, I'm going to see what Rachel was on about." Scott said, determination clear in his voice.

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Evie hadn't been out of the barn all night, and once Alan had gone to bed, the 4 older boys went out to the barn to see what was going on. They slowly climbed into the hay loft, being careful not to make a lot of noise. They saw Evie asleep on a hay bale like she had been for the past month, and moved closer. Scott motioned for the others to stay where they were so they didn't crowd her. He lifted the back of her shirt slowly, glad she was lying on her side, and his eyes went wide in horror. Her back was covered in a variety of old and new bruises, only small patches of skin un-marked. He realised that it was the same for her stomach.

"Oh my god." He breathed. He looked back at his brothers who were close enough to see the damage. There was only one thing that could cause this type of damage, and Scott knew exactly what it was. "Someone's been beating her."

"Why would someone do that? How could someone be so cruel?" Gordon asked, his eyes watering.

"I don't know Gordo. I don't know." John said as Scott pulled a blanket over her sister. They all climbed back down the ladder, leaving Evie since they knew they wouldn't be able to get her down.

"She's been crying. I saw the tear tracks." Scott said as they stood outside the barn. "Someone is doing this to her, and she is too scared to say anything."

"How do you know she's scared?" Gordon asked.

"She only cries when she's scared." John said.

"No. She cries when she's scared for other people." Virgil said. "My guess is that whoever is doing this threatened one or all of us. That threat is enough to keep her silent and make her cry."

"So what do we do?" John asked, looking at Scott, whose face was full of determination.

"We follow her and find the bastard that is doing this." He said.

"Won't she notice that we're suddenly following her around though?" Virgil asked, knowing how angry she would be if she caught them.

"I don't care if she notices. I am not letting her out of my sight until I get to the bottom of this." Scott replied, his back straight and stiff.

"But you have that interview for the air force." John pointed out.

"My sister is more important than a stupid interview." He replied, his eyes hard.

"An interview that could determine your whole life." John shot back. "In case you didn't notice, there are 4 of us to keep an eye on her. You go to your interview and we'll watch her. You know what Dad will do if he finds out you ditched the interview he set up for you."

"Ok. Starting tomorrow, She doesn't go anywhere without one of us knowing about it. Got it?" Scott asked.

"Got it." They confirmed. They all went to bed, but none could sleep. Virgil tossed and turned all night. He knew that they wanted to know what was going on, needed to know. But he wasn't sure he wanted to find out. And he certainly didn't want Evie to find out she was being followed.

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Evie knew what they were doing. She knew that her brothers were following her since Gordon walked into the library with her before school that morning. Gordon never goes into the library, and there he was 'reading' a science book before school had even started. What worried her, was that if they were following her, then they knew something was up. It meant that Richard wouldn't be able to do anything during the day, but it also meant that he would suspect that she told them.

"Will you guys stop it?" She snapped during lunch as they followed her to the tree she usually ate under before going to the library. "You have been following me all day, and don't pretend that you weren't."

"Evie, we're just worried. You haven't been yourself lately." John said, acting calm and collected, when he was actually extremely tense and worried.

"And you think following me round all the time is going to fix that? People change. Deal with it." She snapped, putting her hands on her hips.

"We're just trying to protect you." Scott said.

"Well don't." She said. "I am not a china doll that can break easily."

"Evie…" Virgil started.

"No Virgil. Not everything needs fixing. Not everything can be fixed. Now back off and leave me alone." She spun on her heel and walked out of sight. Scott looked back at Virgil, who looked heart broken.

"Virge?" He asked, stepping towards his younger brother. "What's wrong?"

"That's the first time she's ever snapped at me." He mumbled. "She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you! She's just angry. She didn't mean it Virge, I swear." He said, putting his hand on the younger boys shoulder.

Evie walked all the way to the bike shed at the edge of the school and stepped through the hedge, into the little circle of concrete hidden behind the overgrown bushes and the back of the bike shed. She sat on the floor and sighed. She hadn't meant to snap at them, especially not Virgil, but all she could think of was what might have happened if they found out.

Richard suddenly pushed his way through the branches and stormed over to her, grabbing her by the hair and pulling her to her feet before slamming her into the bike shed. "What did you say to them?" He hissed at her, his voice full of anger and hatred.

"Nothing!" She exclaimed, trying not to raise her voice. He didn't like it when she shouted at him.

"Really? Because they have been following you around all day and seem to know something!" He snapped, slamming her head into the hard wood of the bike shed.

"I swear! I didn't say anything!" She whimpered, pain rippling through her skull.

"I don't believe you!" He hissed throwing her to the floor and picking up a metal pole that lay on the floor. "I told you what would happen if you told them." He said. Her eyes widened in horror, before he bought the pole down on her bruised and battered body over and over again. She had a hard time not making a sound since she knew it would only get worse if she did.

Finally, when she could hardly keep her eyes open, he bent down to her level on the floor. "If this comes back to me, you will never be safe." He spat before leaving. She could hardly see out of her swollen left eye and was having a hard time staying conscious. She could hear a noise near her, but couldn't focus properly. She heard someone shout her name before everything went black.

Don't kill me! I had to add the cliff-hanger to add suspence.

Please review and let me know what you think.

Emma