Chapter 9: Explanations
Izzy POV
Jasper and I shared a look. He knew at least part of what I was going to say, and I think he knew some of the rest as well. He probably at least knew that it wasn't exactly flowers and sunshine. Everybody else was staring expectantly at me, especially Emmett. I guess I should just get it over with.
"I dunno where to start…" I said, speaking the truth. Where should I start? Still just staring. Okay then. Well, I guess I'll start from the beginning.
"I guess I'll start with…when I was six years old. My dad was a the chief of police at a little town in the country, where not much happened. He still worked the field, because that's what he loved. Again, not much happened, so it wasn't exactly a high-risk job. But one day, I just knew something bad was gonna happen, and I begged him not to go. He did anyway, and he was shot. He'd stopped at a corner convenience store, and this guy came in with a gun, wanting the money from the cash register. He was a cop, he had to stop it, but instead he got himself killed. His partner got the guy, just a no-good small time robber. But it didn't change the fact that he was dead. My mom went through her grief in her own way. She moved us to Arizona, and for awhile she didn't really do anything but lay there, unresponsive. At first, she would at least microwave something for me and get up on Saturday morning to pay the bills, but then she stopped. I was young, but I knew that it wasn't normal. I knew that if the bills didn't get paid, we would be in trouble. I knew how to microwave, of course, so I made her soup and spoon-fed her in bed.
Thank god Charlie, my dad, had stockpiled a whole bunch of cans in case of emergency. And thank god he had life insurance. I know that sounds bad, but it kept us alive. The grocers thought it was weird a little kid was goin in there and buying a whole cartful of soup, but I could walk, and I would return the carts in the mornin'. Charlie had set up something where if we didn't or couldn't pay our bills, it would automatically take money from his accounts to take care of us, so I didn't have to worry about that. Eventually though, the life insurance ran out, and Charlie was a cop, he wasn't rich. It started to run out when I was about ten, so I babysat as much as I could. I had started school when my mom wasn't as bad, so I just kept going. It was hard, but I made it work. But then it got worse. My mom stopped laying around all day and started partying. Hard.
She would drink all the time and bring home random guys. She was a happy drunk, but sometimes her hookups weren't. I learned to stay out of the house when they were there. I functioned as much as I could, but the money didn't last forever, especially with her drinking it away. I had to find another source of income. I got a job, but it was minimum wage and didn't pay enough for her habits. One day I was out on the streets, because one of her regular guys was at the house, and this guy that looked about fifteen was out with his friends, seeming all hyped up. Long story short, that was when I discovered the Ring. Really, it was street fighting, and I didn't think it was real, just on T.V., but it was, and I could make money. They thought I'd be dead for sure at the first round, even at the lowest level, just cuz I was young, but I needed the money, and I won. People liked seeing big dudes get taken down by a little girl, and they paid well. 'Course, the big dudes didn't like it, so I invested in some weapons. I lived like this a while until my childhood friend, Jake, who also got into it after his dad and him got in a fight, got killed.
He died cuz one the guys I beat wanted to get to me. And you know what? He did. My mom had been getting worse, and I didn't know what to do, 'till one of her hookups killed her. I swear, death followed me wherever. The guy was one of the nastiest son of a bitches ever. He said he was coming for me, but the police didn't believe me, and they just arrested him. But he's got friends, and I've got a lot of other enemies, so I started moving around a lot. I'm pretty sure I lost 'em maybe a few months ago, before I moved here, but you never know, so I still train a lot. I was damn good at fighting, and I don't want 'em to catch me off guard. So that's what the basement is for." By the time I finished, there was dead silence. "Look, I just want you to know, if they ever came after me, and knew that I was close to you people, they'd probably try to kill you. So, you guys can just pretend you never knew me from now on, if you want." Thought I'd give them fair warning. Still, complete silence.
Jasper was staring at me with an unreadable expression, eyes dark and clouded over. Edward looked frozen in shock, Alice just looked like she already knew all this, but was still sad that it happened, Rose looked like she was far off in the distance, like something I said had reminded her of something bad. And Emmett looked the angriest I'd ever seen him. He looked like he was gonna explode. I started feeling a bit uneasy with all that silence, so I stood up and started walking toward the kitchen. Hmmm. I was feeling a little munchy. They followed me in there, and watched as I made myself a bowl of cereal.
"So spilling out your life secrets that, by the way, were really depressing, makes you hungry?" Emmett asked, face stormy.
"…Yeah, that's pretty much it." I didn't like to talk about it.
"And you think we're gonna abandon you because of them."
"Yeah, that's it too."
"I've questioned your sanity a whole bunch of time before, Izzy, but now I might really think you're insane."
"What do you mean?"Is that just Emmett-speak for something that I don't know?
"Well, you've always seemed different, but I didn't know…"
"Yeah, Emmett. That's kind of the point of not telling you. See? I knew you'd be all different. I shouldn't have told you anything." I was kind of pissed. Not at him, but because I knew that now he wouldn't be Emmett around me anymore. And I caused that.
"Nah, Izz-Possible. I don't think so." Well, I hope so. Oh, now it's getting too serious. Deflect. Deflect.
"Hey, Rose, you okay?" She still looked out of it.
"Umm, yeah." I was pretty sure everybody could tell she wasn't but I dropped it.
"Well, okay."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
So after I dropped that bombshell, it did get a little awkward. I guess they had to think it through or something, though Jasper seemed the most normal. My guess was that he had expected something like that, and so, got over it more quickly. He'd probably witnessed similar. We'd all kind of done our own thing. This house was previously owned by a family, until they decided to move and I bought it from them. I still did some street fighting, and it paid well. I just had to be a lot more careful. But I guess I'd become a bit of a legend. I never gave my name, but I did have a pretty distinguishing tattoo on my shoulder blade that was pretty visible when I fought, since I wore a tank top. Otherwise, you can get overheated and stuff. Also, baggy clothing can be an opponent's advantage, and can get in the way of your movement.
Hmmm…I haven't checked on Rose in a while. It's almost dark. Despite her claims that she was fine, I knew that she was shaken up. Right now she was holed up in one of the empty bedrooms that I didn't care to furnish. I stood silently at the doorway as she cried her eyes out. Crying people make me uncomfortable, but she clearly needed comforting. I hesitantly walked over and patted her back awkwardly. She started sobbing even harder. What do I do? I am not good at comforting people. I just kept on patting.
Thankfully, before too long, Emmett was walking by the room at just the right moment, and seeing Rose in tears, immediately walked over and gave her a hug, letting her cry on him. He started murmuring to her that she was fine, and it was alright. He clearly didn't know what was going on, but the way he automatically comforted her let me know that they really were pretty awesome for each other, and he really did really like her. I mean, it was pretty much instinct for him. I, still awkwardly, patted her hair.
It wasn't a huge house, and eventually everybody made their way up there. With the door open, they could see what was happening. Jasper had snuck in quietly and started awkwardly rubbing her back, obviously as not good with open displays of sadness as I was, but he seemed genuinely concerned. Edward and Alice just kind of appeared, and Alice, again, seemed to know just when to show up, and that this would happen. I would have to ask her how, later. Rose's sobs were slowly subsiding, giving way to slight hiccupping. Emmett was still rocking her gently back and forth, and she seemed to have a death grip on his shirt. It kind of felt like a private moment, and that made me feel even more awkward. But she was my friend, so I was concerned for her. After a while, I asked her, "What's wrong?", and she let go of Emmett, and spun slowly around to face us.
"Well, it just…"
Rose POV:
I hated them seeing me like this, but there was no use pretending it didn't happen. I didn't like telling anybody my story, because afterwards, they looked at me differently. Like, a kicked puppy, or something fragile that could break any second. I hated being seen as a victim, period. But I also wanted them to know, so I wouldn't have to hide it. "It's just…when Izzy said the part about her mom's hookups…it reminded me of my dad.
You know my mom is always away on business trips, but that's how she manages it...my dad, um, he…he hit her. It was horrible. I would try to stop it, but he would just brush me off, until this one time, I guess he finally saw me as old enough to be some trouble, and he turned around, and started hitting me. His eyes…they were so cold and dark, but just…blazing with anger, and it scared me so much. My mom was just laying there, and she kind of sat up and stared at my dad hitting me, but she didn't say anything, or move. I'd always tried to help her, but she didn't even say anything to defend me.
Not…not even…when…he...started to rape me." The memories were rushing up again, and I stopped talking, and started quietly sobbing again. Emmett tried to comfort me, but I just wiped away the tears and started back up again. I had to finish the story or I would implode. "When he was…um…doing that, I knocked over something and the neighbors heard a disturbance and called 911. The police came and saw my mom all bruised up, and my dad standing over me. They told me I was all bloody, and half-unconscious when they took me away. Thankfully he's in jail now. But instead of confronting the situation, at all, my mom threw herself into work. So she's never around, and I just had to try to get through it on my own." And now I turned to Emmett's arms, and broke down crying. I could never forget my dad's face, looming over me, filled with rage and hate.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After my crying had subsided a bit, I wiped my face as well as I could, and turned to face my friends, embarrassed. "Sorry about that, I just…well, yeah." I looked around, prepared to see them all looking at me with pity, or something like that. But all I saw were people who cared about me, and wished it hadn't happened to me, but knew that it didn't define me. I saw Emmett, eyes dark and looking like he hated my dad with everything he had, but as soon as he saw me looking at him, his eyes softened, and he smiled a sad kind of smile. I saw Izzy staring at me with a kind of respect and understanding. "I-I get that my story is sad, but I just wanted to say, I am not a victim, okay? I'm just…"Unsure, I trailed off.
"A survivor. It doesn't make you weak, it makes you strong, right?" Izzy seemed uncertain, probably because of all the tears, but she was the first to speak after I had, and she came over and put her hand on my shoulder. "Rose, you're one of the strongest people I have ever met, and I'm glad you're my friend, as cheesy as it sounds." It did sound cheesy, but I didn't care, it was nice.
"Thanks." She nodded, and I leaned over onto her shoulder, exhausted. She'd implied that she'd weathered beatings, so, she understood what I was going through probably the most. The most that I could tell, anyway. I could never read Jasper, or even Emmett sometimes…I really need to stop thinking. It's giving me a headache.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Izzy POV
Well this is depressing. It'd been a while, in fact it was the middle of the night now. Rose had recovered and all the sappiness was pretty much gone. But we were still just sitting on the floor.
"Hey, um, I'm getting all depressed and stuff, so…who wants change the topic?" Emmett raised his hand like we were in grade school. Everybody else slowly followed his lead. This is kinda awkward. Which, I guess is better than depressing. "Soooo…hey Emmett, what's the biggest prank you've ever pulled?"
"Oh, so you just assume I like to pull pranks," he snarked back.
"Then you don't pull pranks?" I knew he did, I just knew that he could never back down from a challenge.
"Of course I do. Well, what do you mean by biggest…."
The rest of the day passed by with witty banter and funny stories. Even Jasper joined in, talking about stupid things that Edward had done over the years. Finally, they had to all go home, as the weird snow had pretty much all melted away. This might've been a drama filled day, but it ended pretty well, I guess.
