Hey guys, sorry this chapter has taken so long, I've had a busy few weeks, but here it is! Just a warning but there are some scenes of violence, but other than that I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Clary's family was never perfect. Even when Jon was alive they'd had their problems. It was just that they were better at hiding them; no it was just that Valentine was better at hiding them.
Clary had quite enjoyed her childhood; she had everything she could have ever wanted, a big house in the suburbs New York that had a vast garden and a huge pool. She had a family that loved her and she had good memories of playing in the garden with her brother, spending time drawing with her mother and even reading with her father.
Well at least they were good memories until that fateful day ten years ago.
Clary remembered it as if it was yesterday. She remembered her mum picking her up from school and taking her for ice-cream. It was strange, Clary's mum never really did stuff like this, and if she did Jon would be there too. Even though Clary was only eight she'd had a strange feeling in her stomach that something wasn't right.
After ice-cream Jocelyn put Clary into the car, buckled her seatbelt and started to drive home. Clary noticed how her mum had been strangely quiet. It was odd. Jocelyn was normally full of life singing along to the radio while Clary laughed in the backseat, but it wasn't like that, not today, and not for a long time after.
When they got home, Clary jumped out of the car and made her way around to the garden. It was her favourite place because there were so many things to draw but also its where her family spent time together. And so she rushed round expecting to see her brother and her father playing a game of some kind, but when she reached the garden, she didn't see what she had expected.
Instead she saw her father sitting solemnly on a chair. She rushed over to him, "Daddy, daddy," she said as she ran. When she reached him she jumped up onto his lap. "Daddy, guess what?" she asked with a giddy smile on her face.
"What?" Valentine asked trying, but failing to replicate her giddiness.
"Mum took me for ice-cream!" Clary shrieked.
"Oh did she, now," Valentine said looking up to his wife who had made her appearance in the garden.
Clary nodded excitedly before turning to look around the garden, "Where's Jon?" Clary asked, still inspecting the garden.
"Clary we need to tell you something," her mother said in a soft voice as Clary turned back around still sitting in her father's lap.
"Jon's not here," Clary's mum said as a tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.
"Well where is he then?" Clary asked growing impatient.
"He's gone," Jocelyn whispered her voice so quiet Clary could barely hear it.
But Clary, being a naive child had no idea what she meant. "Gone where?" she asked in her bright voice.
At this point Valentine had grown annoyed at his wife's inability to say what happened and his daughter's ignorance to it, "He's dead," Valentine said bluntly.
It was at this point that both Clary and her mother began to cry. Clary knew what dead meant. She'd had two rabbits that were dead but this was different. This dead meant more pain.
Clary jumped off her father's lap and ran into her mother's open arms; they both had tears streaming down their faces.
Clary couldn't remember how long it took for her parents to stop her crying, but they did. Although she was never really the same again. Jon was her best friend, and without him she was lost.
10 YEARS LATER (September 2016)
Alec sat on the edge of his hospital bed as Clary talked to the nurse about something medical, he couldn't quite hear exactly what they were saying but he was pretty sure the nurse was making sure that Clary knew that Alec still needed rest and that he wasn't allowed to do anything strenuous, to which Clary was nodding in agreement.
A few moments later the nurse left the room. This meant that it was just him and Clary. Jace had gone back to the apartment to pick some clothes up for Alec, seeing as the only clothes he had were covered in blood. At some point during the night Magnus had to leave due to a problem at the club, although Alec suspected there was more behind it, and as soon as he got out of here he was going to find out.
Alec watched as Clary dropped into the chair in the corner of the room, initially Alec thought she was just tired, but as she raised her hand to her face, Alec noticed what she was doing. She was wiping tears away from her eyes.
Alec stood, from where he had been perched on the bed, with a sharp intake of breath he made his way over to where Clary sat.
"Hey, what's wrong? Everything's ok now, I'm going home," Alec said lightly.
Clary had a half smile on her face as she looked up at Alec, "I know, it's not that, it's just…" Clary began but didn't finish. "You should sit back down you know, don't want to tire yourself out." Clary said, avoiding her previous statement.
Alec looked determined. "I'll sit down," he said before raising his eyebrows. "If you tell me what's really going on with you."
Clary opened her mouth to argue, but decided that she probably wouldn't be able to win an argument against Alec.
"Ok, I'll tell you" she said before sighing, "But it's not going to be pretty." Alec looked shocked as he resumed his place on the bed.
Clary took a deep breath before beginning. "It started not long after my brother died. My mother and I had learned to accept the fact that Jon was gone. I mean we were still grieving obviously, but my father, he couldn't cope, he became angry all of the time. I noticed as I got older that he didn't spend as much time with us as he used to. And the time he did spend with us he was angry or drunk or both."
Clary hadn't looked at Alec once through all of that, and so when she lifted her head and saw his soft expression, she decided to continue. "It began to get worse. He'd come home some days and he'd be so angry that he'd take it out on us." Clary stopped as her voice began to break.
Alec breathed out as he asked. "Clary did he… Did he hit you?" Alec asked in almost disbelief, to which Clary just nodded as tears began to well in her eyes. "What happened after that?" Alec asked.
Clary swallowed before continuing. "It had been going on for years when my mother decided she couldn't put me or herself through it anymore. She picked me up from school one day and drove us to the airport. It was there that we put that life behind us and moved away. And oh, that life was good we learnt that we could be happy again. I made new friends, but as the saying goes all good things must come to an end." Clary said with a sad expression. "He found us, he was angrier than I've ever seen him before. And so, my mum accepted him back, and apologised for leaving. I was so angry at her for allowing that monster back into our lives. But she had a plan. One day while I was at my friend's house she packed up a bag for each of us. She came to my friend's house, and she had the same expression on her face that she had the first time we left." Clary had tears running down her cheeks, as Alec listened intently.
"I hugged my friend's goodbye. They had become like a second family to me. It's where my mum sent me when she knew that my father was in a bad mood, and they looked after me. It was sad to leave them, but I knew we had to. We drove to the nearest airport, and caught a flight home. I thought that that would be it, but it wasn't, Valentine had gotten smarter. He knew we were leaving." Clary voice trembled. "He followed us. Followed us all the way back to New York. When he found us he couldn't contain his anger, my mum told me to go upstairs. I was terrified and so I did, but what happened after that, that's what scared me the most. It went by in a blur and I can't really remember what happened. All I can remember is coming down the stairs to find my mother, bleeding and battered, unconscious on the floor. I called for an ambulance and the police." Clary stopped talking to look up at Alec who had tears running down his face.
"They got him, please say they got him," Alec whispered.
Clary nodded. "They got him, and he's rotting in New York State Prison," Clary said with harshness in her voice.
"But as for my mother," Clary said with a breath. "She's in a coma in the New York Medical Institute. And that's why I found it so hard seeing you like this." She gestured towards Alec.
"Clary, I know you don't like me apologising for things I haven't done, but I am so sorry for what you've had to go through, no one, especially a child, should have to go through that," Alec said as he stood, making his way over to where Clary was sitting and pulling her up into a hug.
"Thank you," Clary whispered into Alec's shoulder. It was at this point that Jace burst through the door, making both Alec and Clary jump.
"Hey it's only me," Jace said with a cocky smile. Clary wiped the tears from her face and hoped that Jace didn't notice. Thankfully he didn't as he was too preoccupied with getting Alec's clothes out of his bag.
Clary waited outside of the hospital room to allow Alec to get dressed with Jace's help. Alec was still a little stiff from his injures.
Clary was lost in her thoughts, when she noticed the nurse walking towards her. "Alec's just getting changed," Clary said with a smile.
"He's done now," Jace said popping his head around the door. "You can come back in now." He was smiling brightly.
Both the nurse and Clary made their way into the room, where Alec was seated on the bed in a fresh pair of jeans and an old woollen jumper. "If you just sign here, you'll be all set for release," the nurse said as she handed a clipboard over to Alec who gladly signed it.
"Let's go home," Alec said with a smile.
Please leave a review to let me know what you think. And I promise the next chapter will be a bit happier!