Angel's PoV
Fang said I would be ok. And, for that night at least, I believed it. But after a whole day of being pushed around, screamed at, worked like a slave, and looking at my brothers exhausted face, the hope had fled.
Now I was barely holding the tears in. I refused to cry, I couldn't let Gazzy hear me and give him one more thing to worry about. Instead I found the knife under my mattress and snuck out to the back yard.
I settled down under a tree off to the left of the door, pulling up my knees so that my entire body was in the shadows.
I poised the knife over my arm, slightly above the last nick. I felt more confident with it now, not as afraid. But just as I was about to push the blade down, a hand snatched my wrist.
My adopted mother stood over me, steam practically blowing out her ears.
"How dare you." she growled. I pulled back, banging into the tree trunk.
"I-"
She snatched the knife from my other hand and threw it to the ground so hard the blade shattered. I'd never seen her so angry, and she had me in her clutches, and I couldn't get away.
She slapped me so hard I saw stars.
"How dare you! How dare you harm yourself in my house!"
She slapped me again, and tears began leaking from my eyes against my will.
"Suicides go to hell, Angel! No one under my roof is going to hell! Not one!"
She slapped me again, and again, and again.
"I'm sorry!" I cried, blood flowing down my cheek from where my skin had split. "I wasn't going to-" Her hand smacking against my face cut me off. I was openly crying and not caring.
She yanked me close to her and snarled right in my face. "I should have stopped this years ago. I should have chopped the dye from your hair, I should have ripped those piercings from your face. In fact, maybe I should have aimed a little better when I kicked you down those stairs."
Then she pushed me, and I was falling hard to the ground. I heard her feet stomping away, and the door slammed.
"Angel?" Arms were surrounding me, holding me. Gazzy. Must have heard her screaming. And my big brother had come running.
I immediately started swallowing my tears. Can't let him see me cry.
"Angel, what happened? What were you doing out here?" I pointed to the shards of the knife.
"I don't understand."
I sat on my knees, stared at my hands, and said in a miserable tone, "It wasn't from the weeds."
Maxs PoV
I was sleeping like a rock after my tear fest of a day, but not so deeply that the doorbell didn't wake me.
I groaned and sat up, running my hand through my hair before reluctantly getting out of bed.
As I went down the stairs, I could hear bedroom doors opening as Jeb and Ella wandered out.
Two blonde cherubs stood on the doorstep, teary eyed and blood stained.
"Angel?! Gazzy?!" I exclaimed. "What happened? What are you doing here?"
"We heard Jeb was different- and we- we just hoped that- maybe-" Gazzy was stumbling and tripping over his words, and Angel looked sullen, remaining silent.
"Why don't you two come inside." Jeb said gently from behind me. I tried not to let the surprise show on my face as I let Angel and Gazzy inside. I hadn't heard that tone in years.
"We can't stay there." Gazzy burst out as soon as the door shut. "She hurt Angel. She screamed at her and hit her. She works us until we want to die and tells us we should be grateful! She-"
"Ok, Gazzy, it's ok." I shushed him, setting my hands on his shoulders. I looked at Angel. Her cheek was bright red and turning blue around the edges, with a slice running across her cheekbone and dried blood on her face.
I let Gazzy go and took Angel's face in my hands.
"She did this?" Jeb asked. She nodded sullenly.
I glanced down, inspecting the rest of her. My eyes found a smear of red on her arm, tiny.
"Did she do that too?" I asked. Her eyes flickered, and she slowly shook her head.
"I-the weeds-" Gazzy shot her a look, and she sighed. "I did it to myself." she whispered.
The pieces clicked together. "That's why." I breathed. "Fang was worried about you, Angel."
"I'm sorry." her voice was choked. "I just- I couldn't."
"Shhh, it's ok." I cooed, like I used to do with Ella, and stroked her golden curls. "It's gonna be ok." I looked over at Jeb, who had a stricken look on his face.
"You two are welcome to stay here." Jeb said. "I will speak to your… adoptive mother tomorrow. This will never happen again, I assure you."
"Come on." I took one of Angel's hands and one of Gazzy's, leading them up the stairs.
"We have plenty of guest rooms." I told them. "Do you guys wanna share, or do you want separate ones?"
"Share." Gazzy said immediately.
"Ok." I took them to the third door down the hall. "Wait here." Quickly, I ran to the bathroom and wet a towel.
Returning to the room, I sat Angel down on the edge of the bed and began wiping the blood from her face.
She stared right at me. "She told me suicides go to hell." A tear slipped down her face. Gazzy draped an arm around her shoulder. "I wasn't going to kill myself, I swear." She stared down at her hands, preventing me from getting at the blood.
"Is that where Sam went?" she whispered. Then she broke down. Gazzy looked at her sadly and plucked the towel from my hands.
"Go to bed, Max." he told me, not really a suggestion. I understood, it's a sibling thing.
So I went back to bed, my heart heavy.
(A/N YOOOO. Am I on a roll or what?
UNC-
Silence)
