Sorena opened her wolf grey eyes and blinked a couple of times. Her vision was blurry at first but it slowly went back to normal. The first thing she noticed was the wall ahead of her. It used to be white. Now it had blood stains on it. Her blood.

She groaned in pain as she pushed herself up to sit. Her body was aching. Nothing new there. She was left in the living room after Baron had taken his anger out on her. He was most likely in the bedroom in a deep sleep. It never troubled him to go into a fit of rage and take it out on her. He slept just fine.

She ran a hand through her long, curly, black hair. It was matted and sticky. Probably a mix of sweat and blood. She sighed and looked at her hands. Her finger nails were dirty and bloody after trying to protect herself.

She crawled the few steps to the table, grabbed it and pulled herself up to stand. She was in pain but everything was still working. Nothing felt broken this time. He knew where to hit to cause enough damage without actually breaking any bones.

She looked around the living room. This place was her home but it felt like a desert island where she had never been before. It didn't feel like home today. It didn't feel like her place. She felt dizzy. She had to get out before vomiting all over the floor.

She looked down at herself. She was in her underwear. A simple set of bra and panties that had been white. Now it also had blood stains on it. She couldn't go walking the streets like that.

She grabbed the nearest clothes, made her way to the patio door and slid it open. She stepped outside in the fresh morning air. It hit her full force. The ability to breathe without someone standing over her trying to take it away.

She put the clothes on and first now saw what she had grabbed. Her blue and white striped pajamas pants and a light grey tank top. It would have to do for now. Shoes weren't needed. She could go bare footed. She wasn't going to go back into that house and search for a pair of shoes. Not now when she had finally made it outside. She would have to pass the bedroom in order to get to her shoes. He might wake up. It wasn't worth the risk.

She stepped out on the grass. The dew made her feet wet and cold. It didn't matter. She was soon off the grass and on pavement. She continued forward without stopping. It was her luck no one was out this early to see her. She could imagine how she looked. She knew how she always looked after a night of feeling his anger.

It took her nearly 30 minutes to get to where she was going. Double the amount of time as usual due to all the pain she was in. She stared at the yellow brick walls. Inside that house her brother was sleeping. She didn't want to wake him up. His sleep was important. She could wait. Instead she walked around the house and sat down on one of the garden chairs. She leaned back and closed her eyes while the early morning sun rose and started warming her cold and beaten up body. She didn't know how long it took. She didn't hear Roman open the patio door. She didn't feel his shadow fall on her. She heard his voice and it was angry.

"What the fuck happened?" He asked angrily.

She opened her eyes and stared at him. That was her 6 year older big brother standing there looking angry and concerned at the same time. He looked so familiar and yet she had a hard time bonding with him in that moment. Something inside her had changed this morning.

"Did Baron do this?" He asked. "Fuck, he did this. I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna carve him open, make him eat his own intestines and shit them out again, and then I'm gonna kill him."

She blinked but didn't say anything. She supposed it would be a fun image in another world where nothing hurt. In a world where she felt connected. Today she felt disconnected to everything. He leaned over her, took her hands and pulled her up from the chair.

"Let's get you inside. You need a bath," he said.

She couldn't argue with that. She would love to get her body clean of all the filth, blood and tears. The feeling of being dirty would never go away. She was dirty inside. She followed him to the bathroom where he started running the bath. He turned to look at her, once again with concern in his eyes.

"Are you okay, Sorena?" He asked. "You're scaring me here. Say something. Do you need medical help? Or a lawyer maybe? Should I call the police? I need you to talk to me."

She managed to put on a smile. A smile that she could see worried him.

"It's all gonna be okay, Roman," she said. "I can handle it."

He sighed and nodded. Clearly he didn't believe her but she didn't seem to see the look on his face. It was like she was in the room without actually being there. He had seen that once before many years ago when they were teenagers. He could only hope this wasn't the case.

"I'll leave you to it," he said. "I need to run out for a quick errand. I'll be back soon. Don't go anywhere."

He closed the door to the bathroom, hurried through the house and out to his car. He drove to Baron and Sorena's house and started pounding away on the front door. It took minutes to wake up Baron but finally he heard the lock. Baron opened the door and was met with a fist to his face. He tumbled to the ground but two strong hands grabbed him, pulled him back up and slammed him up against the wall.

"Roman?" Baron asked. "What's going on?"
"You put your hands on my sister!" Roman yelled.
"No, it wasn't like that. It was an accident," Baron said.

Roman planted his fist in Baron's stomach and knocked the air out of him. Baron fell down to his knees and wheezed for air.

"So was this," Roman said.

Roman walked away from Baron and down the hall. His plan was to pack some things for Sorena but he stopped when he saw blood on the floor. He followed the blood stains and ended up in the living room where most of the fight seemed to have been going on. Red blood on white walls. Baron came tumbling behind him, clearly trying to stop him from seeing what had been done to his sister.

"Wait!" Baron yelled.

Roman turned around and looked at Baron. In that moment Baron almost deserved what might be coming to him. Something Roman wasn't sure he could stop but he would try his hardest. He still had to protect his sister.

"Did she ever tell you how she was bullied in high school?" Roman asked.
"What?" Baron asked confused.
"Did she?" Roman asked.
"No, she didn't," Baron said. "What's this about?"

Roman sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"It was bad. Like really fucking bad. Like this bad," Roman pointed at the blood on the wall. "One day she snapped. She doesn't remember anything of what happened. She had a mental breakdown and did what she did. They call it criminal insanity. She's accepted what she did but she'll never remember any of it. It's probably for the best."
"What did she do?" Baron asked.
"She kidnapped her bully. Sorena tied that poor girl to a tree in the forest and tortured her. She finally ended up setting her on fire. She didn't know what she was doing. I mean, it was raining and she still lit a girl on fire. She didn't register anything outside of having to deal with her tormentor. The girl got lucky. The rain saved her life but she still has to live with some awful burn scars for the rest of her life," Roman said.

Baron swallowed nervously. He wasn't sure whether or not to believe such an insane story. It was the first he heard of it. Surely Sorena would have told him about this past, but Roman didn't appear to be lying.

"I don't believe you," Baron almost whispered. "She's free to roam around. If she tried killing someone, she would be in jail."
"She was locked up a couple of years in a mental asylum after that, and released when they deemed she wasn't a danger to society. They believe it was a one time thing. I'm not so sure anymore. I think you might have pushed her there, and you better fucking pray she won't come for you. Even I can't stop that monster inside of her if it appears again, and I won't even be given a chance to try. You'll be on your own," Roman said.
"I can take her," Baron said.
"Lord, I fucking hope so," Roman said. "Meanwhile, stay the fuck away from my sister. If you try to reach out, I'll come back here and break all of your fingers. I'm gonna pack a bag of her clothes and I'll be back some other day for the rest. And the rest better fucking be here, Baron. You don't wanna dance with me. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yeah," Baron nodded.
"Good," Roman said. "Now get out of my way. I don't wanna look at your ugly face."

Roman went to the bedroom, opened the closets in there, found a bag and started packing some of Sorena's clothes. Just enough to get her through the first couple of days. Once she had healed a bit and felt ready for it, he would rent a trailer and go back here with her to get everything of hers. Meanwhile some clothes would have to do. He just had to make sure to keep her away from this house.