He stood up from his chair to pour another glass of whiskey. When he had his drink, he walked back to his chair and took a seat. The TV showed a news item about a HYDRA attack somewhere in the world. Julien Beckers raised up his glass.

"Hail HYDRA," he whispered joyfully, taking a sip.

His wife entered the living room with a basket in her arms, filled with clean laundry. She glanced at the mini bar and saw the almost empty bottle of whiskey. She put the basket on the dinner table, walked over to the bar and took the bottle in her hand. She walked with it to her husband and stood in between him and the TV.

"Wilma, please. I'm watching the news."

She showed him the bottle. "I bought this bottle last Tuesday."

"So?"

She sighed and got irritated. "Julien, it's almost empty!" He shrugged his shoulders. "You drank this whole bottle empty in nearly two days!"

"We have booked another success and I want to celebrate it!" Julien spat back, also slightly irritated.

Wilma shook her head as she walked way. Roughly, she placed the bottle back on the bar. Out of a fitted wardrobe she took an iron board and placed it nearby the basket full of laundry.
"You know, Julien, if it's up to you, you have something to celebrate EVERY DAY!" she said angrily as she plugged in the iron.

Upstairs in her room, Julia tried to do her homework. But she couldn't concentrate while her parents were having another fight. She sat at her desk with her face in her hands, annoyed.

"Yes, I have something to celebrate every day, because I am happy," she heard her father screaming at her mother.

"I understand you want to celebrate your life, but your drinking behavior is out of control!"

Julia released an annoyed sigh and stood up from her seat.

"I have it perfectly under control, Wilma!"

She stood at the top of the stairs and started screaming, "Shut up! I can't study!"

After that she went back into her room and slammed the door shut. She dropped herself back into her chair, took her math book in her hands and started studying again.
Few moments later, her door rushed open. Quickly she turned around, but before she could see who busted into her room she had been grabbed by her blond hair and been thrown on her bed. Before she knew it, she got slapped in the face. After the slap she hid her face in her hands and closed her eyes while she feared for a second slap.

"This also goes for you, this is me celebrating!" her father yelled at her. Then he left her room, left her on her bed.

Slowly she removed her hands from her face and looked up. An empty room with the door open. She stood up and closed her bedroom door. She turned around, leaned against the door and sank to the ground. She sighed while tears rolled over her cheeks.
How come her father became in five years' time, an abusive drunk? Did she do something wrong? Maybe her mother did something wrong? She didn't know. Would she ever know?
Guess not, because every time her mother confronted him a fight started followed by abusive actions. With a slight bounce she placed her head against the door. Slowly she went into a trance as she stared at a wall.

He walked up to her as she was busy at her locker.

"Hey," he greeted, friendly. "Everything okay?"

"Not really," she mumbled back.

"You've missed English classes. You never miss classes. Did something happen?" Julia closed her locker and looked at her classmate. He was shocked to see the dark circles underneath her eyes and how tired she looked. "Holy crap!"

She sighed, as they started to walk to their next class.

"My parents had a fight, told them to shut up because I was working on my math homework. I remembered my father busted in my room." She shrugged her shoulders. "Next thing I could remember was me sitting on the floor at 4am." She looked at the young boy. "I was so scared, Peter, I couldn't sleep."

Peter looked at her while he felt sorry for her.

"Something I can do for you?" Julia shook her head as she looked away from him. "Well if you want to talk, I'll be here for you."

She huffed a smile and stopped in front of him.

"You have no idea how many times I've heard that," she said slightly irritated. "And you know what? When I finally had the guts to go to a person who said the same thing, they dropped me like a brick. Countless amount of people did that to me, including my damned parents." She walked off as fast as she could, left Peter behind who stood still in shock.

While she hid in the toilets, she cried.

"Why am I pushing people away from me?" she sobbed, silently.

Her cellphone went off, but she remained sitting on the floor, knees against her chest and leaned her head against the wall. The phone stopped ringing. A moment later a bleep came out of the pocket of her jeans. She sighed and decided to take her cellphone. She moved it out of the pocket. She had message from her voicemail inbox. She opened it and listened to the message.
While she listened, her eyes grew wide and shock took over her mind.

Peter laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling. His mind was at Julia's and wondered why she got so angry. Then he remembered something and sat up.

"Hey, Ned." His friend looked up from his laptop. "If you have anxiety issues, do you suffer from mood swings?"

"I'll Google that." He went to the site and searched for information. "Let me see."

Peter stood up from his bed and took a seat across his friend.

"Most people with generalized anxiety disorder report feeling highly irritable, especially when their anxiety is at its peak," he reads aloud. Ned looked at Peter, who nodded his head slowly.

"Makes sense," Peter said.

"Something happened?" Ned asked curious.

Peter sighed. "Julia snapped at me out of the blue when I offered her help."

Ned raised his eyebrows.

"Mr. Stark did the same to me a few times."

His eyebrows went higher.

Peter looked at him. "Don't look at me like that."

"Oh sorry," Ned apologized and relaxed his face. "Can't you ask him about it?"

Peter stared at the ground. Then he shook his head. "I don't think it's a good idea. Maybe it's better to leave Julia alone for a few days."

Alone in a room, Julia stared out of the window. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. More than an hour ago she had heard that her mother passed away, after being found unconscious earlier the day. She heard her father walking into the room. She looked at him through the reflection of the window. He looked at her back, with his hands in the pockets of his trousers. He sighed.

"I spoke with insurance people." Julia didn't respond. "The funeral has been arranged." She looked away from him and stared at the streets, five floors below the window. "We're going home," she heard her father. "Do you want to say goodbye to mom? You haven't seen her yet."

"No," she mumbled.

"Come, it's the best for you."

"No."

Suddenly she felt his hands on her shoulders. Her body froze in fear. She felt herself being turned around and pushed to the door. In the hallway she saw the entrance to the room where her mother was. Panic bloomed inside her body.

"No, I don't want to!"

But her father didn't listen and kept taking her to the room where their loved one was. In the doorway she already saw a tiny glimpse of her mother. Quickly she turned around and hid her face in her hands.

"I'm scared," she admitted.

"There's nothing scary about this. She is sleeping," her father said, as he pulled her off him and turned her around. "Just look."

Her view was blurry by the tears in her eyes. Her heart was pounding like a maniac in her chest. Through her tears she saw her mother, in a bed. Arms along her side, eyes closed, her dark blond hair along her face and shoulders. She looked peacefully asleep, but Julia knew she would never wake up again. Julia's breathing became fast and heavy. She managed to pull herself out of her father's grip and ran through the hallway. In the distance she noticed the toilets.
She ran into one, locked the door and sank to the ground. She was still breathing fast and heavy as she burst into crying. Knees against her chest and her head laid on her knees. A moment later she looked up shocked when somebody knocked on the toilet door.

"Julia? Come. We're going home," she heard her father saying.

Julien Beckers drove his car home. Julia laid on the backseat, hid herself underneath the hoodie of her sweater. He stopped the car when they arrived their home. He got out of the car first, walked up to their home and opened the front door. Quickly Julia opened the door of the car, ran to the front door and rushed going upstairs. She went into her room, closed and locked her door. With her forehead she leaned against it, crying.

A few days later, the funeral happened. The room was filled with people. Julia and her father sat in the first row. In front of them was a black coffin surrounded with white and pink flowers. On the coffin was a framed picture of their loved one. Meat Loaf's song 'Two out of Three Ain't Bad' played out of the speakers. Julia stared at the flowers while tears rolled down her cheeks. She plucked from a paper handkerchief which she held firmly. The music faded out and a moment later a man from the funeral home went to the microphone.

"Finally, I give the opportunity to Julien Beckers to say some words." He nodded at him and left the small stage.

Julien moved to Julia and whispered in her ear, "Come."

Julia was scared to stand up in front of all these people. She stood up and followed her father to the microphone. He stood behind the microphone and took a deep breath.

"Sometimes there is so much we feel, but so little we can say," he started his speech. "Every farewell means the birth of a memory." He took another deep breath. "I remember how I met her and little Julia at the time, 15 years ago. Together, they had a hard time." Julia looked up at him, being a little bit confused. "But with the love and patience I gave them," Julia rolled her eyes a little bit, "it all worked out. We celebrated life every day."

Julia looked at the people in the room. Some were listening, some were crying, and few gave Julia a supportive smile.

"Suddenly you went. Now the two of us are all that's left. Unspeakable sadness, but we'll never forget," she heard her father, "you have taught us to celebrate life, every day. And for you, Julia and I," she looked up at him, "we will continue and celebrate." Julia swallowed. He gave a nod to the audience, fold up his speech on paper and went to his seat. Julia followed him.

The man of the funeral home went to the microphone. "Let's have a moment of silence."

The whole room was silent, except for a few sniffs here and there. Then another song started to softly play; Led Zeppelins 'Knocking on Heavens Door.' The man stood in front of the coffin and bowed his head. He then turned around and whispered some words to Julien. Julien nodded and looked at Julia. He gave her a single nod and stood up. She stood up also and followed him. Together they walked around the coffin and stood. The man took the picture of the coffin and wanted to give to Julien. He gestured to Julia. The man smiled and went to her. She looked at him as she accepted the picture. After a minute they left the room.

Peter stood in front of principal's door. He cleared his throat before he knocked.

"Come in," he heard.

Carefully, Peter opened it. He looked at a middle aged, grey haired man. "Uhm… Mister Smith?"

The principal looked up. "Ah, one of our exchange students. Peter Parker from Queens, USA?"

"Yes sir, that's me."

The man smiled and gestured to an empty chair in front of his desk. "Have a seat." Peter closed the door and took place. "What can I do for you?" he asked while he folded his arms in front of his chest.

"Uhm…" Peter got a little nervous and folded his hands together. "I… I'm worried about one of your students." The man raised his eyebrows in surprise. "It's my classmate, Julia Berger. I haven't seen her for a few days and last time I saw her, she wasn't really herself."

The man sighed, searched for his words. He looked at the student.

"Julia has some private issues and we don't know when she is coming back. That's all I can say."

Peter let the words sink in and nodded slowly. "I understand. Thank you," he said, stood up and left the office.

His friend, Ned, was waiting in the canteen. In the distance he saw his friend. He stood up and walked up to him.

"What did he say?" he asked curious.

Peter sighed. "Private issues." They looked at each other. "But by the manner of his saying, it doesn't look good."

Ned felt sorry. "I feel bad for her."

Peter nodded his head. "So do I. Whatever is happening or has happened to her… it's just not fair."

Julia was sitting in her mother's library room. She listened to her mother's favorite music as she flipped through a photo album. Calm and slowly, memories went through her mind as she flipped through the pages. When she finished the album, she stood up and placed it back in the bookcase. Her eye caught a small, black photo album between the large albums. She took it in her hands and wondered why she had never seen this one. Slowly she went back to her mom's desk and took a seat. She opened it and the first few pictures she saw was a young woman in a wedding dress and a man in a suit. She looked closely at the pictures. She could recognized her mother's face, but not the man. She also noticed that her mother had a round tummy in her wedding dress.

"Looks like she is pregnant," Julia whispered to herself.

Then she looked at the man. It is clear that he is a different man than the one she grew up with. She continued to flip through the small book. She saw pictures of her mother with a little baby in her arms, picture of a toddler in a chair with a plate of spaghetti in front of her and a next photo is a toddler with her face covered with red sauce of the spaghetti. Then there were no more pictures in the little book. She closed it and stared at it, lost in thought.

Suddenly the door of the room opened and a slight drunk Julien stood in the opening.

"Is dinner ready?" he asked.

Julia looked at the time on her cell phone and saw it was almost dinner time. "Shit," she mumbled. She looked at him. "Sorry, I totally forgot time," she said. She knew he was used to dinner being ready when he got home. Julia stood up and wanted to rush out of the room. But Julien stopped her. She looked at him and got scared of another outburst.

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking at pictures of mom and listening to her music. That's all."

"It's better for you not to come here anymore. We have to move on with our lives," he said. "You understand?"

She nodded.

"Come. I will order some Chinese." He walked away.

Julia looked over her shoulder into her mother's room. She went back inside to turn off the radio. She did a slow spin to look at everything. Then she left.

Half an hour later, they sat around the dinner table. Julien put some white rice and chicken in soy sauce on his plate. Then he poured a new glass of red wine. Julia poked her fork into the noodles and she ate it string by string. She felt anxious when she was around her father, or whoever he was. Although she chewed enough, she felt like she was almost choking on a string of noodle. Quickly she grabbed her glass with Coca cola and drank it. She felt the string sliding through her throat. Relieved she put down her drink. Like nothing had happened, she scooped some vegetables on her plate. With her fork she stabbed in a few veggies and picked out the softest to eat, while she hoped not to choke again. She chew on a piece of paprika and carefully swallowed it.

"Julia, I think it's better for you to go to school tomorrow," Julien suddenly said.

She started to choke again and cough. Quickly she went to the toilet. There she started to purge. She hang above the toilet as she was catching her breath. Slowly she stood up, flushed and went back to the dinner table. With a sigh she took a seat.

"What was that about?" he asked irritated.

"Sorry, something got stuck in my throat."

"Yeah right! You just puked out all of the food I have paid for!" He got angry which made Julia more anxious. "I have paid 20 dollars for this food and you puked it all down the toilet." She bowed her head to avoid his face and kept silent. "Go to your room and stay there! You're going back to school tomorrow!"

"Yes sir," Julia said softly as she got up to get to her room.

The man sighed and shook his head as he poured a new glass of wine and drank it all at once.

Julia laid on her bed, while she listened to music on her cell phone. Just like her mother, she loved listening to the calm songs of Enya. She closed her eyes as the music made her relaxed. Then she heard someone silently calling her name.

"Julia… Julia."

She sat up and looked around in her room. In the corner of her room she saw a transparent figure, floating a few inches from the ground. Her body stiffened when she saw the creature. Slowly it floated towards her while it whispered; "Julia… Julia."

Julia's eyes widened in fear. Her breathing became heavy, but she couldn't move. The creature reached out it's hand.

"Julia… be careful," it said with a haunted voice.

Julia started to panic but still couldn't move. Then the creature slowly faded away and the tension in her body faded as well. She looked around again, wondering what happened. She rubbed over her face with her hands. She took a deep breath, while she laid her hands over her face.

"Okay. It's over now. It's gone," she told herself, to calm herself down.

Then she stood up, left her room and went to the bathroom. She opened the water tap and splashed some water over her face. She looked at herself in the mirror, after she dried her face with a towel. In the reflection she saw him standing behind her. Quickly she turned around and looked at him, scared. She could see he was more drunk then during dinner. Suddenly he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to her room.

"Let me go! You're hurting me!" she begged.

Once they were in her room, he threw her on the floor. After the fall she laid on the ground, crying.

"I said, stay in your room!" he yelled angry at her. He closed the door with a smack.