Second chapter, duh. The indentations didn't work on the last chapter, let's see if they do on this one.
Oh yeah, and to Tom MARSHMELLOW Riddle: Marshmallow, and I agree on the hit counter thing. Oh, and that was totally unintentional, it was meant to be like more like Harry's, in fact. Anyway, there's no way I'll change it, because it's too necessary. If this was intentionally inspired by Cinderella, I would've made it a lot more obvious.
Chapter Two – In the Attic
Kailey laid on her back, staring upwards at the low, slanted wooden ceiling. She was panting furiously, and was no doubt in an immense amount of pain. She sat up slowly, wincing at the pain in her back. She was hiding in the attic. Her father had never seen her come in this room before, perhaps because she never had. The small room was unfamiliar to her. It was the best hiding spot she had, because Damon knew most of her other ones.
However, at the moment, Kailey was focusing more on the pain in her arms, back, ribs, fingers, legs, throat and head.
For one, her arms were red and swollen from Damon's tight and firm grip. He had most probably given her several "Indian sunburns", and they became numb.
The second best attempt at getting away from the cruel man had landed her on her back on the kitchen floor.
Damon had taken this as another opportunity to give Kailey "what she deserves", and kicked her in the ribs numerous times. Perhaps chipped a few bones, but nothing she wasn't used to. Not that it made it any less painful.
Damon had picked her up by the fingers, breaking most except her little finger on her left hand and her thumb on her right hand, and threw her up in the air, causing her body to land forcefully on her fragile, stick-like legs. As if that wasn't enough pain, she got on her feet and ran – or more appropriately, limped – over to the stairs, searching for a place to hide. The attic was the closest place to a perfect one she could think of, so she hid there, placing chairs and foot rests and old chests on the door positioned on the floor to delay Damon's entering when he found her hiding spot.
The whole time, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. Pointless, I must say, considering the fact that they weren't within miles of other human beings or households, and the most it did for her was give her a sore throat. She swallowed, attempting to mend the scratches in her vocal chords. At least this pain would be gone by tomorrow.
The whole thing had given her a severe headache. And it was perfect, because it added to her wonderful list of pain. She could hardly believe what had just happened. His reaction really surprised her. Damon usually had at least a little bit of mercy for her. But oh, no, not this time.
This time he didn't care that his daughter's growth was in his hands. This time he didn't care that maybe it wasn't entirely Kailey's fault (which it wasn't), and he could be considerate enough to only give her a slap on the head. And this time, Kailey had had it. This time, she was convinced that this life wasn't near appropriate for a fragile 14 year-old. She needed to get out of this house.
Unfortunately, there was no way out. Not at the moment, at least. The attic was deprived of windows, and the only door was the one she'd come in, and that door could only be opened from the other side. Who built that door, and why? The only way she could escape now was if Damon found her first.
In the meantime, she decided to explore a little. The attic was quite a fascinating place. It was full of old chests and suitcases and dust and spider webs. Just like the ones in movies. Not that Kailey would know.
She crawled around the room, brushing dust off of a few old chests. However, there was one particular object that she noticed at the corner of her eye. It was an old grey porcelain jewellery box with the shape of a rose engraved on the lid. It was one of the most beautiful things she'd seen. Yet, she hadn't seen much in her life.
She slid her unbroken little finger across the lid, revealing a streak of white. Now excited to see how the rest of the jewellery box appeared without the dust, she pushed out her palm and used it to scrub every square inch of dust off of the jewellery box.
The small white box glittered, magnifying the dim light in the room times ten. The surface was smooth and slippery.
Kailey placed her right thumb under the lid and lifted it, revealing most splendid items. The first one to catch Kailey's eye was a black-and-white photograph of a young lady with long black hair. Or so, it appeared to be black in the black-and-white photograph. She was smiling. Smiling with beautiful white teeth. She had a smile that comforted Kailey greatly. She would've enjoyed staring at the picture the whole day. But one question dwelled in Kailey's mind. Why was she smiling? Was it at the fact that there was an arm around her shoulder? The owner of that arm remained anonymous to Kailey; the picture was ripped in half. Kailey flipped the photograph over. There was writing on the back, and that Kailey knew. What she didn't know was how to read it. It didn't matter to her at the moment, anyway. She was glad to finally be looking at a happy face.
Kailey was almost too busy staring at the pretty lady to notice a rumbling at her feet. Almost. Her father was banging on the door, yelling so loudly that Kailey could barely understand what was coming out of his mouth. Quickly, she slipped the photograph in the frilly white sock on her right foot and closed the lid of the jewellery box quietly. This was her chance to escape at last.
"Open the door right this instant!" yelled Damon furiously, banging repeatedly on the door. Kailey rolled her eyes. Did he really expect her to listen to him? Instead, she stood by a wall and stared at the door, waiting for it to open. 'Any minute now,' she thought, 'Any minute now, my father will come bursting through that door, and I'll slip past him and run to the front door. I'll be free; I'll finally be free!'
And that minute didn't come. The banging stopped, and she could hear her father walking away. 'No!' she cried to herself, feeling more desperate than ever. 'He can't do that, he has to let me out!'
She sat against the wall, brought her knees up to her stomach and laid her forehead on them, shaking it gently, as though it would help get the thought of being stuck in a small attic with no way to escape out of her head. No, the shaking may not have helped, but something else did.
The floor tile flung open and up climbed Damon as he dropped the broom he was carrying to his side. Kailey jerked herself on her feet, her heart beating rapidly. Her father was angry – very angry. On top of it, the one girl he was angry at was standing against a wall with nowhere to go. Kailey was once again in trouble.
Damon's pace quickened as he walked toward Kailey. Kailey looked to her sides. There was no point in going there; her father would catch her anyway. She had only one choice.
Damon leaped toward her, his arms outstretched. Kailey bent down and slid between his legs, tripping him in the process. She wiggled her feet to dislodge them from underneath Damon's stomach and ran for the door, jumping down and kicking her two brothers in the face, leaving them pained and confused. She ran as fast as her small legs would bring her and bounced down the stairs. 'Just a little further,' she thought. But that thought shrivelled up and died as she felt two strong hands on either side of her. Those hands lifted her from the ground as she kicked the air and struggled in vain. Damon dropped her aside, causing her to yelp, and proceeded to lock the door.
"There will be no going outside after this," he said, half-smirking at the girl glaring at him.
He walked past her, pushing her aside with his foot. Kailey ran to the door and shook it harshly. It didn't budge. It was locked, and any hope she had of escape perished. She sunk to the floor, sliding her back against the door, her face resting in her palms. She just needed some time to think. There had to be a way out.
So Kailey hopped up the stairs and down the hall to her room. The first step to a good plan was a good rest.