Disclaimer: If I took over the world, I would own Harry Potter, and make tons of money. I have not managed to conquer the world, so that plan won't work, and I don't own Harry Potter or any Harry Pottery things, though I did invent Amara.
Author's Notes: Once again, I was too ambitious. I had thought the chapter was going to be too short, so I added an incident, which turned out to be too long, but I'm fairly satisfied with the result. Also, I won't be here for a week. Please, please, (pretty please) read and review!
Friends and Foes
Chapter Four
Waking up to darkness, Amara was dizzy and disoriented. As visions of the night before came to mind she realized she was lucky to be alive…or perhaps unlucky. She tried to lift herself up but her body felt as if it were made of lead. Her heart beat raced, hoping she wasn't permanently paralyzed. She stared at her arms determinedly and slowly she willed them to rise, but it was painful, she bit her lip, and let her arms drop. At least she knew there wasn't permanent damage.
After her first moments of life awake concluded, pain seemed to seep in from every direction. There wasn't a single part of her body that didn't scream in pain. This is it, I'm going to die this time, Amara thought. She tried to shake the thought from her mind but it stuck there, and as she fell back into unconsciousness, it was the only thought she could hold.
The next few days were some of the most painful Amara had ever experienced. She was rarely awake and when she was, fear that she would never get better and was rather slowly dying alone seized her soul. She began to long for things she'd gone without more than ever. Fear that she was going to die and no one was going to know, that they'd get away with it and nobody would ever know what they did to her took hold in her. She became angry at times when she was awake enough to think. They shouldn't get away with it, away with ruining her life and then her own murder.
She longed for a friend or a parent or anyone who would just visit her and treat her nicely and listen and know how she felt, know who she was, just one person before she died, but she became bitter when thinking about it. No one would ever be there for her like that, not as long as Roy lived to make sure of that. If only he could be struck by lightening or have heart attack or some other disease, but no, he was perfectly healthy while she rotted there not even having reached puberty.
Eventually her fear and anger subsided as she realized she was getting better, and she'd live to see the sunlight again. That is, if I'm ever allowed out, she thought. Amber started visiting less, and Amara took that as a particularly good sign.
Sitting up and eating the gruel of the day (cold two day old meatloaf left overs) Amara heard footsteps on the stairs, and her lungs seemed to be suppressed as fear took her. She listened, the steps were too light to be Roy's, and her body physically relaxed and she was able to swallow the bite of the nasty meal that resided in her mouth.
Amara heard the lock click and Amber opened the door and came through, and ripped the plate from her hand. "It's time to get your lazy butt up and do your chores, no more time to wallow in your laziness down here," Amber said venomously, as though it was Amara's fault for what happened. Of course, Amara thought, they thought it was her fault she was punished, especially this time, for 'ruining' the party.
Amara sighed. She began cleaning the house, making sure to dust ever nook and cranny of anything she could reach, and carrying a chair for the places she couldn't. While dusting the ceiling in the living room she heard someone approaching quickly, and before she could turn around she was shocked to find herself falling. She landed painfully on the knocked over chair.
"You missed a spot," she heard a voice say.
She looked up to see Chad and Damien. It had been Damien whom had knocked over the chair, and Chad who had spoken she quickly estimated. She was glad for her freedom, that, for whatever reason, she was allowed out of the basement. This freedom, however, also had it's downside, other than the obvious cleaning, she was once again submitted to her normal routine.
Amara stood up, set the chair up and got back to dusting. When she was just starting to think she was safe, she felt someone grab her around the waste from behind and hold her four inches above the ground. She was swirled to face Chad who was now at face level with Amara.
"We missed you a lot sister," he said in a sweet voice.
"Why don't you come outside and play a little game with us?" Damien said.
"Please guys, please just let me finish the chores! Please just let me do this! For once, please, please, I don't want to get in trouble again…" she begged, holding down her anger.
"Awww…since you begged us so nicely slave, we'll leave you to your chores, for now," she heard Damien say. She was roughly dropped to the floor and then punched her in the stomach for good measure. She doubled over, her body still tender from the previous encounter with Roy.
They left her laughing, and she angrily began to do her chores again. She finished the dusting, did the vacuuming, finished the laundry, did the dishes, fixed lunch, did the dishes again, cleaned every room, scrubbed the toilets, trimmed the brush, watered the flowers, deweeded the garden, and mowed the lawn. She was sure by the end of it, some where around five that afternoon, that she must have lost twenty pounds to sweat.
Amara took a shower, and adorned her old baggy clothes. If it weren't for the fact that she was allowed to use a shower and wash her clothes, she'd look like she lived on the streets, rather than a nicely kept house.
After the family had eaten dinner, she began to do the dishes again. As she was putting the last dish away she heard from behind her, "Hello again, sister."
She groaned inwardly and turned to face Chad. "Want to play a game?"
"Um…not really," Amara said.
"But you promised," Damien said.
"I don't recall – " she said, but Damien had grabbed her and muffled her mouth. She struggled to find him with her arms, but he smothered them as well with his other arm. He lifted her again so that he could stand straight, leaving her feet once again dangling several inches above the floor.
"That's ok, because we do," he said.
Chad led her and Damien out the door. "How about we go the park, we've got some friends we'd like you to meet, some are your age, too."
Fear and warning signals flared again. This would be her real introduction to the neighborhood, she knew. They walked her to the park where she saw Dudley, a bird like kid, and two large cronies, the biggest only slightly smaller than Dudley. One of them held a dark haired kid's arms behind his back, and Dudley pulled back from a fist he'd just thrown at the boy to turn and smile at the three of the new comers. What terrified her more was the two older boys, both about Chad and Damien's age who came up to the group all smiling, too.
This just isn't fair, Amara thought. Why would it be? A voice questioned her. Damien roughly threw her into the dirt by the swings, and it brushed up and hit her in the face. She coughed and her eyes watered.
"Hello, neighbor," she heard Dudley said. "We'd just like to welcome you the neighborhood. You know my name already, this is Piers," he pointed out the bird looking boy, "Dave," the smaller of the two cronies, "and Robert," the larger cronie.
Damien and Chad walked up to the pack of teenage boys. "We'd like you to meet our friends here, too, sis," Chad said.
"Greg," said the dark, skinny tall haired boy. His hair was black like his glinting eyes.
"Rick," said the other who had blond hair, and was quite overweight himself.
"I don't suppose it would be ok if I left now," said Amara almost sarcastically, getting to her feet.
"That would be rude," said Rick.
"You wouldn't want to be rude, now would you?" Dave asked.
"Nope, I wouldn't dream of it," Amara said darkly. She wondered if she could outrun them. She figured she could take the larger of the group, but she wasn't sure she could outrun her brothers, for she had never been able to do so yet.
"Oh, and speaking of rudeness, this is my cousin Harry," Dudley said offhandidly.
"Sod off," he told Dudley, struggling against Robert's hold.
"Well, if that wasn't rude," said Chad who socked him in the face.
"Knock it off," Amara said before she realized it.
"That's what I was trying to do, sis," he said.
"Come here, we have a game we want you to play, if you be nice and play like we ask, well, it would be beneficial to you," Damien said, and Greg walked up to her and grabbed her by the collar, shoving her to face Harry beside Dudley.
"Now, you see, we were told that Harry was made of candy, and if you hit him, like a piñata, you know, that candy would shoot out his mouth, and we really want candy," Rick said.
"You don't need any," Amara said.
"Watch it," Rick said. "You have to be a good girl, too, or it won't count."
"Come on, get on with it, get the candy out of him," Greg said, shoving her a little closer to Robert and Harry.
Harry looked at her as though saying it was ok, and prepared to take the hit. She felt fear, and held her hand in a fist up to look at it, wondering whether she could do it, become like her brothers, like the bullies she had known her whole life, like her father. No! fear shot through her. No.
"Come on, we know ya got in ya," said Chad.
"Do it," Damien angrily, upon which a chorus of voices agreed.
She balled her hand in a fist, swung her arm back, and swung hard, turning in a circle and punching Greg hard in the gut, who doubled over. Self defense, she smirked. A great commotion started. Dudley, Piers and Dave came at her from her right, and Damien, Chad, and Rick came at her from her left. Deciding it would be much easier to take on Dudley's group, she swung hard, and forced herself in the center of them, and out of reach of her brother's. She threw her whole body toward Dudley, hitting him hard in the chest, and surprising him enough to fall over. She felt pain from the fall, it had been like hitting a brick wall.
Up before Dudley could realize what hit him, she jumped at Dave, clawing his face, making his eyes water, than ducking down to grab a leg literally right from under him, and he fell on top of a rising Dudley. Piers backed away, afraid of the same treatment. However, she couldn't fight Rick, who hit her hard in the head from behind, and Damien and Chad were well aware of her tactics, and had her still and caught in Rick's embrace, who had been taught how to hold her properly so that she couldn't swing back and kick him or some other means escape tactics.
Dudley and Dave rose up and began hitting her in the stomach and face for a few minutes before Chad and Damien told them to hold up.
"It's Harry's turn," Damien said.
Dudley looked at him uncertainly, and then told Robert to release Harry. Harry was forced to face Amara. She saw him look at her, and there was no uncertainness in it, he wasn't about to hit her. He just stood there and did nothing.
Dudley hit Harry so hard it sent him flying. Harry, whom had obviously been accustomed to Dudley's gang picking on him, looked shocked. Amara realized he'd never been hit that hard before, and that Dudley was getting his tactics from her brothers. She felt a sickening feeling well up in her.
She struggled like a wild cat against Rick. "Let go of him! Stop it! Leave him alone! Stop! Let go of me!" she screamed.
She felt Rick losing his grip on her and took advantage of it, loosing her struggle, only to slide out of it a second later, like a Chinese finger trap. She ran at Dudley, jumping on his back and pulling at his hair, thus greatly angering and shocking Dudley and just about everyone else as well.
"Harry, run! Run!" she shouted.
He just stood there, very much having difficulty doing what she said. Yes, he has to be noble, she thought exasperatedly, and at the same time liking him the more for it. The guys were enclosing on them both.
"Go, run!" she said.
Harry, not being able to bring himself to leave her like that, who had just saved him, ran quickly at Dudley and kicked his knees, making him buckle to the ground. He grabbed Amara's wrist and yelled, "Come on!"
They ran as quickly away as they could. Amara, who had much experience in running, realized Harry ran very fast. He was right with her the whole way, while most people would have been left in her dust.
Like Amara predicted, Dudley, Rick, Dave and Robert soon gave up on the chase. She didn't risk looking back, but she knew there were still three people heading after her, her brothers, and Greg.
Soon there was only one set of steps to be heard, and this greatly surprised Amara. "Come on, this way," Harry said, leading her to a very narrow space between one house and a garage. She was surprised she fit.
They struggled to fit themselves inside, getting right in the center, out of reach of Greg, who was, for all his lanky being, couldn't bring himself to get to Amara and Harry.
After he had left, they released their breaths that they hadn't realized they'd been holding.
"Thanks," Amara and Harry said at the same time. They smiled at each other in the relative darkness.
Amara knew that she'd saved Harry, but not herself. She would only get it worse when she got home. Luckily, Roy had a business trip he had to take that evening, lasting a day, and she wouldn't get it twice. Chad and Damien were used to getting their way without much resistance, and she'd never escaped them before. Her smile because of that was genuine, and she knew she wouldn't tell Harry this, so that he'd feel good about saving her as well.
"Well, I think I've had enough running to last a life time," Amara said.
"Me, too. I was wondering where you were at, you'd been gone a week and a half," Harry said.
"A week and a half!" Amara said, shocked.
"You didn't know?" Harry was confused.
Amara hadn't realized she'd been under so long. She had only been conscious for the last three days. "Um…sorry, I didn't think it had been that long," she said lamely.
"Right," Harry said and half laughed, relieved over their escape.
Amara couldn't help but smile and laugh over their victory, too. "I was beginning to think they shipped you off to some country as a slave," Harry said.
"With all the money the save on a maid, no way," Amara joked. "So how's your labor going? Is your time almost up?" she asked.
"I got a life sentence," Harry said.
"I hope not," Amara said, trying not to picture being forced to live with Roy until he died. She shivered.
"Cold?" he asked. It was evening, but none the less humid. They both got their way out of the crevice.
"No, just trying to have to picture living with Dudley for an entire life," she said.
Harry laughed. "I better get going, I bet Dudley's already back now, and I'm always grounded if I'm not home before or with him."
"Yeah, I'm not even supposed to leave the house," Amara said.
"Bye," Harry said.
"Later,' Amara said.
On the way home Amara met Damien and Chad approaching their house from the opposite direction. The anger and outrage on Chad's face, and the cold loathing on Damien's face were undeniable. She was in for it. Thinking back to Harry she realized something that made her pulse quicken, but it was a good thing. For the first time in her life, she had a friend. She looked back to Damien and Chad, knowing what was in store once they entered the house. She shrugged inwardly, two angry brothers was worth one friend any day. She entered the house with a smile.