The sun slowly rises brilliantly radiant bringing life and much desired warmth to the chilling early morning air. Nicia awakes to tranquil sound of the morning birds resting just beyond her bedroom window. She begins to crawl out of the soft comfort of her egyptian cotton blankets layered on top the cozy fluff of her mattress made of clouds.
Her walls painted black her bedroom a mess of dirty laundry, and stinky week old take out. She hears a ruffle to her left and peers into the corner of her room. Her blood boils thousands of degrees hotter than the sun, with a pure untampered hatred towards the man who slept in her bed now dressing himself in the corner. Her eyes glaze over with the rage of a stampede of bulls. Her hands clenched into fist with the ferocity of a wild dogs. Her body trembles like an earthquake just at the sight of him.
"Morning sunshine, how's my little girl this morning?" With one sentence her naked body tumbles to the ground as the rage that filled her is overshadowed by the weight of hatred, loathing, and pity for herself. She begins to wildly weep as her father exists the room with a grin on his smug face.
End Flashback.
The low screech of the printer awakes Nicia from her trancelike state. Hours have gone by, the group of teens lounge around Nicia's large room still a mess. The black curtains drawn back allowing for a perfect view of the early evening sky. Dusk just beginning to settle with splotches of pink and purple now becoming visible.
Ethan enters the room in the midst of drying his wet hair, with his freckled blanketed body wrapped in a towel. "Nice job guys we finally finished the project."
"We finished the project while you were off swimming in my pool. Fucking loser."
"Bitch."
"Why do you exist!"
"Come on guys at least the projects finished and we can just hang out now." Chris interjects always looking on the bright side of things.
"Oh shut it Boy Scout."
Over the past few grueling hours the motley crew has grown fond of each other, no longer at each other's throats. Well for the most part. Nicia has lowered her guard a small amount, Makenna slowly becoming comfortable, and DJ steadily escaping his repressive cocoon. He gazes into the sky his mind wondering in a peaceful daze slightly numbing his surroundings.
As the day had gone by he silently watched the uncanny group, by some anomaly he finds himself attracted to the four other students somehow. The stoic spoiled rich girl prideful overstuffed with fake smiles and mask that cover her deep dark almost demonic truths. Making extra sure no one finds out the mysteries her life hides, she lives a life of half truths always never revealing her full story or thoughts, locking them away in a vault of closely guarded secrets. As if to never let anyone get too close to her.
Then there's the other generic teenaged girl, not the sharpest knife in the drawer by any means. She too holds up a mask only her's is a lot harder to see through like she's had her entire life to perfect and build this persona of a dainty ditz of girl with the mindset of a child. Truthfully she is scatterbrained never really understanding the full depth of the situations around her. Where as Nicia carries herself with pride and courage Brittany is the exact opposite never too sure of herself always in denial of her own self worth. Yet the two are true best friends.
Finally the wallflower with bold blue-green eyes and a big heart. Caring and nurturing a true kind and innocent soul, wouldn't even hurt an annoying fly constantly buzzing around her. She honestly cares for the world around her in her eyes it's perfect, blanketed in the beautiful warmth of the sun and dazzling sky filled with a perfect blue in harmony with every living thing on the planet. While to DJ it's a flaming shithole just bound for self destruction. But damn was she the most beautiful thing he ever layer his eyes on.
Oh and Ethan, he's just an asshole. The group continues to sprawl across the wide bedroom, as the ongoing conversation continues separate from his pondering. They've begun to steadily embraces everyone's quirks, Brittany's seemingly brainlessness, Nicia's cold attitude, DJ's sin of sloth.
"No but like DJ your super smart and all why didn't you just do the essay for us?" Brittany asks.
His reply comes a form resembling a drawn out sigh."Oh...um...it's boring I guess I don't know." His voice trails off as he lays back staring out into the glass window. Makenna notices his dull mood and quietly lays her hand on his arm. Her touch soft, gentle and light barely noticeable.
"Hey what's up DJ?" Her tone light and tranquil.
"He's okay he's just going through stuff." Chris explains. The others simply read the room as their eyes wonder the room as if searching for something to change the subject of the conversation to. Then there's Brittany.
"Like what stuff. Someone die or something? My dad died but I was real real little but I don't remember him." She blurts out. There's a pause in the room the lackadaisical tone of their conversation now awkwardly held hostage by the depressive weight of DJ's internal struggles.
"Yeah a few people died, good people, good friends." He takes a look around to see somber expressions on the others faces, he looks to Chris and gestures for him to shift into a more positive less awkward discussion.
"It was a while ago, so the only thing we can do now is move on. On that note who's hungry." Chris ungracefully redirects the conversation as the two friends flash a mutual grin of comradery.
"Me." They hastily reply, and let out shared nonchalant giggle.
The tone of her voice now less condescending, as the small spark of a friendship initiates between the young teens. "Yeah guys help yourselves to whatever's in there, or I could get the chef to make you guys something."
"One of the many perks of being filthy rich." Ethan's smirks while he, Brittany, Chris, and Makenna head off in search of something to tide their appetites over, through the grand labyrinth that is the Haro estate. A true maze one could easily get lost inside the luxurious home overstuffed with elegant white marble interiors and several long corridors decorated with detailed statues and paintings and vases and sculptures.
DJ remains atop Nicia's bed, while Nicia herself spins around in her desk chair.
"This really is a great place you got here."
"It's not mine." She sharply retorts, the distain in her voice has returned. DJ begins to perk up, although he's not an empath he can tell when someone is harboring a deep festering hatred. He's seen it in enough people to tell. The heavy wooden headboard knocks against the wall with a thud, and the giant frame lets out a mild creak as he shuffles himself upright.
"I really wish people would stop saying that, it's his house, it's his money, I have nothing to do with him." She carries a heavy stoic detached tone in her now cold voice.
"You have nothing to do with who?" The sudden intrusion sends a juvenile jump of fear down through their bodies. The air around them becomes bitter and sour with a hint of maniacal. The kind of sour that makes your mouth pucker and leaves a bad taste for hours afterwards. Nicia's father has entered her room once again.
"No one daddy." She pretends to smile but it's just another fake mask hiding real genuine fear and distress. He takes a few steps and places his heavy hand upon her small shoulder, then begins to uncomfortably and slowly caresses her up and down her neck with his fingers. This continues in what feels like a lifetime but only really lasted a second or two,then he notices DJ now sitting on the bed.
"Oh I didn't know Nicia had friends over." There's a brief pause on the verge of being awkward as DJ searches for words. No as if he's found them just not allowing himself to speak them.
"Well just I need to talk to you soon." Her father said.
"Ok." She lets out as her father walks out the room as the tension is finally released. DJ takes a deep long look at Nicia and recognizes the overwhelming terror he once felt. And so for the first time he peers into her psyche in orderto gain a better understanding of her agony using his telepathic ability.
"You're Dad's creepy." DJ takes another long pause to clear his throat. "He does things to you doesn't he.
"Shut up what do you know! I would never let anyone do things to me, ever!"Her voice erupts.
"I know we've got a lot more in common than you think. We've both been used, oppressed, and abused by others." DJ sighs then leans back onto the bed made of clouds with his hands behind his head.
"Treated like another's play thing, just a something for them to toy with whenever they want amusement. There was this guy once, he got into my head then made me hurt people. Good people, good friends. Look Nicia I know how people can easily manipulate others, and I hate scum like your father."
"I see him as the embodiment of everything wrong with the world every deadly sin rolled into one. Greed, gluttony, lust and everything in between. Sometimes I think today's the day, today's the day I run away but then I remember what's there to run to. He has enough money and resources to find me no matter where I go. I have no one, the closest thing I have to family is Brittany and you've seen how she can be." DJ interjects with a contorted facial expression. "No one can help me, no one can save me, no one can fix me now."
"Other days I think maybe I'd be better just to kill him, you know just rid the world of this evil. Just like the way they killed that boy earlier. It's the way he gets into your head and warps your mind and manipulates you to get what he wants, it's seriously scary. I'm afraid for my life every time I'm with him. He makes my blood seriously boil. Other days I just want to kill myself." Her light weeping breaks out into a primitive sobbing with eyes like a never ending waterfall. DJ kneels next to her in an attempt of comfort.
"Everyday I wake up and he's there laying next to me, every night he makes me sleep with him." Nicia pauses briefly to catch her breath. "Everyday for the past five years that man has made me a victim, scared and lonely. He makes me feel like I'm nothing no matter how smart I am, no matter how much talent I have, it doesn't matter to him. I haven't been able to live with myself for the past five years. It feels like I'm drowning.
"He's treated me like a toy something that can be tossed aside when ever he's done using me. I hate him, I hate him with all of my heart, I hate him, I hate him. Do you know how it feels to be so ready to die, after all the cutting you gave yourself after all the bruises and scars they gave you. Your ready to give up I've tried twice now and every time I fail, maybe he's right I can't ever do anything right."
"No, no you are one the most courageous people I've ever met. Your right he is the epitome of evil and I plan on doing something about him and everything he represents. But I'm more concerned about you and giving you the justice you deserve. I'm not going to let you drown. I can give you the power to stand up for yourself, to no longer be the victim that needs saving, to be the hero that saves people like you. With that power you can take your life and innocence back from the man who stole it from you. Join Chris and me together we can save people-" He stops dead in the middle of his sentence. "Wait what boy, the boy you said that got killed. What was his name."
"I don't remember, but he went to our school. Why do you ask?"
"Tell me Nicia was his head, when they found the body was his head gone?"
"Yeah, just like the boy from our homeroom class. They found his body about two hours ago." DJ's face contorts with fear and panic begins to set in as his heart skips a beat and his eyes widen. "Shit they're getting closer." He quickly shoots up from Nicia's side. "I need to find Chris we have to get out of -" DJ is interrupted by the earshattering roar of a vicious explosion leveling the room and the entire left wing of the Haro estate.
The End: Next Chapter; Never Gonna Quit Until I Die.
Author's notes: I'm not crying you're crying bitch. So welp I took awhile but I finished this hoe. The rewrite is going well and I have a lot of great ideas to improve the book and balancing the action-adventure sci-fi side with the deep dark insight into the character's psyche and development so the next chapter will focus more on the action side and really pick on the plot, but also finding justice for Nicia and begin to further build up Chris and DJ dynamic partnership.