I take a breath and open the door, greeted by only silence and darkness. I let out the breath I'm holding, and walk inside, keeping Nepeta behind me. Sollux warily comes to walk up beside me, seeming to sense our collective fear. I look from side to side, trying to detect any danger.
"Karkitty...why aren't the lights on?" Nepeta asks quietly, nervousness obvious in her voice. I hold her hand tighter, but don't respond. I make my way quickly to my bedroom when I don't hear anything out of the ordinary, which is scary enough.
"In here," I whisper, opening my door, to let them inside. My lamp is on, which I find sort of strange, but I ignore it and leave my head outside the door for a long enough time to detect any noise, and when I don't hear anything I close the door.
"He's not..." I mutter, then shut up, because Sollux is looking at me weird.
"Nepeta, stay in here alright," I say with a smile, a fake smile. Nepeta understands though, it's not the first time I've asked her; she nods and sits down on the floor in front of my bed, playing with the stuffed crab I've kept since I was young. While she's occupied, I turn back to Sollux.
He's just standing there awkwardly, and I raise my eyebrow at him. "Just gonna stand there?" I ask with a smirk. He jumps slightly at my voice and looks around nervously, a slight blush of embarrassment on his face.
"Sit on my bed, Jesus dude," I continue, tossing my head in the direction of my bed. I walk over to the corner of my room and grab my guitar, giving it to him before I go over to my closet. The light of my lamp helps me discern shapes from the shadows, and my eyes widen when I see all of my shoes and various romcoms had been moved, it looked as if someone has been looking for something.
"Shit..." I hiss, spinning to look around my room, really look. The lamp is on, and things in my room are moved. I turn back to see that my laptop...isn't there. Fear leaks back into my system, and I twist around. Nepeta is frowning at the crab now, but continues to make it dance. My gaze travels over to Sollux, who is playing a few idle tunes on my guitar. My gaze then travels to the door. A shock runs through me as I focuss my ears, realizing my mistake as I stopped paying attention to the outside world.
Footsteps.
Heavy, drunken, footsteps.
I jump up, and take a few steps, but before I can even get near the door, it's slammed open, and the shadowed shape of my dad darkens my doorway.
"Damnit! Nep get over here!" I hiss quickly, but the moment my cousin scrambles up, Silas lunges forward and grabs her by her hair. Sollux jumps back in shock and he watches the scene with wide eyes, his glasses have fallen off, and I finally see his eyes. Blue and hazel-red, they're nice.
"Didn't know you brought someone over," My dad growls lowly, his drunken breath smacking me in the face. I can't say anything in return because he has Nepeta, so I glare at him and settle into a half-crouch.
"Not gonna' answer?" He turns to spit on the floor, and once he's turned away, I take the opportunity and lunge forward, punching the pressure point near his neck. He shouts and drops Nepeta; I dive and catch her, then roll her over to the bed, towards Sollux.
Now my dad turns to me, and grabs me by the collar of my shirt. His fist digs into the base of my neck and I start coughing, but that just makes him grin, showing his ugly, yellowed teeth.
I'm about to tell him off, when I see Sollux stand out of the corner of my eye. Nepeta tries to stop him as Sollux pushes her further back under the bed and move towards me.
"Dude what the fuck are you doing!" He yells, expression a mix of furious and confused.
"Sollux don't!" I yell, but before Sollux can even react, Silas snorts, slamming his free fist into Sollux's face. The force of the punch causes him to be thrown into the wall. I hear Sollux groan, falling limp as drops of blood drip down his face. I see Nepeta crawl towards Sollux, but I catch her attention, mouthing 'Don't Move.' She nods slowly and begins trying to get Sollux on his feet.
"Heheh, boyfriend couldn't do nothin' neither can you," he hisses, I flinch back at the horrid smell of alcohol on his breath, but growl angrily.
"What the hell? Why the fuck did you-" He cuts me off by punching me in my side. I gasp as pain blossoms and go limp. I'm pretty sure I hear a rib pop, but I don't have any more time to think. He tightens his grip and shakes me, making lights flash before my eyes. He glares as he punches my face as well, over the old bruise. A slice of pain runs through my face, but I just grit my teeth and hold back any noise.
"Heh, actin' all tough aren't you," Silas glares, eyes narrowing, but a sick grin growing on his face, "But not even you can save them." As he says this, a meaty hand wraps around my arm, and in a quick movement, snaps the bone.
When I grit my teeth but can't prevent the scream from leaking through my teeth, shutting my eyes tightly as a few tears slide down my face. The sound of Nepeta crying reaches my ears but I know I can't do anything to help her.
Silas grasps my shirt and forces me to look at him.
"Nighty Night."