Hello my lovies! I am so sorry for the delay of this chapter! But here it is! I hope you like it! Special thanks to idevourbooks for helping me write this one. Check out this kid. One of the best authors I've read. If you have any ideas or comments please review! It helps me make the story much better! Anyways I'm gonna shut up now. Enjoy! ~Alice
Burn Chapter 4
"My mom actually passed away when I was 7. You would think that's where it all began but it actually started when I was 5. At 5 years old, my life was bad, at 7 it got worse, and at 12, my life went from worse to miserable." Luce's hazelnut eyes wandered around the room. "Have you heard of a business called "Heartfilia Konzern"?" She asks.
"Are you kidding me?!" I say shocked. HK was an incredible business that was always on the front of every magazine and newspaper. The business was like a really good book. Sometimes it was static and sometimes there was so much going on you couldn't look away. It was an incredible business with a lot of dark secrets and a bunch of scandals. "That was like the never ending story of a century!"
"Well, the CEO?" She asks raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, what a douche." I say rolling my eyes. "What was his name, Jim? I feel bad for that daughter of his. I always saw her looking miserable in those paparazzi pictures. He was a really greedy man."
"Try living with him for 15 years." She mutters.
"What?" I ask.
"The CEO, Jude, was my dad." She says. Looking kind of embarrassed. My mouth drops open.
"But, you have a different last name. I mean they're the same but yours is different isn't it?" I ask, still not believing.
"I changed it. I spell it H-E-A-R-T-P-H-I-L-I-A, and he spells it H-E-A-R-T-F-I-L-I-A." She says, sighing.
"That's so amazing! What was it like growing up stinking rich?!" I blurt out. Her head snaps up and she shoots daggers from her eyes. My excitement melts into regret. Obviously, it was not a great childhood. "Sorry." I say ashamed.
"You wanna know what it was like in that hell hole? Well, you asked for it." She takes a deep breath. "My dad's business was booming. He was making 3.5 million dollars a year. Great, right? HA! My father became a greedy man. He had to be the "bread winner" of the house. So my mom was never allowed to get a job. My father did everything in his power to make my mother feel weak. He chose what she wore, what she ate, who her friends were, and even where she was allowed to go. He insulted my mom everyday. He was also extremely unfaithful. He brought home a hooker every night and called them "coworkers". He was also an angry drunk. Every night he came home drunk and start screaming at my mom calling her a "dirty whore". My mom tried so hard not to let me see. She would send me to my room but it never helped. I could hear the whimpering apologies, the disgusting insults, and the way too occasional slap." Her face tightened up. Her chin squeezed into thin creases. I could tell she was trying not to cry. Her smooth voice caressed each word as if to bring comfort to a story that was so violent to tell. Her face was so beautiful. Not a flaw in sight. Yet her past was so ugly.
"He wanted to impress a world that is so naïve." She says, her face relaxing. "He had this picture perfect view of life and he would get no matter what. One time, I went to surprise my dad at work. I guess he was in an "important meeting" because when I walked into his office there was this man with him talking about God knows what. So I ran up to him yelling, 'Daddy! Daddy!', I wasn't even three feet away from him when he screamed, " YOU LITTLE BRAT, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!". That was my sixth birthday." She laughs like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard.
"That was a year before your mom passed away right?" I ask awkwardly.
"Yea. My dad was the one that killed her." She says matter-of-factly.
"What?" I say. I remembered reading somewhere that Layla Heartfilia died of an STD she got from cheating.
"She never was unfaithful." She says. I guess she had seen my face go from shock to recalling. "My dad got an STD form one of his 'coworkers', took advantage of my mother one night, then after never paying for any medicine or doctor visits, she passed away." Lucy pauses. She closes her eyes and like before her face tightens. A tear escapes her securely closed eyes. She breathes staggeringly this time. "I was the last person to hold her." She begins cry softly. I take her hand and hold it tightly "I was the last person to hear her last breath." She begins breathing normally again. "After my moms passing, I became the new human punching bag. My father tormented me. His abuse would create my disorder."
"What disorder?" I ask.
"My multiple personality disorder." That explains why I heard all those voices in the bathroom. "My disorder embodied my coping mechanism." She says taking from her hips the ring of keys. "Do you know the signs of the Zodiac?"
"Some of them, yea." I say. I list off some of the names I remember on my fingers. "You mean like Leo, Libra, Capricorn, Aries, stuff like that?"
"Yea, well when I was sad I would read horoscopes and do tarot cards. My friend Cana taught me how. Soon, the 12 signs took over and became new personalities. Aquarius came to be by my mom. My mom would always say to me "Stay strong Lucy. You will never be alone." Capricorn came from my father constantly calling me 'stupid' and 'idiot'. Aries from my father yelling "SHUT UP YA SLUT". Taurus came from my dad calling me a 'rotten whore' and a 'slut that sleeps with anything that walks. Libra came from me trying to balance on a tightrope that could break at any moment and drop me into hell. Leo became the friend I never had and the father I wanted. Sagittarius came from my character of being this proper and fragile princess. Cancer from all the cuts I gave myself. Gemini came from the people in my life who had this mask of kindness but a soul of evil. Pisces came from me imagining what a relationship with my mom could feel like again. Scorpio came from the cool hunk I always thought could save me. And lastly, Virgo who was the caretaker I never had."
"Wow" I say. This vulnerable tiny girl had a huge past. I wanted to absorb all of the pain. I wanted her to give me her past. I wanted to give her the past she wanted- no, the past she deserved. I want to know everything about this girl. "What else?" I ask.
"I.. I can't anymore…" She says sheepishly. "I can't do this anymore" Her voice tightens. Her face tightens once again and I have this tidal wave of anger.
"Who's hurt you?" I ask anger in my throat. Tears stream down Lucy's face.
"I can't say! Please I can't say!" Lucy sobs. I grab her shoulders.
"Lucy as long as you're with me. I'm going to protect you. No one will ever hurt you. And if they do…" I swallow the pit of anger that's in my throat. "I'll burn them" She looks at me, endless tears roll down her face. "Who's hurt you?"
"I was raped by my sixth grade boyfriend for 4 years." Her sobs were so loud and painful. I pull her close to my chest. "Oh god.. oh god what have I done. No no no no." her sobs get harder. "I'm dead. He's gonna kill me. No no no." I hold Lucy as tightly as I can.
"I'll kill him first." I say through clenched teeth. "I'll burn that son of a bitch to ashes."