In this part of the story, I am the one who dies.— Pablo Neruda

[11]

seems to have come to a slow. It is him and me. His grey, stormy eyes are staring into my own blue ones. The only thing I can hear is the constant sound of my heartbeat.

And every so often, it skips a beat.

It is like we aren't standing in a whole room full of people who are complete strangers, or that David is watching me from a few meters away. Nothing matters.

Me and him. Him and I. Us.

Suddenly, someone throws their arms around my neck. I'm startled and jump back in surprise. I blink a numerous amount of times before looking to see who has attacked me.

Lily.

"Oh. My. God," Lily emphasis. "I can't believe you left me, you're such a bitch!" She gently slaps my arm in a playful way. I smile and roll my eyes.

"Ye - " I cut myself off and freeze.

Only talk if you've been given permission.

I hastily look around before my eyes meet with David's. His cold stare is deadly. I look down and walk away from Lily, she stops me though.

"Hey, where are you going? I haven't seen you in so long and you haven't even formally met my brother." My eyes stay on the ground, not daring to look up.

A firm hand is placed on my shoulder making me flinch. My body goes stiff. It is a slight movement but I'm sure if you concentrate hard enough, you'd be able to pick it up.

"Sorry Lily, I have to steal my sister away for a chat, if that's okay with you, of course?" Lily had no other choice but to agree.

Everyone at school thinks that David is so protective of me. A lot of people know not to hurt me. David doesn't care if they hurt me, he cares that he wasn't the one that hurt me first.

Lily nods her head.

"Oh yeah, that's cool." She waves her hand dismissively. David leads me away from Lily. I quickly glance back to Adam.

Our eyes connect for one last time before he disappears out of my sight. We walk up a series of stairs before we come to a room with a beautiful piano sitting in the middle.

Again, I look around in utter amazement, completely oblivious to the fact that David has a murderous look on his face. Maybe I'm just trying to ignore the fact that I'm not a big fan of getting hurt.

His hands grab me by the hair and he then pushes me onto the floor. I land with a loud thud. It isn't painful, it just surprises me. I stand back up and face David.

He doesn't get to see me weak. No one does.

David throws a punch to my stomach. It is hard and powerful. It's like he is trying to prove he has more dominance over me. He is my master and I am his pet.

I double over in pain onto the ground. Again, I pick myself up and face him. This angers David a lot and another even more forceful punch is thrown to my gut.

I gasp for air and hiss out in pain when his fist connects with my already bruised hip bone. David stops punching me and grabs my arm pulling me up.

"Act normal," he hisses right up to my face. Spit lands on my cheek and I nod. I quickly wipe it off and limp over towards the door. We go down the flights of stairs we had originally walked up and headed towards the front door. We pass Gary who silently nods to David.

David walks outside and I follow him, the cold night air hitting my skin. I shiver and fold my arms against my chest while David walks past the car making me frown in confusion. They normally take me back to the house for the punishment.

We continue walking through numerous streets until we seem to be quite far away from the party. David suddenly stops and looks back at me with an evil smirk on his face.

I take in my unknown surroundings. It is simple, really. Nothing special. Just a freaky alleyway that's pretty much in every horror story they talk about.

David walks behind me and kicks me in the back of the knee making them buckle from under beneath me. I fall to the ground.

"You've always been such a bitch," David begins. "I can't believe my mother was even friends with that witch."

That witch being my mother.

David throws a punch to my jaw. My eyes dot over already, already ready to welcome the darkness. But I will against them.

"I remember when I found that out that she had died, I was so sad because I thought she was amazing. Nope. That Witch brought shame and sadness to my own mother." David grabs my arm and twists it painfully.

I can't hold it in any longer. I scream. I scream so loud in hope that someone will find me. Anyone.

A fist connects with my stomach again making me wheeze for air. Another throw to my left cheek and then another to my arm.

"And do you wanna know what the worst thing about it was?" I barely shake my head.

"I found out we were going to adopt you, become your caregivers until you were at legal age. Eighteen years old."

A kick to the thigh.

My body is sprawled out on the cold pavement. I shiver and wrap myself up in a ball and cry.

"Thirteen years I've had to deal with this hideous face of yours," David says, pulling back my hair. He tugs so hard it feels like he takes some out. I let out another scream.

My screams echo around me.

"But guess what, princess?" David speaks into my ear. "You're eighteen years old today."

My body freezes. Am I eighteen today?

"Happy birthday..." He draws before punching me in the face and letting my head bounce onto the pavement. I let out a whimper.

"Guess what we got you?" I shake my head.

A punch to the right cheek.

"Guess!"

I shake my head again. No.

"Guess!" David roars sending a kick to my stomach. I cough out blood. Am I finally going to die?

"Nothing," I sputter out in a wheeze.

"Wrong!" David presses down on my badly bruised thigh. I scream.

"We got you something better," he states proudly. "You no longer have a home, Princess. Sad, right? We're officially not your legal guardians."

David presses harder into my thigh. I couldn't scream anymore. Instead, tears fall down my face.

"Happy birthday, Princess." With that, David sends one last kick to my head.

I welcome death with open arms.

Happy birthday to me.