Chapter one

Chapter one

Silence buzzed in my ears like a hive of wasps, there were elephants stomping through my stomach. I felt like a ball of exposed, squirming nerves. Anxiety was not something I experienced often, but now it was looming over me like a thunderous cloud ready to release hell.

"I thought loyalty was as precious as gold." I mumbled to my father as he sat behind his desk. Face void of any emotion and his eyes just as cold. My brown eyes stared back into his own identical pair. My mother stood behind him playing with the ends of her yellow sundress, her tiny frame shivering with sobs.

It was a hard moment of silence before anyone spoke again, meanwhile anger was rising in a fat, dry knot in my chest. Trying to focus on keeping the tears at bay, I waited. Waited for a grin to spread across my father’s face, waited for the punch line but instead, in a cold dismissing tone he spoke, “this is the biggest test of your loyalty Avery. Will you do right by your family or disappoint?”

It felt like a punch to the gut, the wind expelled from my lungs and suddenly I was silently choking on the shock of everything. All my anger forced down into a whimper of submission. The smirk slithering into place on my father’s face, was all the indication I needed to know he had won, and this conversation was over.

"Why?" I did not sound like myself; my tone was strained with the force it took to talk passed the tears and the knot in my throat. My mother finally raised her gaze to mine, her blue orbs were filled to the brim in sadness.

“Avery-” her broken voice only adds to my anger. What right did she have to be upset? they were doing this to me, and she was crying? The chuckle rolls off my tongue before I can stop myself. She flinches back from the tone before lowering her head again.

“Enough of this nonsense. You are a grown woman Avery. Time to take some responsibility.” My mother is yanked out the door behind my father. His words

plant me, and like a weed the pain grows through my body. A sob rips through my body with enough force, I am weighed down to the cold floor of my father’s office. Loneliness settles in like an old friend, it wipes my tears and helps me find the strength to drag myself to my room. Where the pain wiped my tears and the sadness tucked me in.

Hunger lurches me from my slumber, my stomach rumbles into the darkness of my room. I do not bother with the light as I stumbled out of my room. Squinting against the brightly lit hallway, the house is dead silent. Not that I was in any mood to see anyone. The sun is just starting to rise so I know someone will be up soon, with swiftness my feet carry me towards the oven where my mom usually puts the leftovers, the scent of baked chicken and rice make my mouth water. After heating up a small bowl of food I am ready to escape back to my room, the small bowl of heaven is almost enough to make me forget today’s events.

Things almost feel normal again, until I finally make it back to my room. My door is slightly ajar, a cool breeze that was not there before is whispering against my bare feet. My body is freezing where I stand, eyes wide with speculation at the uninvited guest that was currently swallowing up the space of the room.