7 | J U L I E T

The sound of footsteps somewhere far away yet near to me made my shot open. Everything was dark.

Disoriented, I sat up, my hand going straight to my temple which throbbed in pain. When I withdrew my hand, it was covered in dried blood. I shook myself more awake.

I was in a dark, cold and tiny room. It had a small bed, a table with a broken leg, a nightstand and a very small closet.

My attention drew to the door where I could hear footsteps on the outside getting louder. A second later, the door rattled as it was being unlocked.

Gathering my remaining energy, I stood up and crossed the room to stand in front of the door.

The moment it unlocked, I mustered up all my strength and kicked it open. Getting out, I saw Dan massaging his forehead where I hit him with the door.

"You bitch. You still haven't learned your lesson." He charged at me but I moved away from his path at the last second, placed my palm on the back of his neck and slammed him into the wall. He crumpled to the floor for the second time since I met him and I couldn't help but smirk at the idiot who didn't learn his lesson which our previous encounter didn't teach him, that of not messing with me.

I left him there to groan in pain and walked down the stairs that were in front of the room. Sounds from the kitchen drew me to it and I saw the woman cooking in the kitchen and her daughter sat cross legged at the table, eating her breakfast. In the living room was the man and I recognized them all from the photo frames.

The woman caught sight of me and instantly her lips turned into a sneer. "You're late. Get to work." She ordered. "And what is this I hear about you hurting Dan? How dare you lay so much as a finger on my son?"

The daughter turned to look at me and laughed obnoxiously. "A few weeks of running away and she thought she can fight back. Good thing I came at the right time and knocked her out right away. That must've been enough to tighten the loose screws in your head, isn't it?"

"So you're the one who hit me with that vase?" I asked as I neared her.

"Yes, what're you going to do about it?" She asked challengingly, crossing her arms over her chest.

My hands curled around a glass casserole. "I give everyone exactly what they give me back." In a swift movement, I held it over my head in an action suggesting that I might break it over her head. Her parents stood in the distance, panicking and shouting at me to not hurt their precious daughter while she just stared at me fearfully.

I smirked and placed it down and instead picked a knife, pointing at her. "But since you didn't know that, I'll let you go this one time." Then I stared her down with the tip of the knife pointed at her neck. "If you do anything like that, anything that might hurt me, I won't hesitate to use this knife." I warned and looked at the trembling parents. "And this goes for all of you. Especially you." I said, looking at Dan who had stumbled into the kitchen.

"What's gotten into her?" The mother said, asking Dan.

He glared at me. "I don't know. But this won't be for long. I'll make sure she knows her place."

"Yes, and that place is above you while my heels press down on your face." I reminded him.This didn't sit well with him because he was breathing hard, controlling his anger. "Now is there anyone stupid enough who'd like to try me? I'm not lying when I say I'll inflict some serious damage during self defence." I said, waving my knife in front of their faces.

Dan stepped forward only because I badly bruised his ego but I could see the uncertainty and slight fear in his eyes. I pressed my lips to not laugh out which only made him more mad. "You think you're the only one who knows how go use a knife?" He asked, picking up one longer and sharper and stalking towards me.

"Dan, no." His father spoke but it was too late. Dan wasn't about to listen to anyone unless he proved that he could defeat me. He was in for a disappointment.

We circled over a radius and he took the first swipe. I dodged him and stuck my knife in front of his stomach so that he thought I was going to stab him in the stomach. He moved his lower half back to escape my attack with his arms forward and I took his momentary distraction to my advantage as I grabbed his hand and stretched it straight to bring my elbow down on his wrist painfully. He dropped the knife and reached out for it with his other hand but I was quick and flicked both his arms away so he went twirling off somewhere.

Bending down I picked up the knife and regarded them all with a bored expression. "Are we done now?"

They didn't answer as all of them stared at me with jaws dropped and shocked looks I'm their faces. I walked over to the kitchen island and sat on it.

"I assume your name is Harper?" I asked the daughter.

She nodded meekly. "You already know that." She gritted out and I raised an eyebrow at her tone which instantly made her avoid my eyes.

"And who are you two?" I asked, looking over at the parents.

"Did she lose her memory?" Harper whisper asked Dan but he didn't answered, choosing to glare at me the whole time.

"I think I asked something." I placed the knifes next to me as I waited impatiently for their names.

The mother grudgingly answered. "I'm Daisy and my husband is Henry."

"Last name?"

"Sanders."

"That girl, Julia...I mean me, because that's what you see me as, am I adopted?"

They looked confused. "Well, of course. Trash can never be a part of our family." Daisy Sanders scoffed.

"You seen to forget that I have two knifes with me right now. Do I have to do use them to make you realize that you're at a disadvantage here?" I asked, turning around a knife in my hand.

She instantly kept quiet.

"So you abuse me daily? Why do you do that?" This question was directed at Dan.

He smirked, disgusting me. "You're the family's personal punch bag, of course. Something we use to get out our anger on, to relieve stress or for when we're bored. It's fun."

My anger flared up. "You don't deserve to be called human. All of you. You're disgusting pieces of shit. And I'm going to make sure you suffer for that."

"What're you going to do? Go to the police? You seem to forget that my dad has connections."

"Not right now. What I need right now is a place to stay, money and an identity which I've already gotten. But when the time does come, you'll be shaking in your boots and your so called 'connections'," I said, making air quotes around the word. "Will be as useless as you all are."

They didn't seem to believe me but it was only going to make it more fun to watch their faces when I do manage to land then in prison.

"Now you all get to work." I ordered, waving the knife at her and Daisy immediately scrambled into the kitchen. "I'm craving pancakes." I called out to her. "They better be on my plate for breakfast." I said and went off to clean myself, especially the nasty cut on my forehead which would've been a serious injury had I not put my arms in front of me.