12
Age sixteen
“Make sure you don’t talk to them, okay?”
Aurora nods, her lips pressed together as her determined eyes watch me.
How could I protect my sister from the horrors within the walls of this school?
Warning her would do her good. She will know what to expect, will know what to do, so she doesn’t make the mistake I did.
Aurora smiles at me, then turns and walks away. It feels as if a piece of my heart has walked away with her.
It’s my last year in secondary school, the last year before I can leave and never look back at this place. It may be a private school, and Dad has paid big amounts of money for us to study here, to get a good education, to live and learn amongst the elite. Yet the only thing I have learned to do is to hide my fear well.
My heart drums inside of me as I make my way towards my first class of the day, of a long final year, while my heart twists inside of me in terror.
One last year of fighting. One last year of surviving where no one sees my battles.
As soon as I enter the classroom, the lights dim and I realise no one is here. My breath catches in my throat, and panic sets in.
It’s like I have been locked inside a small place with no way out, thrown into deep water with no oxygen tank as I struggle to breathe. Like something is wrapped around my neck, strangling the life out of me.
The door slams shut behind me. I flinch and spin around.
Three students.
Layla Madden. Gabriella Madden. Inara Madden.
Blond Layla, and brunette Gabriella and Inara.
“What happened, Ambrose?” Layla taunts, crossing her arms as she stalks towards me.
Every step, every echo of her shoe hitting the floor, chokes me a little more.
Every wicked grin, every dark twinkle in her eye, and every word coming out of her mouth has me wishing for death.
How could my father, who is spending each and every penny working his way up, barely paying our fees here to get us the best education in the whole United Kingdom amongst the elite, fight against the three daughters of the pharmaceutical king of Britain? The internationally successful man who could crush our whole family like a mere speck of dust in his way.
“Please let me go,” I plead.
Layla tsks, shaking her head. “We just want to play like friends do, and you, Ambrose…” She places a hand on my shoulder, making my body jerk. Her hold turns rougher, holding me in place as she walks around me. “You are our dearest and most special friend. Friends help each other and have fun, right?” She grabs both my shoulders and leans her face next to mine from behind me.
Gabriella and Inara laugh and nod.
“Then, while we wait for the teacher, let’s see you dance for us.” Layla pushes me farther into the classroom, her words haunting me.
Last time, she made me take off my jacket, then made me stand there as they threw balloons filled with paint, and they laughed through it all. The bruises are still present on my body. I hate them. They are a sign of my weakness.
I fought them in the first year, but how much can I fight when I know one small squeak from me could ruin my whole family?
“With no music?” Gabriella asks with a gasp before she takes out her phone.
“Oh, put my favourite one on. She will look so good dancing to this one.” Inana hurries to her, and I just stand there, shaking.
I go to shake my head, but the look in Layla’s dark eyes has me freezing in place.
“I heard your sister joined this school. Oh, how beautiful and innocent she is,” she says.
My eyes widen, my lips parting. “No.” I go to take a step forward, but Layla’s grimace as she steps away from my touch stops me in place.
“Then get going. We put music on for you. Dance for us a little.”
But they had something else in mind. They always did, and now, this time, to protect Aurora, I sit there as Gabriella and Inara hold my arms out and Layla uses small sharp razors to slice across my thighs. Blood spills from the wounds.
My screams reach high up to the heavens. They are ripped out of me with every swipe, every cackle and laugh they make. I bite my lip until it bleeds crimson. I shut my eyes, tears flowing out of me, but the thought of Aurora ever being in this position has me struggling. It has me sitting through it. I will never allow my sister to experience this.
“Look at her crying,”
“You had beautiful thighs. Just let us decorate them.”
“Aw, cry a little harder, and I might stop.”
And I bleed in the dark classroom to protect my family.
I bleed in the darkness while I lose my love for myself.
And I cry as my own happiness is ripped from me, my screams tearing up my insides.
“Ambrose?” Aurora’s confused face is a blur, but I ignore her and walk away from her in the hallway.
The next day, the same thing happens, no matter if we come in the same car to school. Mum drops us off with a smile on her face, not realising what is hidden in the towering walls of this school.
“Ambrose, please listen to me!” I hear Aurora shout, but I run away from her as soon as my feet touch the ground.
And the next day.
And the next month.
I avoid her for the whole year until the very last month.
Feeling your own sister fade away as you dismiss her existence just for her protection has to be the worst feeling.
I tried protecting her from those who hurt me.
This party was supposed to be in honour of my school winning the football game. It was supposed to be the party I fought for myself. It was supposed to be the turning point in my life where it was only up from here. I was not expecting to come across part of my sister’s pink dress peeking out from a small cupboard.
Bang.
Bang.
“Help me!”
I only just catch the muffled words through the heavy music, screams, and chatter of the crowd around the Madden estate. My heart drops. Anxiety twists my insides until all I feel is aching terror.
Time stops.
My blood freezes.
And right now, my personal hell on earth is right in front of my eyes.
My worst nightmare has come to life. Aurora is in there. Trapped. And the Madden sisters are laughing and recording as the doors of the cupboard shake with the force Aurora is using to try to open them.
Laughter. Laughter. Fucking laughter is all around.
Rushing forward and pushing people out of my way, I storm right up to them. Grabbing hold of Layla’s phone, I smash it against the nearest wall. It explodes into pieces. I push Gabriella Madden into the pool behind her. Her eyes are wide, and she shrieks as she falls. Grabbing hold of Inara’s hair, I push her to the floor. Her screams and clawing hands are nothing to me.
“How fucking dare you use your dirty hands on Aurora?” I scream in her face.
Her eyes snap open, and she sneers at me, wild and crazed.
A hand on my elbow pushes and tugs at my hand that is in Inara’s hair, but I don’t budge. Not a single muscle.
“Let her go, Ambrose, or this will not—”
I turn around and slap Layla in the face. Her head whips to the side with the force.
“Shut the fuck up!” I snap.
Turning back to Inara, I pull her up and throw her in the pool.
Breathing heavily, I am barely able to keep my shaky hands from slipping off the knobs of the cupboard.
The doors slam open.
And there she is.
Aurora.
Shaking, shivering, with tears in her eyes.
“Ambrose,” she chokes out, her words barely audible.
I tried protecting her. I took the brunt of everything to keep her from getting into trouble or ever having her body damaged. I let myself get ruined so she could stay pretty and happy.
So what in the world is she doing here?
“What are you doing here?” I shout. Guilt slams me when she flinches, but as soon as she steps out, she almost collapses on the floor.
“I-I just wanted to see—”
“See what? Did you not for one second think that just maybe I said no for your own good? Did you think I was joking? That this whole thing is the best thing ever and I am purposely keeping you from having fun?” My voice shakes and drops an octave, but I can’t stop.
I was going to shut this whole thing down. I was going to end the bullying, so when I left it didn’t follow her, and yet here she is, shoving her nose in business that isn’t hers.
“No. I just didn’t want to be left alone with Mum and Dad.”
“I don’t care! You should have asked me!” I scream.
A crowd starts to form around us, but I couldn’t care less. She should have stayed at home. She shouldn’t have come here.
“How could you be so fucking selfish that you decided to follow me? How could you think that you were going to have fun here when I want nothing to do with you? Ever! Get it through your thick head that you are not wanted.”
Her mouth opens, her eyes water, and her hands shake.
“But—”
“But nothing. Never follow me and never, ever, get in my way ever again.”
Grabbing her wrist, I drag her out, ignoring the eyes on me and the crowd that seems to want to swallow both me and Aurora.
I don’t speak and let her hand go the second we are outside the front gates.
“Ambrose, I didn’t mean it like that. You’re my sister. I don’t know why you were being so distant so suddenly,” Aurora whispers from behind me.
“Don’t. I don’t want you near me. There is no bigger reason. It’s the truth. Accept it now before it hurts you.”
I am spun around suddenly to face a raging Aurora. The faint smell of rain hits my nose just as the dark clouds above us crack.
“How could you say that? I am your sister!” She shakes me by my shoulders. “How could you push me away and act like I mean nothing to you? I have been with you my whole life. You protected and—”
“That’s the thing, Aurora. I failed to protect you, clearly. Because you showed up. You let everyone know you are as big of a target as I am. So please, for your sake and mine, stay away from me. It’s not going to be pretty.”
I push off her hands, and the first couple of cold drops hit my skin, making me hiss.
“So that’s it? There is nothing else?” Her hands ball at her sides, her pink dress crumbled and ruined.
I would have drawn hearts around all the bruises you may get. I would have got you transferred and still will do so. You didn’t believe me when I said it’s for your protection, Aurora.
“That’s it.”
Thunder booms and rain showers us. We both get drenched in no time. Hair sticks to our faces and emotions slowly dissolve as we both stand still, looking into each other’s eyes as everything falls apart.
Piece by piece.
The dominoes fall.
And then she says the one word that will change our lives for the next decade.
“Fine.”