Chapter 2
Raya
I chew on my bottom lip as I look up at the orange-tinted sky, with the light breeze blowing through my hair, the birds chirping echoing in the quiet cemetery.
To most people, they’d love this kind of evening, relish in it after a hard day at work. I, well, I’m waiting for the darkness to take hold, to swallow me so I won’t be noticeable for what I need to do that will most likely upset my mama and make her disappointed in me.
“Mama met someone, Daddy,” I whisper as I finally look down at the headstone, my eyes taking in the writing.
Chase Wilson
Beloved Husband and Devoted Father
A town hero forever missed
“She seems happy, I guess, but I just, it hasn’t even been a year,” I sniffle as I look down, the sight of his headstone always heart-wrenching despite coming here every week, sometimes even twice a week.
Next month, I turn sixteen, a milestone that most kids in my school celebrate with a bang, while I’ll be trying to hold it together without falling apart.
Next month will mark one year since Daddy was killed, and yes, I said killed.
My jaw ticks.
Everyone in town believes he died a hero, that the house fire was a freak accident but it wasn’t, it was set with the purpose of killing the family inside because the father owed money to the Hyenas.
A group that think they are big and bad but really are just pests whose idea of getting their money back along with over eighty percent more than what was lent is by killing the person who owes it to them if they can’t meet the deadline, along with everyone they love which is just stupid because they still lose that money.
Dad was a casualty of that, and since that day, the family has disappeared, while the wife was found beaten, raped, and dead in a river.
They got what they wanted, the family dead, but their mistake meant my dad died too, and now, they will, even if it takes me years, one by one, every member of the group will find an early grave.
They took my best friend, my world, and now I’ll take theirs.
A light breeze flitters again, and I sniffle as I wipe my tears, hating that Mama moved on so quickly, not able to understand it.
Daddy was her world.
“He’s a lawyer,” I admit in the quietness, “and he seems besotted with her but he’s not you Daddy, no one can ever replace you so why has she?”
I look over the headstone again with heartbreak as I whisper, “Ben showed up again last week, demanded money,” I shake my head, “Years with no contact but because your dad’s business has collapsed and they heard you died, they keep popping up like little thorns, hurting Mama with their nasty words, making her feel like a whore because she found someone else. ”
Ben was my dad's uncle. He took over the family business, but it went bankrupt, and now the wealth they all thought would last them for years is gone because they never received the inheritance from my great-great-grandmother. My dad did, and now they want it.
“Mama told them you got into debt, that there’s nothing left even though you barely touched that money,” I say, “She says it's rightfully mine and it has been placed into an account for me, but I-I don’t want it, Daddy, I want you back, not the money.”
I look up again as my tears fall.
After blacking out from the news that my dad was gone, I woke up in a mental hospital, but to be honest, it’s all a blur.
Mama said I tried to hurt myself and anyone who came near me, and I was there for three months before I was allowed to leave and return to school, everyone believing I was on a yacht, the lie Ivy told people so they wouldn’t find out about my breakdown.
They believed I was spending Daddy’s money when that is the furthest from the truth.
I wanted to die. I snapped out of it as soon as I had found out about the feelers that were put around the town about the Hyenas wanting to know who the firefighter was that died, I knew the fire wasn’t an accident and that they were trying to sort out lose ends meaning me and Mama.
So far, they don’t know. Gregory Averie, the club's lawyer, my lawyer who has sorted out my inheritance so my dad's side of the family can’t touch it. He is Mama’s new boyfriend, and has ensured the Hyenas don’t get Dad’s name with the help of Glock, the only brother who is aware my dad is dead.
Rumor has it that the club believes I’m using Ivy, something about how I acted around Venom, making them think I’m a patch chaser. As a result, they all hate me, and the fact that I was gone for three months, leaving Ivy worried, has only made them angrier so having Glock on my side is a blessing.
I twitch my nose. My childhood crush believes I’m using his little sister to piss off my daddy and get a brother's patch when really, I fell in love with him and couldn’t look at him without blushing. Now, I’m afraid to look at him because he may see my pain, and that makes his suspicions fester.
It’s not really fair, he never gave me the chance, never spoke to me kindly, and how I fell for him I’ll never know because the person who always talked to me was a jackass. Yet my heart wanted him, still does, still wishes that maybe one day he may finally notice me.
Silly me, right?
It’ll never happen, I know this, but you’ll have to tell my heart that.
“I’m going to start making things right tonight, Daddy,” I whisper as I place my hand on the headstone, “I’m going to get rid of the cancer in this town, one by one, until none are left for what they did to you, to us. I’m going to avenge you even if I have to die trying.”
I slowly stand before I bend and place a gentle kiss on the stone, then I whisper, “I love you, Daddy,” before I straighten and, with one last look at his gravesite, one I’m pretty sure I’m going to share with him soon, I turn and walk away.
It’s time to complete my plan. I’ve already made plans to meet up with Ivy and Skylar at the library, near the alleyway where the Hyenas allegedly distribute drugs, something I heard gossip about at school, with some students being their customers.
I spent a month observing them, planning my next steps after learning their routines.
As far as anyone is concerned, I was with the girls when two members of the Hyenas were killed.
I smirk and quicken my steps, ready for this, even if it makes me a killer.
“I swear, Joey, I’ll pay you the money tomorrow after I get paid. I need a hit,” some guy pleads an hour later, and I quietly look around the trash bin to see a guy in a suit on his knees begging, and I roll my eyes while the two Hyena members laugh.
I swear the things people do for their next fix.
“Alright, Ollie, just this once, but tomorrow, you pay triple,” a guy with long caramel hair says, and the guy, Ollie, flinches but sorrowfully nods before a white bag is handed to him.
His whole body lights up before he stands up and runs away like his ass is on fire, and the men laugh as they turn to watch him go, and I know this is my opportunity.
I’ve been crouched behind this bin for at least an hour watching these two give out at least nine bags of cocaine to idiots, and not once have I managed to get this kind of opportunity. I mean, I’m even twenty minutes late meeting the girls, and I know Ivy is going to kill me.
I clutch the metal pole in my hand, my eyes on the taller guy with more muscles.
I need to take him down first, hit him at least twice, hard in the head to kill him, before I take down Goldilocks. I mean, seriously, his hair reaches his butt and is even curly like he actually curled it himself.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly move from my position. Without making a noise, as Goldilocks takes out a smoke and lights it, I pull my arm back and swing, hitting the taller man hard, making him grunt and fall to his knees.
“What the fuck!” Goldilocks snaps, but before he can turn, I swing the pole again and swing it even harder into the back of the taller guy’s head.
A dent is visible as he falls to the ground with a thump, blood instantly pouring, his chest not moving, but I don’t stop to relish it or more accurately, panic and throw up, instead, I swing the pole again high and smack it into Goldilocks's kneecaps.
“Ah, you stupid bitch!” he shouts, but I ignore him and swing again, aiming for his head, but before I can make contact, he quickly grabs the pole, making me gasp.
I yank it back as he sneers at me, his yellow teeth coming into view, and he pulls me forward hard.
Thinking fast on my feet, I let go of the pole, something he wasn’t expecting, making him grunt as he nearly falls but catches himself before my fist hits his face causing his head to move to the side with a grunt leaving him.
I pull my leg back, ready to kick him, trying to ignore the fear that rushes through me at my sudden change of situation but before I can connect with his stomach he grabs my foot and pulls me down quickly.
Losing my balance and falling to the floor with a lump and I grunt as pain shoots through my knee cap before suddenly, my foot is yanked and I’m being dragged further into the alleyway causing my top to lift and little bits of broken glass to drag across my exposed stomach.
I kick out, trying to ignore the pain in my stomach, needing to kill this guy, not wanting to fail, but absolute gut-wrenching fear fills me as the guy stands on my calf, then yanks my jeans and panties down.
No, no, this is not going to happen, I refuse.
I scream out and begin to thrash, and he quickly grips my hair, lifts my head, and then suddenly pain hits me hard as he smashes my head against the concrete, and dizziness consumes me when he does it two more times for good measure, and I feel a crunch in my nose.
Trying to breathe through the pain despite only being able to taste blood, I go to kick out again, but instead I gasp out a scream as sharp, shooting pains spread through my spine as something sharp drags down my back.
I begin to tremble, my eyes blackening, the pain too much to handle before my head is smashed again against the concrete again, and my whole fight is gone, my body hurting too much to move as it goes numb before I feel my jeans and panties move past my ankles.
I know what is about to happen. I know how my life is about to end.
I’m about to be raped before I die.
There’s nothing I can do, my head is spinning, nausea is pulling me as my hips are lifted.
I sob at the pain that flitters through me before more pain hits my spine as something sharp pierces my skin yet again next to the other painful part before suddenly, his member is at my entrance and my insides burn, my walls tearing as this evil piece of shit tears through my virginity and he laughs, “A fucking virgin!”
I was stupidly saving that for Venom…
He thrusts quick and hard and I can’t even move to stop him even as two blurry figures enter my vision at the mouth of the alleyway, instead, the struggle to breathe becomes hard as the guy gasps, his voice sounding like it is under water, “You think you can kill my guy, huh?” before everything goes black, the only happy thought is that I’ll get to see my daddy again…
“The gash on her spine, it’s deep, too deep to stitch without it being noticeable, we’ve had to pull her skin quite tight to close it,” I hear before sobs echo around me, “Her head injury,” the voice sighs, “She’s lucky to be alive.”
“She won’t survive this. We’ve already had to admit her once,” I hear Mama sob, but I don’t open my eyes, don’t allow everyone to know I’m awake despite the feeling to choke overwhelming me from whatever is shoved down my throat.
“Daddy, I can’t lose my friend,” I hear Ivy sob, and my eyes tear up.
This never should have happened. I was either supposed to be able to kill both men or die trying. I wasn’t supposed to survive.
I failed.
“She has severe tearing of her uterine walls, indicating rape, and with the amount of blood, her virginity was torn from her,” the doctor continues, and the sobs in the room get louder as I hear Glock curse.
“She’ll be on seventy-two-hour suicide watch after she wakes, after we determine there is no severe head trauma with memory loss,” the doctor concludes, and instantly, I know what I have to do.
I have to pretend to forget, not too far back, maybe before Mama told me about Gregory, I can’t have them think I’m going to do this again, I can’t have them watching me, or try to put me in therapy.
I need to get revenge for Daddy, even if it does kill me.
“Are you saying she may not remember anything?” I hear Gregory ask, and I slowly open my eyes to see his arms wrapped around my inconsolable mother as the doctor admits, “I’m saying there is a high chance she may not remember what happened, that she could have memory loss, her head injury showed several blows, requiring stitches, but we won’t know until she’s awake. ”
I close my eyes again, trying to breathe through what I now know is a tube down my throat, but the urge to choke hits me, and I begin coughing and try to remove the tube out of panic when breathing becomes difficult.
“Raya!” Ivy shouts before I feel something on both my hands, and my eyes snap open as I choke.
Dark brown eyes lock with mine before the man says, “Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, nice and slow for me.”
I listen, trying to breathe before nurses come into view, and quickly but carefully, the doctor removes the tube, and I cough again before breathing hard as everyone looks at me with worry.
Before I look at Gregory guilt hits me but I furrow my brows on purpose anyhow and choke, “Who are you? Why do-do you have my mama in-in your arms? Why-why am I in the hospital a-again?”
Mama gasps and Ivy sobs while Gregory flinches, making me feel bad because, well, the guy is here for my Mama. Unfortunately for him, it’s time to put my plan in motion, so I can carry on with my revenge, meaning I need to act even more stand-offish with him, even if he doesn’t deserve it.
I won’t let anyone get in my way, though I guess I shouldn’t have kept Ivy in my life, because I forgot what kind of person Venom was.