• This chapter is dedicated to The_Bluejay my dear silent reader, I write in hopes that one day you'll come out of the shadows and show me your beautiful blue feathers •

~ Flash Back ~
7 years ago

Althea's thirteen year old ears perked up at the sound as two pair of footsteps started to descend the staircase to the basement.

She didn't turn around and kept her hands busy. It was never good to turn around. She kept hoping that maybe if she pretended like they weren't here, they would leave her alone.
But that never happened.

She always stuck out like a sore spot, not enough to ignore but not enough to pass without scratching it either.

Out of the corner of her eye, Althea watched as Frank came under the fluorescent light of the dark basement with a tall man clad in expensive suit close on his tail.

The client had came in himself to get the weapons. She avoided eye contact and kept sharpening the dagger in her hands.

There were ever present blisters on her tiny hands from the hard labour hours and a layer of grime and sweat that covered her skin from not getting the proper care she needed.

"And this is where the magic happens." Frank's low raspy voice spoke up making the hairs on Althea's neck stand up in caution. He always spoke in this false enthusiasm, which did nothing but annoy the dangerous dealers.

She hadn't been under Frank's care for long, only six months, but that was enough time to make anyone hate him. He was an underground arms dealer who supplied guns and weapons for bad guys.

Althea was bought by him from worse people. It was hard to believe but her previous living conditions were even worse so she hadn't disobeyed Frank. Not much anyways.

Anything was better than going back there.

So Althea had learned anything she could about gun smithing in the hopes that Frank wouldn't send her back to where he found her.

Luckily for her, she was a quick learner and had pleased Frank with her work.

Althea heard a pair of footsteps coming up behind her back. She did everything in her power to hide her emotions but her body betrayed her by tensing up in fright.

Frank roughly grabbed Althea's shoulders and shook her fragile frame. "And here is our little tinker!" He announced to the client. The man in the black business suit was uninterested and his stoic expression was still intact.

Frank also realised this and decided to cut to the chase. He gave a little push to Althea to signal her to show the client the merchandise.

Althea slowly got up from the wooden chair that was creaking in protest like her overused muscles, with the knife she had been sharpening in her hands.

Keeping her eyes on the ground, she approached the client and extended the knife in her small wounded hands.

The man picked up the knife and turned it under the bright light. The fluorescent, annoying light glinting off of the sharp knife.

"You can give a trial run if you'd like. Just to make sure its what you wanted." Frank chirped up from the side making Althea tense up again.

The client turned his head towards Frank and cocked an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting I use the knife on you?"

Frank shook his head from side to side and then silently pointed to Althea with his head.

The client and Frank both turned to look at Althea, who was standing before them in dirty clothes.

"Come on sugarplum, our client is waiting." Frank said in a sweet voice that did a poor job at hiding his demand.

Althea slowly, but steadily with her hands as stable as a surgeon's hands, lifted the dirty piece of fabric off her stomach. Leaving her midriff bare.

All over her skin were the proofs of the previous deals that had been made, and all of them had been marked on her skin.

These deals were sealed by blood.

Client came forward to Althea's comparably tinier form. Althea saw from the corner of her downcast eyes that the stoic face of the man had gained some emotion now. His eyes glinted with sick enjoyment, the knife in his hand reflected in the dark irises.

None of them turned the offer down. None.

The client lifted the knife to Althea's stomach and slowly sliced through a empty patch of skin, right below her ribcage. As the blood started to drip across previous and recent wounds, the most tragic thing of it all was how the thirteen year old Althea hadn't made a single noise.

No flinch, no movement, no reaction at all. The familiarity of the process dulled the pain of it all.

The blade was retracted when the tip reached her belly button. A freshly opened wound, criss crossing over the others. The vibrant red colour of her blood looked fake under the bright fluorescent light and it helped Althea to pretend just the same. Like this was all just a long, never ending nightmare.

"Its good but it can use a little more sharpening." The client said to no one in particular.

Althea knew what to do without Frank having to tell her anything. She let the t-shirt she had been holding up go, it was insignificant if a fresh stain of blood appeared on it, there were so many already that nobody would notice it anyways. She opened her palms and waited for the man to give her the knife.

The client handed the knife over and Althea turned around to sit at that creaky old wooden chair to continue sharpening the knife.

As she ran the whetstone across the side of the knife with precision, her own crimson blood was shining back at her from the surface of the metal, sealing her fate.

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A flashback to reveal the gruesomeness of Althea's past.

I hope you like this chapter and thanks for reading!

The song is called 'Broken Bones' by CRX.

Love,
Blake 💙