4 years ago

I felt like my stomach was going to bubble over if I didn't get any food inside me soon. My hands glided over the glass banister of the stairs as I asked myself for the umpteenth time how did my mum and my dad even get this much money?

Everytime I asked them, I'd always get a response a lot like 'you're too young to understand' or 'you'll find out when you're older". I'm already 12, I'm old enough to be able to  handle the truth!

One thing I hated more than loosing was not knowing the truth. Usually, I'd do enough snooping to be able to figure it out. This time was different though, I couldn't find a single thing that tied my parents to the endless amount of money they seemed to have.

For now though, my stomach was taking over my head as I groaned out of hunger.

My feet ran down the soft white stairs from the second floor to the first and straight into the kitchen.

"Hey baby, you haven't got any plans or anything today do you?" mummy asked, looking up from the pot she was stirring.

"No, ma, I'm probably just going to stay home today. Gym's closed as well so I don't see the point."

"Ok, why don't we do come cooking or baking then invite over Derek and his mum?"

"Can we make some 'edibles'? Derek said that they were really tasty and that he wanted to make some of his own so we could make some and see if he likes them?"

"Oh, he said he like edibles did he now?"mum replied with her eyebrows raised. Were edibles bad? I thought, you know, they're literally called edibles so they'd be good to eat, right?

"Yes, he was being really funny that day aswell, like he was being really like smooth if you get me."

"Oh no, I know exactly what you mean. Young lady, I'm going to have to speak to your little mister."

"So, are we making edibles?"

"No, baby, edibles are not a good thing, you hear me?"

"Alright ma, can we make some of your homemade fish and chips? I feel like getting fat ha."

"Baby, I literally do not think you have the capacity to get fat. You'd be gorgeous even if you were. I'm quite amazed Derek hasn't tried to get with you yet."

I blushed at her remark and ran to the stairs so I could go back upstairs but then I hit something hard.

I was so confused as I stood there, everything suddenly going to shit in a matter of seconds.

I was met with the most striking, cold, terrifying silver eyes, filled with no emotion whatsoever.

"BABY RUN, GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

"Tell her to do such a thing again and I'll shoot her right infront of you, you pathetic bitch." The silver eyed man said as I realised that he was holding a gun in his hands.

"Don't call my ma a bitch mister!" I said, trying to square up to the big man that was standing in front of me but there wasn't really much point, he was like, ten times the size of me. Dad and the headteacher at my new school had started teaching me how to fight so if I tried hard enough, I could probably beat him.

After that, I felt a sharp pain through my cheek as slapped me across my face. I cried out in anguish but what really broke me was how the tears were streaming down my mums face, her usual happy radiance no longer visible.

"I don't know what you want, but please, please let go of her."

"Ohh, Eleanor, you know exactly what I want and I will give you ten seconds to decide if you want to tell me where he is. If you don't, I'm going to shoot you and torture your baby girl."

"I... I don't fucki— I don't know what you're talking about! Please just get off her!" Mummy's eyes were really wide and it didn't take a genius to realise that she looked genuinely scared.

"Please, stop, please you can't hurt her." I tried to plead with the man but he had a look in his eyes, like he was going to get what he came for one way or another.

"5 seconds."

I tried to get away from him again but his grip was too tight. I felt the world starting to go in slow motion as he held a gun in his hand. Aiming it, his finger hovered over the trigger but before he pulled the trigger, I elbowed him and I guess I must have got him in his jewel as he bent down, pain written all over his face.

I ran over to my mum but before I could even reach her, a bang from behind me made me halt. Wide eyes full of regret stared at me as I look at my mum, a flowering red prick growing over her chest.

"I'm so sorry baby, I only wanted to keep you safe."

Petrified and paralysed, I just stood there for a few more seconds before running over to her, bawling as I saw her eyes shutting.

"Ma? Mummy? Mummy please wake up! You nev—never finished the food a..and Derek w..won't get his foo..food and you look like you're going to sleep bu... but there's this scary man here and scared mummy! Please get up I'm so scared mummy I'm scared. Mummy?"

The last emotion I ever saw in her eyes were such strong guilt and regret but I could also see the love in her eyes.

"She's dead, baby girl. I never go back on my word, I gave her her ten seconds."

"You... you MONSTER!!"

I remember being hysteric for a few more seconds before he pulled me against him, putting the gun against my own forehead.

"Now I'm giving you a choice aswell. You can call your friend Derek and tell him you want him to come over. I don't care what excuse you use but I would do it quickly. I don't know if you noticed but if you look into your living room, there's a certain mother there waiting to see her kid."

Fuelled by nothing but pure fear, I stumbled my way to the living room to see Derek's mum fully restrained to a chair.

"Before you call Derek, move her into the kitchen."

"I... I'm not strong enough."

"Don't worry, I'll help you."

I ran over to Derek's mother, the fear and terror evident in her eyes as she silently pleaded with me to help her.

The man picked up the chair she was in effortlessly and even though Derek's mum was moving around as much as she could despite her restraints, it did nothing against the mans strong build.

He put Derek's mum down in the kitchen and threw me the phone.

"Call him, and I swear to god Maya, if you try anything, I'll torture Derek's mother so badly that her screams will make you ask me to end her misery and kill her."

Out of fear, I called Derek and told him that I wanted him to come over to we could head to the gym. I knew that we both know that the gym wasn't open today and so I had hoped he'd gotten the gist that something was right.

Next thing I knew, the man had thrown a gun at me and told me that I had to get Derek out of my life, something about ruining his pans if I didn't but my brain couldn't process anything at the minute. Not the orders being barked by the man or the terrified grunts I could hear from behind me from Mrs. Reyes.

I knew that I was screwed the moment I saw his silhouette in the blurred glass of the front door. I raised the gun and pointed it straight at the door and the pure astonishment on his face as he walked trough the door didn't make this any easier.

I saw him look to the side and it only dawned on me that it looked like I had killed my own mum.

I wanted to run to him and tell him that everything was ok and that we were here for each other but his eyes looked so... so distant. It's like I was a stranger and it's like that pierced me in the heart, a strong pain in my chest blossoming as I realised that he saw me as a murderer. I could see him trying to come towards me.

"If... if y.. you come any cl.. closer, I'll shoot her."

I saw the confusion on his face and noticed that he probably had no clue what I was talking about so I moved out of the way. The way his eyes filled with so much betrayal genuinely broke my heart, knowing that it was me that was causing his pain.

This was all my fault.

"I.. I need you to do something, and in return, I'll leave you and your mother alone. I need you to leave, I need you to go away. I... I can't stand you being here with me all the time, I can't stand how you're always just... always just hovering around me, taking every inch of what freedom I have left of me. I can't stand how you're such a good for nothing and I want nothing to do with you, you useless piece of sh*t."

I could see the way his eyes filled with so much sadness that I could feel myself nearly wanting to end it all. But I knew that this wasn't how it could have ended, not like this.

Without realising what he was doing, I saw him grabbing the gun from my hands and pressing it against his own forehead.

I screamed, my heart plummeting as I realised that my best friend was trying to kill himself.

I saw his finger hovering over the trigger and by instinct, I jumped towards him and tired to knock the gun out of his hands but instead, I felt a sharp pain ripping through my shoulder.

I felt myself becoming fainter and fainter but I felt ok. I felt ok because I stopped my best friend from doing something he would definitely regret.

I felt happy, I had stopped him from doing something so rash that I didn't even care about the pain in my shoulder.

I didn't care, as long as he was ok.

I felt myself slumping against his figure and I also heard the back door opening and shutting before I completely passed out.

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