Inkbl0t- well I haven't heard from you in a while, glad I didn't lose you! So when you commented on how short it was, I went back, and you're right… that chapter is short. And here's the thing, I don't really have a plot line. Thought I did but its really just a bunch of stuff jumbled together that isn't even related; I don't know, maybe it is a plotline? We'll see and tell me later on.
atreyu love- yay its coming along! but it's a long, long, long, long, long way to go.
FM Radio- yay, so glad I didn't lose you either.
Too be honest I didn't think it would take me this long but then I decided to go over my plot (there is none), theme (also none) and reorganize my info and sequence of events for Arranged. Then I got a boyfriend AHHHHHHHHHHHH! (Screams runs into wall; whatever, he's great). So this is it: a really long, compressed chapter and most likely the first part may be confusing.
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Chapter 5
Sweet Dreams
"So this is definitely a change from the norm. What are you going to do now?" The girl asked.
"Not quite sure," Lies replied, taking a swig of scotch from her glass. "Marry him I guess."
"But you don't love him," the other girl interjected, pulling her long black and purple hair behind her shoulder. This was unusual; normally she was quiet and sat on her bar stool, picking at the bandages on her arms or simply gazing at the other customers in the pub.
"She speaks!" The first girl exclaimed in false alarm. "Hey she may not love him but he is sssssoooooo hhhhhooooottttttt. Besides who would ever marry us? Together we make a pretty messed up group you know…" This one had another scotch in hand, except it was the bottle. Her hair was cropped short like a boy's, gel giving it sort of a spiky spunk. It came to a sort of point as the hair was gelled forward toward the front of her head and up at an angle making a dull "point"; the stumpy purple highlights were still visible.
Her 2 selves were in their usual attire: the 15-year-old was in her thin cotton hospital gown with a hospital bracelet, not to mention the noticeable gauze bandages running up the inside of her fore arms and the dark circles under her eyes. Snapped leather restraints dangled from her wrists and bare ankles. The 16-year-old one was in black baggy pants, a green army jacket (a size too big for her), and her black muddy combat boots. There was a thick layer of black eye liner under and over her eyes, and a lot of mascara standing out from her otherwise pale complexion. This one also tended to drink more.
The bar noises of men and women shouting, arguing, and laughing died down to a murmur as some soft music began to come from the fine grandbaby piano.
"Shhh! She's starting," Cotton Gown Lies whispered. To Lies, who was still dressed in the silver and purple garb, the view from the bar was significantly different as compared to the one at the piano, like it was a few years ago. She could see that people actually listened to her play. Next to the other 2 Lies' she followed the tune and remembered it: the American song she'd heard over the radio one day (a/n "My Immortal" by Evanescence, all rights reserved.)
Then at the piano, a Lies with shoulder length black and violet hair, began to sing:
I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my
childish fears
And if you have to leave, I wish that you would
just leave
Coz your presence still lingers here
And it won't
leave me alone
These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is
just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase
When
you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd
fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of
these years
"By the way you are dressed to kill," Lies whispered as she took a swig of her scotch bottle.
"Strange choice of words. I assume you know?"
Now
I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts my once
pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me
"Of course I know, I'm part of your subconscious!" she hissed.
These
wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's
just too much that time cannot erase
The other Lies touched the covered wounds on her arms and whispered to her companions, "Strange how uncanny this song is…"
They both nodded that they heard her and each took a somber drink.
"How long till the nightmares begin?" the shorthaired one asked curiously. Lies thought about it and she could feel the dream coming to an end and the cold emptiness of the nightmare approaching.
"Not long…5 minutes maybe."
I tried so hard to tell myself that
you're gone,
But
you still have…all of me
But though you're still with me, I've been all
alone all along
The girl's voice was strong and haunting as it slowly rang through the bar, as the girl herself looked solemn at the piano; but she did not cry.
"So who do you think tried to kill them?" The shorthaired one continued.
"Don't know, don't care." She said too quickly.
"Yes you do. Whoever was trying to kill them wouldn't have minded to kill you either."
"Good. So someone can end my short miserable life."
Lies with the short hair shook her head. "Oh yes, your husband is going to enjoy you all right, what with that sparkling personality of yours." The spunky one retorted.
And I've held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me, me, me, me
The song ended; the girl shut the lid over the piano keys and walked away. She headed toward the bar and squeezed between the Lies with short hair and the Lies in the purple dress to call out her drink to the bartender. The woman opened the mini fridge below and handed Lies the bottled water. Lies turned around and while massaging her sore fingers, took a mouthful of water from the plastic bottle and said. "I hate my life."
There was a chorus of 3 dittos next to her, though the shorthaired one commented to the Lies bandaged up, "I hate your life more."
"I know," she moaned pitifully.
"So what is he like?" the piano player asked Lies, taking a sip of her water.
"Well… I'm pretty sure he's a selfish, spoiled little prince like his brothers…"she remembered when he told her to have sweet dreams and when she tried not to laugh at the thought. She couldn't remember the last time she had sweet dreams; well she could, it was just that it hurt as much as the nightmares did. "But he seems some what more bearable than the rest of the lot."
"Did she mention his smile or his strong arms or that he's absolutely gorgeous," the shorthaired one teased and laughed hysterically until Lies took the water from the piano player and poured it on her. She ran a hand over her hair, shaking the water droplets off and spitting some more from her mouth.
"But mostly he's an ass," she coughed to please her 19 year old self.
"But you must like him a little," the piano player probed.
"Don't know him well enough to."
"So what if you don't? Do his looks justify it enough to make up for it?" she asked, trying to be helpful.
"I don't trust him."
"Which," The shorthaired one interjected while drying herself off, "I would like to point out that you don't trust or put faith in anyone."
"She's right you know," said the piano player, siding with their angry half.
"But he's a demon,"
"Racist." The shorthaired one retorted.
"I'm not saying I won't give him a chance," She replied.
"You are what I call pathetic. You conjure us up because you need someone to talk to and you practically fall short of throwing yourself into the waking arms of death, who happens to be really good looking."
"He wouldn't get me killed more than I would do myself."
"He's a demon!" Lies exclaimed.
She raised an eyebrow. "Racist."
For a minute the 16 year old sat back and said nothing, then, "Touché."
"And besides, what's so bad about conjuring you up?" Lies asked. "Not like I'm disturbing you…"
"Doesn't matter. You are talking to figments of your imagination, things you have created in images and stages of your life, you crazy person! -"
"Dearie, you're talking to yourself," Lies finished for her and continued massaging her fingers.
Lies rubbed her temples. "I believe we've had this conversation before."
"I need more scotch," the shorthaired Lies pouted, tipping her empty bottle upside down as she stood up.
"I'm going to go look for a gun." Peeling off her bandages, the other one walked away.
She sighed. "I'm up again at the piano." The last one left, leaving Lies alone, the empty, lonely void eating at her. She wrapped her arms around her knees and buried her dry face in her favorite dress, waiting for the dream to drop her into the nightmare.
Screaming deafened her ears, because mainly it was her own. Lies found herself reliving the scene of her cousin's death, and there she was, kneeling by Margot's body. Margot was the older and wiser cousin, and at 22 she was pregnant with her first child and she was so happy about it but now Lies had to watch again as they both died.
Lies gripped Margot's hand and cried the tears she never could in real life, oblivious to the havoc, screaming, and fire around her. She always knew Margot was never dead until the very end of the nightmare, but the very end was why she cried, so she listened to what Margot tried to tell her until her spirit slipped away into the destruction and disorder of Ramer.
"Oh, baby girl you take care of the family okay?" Margot whispered, letting the tears and blood roll down her face. They'd cracked her skull opened with the end of a rifle butt before shooting her in the stomach, those bastards.
"Find what's left of the family alright?" she choked on. "Theo will be fine-" a gasp for breath- "He's not here right now and should be safe." Another raspy breath.
"Margot you're going to pull through." She had spat that horrible lie over and over again, and it still brought tears to her eyes and vomit from her throat. She watched as Margot arched her back in pain and immediately Lies dropped her hand and put pressure on the wound on her belly.
"Lies don't press too hard," she gasped for breath, choking on blood. "You'll hurt the baby."
"Oh Margot…" Lies moaned.
"Nathan is going to be so sad," she continued, delirious and drifting off.
Oh Margot, Nathan is dead. I saw it. Lies sobbed hysterically again. Oh God I can' t tell her.
Lies watched as she choked on blood for a few more minutes, trying to utter some intelligible words but only the clear ones, which were gargled as well, were in her thoughts.
Sweetie I need you to go and find somewhere safe okay?
"What's safe anymore? Where's some place safe? Margot!!" Lies shouted.
She was drifting again, her head lulling from side to side and then she was gone. There was silence, seconds for the numbness to enter her body and guide her as she stood up, closed Margot's eyes and wiped the blood on her already stained white dress…and leave; then the noise, screaming and pain crashed down all around her. She screamed as loud as she could, screamed through the pain, over the death around her and screamed until she had to turn around and see another relative dead.
Lies stopped screaming, shaking off the chill the cold sweat brought to her and pressed herself further into the corner. She was no longer in bed; now she was pushed into the wall and the dresser in her new room, farthest away from the bed. She hiccupped for a few minutes like she'd been crying, in fact the only thing missing from this post-traumatic nightmare were tears, but her eyes were dry, save for the sweat. Lies hyperventilated, taking in deep breaths to fill her aching lungs as she rocked herself on the palms of her feet, bracing herself as her hands gripped the edge of the dresser and the doorframe nearby.
As usual she didn't remember what she did in her sleep terrors but she could remember both the nightmare and the dream. Slowly she lifted herself up and stumbled into a walk, staggering right past the digital clock that said 5, and opened up a box that said Clothes, pulling out an outfit. Well a long as I'm up…
Breakfast with the in-laws was scheduled at 8:00 and still being the only one up before anyone else, she was running late. Though she wasn't the last one there; Azrick had to send the guards to drag Kal out of bed, which from the vibe of the room it was a thing on special occasions. He finally came stumbling in, casually dressed with sloppy bed head, looking absolutely…gorgous?...dammit; Lies sniggered and looked away. He pulled up a chair next to her and mumbled, "Haven't you people ever heard of the value of sleeping in?"
Breakfast was a feast: fruits ranging from strawberries to mangoes, meats from eggs to pork, the usual toast and bagels with 15 different cream cheeses, jellies, and butter, and 40 varieties of drinks ranging from water to juices to coffee in many different flavors. As everyone had his or her fill, Lenora put down her fork.
"How did everyone sleep last night? I hope everything was to your liking?"
"It was very good," Venus complimented.
"Fine" Lies agreed, looking down at her eggs before spooning them into her mouth. Everyone else nodded.
"So which one of you screamed last night?" Deklynn blurted out.
Her spoon froze in her mouth and her eyes darted to the people at the table. Everyone looked surprised.
Luther folded his hands on his lap. "You heard that, too?"
"Everybody heard it."
"I heard it around 5 o'clock this morning. I wouldn't leave my room." Venus said in a hushed voice. "It sounded like it was in pain."
"So you didn't find the source of it?" Lies asked, slowly swallowing her eggs. They got stuck in her throat and she washed it down with some milk.
"The guards didn't find anyone who was trespassing last night, all the servants were accountable for and assuming that none of you were the culprit…" Azrick gazed around the table. They shook their heads.
There was a chorus of "not me"'s.
Lies took a bite of her bacon. "Not me," she said.
"…Then we don't know." Azrick finished. Then his eyes lightened up and he straightened his chair. "Well now for a lighter subject and if everyone is finished, we'll have a look at the new members of our family."
Lies raised her eyebrows at the word "look" but when she saw the men and women carrying the enormous files toward the table, she relaxed…and snickered. This will be more fun than I thought. A woman stepped forward and handed Azrick a manila folder backing away to stand in line with the rest of the men and women.
"This is my team of security. No one gets in or out of this castle without them knowing. Getting information-" he gestured with the folder "-is also their specialty. Now here in my hand is Leon's personal file-" All eyes quickly darted to Leon and back "-and the entire team has read it, memorized it, and familiarized themselves with your life."
"What kind of information is in there?" Venus said coolly.
"Relax my dear," Azrick reassured her as he flipped open the folder and peeled through it. "This is simply a record of events and I assure you they did not violate your own personal space or property, I swear. This simply holds a copy of your birth certificate, places you've been, criminal record, and things like that. Nothing you couldn't get from a hall of records or excess publicly. We would search deeper if we had probable cause of course. Is that all?"
Venus paused and nodded.
"Now… Leon Dalton McGowan… you were born January 14th, grew up in Brooklyn with your parents, brother and sister until you were 13. Then you all relocated for your own safety to Jaspre and settled in Jaspre City. After you graduated from school you went back to Brooklyn and became a cop."
Azrick sighed. "Your parents, I understand were killed in the Jaspre Raids 4 years ago…" he paused with some respect. "My condolences." Leon only nodded.
This was how it all went. Turns out Venus Rochelle Hutch and Luther Paul Hayes were both doctors, she a cardiologist in Toronto and he a surgeon in England. Morago Stephan McGowan was adopted when he turned 2 and was a contractor now in New York City with his brother; he was allergic to bees. Shanti Lisa Lorre worked at her mother's bakery in Boston after she'd lost some relatives in the raids; she had allergies to dust and pollen. She'd lost her father and her older sister Olga to a much earlier consequence of living with humans. Luther lost his aunts, uncles, and grandparents to the punishment of hanging and Venus' relatives much the same way. Everyone had lost someone; all of them powers bound, degraded, humiliated and put to death, slow or fast always being flexible. These statements were followed by condolences.
But things had been going good for everyone else for the most part. None of them had any major criminal past, were healthy, and were doing well for themselves. Lies smiled slightly at notion of them doing "well"; he didn't know most of them still cried at night like little children.
"Now Miss Lies Calandra-Bellum Roor, I'm afraid you were the talk of the group here," the king chuckled. The man who handed Azrick the file (which was extra thick) couldn't stop staring at her. She glared back with the same great intensity and then flicked her eyes back to the king. He waited with an amused look, holding the fat folder in his hand and pausing before he spoke:
"I suppose we'll start with the basics." He flipped open the file, careful not to show its contents and read aloud: "Lies Calandra-Bellum Roor, born February 15th, in Ramer, Jaspre. It says here that you come from a long family lineage of Avian witches-"
"Avian, really? How fascinating." Lenora interrupted, taking an interest in Lies file.
"Not any more," she replied, pulling a strand of hair behind her ear.
The witches, with a look of disgust, bowed their heads and demons looked up with mild interest. Lenora's face faltered as she turned to her husband. "Ramer did you say?"
He looked toward Lies. "The humans…they clipped your wings didn't they?"
"Clipped is too nice of a word… try hacking them off."
"Oh you poor thing…" Lenora cooed from across the table.
"I'm sorry," Azrick responded.
Lies rested her chin on her balled up fist. "I don't need your pity."
Behind her, Kal gave her a strange look. She never told me she was an Avian witch, and how can she just shrug this off as if it were no big deal? Lies turned her head and gave him a glare. I …should be careful of what I think? She nodded and turned back to the head of the table.
"So I guess that we can move on?" Azrick said tentatively, testing his boundaries.
She relaxed and nodded.
"So it says here that you have a deathly allergy to peanuts?"
"Yes," she agreed.
He nodded. "And you're a dancer…"
Rook woke up from his sleep with a jolt. "Exotic?"
She glared and huffed coolly, "No, Ravendancer."
He frowned and pouted, clearly disappointed. "Oh" He made himself comfortable in his chair again and waited.
"You and your brother, Theo moved to Ireland after your parents died and took up a flat above a bar in Dublin. After about a year you spent time with Lord Darecoff and the elves until you were 18."
"I thought you said this would be interesting," Rook moaned from his chair in boredom. "It sounds just like the rest of them…"
"Believe me it gets better," the man who had held Lies' folder whispered under his breath. Azrick shot the lesser man a glare and he was silenced immediately, straightening up in a soldier's stance in the line. He shook his head and turned to Lies, and swaggered the folder temptingly. "Do you want to read it or should I?"
Kal raised an eyebrow and looked at Lies, who held a very bemused look on her face; She waved her hand. "By all means," she prompted, taking a daring move to prop her feet on the table.
Azrick shook his head and opened the file. "Very well then. To start with, we'll begin with your arrest record… to be fair you only were arrested once-"
"-And I was unconscious when they took me," she interjected.
"For starting a fight in the streets that soon erupted into a full scale riot that took the Dublin police force 2 nights to subdue. And every arrest comes with a mug shot-" Serina, who sat closest to him on his right, snatched the photo from him and giggled.
"Dear lord you look like a mess, and that hair! She exclaimed.
"Well you tend to look like a mess when you were found unconscious in the middle of a seething riot," Lies retorted.
Serina scowled and pushed the photo out to the middle of the table where Kal was the first to pick it up. A teenaged girl with bruises on her hollowed cheek, eye and cut lip, stared into the camera. Her hair was black and cropped short like a boy's but the rain perhaps had matted the gel down and soaked her clothes. Underneath the hair, he could make out little purple stubs before one of his brothers snatched it from him. As it was getting passed around, his father threw a clump of paper from the file onto the table and continued, "However, I'm sure your aware of the numerous warrants out for your arrest again by the Dublin Police?"
"For what?" Deklynn asked with a coy smile.
Each little manila folder landed with a thump, "6 counts of grand theft auto, 3 counts of assault, 1 count resisting arrest, 1 count of assaulting an officer, 8 counts of illegal fighting, 2 counts grand larceny, 1 count of arson… oh and 3 more counts of grand theft auto they've stuck you with."
The room was silent with awe and many with their mouths open with the men sending her interesting looks.
"Now, Miss Roor…" Azrick started out, scratching his head "what prompted such behavior like this?"
Lies snorted. "You mean besides my entire family nearly being killed off? I believe it's in that file if you look."
He sighed. "I know."
"What, Dad?" Deklynn pressed, he and his siblings leaning forward in their seats
Azrick took a deep breath and tossed the folder on the table, gazing up at the ceiling, "She was in the Irish Mafia."
Their eyes widened. Leon leaned forward and spoke to Lies in astonishment. "The O'Reilly's? Lies are you serious?"
"Technically I wasn't "in" the Mafia, I just worked for them. There's a difference."
"And what difference is that?" Deklynn smirked, grinning.
She smiled sarcastically. "I was dating the Boss's son."
Behind her, Kal raised an eyebrow. "But you stole cars for him, how does that not count for working for the Mob?"
"Look, call it what you want, but what it came down to was that I needed to feed my brother and I, clothe myself, and pay the rent to keep us from going under."
"Well you have close to 700,000 in your bank account, I do believe you succeeded in not slipping into poverty," the king said, on the brink of joking.
"I got paid 10,000 per car and 15,000 if it was made before 1980, and money disappears fast in the Irish network, so I made as much as I could, as fast as I could to get the hell out of there."
"But you can teleport…" Kal argued.
Lies looked at him, "Even when you teleport you need money to keep yourself alive. I just didn't want to be left screwed without any money if other shit decided to happen."
"Understandable," Venus commented in a definite manner, stating that this subject was over, silently looking up and down the table. "I think Lies has proven her point, why don't we move onto something else."
Lies gave a soft smile. It didn't bother her to talk about it, but being dissected did; she was glad to be sidetracked from that subject for a little while-
"There's a receipt for a tattoo in here." Dammit.
Okay, personally, I think the mentioning of a song in a story is kinda cheesy, tell me if you think so, too. I won't do this very often but I will have theme songs from time to time, like to get you into the mood I was feeling when I was inspired by the lyrics or rhythm. Okay hopefully I get a few more reviews than last time… I only got 3, , boo whoo- oh well it was probably my fault anyway! Please review guys!