The Damned Destiny.

Edit to add: please read the prologue in the books bio. First chapter will make much more sense :) ****trigger warning: violence**** Silence, sweet silence. Silence always meant no one was awake yet. My internal alarm clock woke me up at 4am. That gave me enough time to stare at my ceiling for 15 minutes. I had only been able to get 6 hours after not sleeping for 38 hours. But today. I couldn’t shake this feeling. Today was my birthday. Big ole 16. I didn’t feel any different. Except for this overwhelming feeling of dread but also, hope? Each birthday for any of us once were 12 was a test. A test to see if we were supernatural. It would start out small. Like withholding breakfast, to see if you would get angry, or show some sign of being supernatural. Or putting something in your breakfast to make it taste awful. Or make you not eat all that day. Even at school. We paid by the day there, so if your birthday fell on a weekday, you were totally screwed. Not that it’s any better at home. Because at least your friends at school would give you some of their lunch. My head started to pound when I sat up. It was a Saturday, so that probably meant no food for me. Maybe if they offer me food, I’ll just ignore it. Or perhaps I’ll just humor them and eat it. I was the most defiant. And got the most punishments. Especially during our special class on sundays. We were forced to sit and listen to videos about supernatural creatures. Listen to lectures from Susan as she read from a book. If anyone of us questioned her, it was a slap on the wrist with a ruler, withholding food or being forced to work on the farm all night. Even if it was a school night. That punishment however, wasn’t so bad. Susan and Beck would usually be asleep until 8am so you could get a few hours of sleep out there. And the animals were sweet, so I didn’t mind that punishment whatsoever. Anytime one of my siblings got into trouble, I’d always jump in and do something crazier to get the attention away from them. I would never be able to live with myself if something happened. —— I had slipped into some work clothes because saturdays meant deep cleaning the barn. I pulled my hair into a tight bun. I crept silently out of my room. It was still dark out, and no lights could be seen coming from anyones room. I tiptoed down the stairs and slipped out the back door of the little farm house. I let the cows into pasture, and grabbed chicken feed for the chickens. All the barn cats weaved around my legs and let out little meows of hunger. My favorite one, Finn, started crawling up my leg. He was only just a kitten still, a long haired black one with amber eyes. Kind of like mine. “Alright guys calm down, you’re not withering away to nothing you know.” I got them their dry food and started pouring it into their bowls. The two horse neigh, frustrated they were still cooped up. I attached their lead to their halter and lead them out to their pasture. For some reason, the smells inside this barn, were extra smelly. It almost made me want to throw up. ——— By the time I was finished up in the barn, it was sunrise. Our rooster was making his call. Which meant everyone would be waking up soon. I made my way back to the house, wiping the sweat off of me. ‘Be careful today.’ A voice said in my head. ‘Huh?’ ‘Don’t get angry.’ ‘I never do,’ I flashed back at the voice in my head. ‘Well today you need to be extremely particular.’ Why am I talking to the voice in my head. ‘Because, we are one silly. But never the less, you missed out on something last night. Something important.’ Then radio silence. I walked into the house, and saw my siblings Faith and Will sitting at the kitchen table in complete silence. Susan was making breakfast. Beck stood reading the paper as he drank his coffee. Samantha was nowhere to be seen. Something felt off. “Samantha isn’t up yet?”I say, coming to sit at the table. Beck clears his throat and Susan slams the spatula on the counter. “She’s in the basement.” Susan said calmly. I blinked a couple times. I wasn’t sure if I should ask why. But before I could Beck tells me all I need to know. “She decided that the meals we give her aren’t enough, and stole some food from the pantry last night. I picked a new punishment.” He continues to sip his coffee. I sit down, not daring to say a word. There wasn’t anything I could do right now to help her. And picking a fight about it, will only make it worse for her. “So you fed all the animals Darian?” Susan asked. I nodded. “I cleaned out the horses and sheeps pen. As well as the cows and pigs pen.” “Good. Have some breakfast hmm?” She says, bitterly sweet. I look down at the platter of scrambled eggs and bacon. And it smelled really off. The smell that came off of it smelled like it burned. “Smells great.” I lied. Faith and Will looked at me with wide eyes. “And here. Some fresh orange juice.” “Oh thank you.” It smelled the same way. I took a bite of bacon. And it burned my tongue. I didn’t wince or say anything. But I immediately started to feel weak. ‘Good. You won’t hear from me, but this is a good thing. Eat it, don’t make a scene. Everything will be fine.’ The voice whispered in my head. It faded as I continued to eat. But the burning sensation didn’t go away. It felt like someone set my throat on fire. I drank the orange juice. And it did nothing to help. Susan served my siblings their breakfast as well. “Beck, go get Samantha. Maybe we should have her watch while her siblings eat.” Beck set down his paper and walked down the basement steps. “The little b***h is gone!” He yelled from the bottom of the stairs. The twins jumped in their seat at the sound of his voice. “What do you mean she’s gone!” Susan screamed back at him, heading towards the stairs. While they were distracted I took a quick drink of water in front of Faith. I set it back down before Susan looked. It relieved the burning sensation in my throat a little bit. She looked at me with wide eyes. I gave her a hard stare. “You.” Susan turns and points at me. “You did this didn’t you?” She grabs me up by my shirt. “W-what, no?” I stammer out. “Then why isn’t she down there?” She grips tighter. We’re almost nose to nose. “I don’t know. I didn’t even know she was down there until you said anything!” I yelled. Her hand connected with my face. “You will not talk back to me. Where is Samantha?” She demanded. “I said I don’t know.” She turns and looks at my siblings. “What about you two? You’re quiet. Im sure you could have easily let her out while we were sleeping. Hm?” Faith and Will shook their heads fast. Before Susan could say anything else, Beck came up the stairs. “She escaped out a window.” He hisses. I felt myself pale. I smelled a copper scent coming from the basement. He went for the tallest cabinet in the house, and pulled out a shot gun. “Well, I guess I’m going hunting this morning.” He c****d it, and checked the barrel to make sure it was loaded. “Wait, why are you going to hunt her down?!” SMACK Susan smacked me again. “You won’t ask questions.” She glared down at me. I felt anger build up inside me. “What did she do so wrong?! You starved her on her birthday! And look, nothing happened! Except the fact she was hungry.” Suddenly I felt my hair being yanked nearly from my head. Susan dragged me over to the stove that she had been cooking on. One of the burners was still on. She turned it on high. My siblings watched in horror as she kept pushing my face closer and closer. I struggled wildly to get out of her grip but it was no use. The heat coming off of it was already starting to hurt. I screamed out in agony, as she pressed my face on the hot surface. I felt my skin immediately coming off my face as it melted to the burner. It smelled awful. The putrid smell of my own burning flesh. I flailed wildly. “Susan! Get her off there now.” Beck yelled angrily. She pulled me off, and ran the water at the sink and stuck my head under, nearly drowning me. I was in so much pain, all I wanted to do was scream. I wanted to hurt her. “Well you’re already an ugly little s**t. This won’t make much of a difference. I was thinking of homeschooling you all anyway.” she sneered. “I’m going to go look for Samantha. You three get to work on cleaning the house, who knows, maybe I’ll bring back Dre’s head this time.” Beck chuckles darkly. —— Susan watched each of us like a hawk as we cleaned, her old record playing songs from the 60s. The songs got stuck in your head, like a soundtrack to your awful life. And the one I hate the most. Man without love. She always turned that one on loudest. My right cheek felt like it was still on the burner, my right eye burned along with it. I may go blind in that eye. I was in so much pain. I did all the laundry and vacuumed every room in the house. My siblings dusted and straightened up the book shelves and Becks DVDs he kept. We washed the dishes in silence as Susan propped her feet up. “Are you okay?” Will whispered. “I’m fine.” I whispered back. “We know you’re hurting.” Faith whispered. —— Beck hasn’t returned by lunch, and Susan actually looked worried. I would feel bad for her if she wasn’t such a cunt. “You three, go out to the pasture and start sewing seeds. Once beck returns tell him I went out to town to grab some things.” She was staring out the window passively, searching the tree line for him. We all walked out of the house and headed for the barn to get the supplies we needed. We got to work on seeing the seeds About 10 minutes after Susan left, I heard a piercing scream. It sounded like Samantha. I immediately ran in the direction it was coming from. I got to the tree line and single shot rang through the air. It pierced through my ears. ‘Find her. Save her.’ The voice echoed in my head. I felt a pressure in my chest, and I felt this overwhelming power surge through me. I took off into the forest. I don’t even know how fast I ran. I smelled the gun smoke, and started following that scent. Soon I found Beck on the ground. He was clutching his chest, and barely moving. I smelled copper. The smell of blood I realized. A single shot gun blast to his chest. His chest rose once, and stopped completely. I look to the right of him, and just behind the tree I saw the tear stained face of Samantha.