m******e Mansion

Chapter 9- Sunday: The Decision

   I had first met Lidia when she arrived in Drearton when I was ten. She had come from New York City because her parents had just went through a divorce, and the price of living in Drearton was pretty low. 

     The first few weeks of school were pretty rough for Lidia. At that time she was a short, plumper girl. Her hair had been about waist length, neon green with streaks of hot pink. Compared to the others in our school, she stood out. In elementary we all had to wear a dark plum colored uniform. None of us children had dyed hair, only natural colors we had been born with. 

     This caused her to be bullied almost instantly. A few times people even threatened to cut her hair. I didn't understand why people were so cruel then, and I still don't. I never approached her or ever tried to help her the first few weeks. I thought everything would just simmer down after a few days, but it didn't.

   I never even knew her name until I observed her one day at recess. She had been sitting near an old oak tree drawing shapes in the dirt with a stick. After I had gotten Miranda to go find Lewis or Caspian, I walked over to the neon-haired girl. When I was close enough I saw that her eyes were red and puffy, and that's when I noticed she had rare purple eyes. 

    "Hey, what's wrong?" I inquired as I crouched down to her level. She looked up at me, startled, and quickly backed up to the tree.

    "P-please don't hurt me," she whimpered, wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry for anything that I did."

    "I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm not like Annabelle and her little squad. I just wanted to know what was the matter," I said. Over the course of the past month it had mostly been the stuck-up Annabelle and her group that were terrorizing the poor girl before me.

     Annabelle would later grow up to be the head cheerleader, along with her friends. They also got in loads of trouble, but Christy had been sleeping with the football coach so they got away with it. Christy and Annabelle were the most popular girls from kindergarten on up. I had never bothered them, so they never bothered me. That's the way of the world. 

     "The Italian girl t-told me to just g-go die because no one here likes me. T-then she called me a freak a-and slapped me while the others j-just laughed," the girl before me said. I concluded that it had to be true because a slight bruise was beginning to form on the left side of her face.

     "It'll be ok," I said engulfing her in a hug. "You're not a freak. I think you actually look pretty cool," I smiled and pulled away.

     "R-really?" She questioned with a glint of happiness in her eyes.

     "Yeah! Hey, let me go introduce you to my friends," I said and grabbed her hand while starting to walk off. The purple eyed girl wiped her eyes and walked beside me while I lead her away from the tree.

     "Thank you, so m-much. I never got your name by the way," she said.

      "Oh. Silly me, my name's Klarissa Drem," I flashed another smile her way. "What's yours?"

      "It's Lidia. Lidia Wren," she replied. That was the first time she smiled at her new school. I got the pleasure of being her first friend, and the rest of my small group at that time welcomed her with open arms. That was the start of a six year friendship.

     Now, if you fast forward in time about two years, that's when the violence started. Annabelle and her possy hadn't given up bullying Lidia, and that's when Lidia started letting it out on me. The first time I had let her abuse me was when she came over for a sleepover. That day had been particularly cruel to her, and she couldn't keep in her bottled up anger. I had let her vent everything out to me, but then she got too frustrated and threw a thick book at me on accident. It had hit me square in the jaw. I could handle that pain though, because it was only a light throb. Lidia, however, felt terrible at that time. I had told her it was okay and that I understood that she was too angry and couldn't control herself. That was my first mistake.

      Every time she came to my house after that another accident would occur. I kept shrugging it off thinking I was a good friend for doing so, but it only got worse. At first it was just the occasional object being thrown at me, then came the physical abuse. While she would talk to me she would grab my arms and dig her nails into my skin. Sometimes her nails would actually go through my skin and make my arms bleed, but that was easy enough to hide and I kept it to myself. Later came the hitting, then the punching, then lastly the words. Oh the words. I could handle everything up to that point. We had kept all the bruises, and bite marks, and even knife cuts to ourselves. 

     Lidia's words out did it all. She would tell me I was worthless, a slut, every curse word in the book, that I should just die, and even worse things I don't care to mention. I still allowed her to do what she did though. I wanted her to feel better about herself, and she did. After the small abusive moments we would have hours upon hours of fun and I would push it all to the back of my mind.

      One day she even made me break my right leg. We had walked into the hallway during one of her abusive breakdowns, and she pushed me down the stairs. I even forgave her for that. At least I thought I had. I didn't have any second thoughts until this O.F. had mentioned it in the note. How could he make me even consider sending one of my best friends through that door?

       'Klarissa, you promised yourself that you wouldn't let anyone die. You will not make an exception just because of that bastard O.F.' I told myself. I looked down at my arm that had previously been holding my glass and observed the little scars that were scattered along it. In all truth they aren't noticeable unless you knew where to look. So just how did O.F. know? 

      "Klarissa? Are you sure you're okay?" Lidia asked with concern once more.

      "Yeah. I think we just need to get out of this room. I've eaten my fill, what about you?" I questioned.

       "I wasn't all too hungry to begin with. But this room does make me a little curious. Lewis said that there was a body in here, so what happened to it?" Lidia thought aloud. 

       "I have no clue. Probably some sort of thing O.F. set up so we would question it," I answered. I was getting antsy and kept glancing at the door beside the fridge.

       "What's behind that door? You keep looking at it. Is there something that you didn't tell me about in that note?" The purple eyed girl questioned, slanting her eyes in suspicion.

       "No!" I shouted while looking at her frantically. "I just think that we should get out of here and not worry about that door. Maybe something dangerous is behind it."

       "And maybe there's nothing behind it,"  Lidia said while raising one eyebrow," I'm curious again. I think this O.F. is a phony. He hasn't done anything threatening to any of us. I'm gonna find out what's behind that door," she said while pushing her chair out and standing up. 

      "No! You can't do that, Lidia. Just listen to me for once in your life!" I shouted while rushing towards the door and blocking it.

       "Stop acting like this! I'm going to find out what's behind the door," Lidia replied. She walked over and attempted to push me away from the mysterious room.

        "No, Lidia. This is one thing I can't let you do. Behind that door is death, okay?! O.F. told me so in the note! He said I could send you through that door and you would suffer for all you've done to me!" I tried reasoning with her.

        "Stop being such a lying b***h!" She shouted and threw me to the floor. I looked up at her in horror as she put her hand on the handle.

         "Lidia! Don't! Please! I can't have you do this! Just listen to me!" I pleaded and tried to get up as fast as I could, but the moment I was up she already had the door open. It was pitch black just past the threshold, and a musty smell emitted from it. She took a step forward and I made a failed attempt to pull her back. I grasped her hand that was still on the doorknob, but she only looked at me and glared before turning away and trying to wrench her hand out of mine.

       "Just let me go! There's nothing even in here. It's all just darkness," she said. The moment she got her hand away and stepped fully inside a light came on revealing the torturous room. Lidia immediately gasped in horror and went to grasp my hand once more. I reached out for her as well, but as our hands met the door swung in and a loud c***k was heard coming from Lidia's wrist. An ear splitting scream was heard from the girl, but she still tried to weasle her way through the door as I tried opening it.

       "My sweet little Klarissa, I wouldn't touch the outside of that door if I were you. Something amazing is about to happen," O.F.'s voice rang through the small kitchen.

     I was taken by surprise at that moment and I released my grip from the door only for blades to appear from the edges of it. It all happened so fast. All I heard was another scream for help, Lidia with tears in her eyes as she said for the last time that she was sorry, and then all I was left with was a decapitated hand still spewing blood. 

      I screamed once more and dropped to the floor, releasing all I had left of Lidia. I banged on the door and shouted for her until my voice was hoarse and could no longer make any sound. My legs gave out completely and I fell at that point as wet tears rushed down my face. I reached over to Lidia's decapitated hand and pulled it to my body. It was covered in blood at this point, but I was still in shock. I couldn't believe what had just happened. 

      I probably laid there on the blood soaked floor cradling Lidia's hand in my arms for a few minutes. It even had the friendship bracelet I had made for her in 7th grade on it. What was happening behind that door? Was she okay minus a hand? I promised I wouldn't let anyone die. I PROMISED!! She never deserved this. This shouldn't have happened

      "Why? WHY DID YOU DO THIS?! ALL YOU ARE IS A SADISTIC f**k!!" I screamed. Wherever O.F. is, I could only hope he heard me. I kept shouting into thin air until I finally had shouted myself hoarse once again.

     "Are you done yet, lovely? While I appreciate hearing your beautiful voice directed at me, I don't like what you're saying. Aren't you glad I got rid of that slut? You won't have to go through her pain anymore. I did this for you, Little Lady."

     "Why? She didn't deserve this. I didn't send her through the door for a reason, you bastard! She was my friend! AND NOW I'LL NEVER SEE HER AGAIN!!!" my voice hoarsely died out. It felt like gravel was being shoved down my throat everytime I spoke.

     "Come now. I know some part of you is happy, my little Angel-"

      "I'M NOT YOUR ANGEL!!! I'M NOT YOUR ANYTHING!! I WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS HELL HOLE!!" I coughed out at the end.

       "There, there, my dear. You're only hurting yourself. If you just gave it a chance this house could be like a lovely home to you. Now why don't you run along back to your friends so we can begin round three?"

        "No. I'm not leaving this spot. You can't make me. I won't have you kill anymore of my friends!"

       "If you don't go back they'll die anyways. Now please, stop this Klarissa. You're acting like a child. If you don't cooperate I'll be forced to come down from my throne and escort you back to the room myself."

       I attempted to gulp, but my throat was too dry. What he just said hit me hard. So with that my mind started spinning. They'll die either way? Wha.....no... the room around me started to spin and next thing I knew all I saw was black and my head had hit the floor.

       "Now look what you've done, my sweet. You've made yourself pass out. Now I have to come retrieve you so we can resume our game. Oh well."

                                                            ~                         ~                           ~

     I put my microphone down and got up, stretching my limbs. While I wanted to watch the show Lidia was putting on, I had to get Klarissa back to her people. I didn't have a moment to lose. Oh, why couldn't she just cooperate with me? The last moments of her life would be so much better.

      I moved across my control room to a sliding panel that lead to a secret passageway. The passageway lead to every main room of the entire house if you navigated it correctly. As I child I would wander these halls so I became accustomed to every nook and cranny of my home. I made quick work of getting to the kitchen, and I carefully slid open the door.

      There she lay. Here luscious auburn locks were splayed out around her head giving off a Snow White impression. Her skin had paled so her gorgeous face was more defined. She was still clutching that disgusting Lidia's hand to her chest, and I couldn't be having any of that. My little lady's clothes were soaked in blood, and as good as red looked on her, I wasn't going to let her walk around with another's blood soaking her figure. I could faintly smell her heavenly scent, but it was mostly drowned out by the metallic stench that I had grown used to. 

      As I carefully crouched down to her, I removed the hand from her hold. As I did so she immediately reached out to grab the object she had lost, only to take hold of my hand instead. My eyes softened at the sight. Her hand was so warm and soft. I hadn't known the warmth of another since my dear mother died. Realizing how much I had missed the contact, I allowed her to keep my hand for the time being. With my other hand I reached out and gently stroked her long, silky locks. I felt that warm and calming feeling in my chest once more, and I realized maybe I could live with the feeling, as long as she was with me. I took my hand back from her grip and I saw a pained expression take hold of her face. It hurt me to see her like that.

      I put one arm around her neck, and another around her thighs, and before I lifted her I placed a small kiss on her forehead. With that I stood up and was surprised at her light weight. I maneuvered myself back to the secret passageway and shut it behind me. I eventually came to the door that lead to the hallway that her "friends" resided in. 

     "Maybe.....I could....keep you with me for awhile. You don't need to be back yet, right?" As I whispered to myself she made an adorable noise that made me chuckle.

      "I'll take that as a yes, my love," I spoke again.

       With that I turned around and changed my course for the control room once more. As I walked there I remembered that I was going to get her a change in clothes, but then I realized my henchman could just retrieve her bag for me. When I reached the door that lead to my destination, Klarissa nuzzled her face into my chest. A wave of butterflies flew around my stomach as I looked down at her and actually smiled. That was the first time in fifteen years that a genuine smile had graced my features.

     I walked into the control room and rested my angel on the fuchsia couch that was near my chair. After fifteen year, I think I've finally found out why my father chose my mother even though she was a victim. What did my mother know? How could she tell me to not fall in love with a victim? Klarissa was never truly a victim. She was brought to me by fate. She is to be MINE and only MINE!

      "Xavier, I'd like you to bring Klarissa's bag to Control. She might be staying awhile." I smirked into the walkie talkie.

      "Sure thing boss," came a reply instantly.

        And now, my love, we'll see just how well your friends hold up without you. Because you won't be seeing them anytime soon....hahahahaha!