Haunted

Living a Lie

Today is the worst day that my boss has scheduled me off of work. I guess since Katie knew today was not a good day for me that I would want it off; however, she was far from being right. The last thing I needed today was to sit in my apartment and be left alone with all of the guilt and misery that I was in. At least if I was working I had something to take my mind off of it.

Forcing myself to get out of bed, I showered and got dressed. As I was brushing my teeth my eyes wandered down to the horizontal scar across my throat. An involuntary shudder moved down my spine and I pulled my eyes away from in and finished brushed. Once I was done I took the black choker that lay on the counter and tight secured it around my neck. Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I said my daily lines.

“My name is Trina Monroe, I am twenty-seven years old, and I live in New York City. My parents names are Martha and David Monroe and they died six years ago in a car crash. I am an only child.”

Even as the words flowed from my lips they felt fake and my mouth stung from even speaking the lies. For the last ten years I have woken up every morning and said those line. For the last ten years I have been living a lie. I hate it. I hate it so much. Now I realize there was no point in lying. There was never a point. If they ever got out of prison, not even a fake identity would stop them. I was never even given a choice, but that’s what happens when you nearly bleed to death, your brain swells up, and you end up in a coma for two years. The worst part was when I woke up and they told me it was over, they lied. The nightmare never ends because every night I fall asleep in the darkness alone.

With a growl, I stormed out of the bathroom into the living. Grabbing the remote, I switched on the T.V. in the hopes that something would pull my mind away from it's current thoughts. Flipping through the channels my heart stopped as I saw a familiar face. It was some random talk show but the guest was someone that was on my mind every single day and right now...he looked like s**t.

Axel Augustus Roman, the man that I have been in love with for the last ten years. From how he was the last I saw him, which was his band's first concert five years years ago in Seattle, he looked like he had been fine; however, that must have been an act because the man I saw on the screen wasn't the same one that day. His was ghostly pale and his usual midnight black hair was dull dry looking and his eyes looked empty...it was like he was a walking corpse.

“Mr. Roman, are you alright? You look like you're not feeling well.” the host said.

Axel smirked, but it looked more cynical than comical. “I'm not well, but I gave my word I would appear on your show no matter when you asked. You just happened to ask me on my one bad day of the year.”

His words hit me like a hammer to the sternum, and trust me I know what that feels like. The tears that has threatened to spill over I could no longer control and they began to flow freely.

“Oh I'm sorry to hear that. May I ask why this is a bad day or is that too personal?”

“It’s extremely personal, but since my brother is riding my ass to talk about it, then I guess I don't have a choice. He won't let off until I do.”

Axel leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees and slowly his eyes gradually grew darker the light in them almost completely gone. “This day ten years ago then only woman who I ever loved and my best friend...bled to death in my arms.”

The host drew in a harsh breath but otherwise remained quiet. When Axel didn't say anything more, the host seem to draw some courage and ask him a question to keep him talking.

“What was her name?”

“Aurora. I used to call her my Nightingale because she had the most beautiful voice I had ever head. She didn't like to sing, but even when she was talking it was like a song to me.”

“I take it she was pretty?”

That Axel laughed at but even it sounded dead. “That's an understatement. Her hair was sunset red and her eyes were well they were like a glacier blue, they almost looked grey.”

“Wow, eyes like that are rare. How did you two meet?”

Axel seemed to get a little more emotion. “My family had moved into this house in the middle of nowhere, but it had this little ramshackle shack next door. It looked like a shed more than a house but she lived there.” Axel's face suddenly turned murderous and even the host pulled away from him. “She lived there and her parents lived elsewhere.”

“What do you mean her parents lived elsewhere?”

“Just what I said, for reasons I don't know, they never wanted her so they bought that little shack and dumped her there when she was old enough, which was around seven if I remember correctly.”

The look on the host's face was horror struck.

“Anyway,” Axel said continuing. “I was seventeen, the night I met her it was raining, storming in fact, her parents used to take out their aggression and conflicts out on her. The storm woke me up that night so I got out of bed and looked out the window to see how bad the storm was and that's when I saw her pretty much dragging herself across the yard towards the woods at the back of my house. I opened the window and yelled but with the storm I don't think she could hear me. I closed the window and got dressed and went after her.”

I closed my eyes and I thought back to that night. My parents had beaten me so badly that my leg was definitely broken I couldn't put any weight on it so when I managed to get myself outside to hide myself until I healed, I pretty much had to drag it behind me. The it was raining really heavy and it was stinging my skin. I got myself into the tree line and the trees blocked some of it, from there I walked a little further in where there was this dried up creek that had a stone bridge going over the empty creek bed. At that point I was so exhausted that I just fell to the ground and pulled myself under it using my arms and my one good leg.

Just as I managed to get myself under the bridge I heard a twig snap behind me. Scared that my parents had come back and saw me head into the woods I turned sharply and I tried to pull myself backwards but I jostled my leg and I ended up screaming instead.

A guy with the blackest hair I had ever seen was at my sides in seconds. “What happened?”

From what happened after I tried to get help the last time, I didn't say anything I kept my mouth shut.

“If you don't want to talk I get it. You don't know me, therefore you don't have a reason to trust me, but at least let me look at your leg.”

I didn't move but my mind was reeling. Just who the hell was this guy? What the hell was he doing here? Why was he helping me? I was scared out of my mind, but honestly what's the worst that could happen? He could kill me, but that would be a blessing.

After a few moments of silence I finally nodded. He looked around for a second and then got up and grabbed two discarded thick branches and pulled a backpack off his shoulders. The sight of the backpack confused me.

“W-why do you have that?” I motioned towards the backpack. He looked up with a start at the sound of my voice.

“Um, well when I saw you going into the woods you didn't look too good. So I put some things in here that I might need for first aid and some food, stuff to start a fire, and a blanket to keep us warm until the storm dies down.”

“Us?”

“You're leg is broken, you're going to need help getting out of here and back to my house so we can call for an-,”

“No, no ambulance, no hospital. If you want help me then do something with my leg and then forget you ever saw me or it's going to be worse for me.”

The look he gave me was bone chilling. “Who did this to you?”

I shook my head. “Fine, I'm going to set your leg and use these to branches and this tape to make a splint, but I'm not going anywhere. I will keep harassing you until you tell me who did this, and then I'm going to find a way to make it stop.”

He grabbed a few what looked like washrags and attached them to the branches then took the remaining one and told me to bite down on it. He set my leg and then put the homemade splint on. Afterwards he started a fire and covered me with a blanket. “My name's Axel, what's yours?”

I pulled myself closer to him and the fire.

“Hey be careful moving, you don't want to hurt yourself anymore.”

I stopped moving and looked at him. For once I saw someone look at me with a caring concerned look. Not one of hatred and disgust and I couldn't stop the tears from flowing. Then I got scared and tried to move away. I always got beat harder when I cried.

“Hey it's alright, I'm not yelling at you, I'm just worried about your leg.” he reached out and ran his hand gently down my hair and I stopped moving. The gesture was so foreign to me that it stunned me.

“My name,” I said hesitantly. “Is Aurora.”

He smiled. “Nice to meet you Aurora.”

I sucked in a breath and pulled myself back from the past and realized that the talk show was over, and what I saw on the screen next chilled me to the core, but at the same time, filled me with a fire hotter than those of hell.

It was a newscast and up in the top right corner was a picture of my parents. I turned up the volume all of the way to make sure I could hear it.

“In recent news, a case that made national headlines ten years ago concerning the murder of an eighteen year old girl by her parents, David and Maxine O’Dare, is being dismissed today on a breach of the jury.”

My world shattered but I held myself together so I could hear the rest of what the newscaster had to say.

“It has just been revealed that one of the jurors received a bride from outside sources for a plea of not guilty; however the man took the money and upon hearing the details of the case plead guilty instead, thus the O'Dares have spent the last ten years in prison. They will be released after the the details of the corrupt jury are reviewed more, which could take anywhere from two weeks to a month.”

I turned off the T.V. and picked up the phone and called Katie.

“Hey good timing I justed started my break.”

“When you get off work come straight here. I need to tell you something.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes and no, I will explain when you get here, and I need you to help me figure out how to get in touch with someone.”

“Okay...do you want me to bring anything?”

“You might want to bring tissues.”

“Tissues?”

“You're an emotional person, you will cry after I tell what I have to tell you.”

“Okay...well I have to go, I will be there right after I get off work.”

“Okay, see you then.”

Ending the call I leaned back into the couch. The wheels in my head were turning. When they get out they will come after me. They know I'm not dead, how they know, I don't know, but that's the only reason the juror just suddenly came forward. They must have found out somehow.

They were coming and if that's the case I'm not hiding anymore. I want my life back, I'm tired of these damn lies. Getting up, I walked back into the bathroom and looked into the mirror.

“My name is Aurora Nicolette O'Dare and this day ten years ago my parents cut my throat. They are coming for me again, but this time I will be ready. So bring it on.”