Chapter 2
696 Words
I was forced back onto the piano bench.
Jenna looked pleased with herself. "I won't even make it difficult. Just learn the Third Concerto, and I'll consider that acceptable."
I knew the piece. The most punishing work in the standard repertoire.
I caught the gleam of satisfaction in her eyes, but my hands were steady. I already knew how to play it.
Fine. I'd let her have this for now and wait for my brothers.
But the moment I placed my fingers on the first key, the rod came down hard across my hands.
"What is wrong with you?" I yanked my hands back and saw that the skin had already broken and was beginning to bleed.
"You were playing it wrong."
She said it like it was obvious, like I was simply incorrect by nature.
"I wasn't wrong."
I was done talking to her. There was no point saying anything to someone who'd already decided to be my enemy.
Then she produced a stick from somewhere and brought it down across my body.
"You dare talk back?"
The blow knocked me off balance, and I hit the floor hard. But what made me angrier was what came next. She stood over me, the stick pointed at my face, her voice sharp enough to cut.
"You picked up a few scraps of skill out in the countryside and you think you can question me? Let me be very clear, Vera. In this house, I decide what's right. If I say you're wrong, you're wrong. Now get up and keep playing."
She looked down at me with absolute certainty that after all of this, I wouldn't dare say another word.
What she didn't understand was that my brothers had given me more love than I could ever measure, but they had never raised me to be fragile.
I wasn't going to bow to her.
So I knocked the stick aside, grabbed it, and pulled myself to my feet in one motion. I slapped her across the face.
Without pausing, I snatched the rod from the floor and brought it down across her.
Jenna screamed and sobbed and thrashed. "Dad! Mom! Vera hit me!"
The noise brought Richard and Gloria in quickly. When they saw what was happening, they abandoned any pretense of dignity and came at me with a rod.
The blows landed across my back, burning and sharp, but my hands didn't stop.
"You won't let me leave, fine," I said. "But don't expect me to just stand there while you bring her in to humiliate me. And don't act surprised when I fight back."
I kept talking as I closed my hand around Jenna's throat and didn't ease up.
I wanted to see which mattered more to them: their dignity or Jenna's life.
Then a sharp, precise pain bloomed in my side. My grip went slack. I could only watch as Jenna shoved me away and stumbled into Richard and Gloria's arms.
Richard still had the syringe in his hand. A sedative, most likely.
Jenna clutched her chest and gasped for air, then drove her foot into my side without any attempt at composure. Her heel landed exactly where I was already hurt. The pain was bad enough that I bit through my lip.
"I almost died! All I did was push her a little, and she does this! Punish her. Make her pay for it."
The adrenaline of survival had stripped away her act entirely. But Richard and Gloria weren't paying attention to that. Their eyes had caught on the pendant around my neck.
Once Jenna caught her breath, she followed their gaze, crouched down, and tore the necklace off.
"Dad, Mom, it's just a regular pendant, isn't it?"
She pressed something. A voice broke through the air.
"Where are you? Ethan's coming to find you right now."
My stomach dropped. The hidden phone built into the pendant. They'd found it.
Ethan's voice was frantic, raw with something close to tears.
I forced my mouth open, trying to speak. Nothing came out.
I could only watch as Jenna cut the call.
Richard frowned slowly. "That voice. I feel like I've heard it somewhere before."
- Writer
