Claws to the Heart

Chapter Two

By the time Amelie woke up, it was pitch black outside, and at first, she didn’t know where she was. As she looked around to take in her surroundings, she saw she was still outside, lying in the ditch beside the road. The fact that no one had even stopped to check on her didn’t hurt as much as what her parents had just done to her. She sat up carefully, as her entire body felt like it was on fire. Her chest and sides hurt the most, so she most likely had a few broken bones, if not many. She attempted to stand up and nearly passed out as a new pain shot up her left leg from her ankle. Not broken, but possibly severely fractured. She looked back up the hill towards the house and carefully climbed her way back up. It wasn’t very steep, and she did this every once in a while in the past when she got off school and didn’t feel like walking up and around along the road to get to their driveway.

After stumbling more times than she cared to count, she finally made it back up the hill, and upon seeing that both her parents' cars were gone, she took out her key and went inside. Her younger brother looked up from his game, and upon seeing her, his eyes got watery, but he blinked them away and went to her.

“Sis what happened to you?! Who did this to you? Do I need to go beat their faces in because I will? Just say the word.” Her brother, Nixon, said, and she smiled softly at him. He was only 15, three years younger than her but already 6’ tall. They were inseparable, and he always had her back no matter what happened, but she would not allow his relationship with their parents to be tainted by what had happened. Especially after learning that she was adopted, she was afraid of what he'd think.

“Don’t worry, little bro, they won’t be able to get to me again after tonight. Do you think you can help me get down the stairs to my room?” Amelie said as she glanced towards the basement stairs. Her brother nodded, knowing not to push her to tell him what happened. He carefully picked her up in his arms since Amelie only weighed roughly 200 pounds. She wasn’t a bigger girl, but she had some decent curves. However, her brother, despite only being so young, was both an athlete and a fitness nut. When he wasn’t playing a sport or running on the track, he was at the gym with his buddies. Nixon easily carried her downstairs and set her down gently on her bed.

Her brother stared at her for a moment, “Do I need to call Mom and Dad home so we can get this dealt with quickly?” he said to her in a low voice, and she went into instant panic mode. Trying to calm herself down and keep him from noticing how much the thought of seeing her parents again scared the s**t out of her.

“N-no Nix, mom and dad can’t know that I am here right now. You mustn't tell them that I was here tonight,” she said frantically as she reached under her bed to grab her old backpack and her suitcase. She fidgeted slightly with how quiet he was being, as she knew what he was thinking. Nixon may have seemed like the basic dumb jock to almost everyone, but he let them think that way on purpose. He was a straight-A student and was the smartest man she had ever known. He would go far in life and do many great things. Finally, he sighed, gripping the bridge of his nose as he managed to put all the pieces together.

“It finally happened, didn’t it, sis?” was all her brother said, and she sighed deeply, defeated, and nodded, unable to speak as tears began to stream down her face. A sob escaped her, and it made black dots appear in her vision again. Nixon stayed quiet and helped her pack her bags. By the time they were finished, all that remained to prove she even existed was the bed, with her emerald green comforter set, a nightstand with a broken lamp on it, and her dresser; which was now empty. Everything that she owned was now in her two bags.

Nixon carried her bags up to her car before coming back down and picking her up. He didn't speak until he placed her in the passenger seat and buckled her up. Amelie looked up at him confused and he just shook his head. She knew not to fight him when he got like this so she just sighed and leaned her head back on the seat. Nixon went and closed the house up, sending a quick text to his parents, reminding them that he would be staying with his friend Josh as they had an early practice tomorrow before the game on Friday. He didn’t wait for a reply as he rushed his sister to the hospital, and a storm began to grow within him. He was now a ticking time bomb but only a few certain things would be able to set him off. As he drove, he managed to convince Amelie to tell him everything that happened, and to say he was pissed was an understatement.

After they arrived at the ER, Nixon parked the car and quickly ran around to get his sister out as she had passed out along the way. He walked as quickly as he could through the doors without waking her up and almost instantly everyone looked up at him. He knew how to use his impressive size to captivate everyone's attention and demand respect.

“I need a nurse, now. My sister has been badly hurt.” was all he had to say to get every staff in sight to rush over to them with a gurney. She was rushed into a room and he stayed in a corner, out of the way but no one dared to try to get him to leave, despite their policies as the aura he was giving off was murderous. The doctors checked her vitals, which were low and it made them nervous that she was not going to make it out alive.

After what seemed like hours, they finally got her stable enough that they were able to take a break. A doctor approached him cautiously, clearly afraid of him. Nixon ignored him for a moment as he watched his sister sleeping peacefully. After several minutes he finally looked at the doctor, who stood there awkwardly with his clipboard and sweat pouring down his neck.

“Sir, I need to ask you a few questions as per the law. Do you mind if we step out into the hallway for a moment?” he said, his voice cutting out instantly as Nixon's gaze darkened, clearly not okay with such a stupid idea.

“O-kay, we can stay here. Please, have a seat.,’ the doctor said and Nixon did sit down. If he didn’t he was going to end up walking out of here to go find his parents and give them a piece of his mind. ‘So firstly, what are your names?” the doctor said and Nixon rubbed his temples. He was getting a headache so he relaxed and took a deep breath before snatching the clipboard out of the doctor's hands. Nixon read over the questions and scoffed at most of them before shaking his head, annoyed by the situation but knowing that it had needed to happen. Nixon began to fill out the form in neat, clear penmanship and once he was finished he handed it back to the doctor. He then got up and went out to the vending machine to get him something to eat. He would have to add in an extra trip to the track to work this snack off but he needed it right now.

He heard someone approach him and as he glanced up, his heart stopped for only a moment, before he calmed himself and hid any reaction. The storm grew louder, and wilder as he focused on the people who stood there staring at him and waiting for him to say something.

“May I help you, Officers?” he said, calm, cool, and collected. Turning to face them, keeping his posture relaxed and his hands in front as he opened his snack and took a bite. They stayed quiet a moment, taking his appearance in, and then, after a glance between the two of them, one of them pulled out a notepad and pen.

“Yes, you are Nixon Walker, correct? Brought your sister, Amelie Walker here at about 1900 hours, correct? I'm Officer West and this is my partner Officer Coleson. We need to talk with your parents, are they here?” Officer West said, to Nixon’s right. Nixon blinked at him, impressed they had gotten here so quickly when normally they couldn’t be bothered to do their actual daily job correctly. Officer Coleson, to Nixon’s left, clearly thought Nixon's silence was because he was stupid and didn’t know what 1900 hours meant as he spoke up.

“He means at around 7 pm this evening. I swear, kids these days need to stop being on their phones and games so much and actually learn something useful for once.” Officer Coleson said and made a little note on his notepad. Nixon’s gaze got dark and Officer West cleared his throat, glancing at his partner before taking a deep breath.

“Officer Coleson, why don’t you go and see if you can get us some coffee from the cafeteria, as I feel we are going to be here for a while." Officer West said, before glancing back at Nixon. Officer Coleson just rolled his eyes and put his notepad and pen away.

“Yeah, whatever; What a wasted evening this has turned out to be; I have much better things to be doing than being in this dump of a place with all this trash walking around,” he muttered the last part, as if not wanting anyone but Nixon to hear him. Nixon’s fury rose higher and higher and everyone that had been around them had now scattered, even Officer Coleson scurried away like the cockroach he was. Officer West took a calculated step back but never once went to grab his gun out of fear. Nixon praised him for that, as not many would have been able to keep their composure. Nixon could tell this cop was one of the few who actually took his job seriously and cared for the people of this town. Nixon calmed down, finished his snack, and walked back to his sister's room with Officer West following safely behind.

Nixon entered the room and saw his sister still safely tucked in and asleep. He moved over to his chair and sat back down, rubbing his face with his hands with a deep sigh. If it wasn’t for his sister, he would have moved out of his parent's house by now. However, he knew he just KNEW that something was going to happen sooner or later. He wanted to be able to be there to stop it and to protect his sister. He failed her all because he chose to take the long way home after school. Officer West got a call on his radio, so he stepped away to check out what was going on and headed to find Officer Coleson.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that if you keep making funny faces like that, they will end up being stuck like that?” Amelie whispered and offered a soft smile to her brother who looked like he was trying to worry up a storm in her hospital room. His eyes snapped open and looked at her. Seeing her awake made him finally relax and reached out and took her hand.

“Yeah well, they haven’t seen your face yet to see how funny it is, to begin with, sis,” he muttered and smirked, glad to hear her laugh at him.

“I look that bad huh? I would say to look at the other guy but he just looks like that naturally.” Amelie said, hiding a flinch as she laughed again. Her brother laughed at her words as well, but it was cut short when her door was flung open.

“Oh, my poor baby girl! Are you ok? Whoever did this to you, we need to press charges immediately.” Their mother said as she rushed to Amelie’s side, trying to reach for her hand. Nixon shot up out of his seat and glared at her.

“Get out. Get out now! Don’t make me call security here, because believe me when I say this, but I will be more than glad to call them.” Nixon says, in a surprisingly calm voice, but his tone is ice cold, and it dripped with venom. Their mother froze for a moment, whether in shock or fear, before getting up and walking out the door. She didn’t even hesitate or argue about it she just…left.

Tears threatened to burn Amelie’s eyes but she blinked them away before looking at her brother, “Thank you, Nix, I can’t believe she did that. If she’s here though, that means that dad might be too.” Amelie said, unable to hide the fear in her voice. Nixon walked over to the door and peeked his head out before hissing and cursing beneath his breath. He quickly shut the door and locked it behind him as he walked over to the side of Amelie’s bed. He picked up the call button and pressed it; a few moments later the handle turned and then there was a soft knock. He walked over, unlocked it, and glanced out, seeing the nurse, before letting her inside.

“Sir, I would advise you not to lock the door, as if there’s an emergency, it prevents us from being able to help.” the nurse muttered coldly, her voice leaking authority.

“If you are so worried about being able to do your job correctly, then why don’t you tell me why our mother was just allowed to walk in here” he said, giving her a dark look.

The nurse fidgeted and took a step back, “Well that’s because she is your mother and she was worried about her daughter. She was scared to tears when she got here, wanting to know what had happened.” The nurse said matter-of-factly.

Both Nixon and Amelie barked out a hard laugh, almost in unison. “You’re telling me you actually believed her fake motherly act? Did you even bother to check my sister’s forms before allowing that monster in here? I bet you didn’t; wanna know how I know this?” Nixon said, his voice growing colder by the second.

The nurse stayed quiet, unable to say anything. Nixon scoffed at her, “If you had looked at the form then you would have known that our so-called mother was the accomplice to my sister's attacker, seeing as how our mother didn’t stop it from happening. Sure, she didn’t touch her, but she sure did partake in the verbal abuse that had taken place.” Nixon said, his voice raised ever so slightly.

"I think there's been a mistake, clearly you children are delusional in accusing your parents of attacking Amelie. It's wrong to lie, even worse about something this severe." the nurse said, getting rather angry at them.

At this exact moment, the door was forced open, and in walked their father. His gaze was hard but full of concern as he looked at Amelie. He tried to approach her but Nixon blocked his path, staring daggers at him.

"What is the meaning of this, Nixon? Move out of my way so I can see my daughter. I need to find out who did this to her so they can be punished." he said and tried to go around Nixon. Only, Nixon blocked his path again. Officer West walked in and after looking between them, glanced at the father.

"Sir, are you their father?" Officer West asked and their dad nodded. Only to regret it a moment later as Officer West cuffed him and began to read him his rights. He was led out of the room, hearing his mother's yells as she was carted away also. He took a deep breath and smiled softly to Amelie.

“Don't worry sis, we're going to be ok now. Everything is going to work out and you will be safe. Tomorrow's a new day, and as long as we are together nothing will ever be able to break us. I don't care if you're my blood sister or not. We're family, now and forever” Nixon said, trying to keep his voice calm, even while seeing Amelie break out into sobs. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her as best as he could and held her as she cried. Running his hand along her back, soothing her.