The Broken Angel

Chapter 16

Chapter 16: "Please, Don't Leave Me"

Wesley's POV

I have seen a lot of bad things in my life. Hell, my whole life was one crap feast after another, but Angelica was my own personal angel. She had saved me from everyone and everything that was out to hurt me.

When I was five, we saw a large dog in the local park. It had gotten loose from it's owners and didn't have a collar. I rushed towards the dog, just wanting to pet it, without realizing any of the possible dangers of it.

Angel had seen what I had not, and pushed me to the ground. The dog had lunged for my throat, but had sunk his teeth into her arm instead. And, she still has the scar on her upper right arm to this day.

One my sixth birthday, a bunch of bullies had jumped me and started beating me up. I didn't know why they had done this to me at the time, but I knew to get into fetal position quickly and they would tire out soon. I have seen this enough times to know that it works.

But, before I knew it, I heard screaming and crying. I looked up and saw Angel beating on one of the kids while his friend had all run away, begging for their mommies. After that, she just picked me up and walked me home with a smile on her face and bruises on her body.

A few days before my eleventh birthday, I saw a toy that I really wanted, and I talked to Angel about it. She smiled at me and told me that I would get it for my birthday if I was well-behaved. I did and on my birthday, she had gotten me that toy. But, that wasn't the only "present" given on that day.

Turns out, Angel had stolen the money from our father and he found out. Later that day, he had beaten her because of what she had done for me. I learned to two things that day; one.) Never want for anything because bad things will happen, and two.) Don't steal from our father. Ever.

Like I have said, I have seen tons of bad things happen before, and hear a lot more, but nothing could prepare me for the heart-wrenching scream and the sound of slamming. I knew that scream, and hated it more that anything. I only heard it once, when I was three. That was the only time I have seen Angel cry and she had never shed a tear around anyone after that. That is the reason it's burned into my mind.

I bolted away from Chase and Walter, and I ran towards the sound of the scream. I ran towards the stairs and saw Beck staring down at something. I looked down at it and realized, it was an "it", it was a her. I saw Angel's body all contorted and bleeding. She didn't even look alive at this point. It looked so different from the other time she fell down the stairs.

I dropped to my knees in front of Angel, and slid closer to her, not wanting to move her in case it does more damage.

"Angel?" I asked, quietly. I pushed her bangs away from her face and looked down at her. "Angel, open your eyes. Please, open your eyes."

"I'm so sorry, Wesley." a voice said behind me. I didn't know who said it because everything around me started to sound like a static tv that someone kept turning up and up.

"No!" I screamed. "Don't say that! You say sorry like she's dead!" A hand gently touched my right shoulder, but it felt like red, hot lava was just poured down my shoulder and cascading down my body.

"Wesley." a voice said.

"No!" I screamed again. "She's not dead! This always happens to us! She gets hurt over and over again, but she always gets back up again! She can't die!" The hand on my shoulder had tried to pull me away from her, but I was able to rip myself out of their grip.

"No!" I cried. "Leave me alone! She's not dead! She's not!"

"But, Wesley-" a voice said, but I ignored them.

"Please, don't leave me." I begged. "Please, Angel. You promised."

"Always and forever." a faint voice said, breaking the static. I looked down, in shock, and saw Angel staring back up at me, a small smile on her face. "Please, don't cry."

I smiled down at her, wiping away my tears. "Welcome back, Sis." I said, happy. I looked back at the group of men behind me. "See. Like I said, she can't die."

*-*_*-*_*-*

Angelica's POV

It has been a little more than a month since I had fallen down the stairs and gotten hurt. Again.

Well, if you want to be technical, I have fallen down the stairs twenty-four times in my life, not counting the little three step stairs. Ten of those times were because of people of my school. A few accidents and the rest were on purpose. I was different from everybody else and didn't make friends, so this was inevitable.

The other fourteen times were when we were at home. Most of the time I was running away from my father, others were because of bad footing.

Beck had a doctor come in and look at me. I had a bruised bone in the front part of my lower left leg, so I had to wear a cast like brace to help limit my movements, to help it "heal properly". I had several cuts and bruises on my my body, and I had broken my right arm, so I had another cast around that. I also pulled a muscle in my neck, so I had to be careful with it or else.

I have been hobbling around, and the guys laugh at me all the time. Chase calls me "gimpy" or "cripple". Wes had gotten revenge for me once. He punched Chase in the back, close enough to his spine to hurt real bad, but far enough away to not do any actual damage to it. Chase almost cried about that and I was the one laughing.

I mean, I'm all healed up now, so I don't have to worry about it, but it was a rough month. Thankfully, I don't have to wear either braces anymore.

I was so mad when I found out they had let the noodles and sauce burn to the bottom of the pan. We had to order food that night instead of eating the delicious, mouth-watering ziti. I love ziti because of the cheesiness on the top of it and the pasta noodle underneath it. Plus, it was a lot cheaper and easier to make this instead of lasagna, which I love even more.

After that, I tried to stay in my room, and away from Beck, as much as I possibly could. Thankfully, he was avoiding me too. He seemed to stay in the basement most of the time, a place we weren't allowed to go in. And when he came out, at night mostly, he was all tired and sweaty, and sometimes, I saw a little bit of blood on him.

My curiosity is starting to get the best of me, and I really want to go down there, but every time I would get close to the basement door, one of the men would show up and whisk me away from it so casually, you wouldn't think they were doing it on purpose until it happens just so many times.

But, today was finally the day I was going to see what was down there. Beck, Chase, Peter, Tony and Walter were all leaving today for some "big business" thing they all needed to attend to, but I knew it was something gang related.

I mean, I have snooped through everything here and saw how much they were involved with some gang. Well, their gang to be exact. Not only that, but Beck was the leader and all the men were his generals. I knew I couldn't trust him, and this was exactly why.

Patrick was the only one home today, and Wes was currently keeping him busy by playing video games with him. The men had left a half an hour ago, so I had snuck downstairs and was currently standing in front of the basement door. I could feel the cold air rushing in from under the door and over my barefeet, almost warning me not to enter.

I reached out for the doorknob and gripped it's cold surface. I hesitated, worried about what I was going to see down there. Anything could be down there, waiting for me, and I wasn't sure I really wanted to find out what it was. But, my curiosity got the better of me.

Melanie used to tell me "curiosity killed the cat", but I never believed her, or even cared about that. I still did everything I wanted to do, consequences be damned.

Before I could chicken out and walk away from this perfect opportunity, I twisted the handle and ripped the door open. I looked down the stairs, at the darkness in front of me, and it was almost overbearing. I could act brave in front of everyone but in all honesty, I am terrified of almost everything. Going down these steps could either solidify my fear of them, or rip it to shreds.

The cold air rushed over my body even more than before, and I couldn't suppress the shiver that raked my body. I better hurry before Patrick wonders where I went to and comes looking for me.

I reached around for the light switch, but I couldn't feel any. Great. Just perfect. I mean, going into a pitch black basement, in a house of gang members, probably isn't the best idea I have ever came up with.

I took one step down into the abyss and I felt like my foot was frozen solid to the concrete step. I tucked my toes in and streched them out before I continued down the steps, one by one. I kept my hands on both sides of the walls, taking it nice and slow.

The lower I got, the cold it became, and the more sounds I could hear. By the time I reached the bottom, I could hear the sounds of crying and grunts of pain.

And suddenly, my hand hit something. I put both of my hands on it, and realized it was a light switch. I stepped down, onto what I thought was the ground floor, and stepped into a warm, sticky liquid.

I quickly flicked the light switch and the bulbs sparked to life. I looked down at my feet and saw a large red puddle under me. The stench hit me like a speeding bullet, and it reminded me of pure urine and feces.

I looked into the room and saw it was a long hallway with other rooms attached to the hallway. But, the doors weren't normal doors. Oh no, they were actual cell doors. My body started quivering and I wanted to run. My mind was screaming at me to run away; Just turn around and make a break for the door, but my feet carried me forward instead. I had to know what, or who, was down here.

I walked to the first two cell doors that sat opposite of each other. Nobody was in either of them, but I could see dried blood in both rooms. Not only that, but I could see holes, claw marks and tons of urine, vomit and feces in both rooms.

I put my hand over my mouth, to keep my own vomit inside. If I vomited now, the men would know I was down here and possibly put me in one of these rooms. Or worse, put Wes in here.

I turned back and walked down to the next set of cell doors. They looked similar to the last two, plus or minus a few holes or claw marks. I could hear whimpers and groans coming from one of the last two cells. I walked to the next set and saw nobody in the left one, so I faced the right one. I saw two figures in the cell, but it was so dark that I couldn't see their faces.

Next to the door was a light switch for the cells, and each cell had their own light switch. I stepped closer and put my hand on the light switch, but my body froze.

All of a sudden, I didn't want to know who was sitting in this cell before me. Once I knew, everything could change. My body started to shake from the fear and overwhelming need to leave. I opened my mouth and said, "Hello?" hoping nobody would answer me. How I wished they hadn't.

"Angelica?" a feminine voice asked. I could recognize the voice, and it was the same voice that had taunted me for years. It was the same voice that laughed at me while I was broken and bleeding on the floor. It was the same voice that got mad at me while I bled on her carpet, even though it was her fault that I was bleeding.

It was Melanie.

I flipped on the light switch, and saw Melanie and my father inside the cell. I covered my mouth at the horror inside.

My father was chained to the wall, a giant nail pounded into his hands and legs. Slashes were made all over his body and I could see whip marks all over his stomach. He was completely bruised on his face. It would have been hard to recognize him if I didn't see the skull tattoo he had on his left forearm.

Melanie was a lot better off. Melanie was tied to a chair, her hands behind her back. Someone had jammed a small pipe into her shoulder, and I could see blood staining her once expensive, white Dior blouse. Her clothes were ripped to shreds and I could see whip marks on her legs and arms. I looked closer and saw that they had tied her to the chair using barbed wire, and it had cut deep into her skin.

"Oh my God." I gasped, stepping backwards.

"Wait!" Melanie yelled. "Please, don't leave me!" I stepped away again. And in that step, I had stepped back and into something. Hot breath hit my ear and I froze, in terror.

"You should have been a good girl and stayed upstairs like you were told." a sinister voice had whispered in my ear. It was Beck. "Now, I'm going to make you regret every step you took in getting here.

Before he could grab me, I turned and booked it towards the stairs, hoping to escape him before he catch me. I saw Chase and Tony standing at the basement door, looking down at me, upset. No, not just upset, almost regretful.

I didn't get far. Beck had grabbed me by my hair and ripped me backwards. I screamed at the suddenness of the pull and fell into him. I started kicking and screaming, trying to break free from Beck's grip, but he just climbed on top of me, holding my arms above my head.

"You were such a naughty girl while I was gone." he said, smiling. He traced my cheek with his right hand. "Now, how am I going to punish you?"

"I'm sorry!" I yelled, terrified. If they could do that to my "parents", what would they do to me? What were they going to do with Wesley? "I'm so sorry! I promise, I won't do it again."

"No." Beck said, shaking his head. "You won't do it again. You want to know why?" I shook my head, really not wanting to know why. "Because I'm going to make sure you never want to do anything to disobey me again."

I started kicking and screaming again. But, before I could realize it, I felt a fist collide with the side of my head and I was out.