Family Secrets

Chapter One

It was wet and dark; Maris felt the ice-cold stone floor as she woke up. She worriedly searched around for her younger sister. There was some light due to a lantern, she crawled over to the bed and realized her sister was lying there, almost lifeless. She took Abby in her arms and started cradling her

.

"Abigail, wake up!" She said as she heard a noise from outside the window. It was pouring and hard, she smacked her sister lightly on the cheek with tears in her eyes Maris pulled Abby closer to her. Maris leaned back against the wall as she looked at her sister's leg, she had lost a lot of blood. After checking her leg out, she tore part of her shirt off and wrapped Abby's leg up and she woke up.

"Maris? Mari, is that you? Where are we? Why is it so dark?" She said in a pain-filled voice as Maris held her in her arms tightly.

"I don't know Abby," as she was talking there was a sound outside of the door, "act like you're sleeping and keep quiet!" She whispered before the door opened, Maris opened her eyes slightly and there stood two men with hair as red as fire.

"Tommy, don't you think we were a little too harsh on them?" The man who looked like he was eighteen was the one she saw talking to her father, he spoke in a soft and worried tone of voice. There was light in the room now and she could see their faces. The soft-spoken one had a large scar on his left eye.

"What is wrong with you? Of course not, we had to do it; they had the police on the phone Will." The other man known as Tom looked to be nineteen, he spoke in a very stern and angry voice, his face was clean.

"But we shouldn't treat them like this, you know she is going to be pissed when she finds out, right?" This time, however, the one called Will spoke in the same soft tone but this time scared. As they were talking, a million questions came to Maris all at once. Who are they talking about, She? Could they be talking about her mother? If so, how does her mother know the two men that just killed her father?

"Listen, we will just have to deal with it when she gets here, we will let them out then. But until she arrives, the girls stay in here." They shut the door again and once Maris knew they were gone she sat up straight, just looking into the darkness before her sister broke the silence.

"Mari, do you think they were talking about Mom? I miss dad, do you think he's ok?" She said as she started to cry. Maris took Abby in her arms and held back the tears that wanted to escape her eyes. She needed to be brave for her sister, as her sister laid in her arms, she rubbed her hair softly.

"I know Abby and I don't know. I'm here, get some rest. You heard them, they'd let us out and that's when we'll make a run for it." They both soon went back to sleep for what seemed like hours before feeling a warm embrace wrap them in a big hug.

"Oh, thank god you both are safe!! William and Thomas Jay Red! What were you thinking!? You could have killed them!!!" Maris and Abby woke up seeing their mother, they were scared and confused.

"Mom!" They both hugged their mother as the tears finally fell from Maris's eyes, her mother dried their tears. Maris helped her mother get Abby into the living room and onto the couch. She removed the ripped shirt from her sister's leg.

"Boys get your asses out here now!!" Ava yelled at the top of her lungs and the two men ran out and stood still as if scared of her mother.

"What were you boys thinking? I told you to take care of Michael!! I said not to touch a hair on the girl's head, did I not?!" As Ava screamed at the two men, Maris looked at Abby and walked over to comfort her.

"Go, get out of my sight, I can't deal with you two!" Ava walked over holding a first aid kit and asked Maris to sit down, she cleaned and patched up Maris's head wounds and then asked for help with Abby's leg wound.

"Mom, who are they and how do you know them? Why did they kill dad?" Maris asked as she looked at her mother. Ava paused for a minute, thinking of what to say next.

"Who they are and how I know them is unimportant. Why they killed your father is because I told them to. He was going to take you girls away from me and I could not let that happen! So something had to be done!" Her mother's voice was cold and heart-wrenching to hear, she looked away.

"Maris dear, hold your sister's hand please." She did so as her mother patted her wounds with alcohol, Abby screamed and squeezed Maris's hand tightly, as their mother walked away to go grab some more bandages, Abby hugged her sister and whispered in her ear.

"Maris, now's your chance, you can escape!" Maris's heart ached when she heard those words out of her sister's mouth; she hugged Abby softly. Abby smiled because she knew that if she were to go with Maris, it would only slow her down. It hurt her to tell Maris to leave, but at least one can go get help.

"Go, Mari, I'll be fine I promise, I've had the best role model. You're the bravest I know, you will find a way to get me out of here, but for now, you need to go, for me?" Maris just stared at her sister, tears in her eyes.

"I will be back for you I promise." Abby pushed her away; Maris stood up, facing her mother, as she wiped the tears away, she looked over and smiled.

"Mom, where's the bathroom? I got to go." Her mother pointed to the bathroom without any thought, so Maris walked over and closed the door. She locked the door and noticed a window big enough for her to fit through. Maris placed her hand over her necklace and unlashed the window, climbing through it. She knew where she was right away, it was their family cabin in the middle of Woodbridge Forest. Her father was always taking her out hunting, so she knew her way around this forest. After she was far enough away from the cabin, she then heard a gunshot and her heart leaped out of her chest as she started running through the bushes and trees.

"Oh, come back dear; we won't hurt you!!" She knew it was her mother, but Maris had to continue running till she found someone, anyone. Someone soon grabbed Maris from behind holding a gun to her head and softly spoke.

"Please Maris, just come back with me." She recognized the soft tone of the voice and the gentle grip on the gun; it was William.

"Why should I? Just let me go, William, please!" Maris said as William kept the gun at her head, "I can tell you're not like your brother or my mother, William! You're a lot nicer and I can tell!! Just let me go!" She wiggled a bit before breaking free, but it didn't last long before Thomas grabbed her arm.

"Wait Thomas, maybe we could just let her go?" William was thinking about what she had said, no one had ever noticed his feelings or noticed that he didn't like hurting people really. But she noticed and it made him feel different than normal.

"Not so fast, my brother may be a gullible piece of s**t, but I'm not. Let's go, Maris." He started to move until Maris remembered what her father taught her, 'always keep a weapon hidden' and luckily for her, they didn't check her shoes. She kicked his leg, making him let go and fall to the ground. She quickly took her shoe off and grabbed the pocket knife her father had given her at a youthful age, and cut Thomas's cheek. But he came prepared as well and pulled out a white spear point dagger, he stabbed her in the arm as she kicked him back again. Once Maris was free, she pulled the dagger out screaming and started running as fast as she could for hours, it seemed. She could feel her clothes beginning to tear as she ran, it was dark by the time she made it to a road and thankfully there was a car driving down it. Maris ran out hoping the car would stop and it did. As her vision went blurry, she fell sideways onto the wet, cold concrete road. She saw a shadow come running towards her from the car. Maris tried her best to keep her eyes open, she was beyond tired and the pain from the knife was unbearable at that point.

"Philip, it's a girl!! Come help me!!" Maris looked up to see a woman who looked to be in her thirties. The man named Philip, who looked to be the same, came over and picked Maris up. She spoke in a small voice and pointed back to the forest.

"Abagail, I'll be back for you. I promise!" Maris passed out in his arms due to dehydration and pain.

"Abagail?? Philip, do you think she is alone? We need to get to the hospital so I can check her out!" The woman looked at her husband who was now covered in blood.

"Yes, we do, but if we don't stop the bleeding, she won't make it in time. When we get there and get her in a room, we then call the police and go from there." The couple seemed like they already knew what they were doing.

"We can use the towels from today. I'll ask Cora to help." She ran over to the car and opened the door to a young girl in the seat on the other side.

"Cora honey, get out your father and I need your help!" Cora got out and saw what was in her father's arms. She looked over at her mother and spoke.

"What do I need to get Mom?" She looked at her mother as she pointed to the trunk.

"The towels please sweetie. And try to make some room for her on the seat!" Cora ran over to the trunk and opened it and put some of the stuff on the seat in the trunk, making some room while grabbing the towels.

"Cora honey, when your father puts her in there, I need you to remember what I taught you ok?" She nodded her head and got into the car. Philip placed Maris onto the seat next to her and Cora placed the towels on Maris's wounds to try and stop the bleeding for the time being. As Cora was applying pressure, she looked out the window and saw Maris's butterfly necklace that broke during the run on the ground.

"Hey mom, I'll be back. She dropped something on the ground over there." She opened the door and got out before her mother spoke.

"Be careful and quick hon." Cora nodded and walked over to the butterfly, bending over to get it; William only stayed behind to make sure Maris got help. He knew Ava was going to be pissed knowing he had just let her get away, but he cared about Maris. Thomas, however, had caught up with him.

"I think I'll hold on to this until she wakes up." She felt the feeling of something cold at her neck and everything became quiet. Philp ran out but stopped in front of Thomas, not knowing how to diffuse the situation.

"Stay still, I want the girl you have in your car, then you and your family can go on your way freely." His cheek was still bleeding. Suddenly Maris woke up and got out limping, she then called over to him.

"Thomas Jay Red, I suggest you release the young girl now!!" Despite how much pain she was in, he said in a firm and cold voice.

"Marris, you know I can't do that until I know you're coming with me." She stood there while Philip spoke.

"Listen, sweetie, you don't have to go with him, you really don't." He looked over at Maris as she had her eyes dead set on Thomas and the girl.

"Mister, what's your name?" She asked softly but with a little shakiness in her voice, she continued to stare at the two in front of her.

"Jefferson, Philip Jefferson." He said as Maris motioned for him to come to her and spoke.

"Come here, Mr. Jefferson." Philip walked over to Maris and she whispered something to him.

"Ok." He nodded as he went back to the car. His wife had a horrible look on her face as he did, but she calmed down after he whispered to her what was told to him.

"Tom, me vs you right now. If you lose, I walk free, but if you win, I'll go with you quietly." Thomas threw Cora aside, causing her to sprain her arm; he then ran at Maris holding the dagger in front of him. He tackled her; as he did, Maris was stabbed in the stomach. Even though it hurt like hell, she was able to get one good punch to make him land back on the ground. She took the knife out, throwing it on the side, holding her wound, she looked over to Cora.

"Miss, hand me a large stick please!" Cora looked around, finding a thick stick rolling it over to Maris. She got down to his ear and whispered.

"Tell my mother I will be back for my sister. And if she leaves, I will stop at nothing to find you and her, leave William out of this he is too good of a guy." She said as she looked him directly in the eyes, lifting the stick over her head and knocking him out cold. Maris got up off Thomas and walked halfway to the car before hitting the cold concrete. She was tired and felt the pain of everything as her eyes slowly closed and she drifted off to nothingness.