Red Katana

1. Saying „yes" for the first time (prologue)

                                  Prologue
„Are you coming? We have to go to the next lesson!", Spencer yelled at me. „Yes, I'm coming!" I slammed my locker door and followed him into the hallway. There we went with Dennis, Kai, Chin and Miguel in the chemistry room.

The life at school and the life at home felt like two different worlds, like a double life. I had friends at school, mostly boys. Everything was peaceful and ran according to strict rules. At home I had my three older brothers and my mothers beatings. I was surpeised that this hadn't been discovered, because the police monitored everything very closely 24/7, that everything was according to the law and that everyone would comply with it. Everywhere peace and controls. Rules and policmen everywhere. Peace everywhere, just not at my house.

My name is Thea and I'm 13 years old. I have three brothers. Ty, he is 17 and therefore the oldest. Mika and Flynn are twins and 15 years old. My mother Cloe is 32 and not exactly what you would expect from a „mother". My best friend Spencer is 14 and in the same class as me.

Up until now I had always answered „no" when Spencer and the others asked me if I wanted to go shopping or to the cinema with them. But I couldn't always answer with no. So I said „yes" when they asked me if I wanted to go to the new movie with them that evening. Above all, I always had bad conscience when I had to disappoint Spencer again. Of course I also knew that it wouldn't have ended well if my mother had found out about it, but this time I had to take the risk.

If I hadn't known from my friends how it works in normal families, it wouldn't have been half as bad. At least I think so. I used to think much about what it would be like if I had such a normal life. But now I'm glad it wasn't. Because I believe if it had been different I would not have achieved what I have achieved today.

It was a habit to hear my brothers screams in pain every few evenings. And sometimes it was my turn to fill the night with screams for my brothers. The walls were covered with egg carton to hide the internal noise, they made the walls soundproof. The things my mother did to us were like a precursor to my life now.