Blood Contract

One: Collection

LARA

I sneak in the back of our old home, making sure to hold the door up as I open and shut it so the damn thing wouldn't squeak and wake up the girls, or worse; Henry. That is if he even made it home from the bar last night, Benny had called me with a warning of his consumption.

Ever since our mother passed, Henry has been drowning himself in liquor. As if he is trying to get back to her, and in a few short years I'm sure that he will succeed. At first he only drank during the nights, when us girls were asleep, hiding his sorrows from us and the world. He was what you would call a functioning alcoholic. While drinking away his liver at night, during the day he was seen as an exceptional single, widowed father who worked his ass off in the office. Then it went to needing a shot before work, to calm his nerves— it made him more productive. According to him he was able to reel in customers left and right— and if that's what one shot could do, imagine what spiked coffee could do for him. He continued to push the limits more and more until the day he became wasted enough to tell a client to shove her money in her ugly fat ass and to burn in Hell, because she didn't want the premium package. When his boss confronted him, he went down a similar road of insults and lost his job on the spot. I was only 18 when Henry lost his job, barely out of school. I watched him dig himself farther into the hole he created, and knew if I didn't do something I would find my sisters and myself in the grave he dug.I couldn't let that happen to the girls, so I pushed off college and stayed home, making sure that they had what they needed.

Willow and Natalie were only 12, completely oblivious to what was going on. They just thought Henry was sick, that's why he was always sleeping and throwing up. The girls aren't idiots, just a little gullible. I tried to make them hold onto that lie for a few years. No little girl should know that their father is a worthless drunk with no potential in life. Now that they are 16 they see the truth as it is. Willow does her best to avoid the situation as a whole, refusing to even acknowledge the pitiful state our father is in. Sweet Natalie being the daddy's girl that she clings on to hope that one day he will quit drinking, that one day things will go back to how they were.

As horrible as it may sound, that's why I hate the days Henry is sober, he gives her false hope that crushes her the next day.

I glance at the clock and see I have about an hour before it is time for the girls to get up for school. I make my way to the coffee pot, needing a caffeine boost to get me through our chaotic morning routine. I scroll through my phone mindlessly while downing two cups before I peeled myself away from the kitchen counter.

I changed into a pair of shorts and my long sleeved navy blue dress I acquired from the thrift store. I always made sure I changed from my work clothes before the girls woke up, I don't want them to see me dressed like that. Natalie would give me her sad eyes while Willow would bitch until my ears bled on how unfair it is that I can show off my body while I won't let her. No matter how many times I tell her the difference being that I am an adult not a child. I tie my hair into a messy bun, then remove the layer of makeup off of my face before going to the girls room.

Opening the door I see Natalie awake, on her phone quietly in her bed. She gives me a small smile and waves as a good morning, not wanting to disturb her twin who is a hellacious monster to waken just yet, I'll give Natalie time to get out. Thank the gods I am privileged enough to do this every morning. She gets up from her twin mattress, grabs her clothes she laid out. I give her a kiss on the forehead as she makes her way silently out the door and to the bathroom.

If only Willow could be that easy.

I sit on the mattress beside Willow. Her blonde hair laid disorderly over her pillow and face. I brush the strands behind her ears, earning a warning groan from my younger sister.