The Locals

a favour fueled from hate

"Hello Cecilia, nice to see you. How can I help you?" He asked, she started to get nervous.

"Um yes, I was just stopping over to ask a favour of you. It'd really make me feel a lot better if you could remove the ban you put on the locals? Like, I just think putting a harsh ban like that on them isn't fair when all their crimes are just assumptions." She said, smiling brightly. Her mother always told her that the smile she had could get her anything she wanted.

"Such a little lady, always caring about everyone. Those aren't assumptions, you're living proof." He told her. She hated that he called her a "little lady" but just ignored that.

"I know, but I really just feel that's harsh to do. It'd make me feel so much better, as a victim, to see the ban released. I also don't even think it's fair to have any of them with their parents, I really do believe their abuse stories." Cecilia said.

"Abuse stories? How do you even abuse children? They're property until they're eighteen. You can't abuse property." He said, Cecilia felt very angry. But she had to keep her cool, knowing that blowing up would only get the door slammed in her face.

"I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. If you think they're property until the age of eighteen, maybe you could lift the ban when they turn eighteen?" Cecilia asked, he shook his head no. She tried to think how she could manipulate him, but nothing came to mind. Until, the very basic trick about lying about "knowing what someone did" came to mind. That only worked on her siblings, but it was all she had left.

"I know what you did. With this knowledge, well, you know what I could do. So I'd suggest listening." Cecilia said, beginning to try to look more serious. His face tensed up.

"Nobody would believe you, there's no proof." He said.

"There's no proof the locals committed any crime, yet the state believed you. Why wouldn't they believe me?" She stated, suddenly being pulled inside by her wrist.

"If you tell anyone about her I can have you killed." He said, suddenly growing more scary than before. She had no idea what she had gotten into now, but she couldn't back down even if she was scared. She needed to distract him for a moment so she could record the audio of the conversation, if he said anything suspicious, so she could hold it against him.

"Is that Heather?" She said, pointing to a window out back. He looked over, and she whipped her phone out to record and shoved it back into her maroon jackets pocket. She couldn't help to think how dumb he was.

"Oh, just a deer I guess. What were we saying? Oh yeah, about what you did." She said, trying to recreate the devious smile of his. She must have succeeded, because he grew more and more angry and nervous.

"Do you know how long I'd be locked up?" He pleaded, she shook her head no.

"Don't tell me you're so dumb you don't know how long you're in jail for murder." He said, looking done. She felt a shiver go through her body, but she shook her head no again even if it wasn't true.

"I'd be in jail for life, dumbass!" He yelled at her, making her cower back a bit.

"Maybe if I heard your side of the story I could not hold it against you." Cecilia said, plotting how she could get out of this. He shook his head yes, and invited her to sit down with him. She didn't like the idea of even sitting near him, but she decided to accept.
(another tw if you're sensitive don't read)

"It wasn't my fault. I promise, it really wasn't. I came home and I was drunk. Heather was just born, and don't tell her but she was unplanned. I'd been so angry when I found out my wife was pregnant, I was going out and getting drunk every night. I hate kids, I always have and I always will. My wife had become so invested in Heather, I was tired of waiting around for attention. I fooled around with some other women, including her sister. Apparently her sister slipped up and my wife knew. That night when I got back, she blew up on me. We started fighting, one of those shoving and screaming into each other's faces fights. I shoved too hard, she tipped over the railing and fell down. She broke a leg, probably. All I know was she was weak and helpless, her life was in my hands at this point. I decided I wanted this to end, our marriage and our everything. I took a knife from the kitchen and ended it. I called in my boys and I guess the disposal of her is self explanatory. That's the pain that kids caused me. That's why I round up the bad ones and make sure they're hidden away so they won't cause anyone pain anymore. Do you understand?" He said. She felt sick, absolutely repulsed and wanted to cry. She didn't answer for a bit, knowing that she was growing suspicious. She feared for her life, but she knew if she just acted one more time it'd get her out of this mess.

"I totally do. I can't believe I even thought they deserved freedom, you made me realize. I'm sorry, I won't mention anything. I didn't know the full story but now that I do I will definitely side with you. Your secret is safe with me, don't worry." She said, smiling brightly again. He looked very relieved.

"I'm glad your agreeing now. I'll keep the secret of yours safe too, your parents won't know anything about this conversation. We're doing each other both a favour, right?" He said, smiling too.

"Yes, of course! Thank you. I'll see myself out now." Cecilia said, not waiting for his goodbye to get up and leave. She wanted to go back to the prison and talk to the others, but she knew Heather couldn't handle that news right now. She decided she'd play sick tomorrow, since she never missed school anyways, to bring the audio to the death defiers.

"Hello honey, you're a bit late." Her mother said, as Cecilia walked inside. She apologized, but her mother looked concerned for other reasons.

"You look like you just saw a ghost, are you feeling alright?" She asked.

"I'm feeling a little under the weather actually. I'll lay down for awhile before dinner." Cecilia said, her mother agreed. As Cecilia walked into her room, her mother began preparing soup for her.

Cecilia didn't know what to do in the mean time, she wanted to tell her mom everything and just cry. Her friends were all talking on Skype, but she couldn't join. She decided to just zone out on the television until dinner.

This chapter was pretty hard to write but obviously needed to continue the story. I hope you all had a nice thanksgiving, even though it's over now. I'm completely dreading school, so much. I actually wanna fake sick so badly tomorrow but I've missed so many days already. Bye for now.