** Short I know, but I wanted to get this part out to you guys. I hope you like/ think I did a good job with it.
"I was going downstairs to try and steal some food. My father hadn't let me eat for two days. I had only eaten the small bits my mom managed to sneak me. I needed more food to make it through the next couple of days or I would pass out at his slightest touch. She knew he would hit me, but there was nothing she could do about it. She tried to so hard though. There were so many times that she tried to step in so that she would receive it instead of me, but he would always come after me later.
"He never raped me, hit me sure, but never rape. At first it seemed like he was just waiting for something. He would watch me, leering, but he never made that sort of move. I don't know whether it was my mom's intervention or what. I can't believe that he had any sort of moral code."
I paused, unable to speak at that moment. I looked up at him and noticed him studying me. "I'm not forcing you to tell me the rest of the story Shea."
"I know you're not. I want to tell you though. Just don't leave me alone while I'm talking. I'm afraid I won't come back."
He moved his other arm across my stomach and grabbed my hand. "I would never let that happen to you Serpent Belle."
A smile tugged at my lips. My teasing nickname had just become something so much more than that.
It was a name that only he could use with me, a name that suddenly held so much emotion behind it. I squeezed his hand, and I knew that I could get through this.
"I had to sneak down to the kitchen. I had practiced so many nights. Countless nights had been spent trying to find the perfect way down to the kitchen. My father knew what I was doing, but he never stopped me. Sometimes he would be sitting outside my room and I would quickly hide back inside, but he never locked my door. I guess in a way he was just biding his time until that night. It would be just like him.
I unconsciously moved my head onto his chest, snuggling closer to him. I only realized it when he flinched from the pressure. I immediately started to move off of him, wondering how I could have been so careless. He increased the pressure around my shoulders, not allowing me to get up.
"I'm not letting you go anywhere," he spoke quietly to me, an expression in his eyes that I couldn't read, couldn't recognize.
"Thank you," I quietly whispered in reply. I took a breath and then began my story again.
"I followed my set path that night. There was a major thunderstorm going on, so the cover of that little bit of sound gave me some confidence. The flashes of lightning gave me light to see by. I didn't always hate lightning and storms. I used to love thunderstorms because they could help me so much, they could protect me."
Blade and the room around me seemed to slip away as I returned to that night willingly for the first time.
"I traveled as quickly as I could that night. I just wanted to get food and return to the imaginary safety of my room. I had a bad feeling which usually kept me in my room, but I needed that food. I opened the door to my room, holding my breath. I glanced up and down the dark hallway, relieved that I didn't see my father anywhere. I slipped out of my room, not even shutting the door. The sound that it made, even when I shut it as quietly as possible, had potential to screw me over. I walked down the hall, using the thunder and lightning to my advantage. Each time lightning flashed I would glance for my father, each time thunder boomed I could take a longer stride that would be muffled.
"I reached the top of the stairs and paused, once again searching for my father in the bursts of light. I moved down them with practiced steps, avoiding each of the steps that I needed to. I searched for him again once I reached the bottom of the stairs. I held my breath as I glanced up the stairs, knowing full well that he could be waiting for me at the top of them. A shadow in the darkness.
