POSTED: 21/06/2012
EDITED:
A/N: Hey guys, if you’re wondering why I used ‘screw you’ – it’s because it’s my way of saying ‘I don’t care what you think this time’ especially in this story. In the urban dictionary (it’s come to my attention). it mean a very rude version of get lost and I’m not meaning ‘screw you’ in that way. If you get me – I just wanted to clear that up because I don’t want complaints! ! So I changed it to It’s Not Always About You (INAAY). xoxo
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‘Secrets have a way of making you fall apart devastatingly but they can easily fix things back together again and all that’s left is to forgive and forget.’ – Anon
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Chapter 1
4 MONTHS EARLIER
I felt someone shaking me awake. I mumbled nonsense, not forming any proper words. I looked at my morning attacker - typically, it was Savannah, my youngest sister. She starts off by waking me up gently at first but then she gets more vicious. Soon she starts jumping on top of me and kicking me awake.
“Okay, okay! Move! I’m getting up now. Just please, leave me alone.” I sighed. I was always trying to be the nice, polite one - inside though, I’m not. Especially not in the mornings.
Obviously content, Savannah skipped happily – yes, skipped – out the room. Savannah is only a year younger than me, so she was starting sophomore year. Savvy was excited for some reason. Savvy was her own nickname that she made up while watching a film about pirates - according to the film fanatic Savannah, Savvy means 'get me?' in slang - the nickname stuck and we ended up calling her Savvy.
When I was all alone in the room, I decided to lazily lie back down for a few more seconds, until–
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The shrill screams of the alarm clock made me wonder who put the alarm clock right next to my ear. Doesn’t anyone around this house know what happens when you put me and an alarm clock together? Either it dies or it’ll be the death of me!
“Good morning Bethany, can I come in?” My mom asked in a really loud sing song voice; I winced. She sounded really cheery as she said it all too quickly and I had to take time to process what she said. Andrea Houston had a habit of doing that. I said yes but I really didn’t want her to come in. She usually gives me a big, long lecture on first days at school and then one of her own stories and – you get the gist of it. I wondered if this time would be as normal as any other time.
I was starting junior year at a new school; Lakeshore High School. If my mom didn't keep switching her jobs so quickly, then we wouldn’t have had to move all the way from the centre of North Carolina all the way up north to Stevensville in Michigan! Talk about moving schools and homes but states? We moved a few days before although we went down during the holidays to fix the house up a bit. My mom must really love her new job. Each time it varies. One time she was a banker. The other time she was a cleaner. I have no idea, to this day, what qualifications my mom has. She probably doesn’t like the job of being a mother though. Especially since she was widowed.
My step dad was murdered. The police and FBI were considering it was the mystery serial killer. The serial killer or killers were targeting people randomly and innocents were murdered all over the country. Apparently it was starting to spread to other countries and alarming numbers of people are missing. The league of assassins was deadly: they were spreading like disease.
David Canon, my step father, was a good role model. He was like a proper father even though I wasn't his child. Sometimes I used to ask him, instead of my mom, what happened to my real dad and he would crumple up his face and shrug his shoulders and say ‘I don’t know kiddo,’ and then I would sigh in defeat. Then I'd say with a sad smile that I didn't care and David was enough for me.
David had two children; my half brother and half sister. You might think, well hang on, aren’t they meant to be your step brother and step sister? I’d just tell people it’s too complicated. No one would press the subject further.
Tiffany 'Tiff' Canon, was going to Wayne State University, so she wasn't bothered by the move: it just meant she was closer to uni. My mom, Andrea, had married David after high school, at around the age of twenty one. She soon had Tiffany and then had Thomas, my twenty year old brother. Then she divorced David two years later after she realised she rushed into everything but still brought Tiffany and Thomas up with the aid of their grandparents. David left to carry on the record label company, ‘Canon & ATP Record Labels’ businesses and my mom soon met my dad, Tyler Keates, and they got married. They had my brother Drew, me, and then my youngest sister Savannah. Then he disappeared when I was seven and divorced mom. David still remained like a father though, Tyler didn't. Poor mom, she was broken hearted - the men in her life usually left her, but not her boys.
Thomas, whom I liked to call Tom, was the best brother in the world. He used to take me out for treats, listen to me, let me cry on his shoulder and gave me advice. He was the world’s nicest, kindest and sweetest older brother I ever had even if he is my half brother, unlike my actual brother, Drew, who doesn’t give a hoot about anyone but himself.
Drew should have started senior year but of course, with the given circumstances, it would be silly to assume he was at school. He had been missing for about two months and to be honest it didn’t feel like he was gone. He never took part in family things or even talked to us - he always resided in a place called ‘Out’, which I now know where that is. When I asked for an explanation he just said ‘buzz off’ and I would complain to Tom who would tell me that ‘Out’ is a place where teenagers like to spend most of their time rather than at home because they want freedom.
Mom was depressed but we had to move or we’d be still on the streets. Drew once came to help us paint the rooms although he had no choice. So if he did turn up - which I hoped he didn’t because we didn’t want to be the problem family again - he should know where home is.
BEEP!
After giving a frustrated sigh, I slammed the alarm clock, got up out of bed and methodically got ready for a normal day of school. Looking in the mirror, I admired my knee length white, not tight fitting dress and how my green eyes complimented my strawberry blonde like hair.
When I went downstairs, my black jeans wers slightly tighter than I thought - walking down the stairs was a bit of an effort - and the heavy footsteps of my combat boots seemed to wake the sleepy Tiff who was eating Special K. Tom was fixing his hair, Savvy was yapping on about how excited she was and mom smiling too brightly. It looked genuine but was lacking something.
Yep, it was definitely as normal as an ordinary day.
A/N: Will update soon! xoxo
