Battle To Be Free (z.m) ✔️

Chapter 13

Hi! Sorry if it’s a bit short.

Enjoy!

Alanna's POV 

10 years ago

My six year old self laughed, but much to my disappointment, Daniel did not laugh.

Daniel was eight. I couldn’t understand why Daniel wasn’t laughing! I just told a very funny joke.

“Daniel.” I poked him in the side. “Daniel it was funny!”

I was speaking in Spanish, but so did everyone. It was the only language I could remember.

Daniel didn’t answer. He looked down at his naturally tan hands with his big brown eyes.

“I went outside yesterday.” He mumbled quietly, in Spanish. I stared at him in shock; everyone knew it was forbidden to go outside! I couldn’t believe it. My six year old self found it incomprehensible that he had broken the rules that ‘father’ had gave us.

“Did he find out?” I asked him my voice trembling.

He shook his head. “He won’t ever find out,” He turned to me suddenly and started shaking me. “Alanna you can’t tell anyone!”

“I won’t,” I reassured him. I could understand why he didn’t want father to find out, he got angry when we broke the rules. He could do unspeakable things when he got angry.

“There was a man on the street. He saw the bruises, he asked who was doing them and when I told him he said that it was wrong. He wanted to take me away but I kicked and came back here.” I rubbed his shoulders.

I couldn’t believe that man wanted to take Daniel away! He was my best friend. He couldn’t leave.

“Maybe it is wrong. I don’t remember my Mummy doing anything this bad,” His bottom lip trembled and I took him into a hug.

“It’s not wrong. They were wrong before, those people said that these were the good people and that our Mummy’s were the bad.” I told him feeling so sure of myself.

“I know.”

I watched quietly as Elijah and Melinda were playing on the battered swing set that had nails all over it, but we didn’t mind. Aria, Taylor, Seth, Dimitri and Lucas were playing with the cards that father had given us all a couple of nights ago.

He said it was for being good children and not screaming.  

None of us was older than Elijah, who was nine, and he was also Daniels brother. It was almost like we’d swapped siblings because Elijah and Melinda were always close and so were me and Daniel.

We heard a scuffle from close behind us and we turned around to see ‘mother’ watching us with deadly eyes. Me and Daniel knew immediately knew that she had heard.

“Wait till your father hears about this.” The smirk that covered her face was sinister and sickening. She had long brown hair and her dark brown eyes were almost sunken into her face.

She strutted off into the kitchen with a proud smirk on her face and I could see Daniel going after her. Being my naïve little six year old self, I followed after him, I didn’t want my best friend to get hurt. 

She was in the kitchen with a phone in her hands. I knew immediately who she was going to call, she was going to call father. Daniel ran after her desperate to reach the phone, but I stayed back knowing that it was going to make things worse.