Last Chapter recap- Janae
"I want to believe you Oakley but you love to lie about how you feel so I don't know if I should or not," I told him honestly.
He sighed, "I understand your reasoning but I promise I am 100% fine."
I sighed as well, unclear of what I should do.
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I couldn't believe it! Oakley, Oliver, June, and Janae were royalty! Like Princes and Princesses!
Do I have to bow to them and call them Your Highness and stuff now?
I mean it made perfect sense now that I think about it. I have always thought that the four of them looked special and regal. Like they always seemed perfect. From their appearance to the way that they act, they are perfect.
The bigger surprise was Oakley's scars. Something I was all too familiar with.
After talking with the quads, I pulled Jenifer over to the side away from everyone to talk with her.
She has always been a really shy and quiet person but our parents made it even worse. She only ever talks to me and Odin and even then it can be challenging to get her to speak to us.
"Jenny? Are you okay?" I ask her softly.
She nods.
"Do any of your boo-boos still hurt?"
She looks down for a second before looking up again and shaking her head no.
She lies, she looks down when she lies.
"Jenifer, where does it hurt? Show me."
She refuses.
"I'm not going to tell them Jenifer, I pinky promise. I just want to make sure that you are okay."
She thinks about it for a moment before holding out her pinky for me to link.
I do and she takes a deep breath before slowly lifting her shirt.
I gasp at how bad it looks.
Her ribs were completely black and blue. Not a clear patch of skin in sight. The bruise wrapped around her whole body.
She then lifted up her neck and pulled back her hair to show me Daddy's hand prints that were still red and swollen around her neck.
"Im so sorry Jenifer." I said starting to cry a bit. "I shouldn't have left you. If I never would have left then this wouldn't have happened to you."
She took her hands and wiped my tears and softly said, "Well if you hadn't left then we would still be there but instead we are happy and safe here."
I smiled "That is true but still. You are hurt, Jenny. Don't worry I'm sure that June and Janae can help fix it come on." I stood and tried to pull her up.
"No Owen, you promised not to tell them. You can't break a pinky promise." She whispered.
She was right, I would be just as bad as them if I broke a pinky promise.
But surely Jenifer was in lots of pain and I knew that June and Janae could help.
"Jenny, they aren't going to hurt you. They will help you. I want them to help you not be hurt."
She shook her head again.
I didn't understand why she didn't want help.
Then I thought of an idea.
She needed painkillers and some ice to help her pain.
I told Jenifer my plan "I will go tell June and Janae that I don't feel good. That've got like a headache or something and I will ask for an ice pack and some pain killers and then I will just bring them here to you! We can get you what you need and they will never have to know."
It was a great plan if I do say so myself.
Although it seems like Jenifer didn't share the same enthusiasm for my plan.
"No Owen, I don't want you to lie for my sake. What if they find out that you are lying and we get in trouble." She said looking scared again.
She was scared that they would punish us like our parents would.
Of course, they never would. Oakley, Oliver, June, and Janae were nice and kind and funny and smart and they only wanted to help us but obviously, Jenifer didn't understand that and didn't trust them
"Well, I could also just take them? I'm sure I could find an ice pack and some painkillers around." I said to her as an alternative.
She thought about it for a moment. "But wouldn't stealing be worse than lying? I don't want you to get punished and mommy and daddy hated stealing the most."
She was right, I remember one night when Odin had stolen some food from the kitchen to give to me and Jenifer one night after we hadn't eaten in days and Daddy got really really angry.
I got the shivers from the memory.
No, they are not mommy and daddy, they are not going to hurt us I had to remind myself before telling the same thing to Jenifer.
"Well, I will try and steal them but if I am unsuccessful or don't think I can do it without getting caught then I will just pretend like it's for me and ask."
Jenifer shook her head. "If you can't successfully take them without being 100% sure that you won't get caught then just leave it. I will be fine."
"No Jenny, you need it. I promise it will all be fine." I said and then walked away before she could interrupt me.
Getting the ice pack shouldn't be too hard so I went for that first.
I walked into the kitchen and thankfully no one was in there. I tried to open up the refrigerator as quietly as I could but luck was not on my side because as soon as I opened it and started looking around Oakley popped his head out from around the corner.
"Hey Owen, what are you looking for?"
I panicked not knowing what to say, trying to come up with something quickly.
"Oh nothing, just looking around for snack," I said.
I don't think he fully bought it but he said "Okay, well let me know if you need help." and then walked away.
That was close. I quickly reopened the freezer and grabbed the first frozen thing I could find which happened to be a tub of ice cream.
That worked, Jenny could put the tub on her ribs and then eat the ice cream at the same time.
I grabbed the tub as well as a spoon and made my way back to the couch where Jenifer was.
"Ice cream?" She questions softly as I approach.
I shrugged "It's all I could find, Oakley almost caught me. Now here."
I handed it to her and I saw relief wash over her face as soon as she put the tub on her ribs. I then covered her up with a blanket so that no one would see it if they walked in.
She smiled "Thanks, Owen."
I smiled back "You're welcome. Now the hard part, finding the pain killers and getting them back to you without anyone noticing."
"You don't have to Owen, you have done enough. I am fine." She told me.
I shook my head at her. "No Jenny, you are hurt and I want to help you. If you are in pain so am I so I am going to help you. You are just lucky that I pinky promised you that I wouldn't tell or else June and Janae would have already fixed you up."
She sighed. "Well just be careful please Owen. If you can't do it without getting caught don't do it, it's not worth it."
"No it is worth it, Now stay here until I get back."
She rolled her eyes at me. "Where do you think I am going to go?"
She was right, she didn't even talk to the quads, let alone roam around their house by herself with ice cream on her ribs.
I left the living room and started looking "Now if I were painkillers where would I be." I whispered to myself.
Maybe in a cabinet? Probably a kitchen cabinet high up where kids couldn't reach. How ironic.
Well, I made my way back into the kitchen. I first looked through all the cabinets at my level. There was nothing.
Well, now I had to look through the top cabinets.
There were two ways I could do that. I could climb up on the counters and try to look or I could grab a chair and try and look.
I chose the first option because I thought that pulling a chair across the floor would be too loud.
I carefully put my hands on top of the countertop pushed myself up and hoisted my legs up. It was a bit difficult but I managed to get on top of the counter. I carefully stood up and opened the first cabinet.
Nothing.
I was going to try and walk across the counter but I thought that would be too risky so I crawled across to the next cabinet and opened it up.
Nothing again.
I was starting to panic because what if I didn't find it? I couldn't let Jenny be in pain but I also couldn't break our pinky promise and ask.
I made my way over to the third and final cabinet, crawling across the counter and then carefully standing up to open it up.
"Owen?! What are you doing?" A voice startled me causing me to lose my balance and fall backward off of the counter.
A sharp pain shot through my arm.
There was noise. There was lots of noise but I couldn't make out who was who and who was saying what.
I just felt myself being lifted up and carried away.
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AN: I love this new writing feature where you can schedule when chapters get published.
I wrote this on August 20th but I won't publish this until the 24th
I hope to get this book on a schedule and post more.
Love you all.