The following chapter is a flash back that involves child abuse. There are some topics discussed within the next few chapters that may be triggering to some readers.
Please note that this hasn't been edited yet. It's a raw draft. Feel free to rip it apart. Tell me what you like or hate. I want to make BE the best book it can possibly be so honest feedback is always welcome. Thanks for reading! :0)
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2 – The Magic Trick
**** Flash Back****
Even at five years old, Eden knew life was filled with terrible people, her parents and brother being some of the worst. She sat alone in the hallway closet, tiny body crammed between a broken shoe rack and vacuum cleaner. Above her hung the family's coats, some thick and full for winter, and others thin and dangly with hems that tickled the top of her head as she couched beneath them.
Her parents had left early that morning for work and left her in the care of her brother Keelan. As with every morning, Eden would wake up and sit in front of the tv with a bowl of store brand cereal in hand. She'd silently pray that Keelan would sleep late, past her parents leaving for the day.
Some days, Eden would be graced with two hours of uninterrupted bliss. She was able to relax and laugh at the cartoons character. But it ended the moment Keelan's bedroom door opened.
He'd stumble out of his room in his boxers and a white t-shirt and immediately open the hallway closet. Without a word, Eden knew what to do. She'd turned the channel to MTV and deposit her bowl and spoon in the sink, even if she wasn't finished eating and was still hungry.
She'd then crawl into her usual spot on top of a worn pair of work boots which were tucked between the shabby shoe rack and a dusty vacuum. She wouldn't say a word. She wouldn't cry. For if she did, she knew what would happen.
Eden would stare silently up at Keelan from behind her drawn up knees and watched as he shut the door, sealing her in the darkness within.
If she screamed, Keelan would only turn the sound of the TV up to drowned out her cries.
But this morning was different.
From within her closet, Eden heard the sound of the shower starting up. The water rushing through the pipes behind the back wall of the closet drowned out the music from the tv. When the water stopped, she waited for something to happen.
The closet door opened, blinding Eden momentarily. Keelan stood before her, naked as the day he was born with a towel draped around his slim 10-year-old shoulders.
"Out." Was the only thing he said. "I want to show you something."
When she wasn't fast enough, he grabbed her upper arm and yanked her to her feet. He dragged her toward his room without another word.
The space was a cluttered mess of dirty clothes and left-over dishes waiting to be taken to the kitchen. He shut the door behind them and locked it.
This wasn't normally what happened. Keelan didn't let her out of the closet until midafternoon, right before her parents returned home. He'd deliver his normal threat of violence if she told them she wasn't having fun during the day.
He sat Eden down next to him on the bed and was oddly quiet, which was another difference. Normally he'd be wired, talking a mile a minute. But now he sat there with his hands on his thighs as though he were thinking.
Eden's gaze dropped to his lap, to the small fleshy thing between his thighs. She hadn't a clue what it was.
She watched in question as Keelan's hand touched it, pulled it with his fingers. He caught her staring at it.
"Do you want to play a game?" His hand stopped when his eyes met hers.
"Not really."
The side of Keelan's mouth lifted, "It'll be fun. It's a magic trick? Here, give me your hand."
He didn't wait for her to give him her hand, instead he took it and pulled it towards his lap.
"Keelan no. I don't want to. It's ugly." She tried and failed to pull her hand away from his body.
"It's magic. Don't you wanna see what happens when you pull on it?"
"I don't like this game." Eden again tried to pull her hand away.
"Stop being a brat or I'll put you back in the closet with no lunch."
Tears welled up her Eden's eyes. "Fine. Here." She pouted and handed him her hand.
Eden watched silently as Keelan placed her hand over that weird fleshy thing in his lap before leaning back on the bed and bracing himself up on his elbows.
"Tug on it a bit, but not too hard or I'll hit you."
Eden whipped the back of her other hand across her cheeks. "I want mommy."
"She ain't here. You have three seconds or it's back in the closet. Three......two...... one." Eden grabbed hold of the fleshy thing which was nestled in the beginnings of dark hair growth. She tugged on it once then twice before dropping it. "Nothing's happening. It's not working."
Keelan moved his hips closer toward Eden so that their hips touched. "Give it a second. Just keep pulling on it."
Eden gave it a few more tugs before noticing as difference.
The thing she held was no long soft. It hardened and grew in size. The extra skin hanging at the tip disappeared, revealing a pinkish deformed mushroom cap. When she let it go, the thing stuck straight up from Keelan's body.
She didn't understand what was going on. She only knew that she didn't like it. It didn't feel right.
Keelan laughed. "See, when you touch it and it gets big."
"Can we play something else?" Eden asked, "like dolls?"
"How about house?" Keelan said, that wickedness returning to his smile. "I'm the husband and you're my wife. You have to do what I say."
"I don't like that game either." Eden pouted.
"Touch it again and don't stop until I tell you to."
"Then can we play dolls?"
"Fine."
Eden returned her hand to the thing that had gone soft again. She tugged on it and pulled at it and soon it hardened in her hand. A frown settled on her brow as she continued to pull on it. Nothing else happened.
Keelan laid back with his hands up behind his neck. "Do it a little faster."
"My arm's getting tiered, Keelan."
Keelan pinched her side hard and made her yelp.
"Do you want to go back to the closet?"
"No," Eden began to cry, "But I don't want to do this either."
"Fine, give me your hand loser." His sweaty palm covered her hand now. He took up a much firmer grip than she had, forcing her fingers to curl around the hardened flesh. His hand moved differently too. Instead of tugging and pulling, like she had done, his hand just went up and down.
Eden was confused. She watched Keelan continue the game. When he started to make weird noises, she glanced up at his face which was now red.
"Watch what happens next. It's magic." That grin widened as he moved their hands even faster. His breathing turned to panting and Eden was grossed out by the light sheen of sweat that covered his face.
"Watch what happens." His eyes were glued to their hands and Eden finally looked back at his laps.
Suddenly, Keelan stiffened and almost chocked on a breath. Something warm and sticky squirted from the weird pink mushroom cap and covered her little fingers.
Keelan moved their hands until the fleshy think began to soften. "You rub it until that stuff comes out." He wiped the back of his hand against her palm before returning to the thing in his lap. He proceeded to tug and pull on it himself, as though he enjoyed the feel of it.
"There's your magic." He laughed
"Can I go wash my hand off now?"
"Fine. Then go back to the closet while I clean up." His eyes dropped to the seat of her pink underwear while he continued his tugging. "Next time we'll try your mouth."
Eden acted as though she hadn't heard him. She went directly to the hallway bathroom to wash her hand off. After she crawled back into her closet, took up her set on the worn boots, and wrapped her arms around her raised knee.
She didn't like Keelan's magic trick. She didn't like it one bit.
Words: 1,429
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