TORMENTED SOULS
by Autumn Winchester
It was as if I were invisible. Unfortunately, I was anything but.
I willed my palms to not be sweaty as I told my nerves to calm down. I had nothing to be nervous about. This wasn’t about me.
I didn’t want to be here, or anywhere for that matter, but tonight, I had no choice.
I was the last person to be looking forward to this little party. I wanted no part in it, which I was clear from the start. My parents knew I’d rather be studying than here.
I’d tried to get out of it. I tried everything I could think of, even going as far as begging my parents. Nothing had worked.
Everyone knew this was more than just a simple eighteenth birthday party for my one and only sister—a sister who hated me being so close to her age. A sister who got everything she wanted with a simple look. I, on the other hand, had to work tooth and nail to get anything; a reason I hardly ever asked for anything to begin with. I didn’t like attention as it was, so I was perfectly fine with tonight being all about her. It always tended to be, anyway.
“There you are,” my mother said as she spotted me.
Opening my eyes, I met her disapproving stare as she stopped just feet in front of me. Her blue irises were the color of a dark, stormy sky. Sometimes, I couldn’t tell if they were blue or black with how dark they were. It fit her stormy nature, so who knew what mood she was in this evening.
“Couldn’t you have worn the gown your sister picked out? It would have shown off your body so much better,” she sniffed, looking me up and down as if I were wearing a paper bag.
My mother and sister thought showing off one’s body was the only way to get the attention of not just the opposite sex, but of everyone in one room—despite her chin-length dyed red hair making her look ten years older than she really was.
Unlike her tight black dress that was sprinkled with diamonds around her breasts to showcase her assets, mine was flowy and lacked flair. The silk material touched the tops of my toes and swayed around my legs with every movement. It hung over my frame by two very thin straps that were only just noticeable. A small little flower sat right on my hip, binding the layers of the dress together in an elegant way.
“What’s wrong with this one?” I asked, looking her right in the eye as I kept my shoulders back to disguise my displeasure of being here.
The dress my sister had picked out was something I’d never be caught dead in. It had been dog pee yellow and was two sizes too small for even her to wear, along with having a deep V in the front to where any man with eyes would have seen my barely-there breasts.
“It’s not that flattering,” she spoke in distaste.
“It is to me,” I said, holding my head up. I wasn’t going to let her know her words could get to me. She knew the right thing to say to make me rethink my choices. I hated when she put me down, but there wasn’t much I could do while still living under this roof.
If only I could get out of my parents’ clutches. I was merely biding my time now, hoping I’d get a way out of their strict rules soon.
“At least it matches your eyes,” she grunted, like it was the only nice thing she could say. For her, it almost certainly was.
It did match my eyes. The dress was a silvery green color, more gray than green depending on how the light caught it.
I loved my eyes because they were the only thing that didn’t match either of my parents. They were strictly my own.
“Why haven’t you joined the party yet?” Mom asked. She knew I was stubborn when it came to certain things; the way I dressed was one of them. It was only because there were people nearby that she didn’t make any more comments. I could imagine what she was thinking, though, and the words weren’t pretty.
“You know why,” I grumbled, the words nearly a whisper.
“You can’t blame your sister,” she huffed. “You could have been the center of attention right next to her. It would have been easy to make this your night too, you know.”
She made it sound as though I wanted to be the center of attention. I detested having people look at me. I didn’t want a birthday ball. I saw no point in it.
I breathed through my nose, willing myself to keep the words I desperately wanted to say inside my throat. It didn’t matter that they burned on the tip of my tongue. I knew if I said what I so desperately wanted to, all hell would break loose. Tonight was not a night to do that—not if I wanted to keep being invisible for as long as I possibly could.
When you looked at my sister and I, we were two opposites. While she was tall, blond, and perfect, I was short, dark haired, and had strange eyes. Judi was the spitting image of the woman who stood before me, except for the hair. I wasn’t sure why the looks didn’t pass to me, but I had a pretty sure guess.
My sister was the apple of Daddy’s eye while I stayed in the shadows. It was where I preferred to be. The few times I did have my father’s attention, it never ended well for me. It wasn’t that I didn’t like having a father figure in my life, it was just that I didn’t like him. He gave me the creeps, possibly because I could see past his emotionless face and carefully spoken words.
###
I am not human.
I don’t know what I am, but whatever it is, my parents want me dead. They see me as a threat, a target.
To what? I have no idea.
When the monsters from my nightmares manifest in real life, I will do anything in my power just to stay alive—including following the lead of a stranger who promises to protect me from the unknown.
Can we survive what’s in store for us?
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1 comments:
Thank you for sharing with us today, Autumn. I can feel the angst in this excerpt!
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