Faith

Ellowyn

“Surprise!” The word is shouted by multiple people and Alex removes his hands from over my eyes. I blink furiously as someone’s flash on their camera blinds me.

There are gaudy decorations all over the room, every single one of them with the number ‘22’ plastered on them ostentatiously. It’s glittery, and sparkly, in golds and silvers, with streamers, garland, and tinsel hanging on every surface. Balloons are littered all over the floor, some with flashing lights or confetti inside of them.

I turn and punch Alex in the arm before I even look at the people in the room. “I told you no birthday party!” I complain.

Laughter rings through the room and Alex just smiles at me. “You didn’t say anything about surprise birthday parties.”

I glare at him. “‘No parties’ covers all kinds of parties.”

He shrugs. “You’ll forgive me.” He wraps his arm around my waist and faces me towards my surprise guest.

The first person I encounter has his arms crossed. “Geez, Ell, I came all the way over here and you’re not even excited to see me,” Todd, my cousin, says. He shakes his head in mock disappointment.

“Todd!” I jump away from Alex’s embrace and throw my arms around his neck.

He’s bulked up in the last few years, and his face has lost any trace of teenage years. He’s all sharp angles now and makes women stop and stare when he passes by.

“Hey, Ell,” he hums gently, wrapping his arms around me and hugging me back.

“I’ve missed you,” I murmur, squeezing him tightly. It’s been near a year since I’ve seen him last.

“I know. You’re so mushy,” he teases.

I pull away and smack his arm, but before I can say a smart remark, blonde hair behind him catches my eye.

“Charity?” I gasp and step around my cousin.

Charity smiles at me. “Happy birthday, Ellowyn.”

I hug her too. “I can’t believe you got the time off to come here!” I’m shocked to see my friend. She’s been working hard and finally got into the hospital as a full time doctor.

“Of course I came. Twenty-two is a good year!”

I’m passed around after that. My aunt and uncle hug me tightly. My dad kisses the top of my head. A few of my dad’s and Alex’s colleagues give me smiles and shake my hand. It’s not until half an hour after I arrive before I notice a figure lurking in the corner.

I ease up to him slowly, knowing his eyes are on me underneath the brim of his cap that’s pulled low. I stand shoulder to shoulder with him, leaning against the wall and stare at the party goers, like he is. I feel him peek over at me.

“Happy birthday,” his voice is dull and monotone.

“Thanks. How’s it been, Peter?”

I feel him shrug. “Your dad’s been training me. He’s ruthless. He’s efficient. He’s amazing.” His voice gets a tone of reverence. A tone I hear quite often when someone talks about my dad.

“He is tough. Take care of yourself, okay?” He’s thrown himself into training ever since Alex brought him home with us. So much so that Alex frowns every time we talk about him.

“I am. Better than I would have been with my father.” His mouth twists with the words.

I frown down at my feet. He still blames his dad… “You need to forgive him, Peter. He just wanted to protect you…”

“Happy birthday, Ell.” He pushes off the wall and disappears through our garage. I frown at his retreating figure, until someone bumps into my shoulder.

“You pushed him again, didn’t you?” Alex leans against the wall with his arms crossed, looking towards where Peter disappeared.

I sigh heavily. “It’s not healthy. He needs to let it go.”

“And he thinks you should have been angrier with your dad.”

I balk. “He does? Why?” I look up at him.

“He feels like you, of everyone, should understand him most. A parent keeping secrets from you. Thinking they’re protecting you but are actually making you weak. He feels like both of you should have been trained like I was.” His voice is low and his lips hardly move, and his eyes are on my dad. “He thinks Stan did it right. He trusts Phil, admires him even, but that’s because he feels he did right by me.

“I told him you were pissed at your mom, but he doesn’t understand why you forgave your dad so quickly. He wishes you'd empathize with him more. He’s been preached to by so many people, so the last person he wants lecturing him is you.”

“I see…” I frown.

“Don’t let him bother you. It’s your birthday, let’s celebrate!” He pulls me from the wall and into the party.

It’s past 2:00 a.m. by the time Alex is escorting a drunk Todd out of our house, with Charity supporting him on the other side. Alex kisses me at the doorway and tells me he’ll be back as soon as he drops Todd off at the hotel he’s staying at. I wave goodbye until I can’t see them any more, and then I turn towards the mess in my house.

The mess isn’t too bad, but the food, drinks, and cake needs to be picked up and put away. I sigh to myself and set myself to work, throwing away scraps, paper plates, and plastic cups. Once the trash bag is full, I tie it up and head for the garage when suddenly the power goes out.

It’s pitch black. I can’t see anything and my stomach clenches at my sudden vulnerable state. My eyes go wide, trying to see anything. I glance to where I know the window is at but it’s just as dark.

My ears strain but it’s deadly quiet. No hum of electricity. Is it the whole block? I can’t see the street lamps. The whole town? I pull out my phone to see if I can find anything about the blackout.

I blind myself with the brightness and quickly turn it down. I blink rapidly to try to get rid of the white spot in my vision. I frown when I see I have no service whatsoever. What in the world is going on?

The front door handle turns and relief runs through me.

“Alex? The power suddenly went out. Do you know why?” I step towards the front door.

“I do.”

I wait for him to continue. “And?” I ask after he doesn’t.

“I did it.”

I frown. His voice sounds off. I pick up my pace so I can look at him. “Why?”

“I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

“For wha-” I round the corner and my knees lock up when I see the figure leaning against the door jamb.

“For you to be alone.”

“Travis?” I blink. Am I dreaming? How could Alex’s dead brother be here? I shot him. Alex threw a knife in his chest. What’s going on?

“Hello, Ellowyn.” His voice is scarily similar to Alex’s when he’s not sneering. The corner of his lip twitches up into his smirk. He looks thinner. His face sunken in a bit, with bags under his eyes. How?

“How?” He seems to read my mind. He shrugs. “You missed.”

My heart is pounding in my chest. I take a step back.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Travis says, and I stop. “You remember how last time went, right?”

My mouth twists. “I was trying to be caught last time,” I spit at him.

He snorts. “As if that makes a difference.”

“I also have four more years of training.” I tighten my grip on the trash bag.

“Oh, I know exactly what you’ve been up to.” His grin is malicious, and fear courses through me.

I swallow my panic and go to take a step back to swing my bag of trash, but I run into a body. Arms wind around me, pinning my arms to my sides, and a cloth covers my mouth.

I cut off my airflow, to not breathe in whatever is on the rag. I’m betting it’s chloroform, but I’m not going to chance it. I start thrashing, trying to throw off my assailant, stomp on his toes, anything. But he’s strong and is wearing steel-toed boots that my bare feet can do nothing against.

I can feign fainting… But as soon as I think that, Travis is right in front of me. He punches me in the gut and the air whooshes out of me.

I gasp in a breath, the sweet scent of chloroform fills my lungs. Shit, shit, shit. I glare up at Travis and he just smiles at me benignly as I lose consciousness.