Chapter 1
Nyx's P.O.V
I remember the first time like it was yesterday. The sun shined down on me and my twin sister mirinda, as we ran through the greenest, most pristine cut grass I've ever seen. We were five years old, chasing each other with squirt guns. Our mother, Visha, was in the house doing work as she always was.
I pretended imagining my sister floating in the air, only to realize it was no longer pretend. I yelled for mommy to come look at what I did. I was so proud of myself. I had my sister 4 feet off the ground without even touching her. That's nothing compared to what I can do now, but I was exhilarated. Mother came out, and the look on her face was enraged. She ran towards me, and before my child brain could process it. I was on the ground with a wail in pain, and a sting that grew stronger as the seconds passed, felt like a thousand needles in my cheek. I heard my sister drop with a thud. My mother ran over to her, took her into the house, closing the sliding glass door, leaving me isolated with my thoughts to ponder what I have done
After what felt like days, I tried to open the sliding glass door, but it was locked. Panic ran through me, as I thought about what my mother warned me about being outside when it was dark, and what happens to little girls who get kidnapped. I started to shake, in fear that I'd be one of them. I knocked on the door a few times.
"Mommy, please. Don't leave me out here!" My knocks turned into banging. The sound of the glass wobbling, I didn't want to break it.
"I didn't mean to, I won't do it again. Please let me in." I begged.
I turned around to see the sun was setting. I slid down the door to the floor, wrapping my arms around my legs. The wood porch was cooling down, so it didnt burn my bare feet anymore.
I don't know how long I was sitting there. I thought I was going to starve, so I started to dose off. Until, mirinda tapped on the window. I looked behind me at her sympathetic eyes. She put her finger over her lips, warning me to stay quiet. I stood up as she opened the door.
I can hear her snoring."She fell asleep.." my voice was barely a whisper. The thought made my heart drop, she really was going to leave me out here.
"Mommy kept mumbling about you, something about the powers skipping her and me, but I don't know. I'm sorry she hit you."
We tiptoed up the oak floored stairs. The pictures of me on that once flowed with the rest of the pictures of us, were gone, just blank spaces inbetween.
Once we got to our room, I laid in my bed crying. That's all I did all night until the crickets went silent, and the birds started to chirp. The sun shined through the pink drapes over the bay window with a reading book.
I heard the shower, for some reason I hopped out of bed. I had a feeling she wanted to find me still outside.
I quietly made my way down the stairs and out the back door. I laid down on the porch in a ball.
"Get up ." Mother kicked me in the back, towering over me with a disturbed look on her face.
I did as I was told, I stood there with my head down.
"Look me in the eye," she grabbed my face forcing me to look at her, "you will never do whatever that was yesterday again or else next time will be much worse than being left outside."
I opened my mouth to talk, but nothing came out, I nodded instead.
As the months went on I had my good weeks and bad weeks. If I used magic to defend myself from her she would hit me with a baseball bat.
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"Mommy!! Mommy, please!! It hurts." I tried to pull against my mother's grip as she dragged me by my hair through the house. She swung the door to the basement open.
Her grip on my hair didn't give, she started walking down the stairs, dragging me behind her.
I gave up on my hair, I held on to the door frame. I felt my nails lift from my flesh causing me to let go with a blood curdling scream.
I tried wrapping my foot around the railing, but she went around the corner extra hard, hitting my head on the wall.
Then, everything went dark.
When I opened my eyes I was in a cement room. I sat up looking around. No windows.
There was a large safe like door directly infront of me.
The rest of the room was plain and grey. I didn't know we had this room in our basement.
"MIRINDA!! HELP ME!" I screamed, I couldn't hear anything beyond my own echos.
I banged on the door. I screamed at the top of my lungs. No one could hear me and no one was coming.
I have been in here for atleast a full 24 hours. I knew this because my stomach felt like it was consuming itself. The rumbles from it, made little echos.
I sat in the corner of the room, drawing on the wall with my finger.
When Suddenly the door started to make clicking sounds. I didn't move, I stayed curled in the corner of the room. I may have only been 8 at this point, but I knew better than to run to the door.
The door opened to reveal no other than the person that put me here, mother.
She walked in with a large wooden board, and a bag. She stood the board up against the wall. "Stand up infront of the board."
I didn't move, I just stared at her.
"NOW!"
I scurried to the board.
"Stay still or don't." She grabbed a large throwing knife from the bag.
I trembled, tears started rushing down my face.
The first one stuck out of the board just above my head. The 3 more after that she hadn't hit me yet, but the fourth one was the kicker, piercing straight through the side of my left calf.
The scream that left my body was inhuman, animalistic. After four more slices to my arms she decided it wasn't enough. She walked over to me. She proceeded to cut crosses into my feet and hands.
Then reaches down for the blade pinning me to the board, and rips it out.
She made me wall sit for 3-6 hours several times as punishment. the standing infront of a wall while she threw knives at me (stabbing me 5 times and leaving cuts on me countless times in my lifetime) it didn't only happen once, kneel on a cane as I recited revelations from the bible repeatedly until my knees were bruised.
She never told me why it was so bad, but she made my life a living hell for it. It took me another year of messing up to learn how to keep it under control.
