Chapter One: Kyle the Ketamine King
It was on my seventeenth birthday when I first wondered if it was immoral to stab someone. Kyle, my foster dad, was banging on my door for the five-thousandth time, screaming, “As soon as I get in there you're both dead! You hear me? Dead! You two whores better tell me where my booze is right this minute!” For the record, neither me nor Thalia, my roommate and the newest resident of Casa Del Alcoholic, had any idea where his beers were. Best guess: they were in the fridge and he was either too drunk or too high to remember. I was choking on the smell of beer, cigarette smoke, and weed, and his screaming was driving me up the wall. I could feel the maelstrom of anger and disgust rising up in me, and I knew that if I didn't leave soon, my earlier querie was going to get its answer.
I reached under the broken nightstand next to mine and Thalia's deflated airbed and pulled out the red flathead screwdriver that I had taped to the bottom. I stuck its head into a crack under our room's broken window and wiggled it around until I heard the satisfying 'click' of the lock popping open. I started to push the window open, then hesitated. I looked at Thalia, sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest in the far corner of the room, eyes tightly closed, earbuds in. Part of me wanted to just leave her and get out of that place as fast as possible, but I couldn't help but think about her being there by herself. What if it got worse? What if, god forbid, Kyle got in? Thalia had been very kind to me since she had been dropped in that miserable place, and I felt a sort of kinship to her that I hadn't felt, hadn't let myself feel, with any of the other kids I'd been crammed into houses with.
I sighed and turned to look at her. "Thalia?" I waved my hand in front of her face to distract her from the music that was blaring through her earbuds from her SanDisk. “Thaliaaaaaaa," she removed her buds and looked up at me. "I'm heading out; I need a break from Mr. Sunshine out there's bullshit. Do you want to come with me?” I asked, nodding towards the window. She looked at the door, then at me. “Thought you'd never ask; Kyle the Ketamine King out there is gonna be the reason I end up in a psych ward," she half-joked, a hint of a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.
As she meandered over to me, stuffing her earbuds and SanDisk in her pocket as she went, I pried open the dirty window. She slipped through first, and after a split-second of considering the consequences of our sneaking out, I did too. She smiled devilishly at me as we began walking through the trailer park. “So, Chloe, where to?” I scoffed indignantly. "I don't know, Tina, where would you like to go?" She smirked back at me and replied, "Isn't there like a park or something around here? I would kill to be somewhere that is A) even somewhat quiet and B) smells of something other than alcohol." I gave her a nod and answered, “Indeed there is. However… before I can lead you there you must say the magic words: 'Chloe, whose real and much cooler name is Zoë, is the cutest and best foster sibling ever'.” Thalia laughed and replied, “Zoë is a huge dork with horrible jokes, but is also my best friend so it evens out.” I beamed at her and bumped into her shoulder with mine. “Aww, somebody cares about me," I teased, "I find those magic words sufficient, and therefore we shall begin our journey to the park. And for the record, you're my best friend too."
It was around dusk when we got to the park, which was practically deserted. Thalia and I sat down and leaned against the jungle gym, reveling in the quiet. She rested her head on my shoulder, and I could feel the vibrations as she spoke, "I don't ever want to go back. I understand that going through these homes is how we survive, but survive for what? To be starved and abused by the people who are supposed to take care of us? To never be anything more than a 'poor little foster kid'? I just feel like there's so much more out there, like there's so much more to me. Like there's somewhere else we're supposed to be." The passion in her voice rose with each syllable until she was almost shouting. I had understood every word she said, had felt every emotion she said she was feeling. I was opening my mouth to say just that when I saw them.
Three men were running at us, all armed. I reacted immediately, yanking Thalia to her feet and shouting, "Thalia! Go, go, go! We gotta run!" As we sprinted towards the edge of the woods that surrounded the park, I glanced back at our pursuers, taking note of everything I could in those few seconds. Two of them held long, heavy chains, and one of the men was unarmed but moved with an unusual, winding gait. Turning back around, I felt Thalia tug on my wrist as she pulled me deeper into the woods. She finally slowed down as we reached a clearing and the sounds of our hunters' footfalls faded. We huddled closely together behind a magnolia bush. Thalia spoke in a panicked, hushed voice, "What was that? Who were they?" I replied, equally as scared and confused, "I don't know, Thal', I don't know. It seems like they've lost our trail, though, so hopefully we can just wait this out." She nodded over and over, saying, "Yeah. Yeah. Yeah! As long as we stay here and keep quiet, everything will be f-"
She leapt backwards as a clawed hand swiped through the bush and grazed her face. I hurriedly jumped up to stand next to her, and as I looked around us, I could hardly believe my eyes. The people chasing us... They hadn't been men at all; Surrounding us were two hideous, shriveled old women, both having what appeared to be snakes for hair. Inbetween them was a huge serpent, seven feet tall at the least, with two ram-like horns. The women slowly inched closer and closer, muttering incomprehensibly to themselves. Thalia and I frantically looked back at one another. We were terrified; frozen. Meanwhile the horned serpent circled around us, making the ring tighter, and tighter, and tighter. Finally, Thalia and I regained our senses and made a move to escape, but the second we started running, the serpent tightened its grip like a noose; it was almost impossible to breathe. I looked at Thalia, and she looked at me, and I decided: No! This was not the way that I was going to go! I could feel something bubbling up inside of me, and when I looked at Thalia, I knew that she did, too. Her eyes were shining with determination, and something else I couldn't identify, and at the same time, we screamed, electricity dashing from both of our bodies to the monster's.
The serpent recoiled instantly, slithering away and turning on us, hissing, its fangs dripping with venom. We glanced at each other, shocked (literally) and amazed, and each of us ran at one of the snake-haired women, making contact and knocking them unconscious with electricity. After dispatching my monster, I dashed across the clearing to Thalia, dodging the horned serpent's attacks on the way. We fought back to back, the serpent attempting to ensnare us, but getting electrocuted every time it became close enough to touch. The other two monsters recovered and joined the fight, but they, too, could never get close enough. Suddenly two blue lightning bolts appeared above mine and Thalia's heads. Surprised, I exclaimed, "Woah! Thalia, look!" She glanced up and smiled, and the serpent saw its chance. I noticed it first, and jumped behind Thalia. Its fangs sunk deep into her shoulder, releasing the monster's deadly venom. She crumpled instantly. I looked down at Thalia, my one true friend, the only person who I had ever felt safe opening up to, lying dead on the ground, and I began to tremble. Rage and adrenaline coursed through my veins, and I could see volatile streaks of blue lighting arching all over my body. I let out a piercing scream and shot streaks of electricity through the air at all three of our attackers. They were responsible for Thalia's death, and they deserved the same fate. One by one they fell, decimated by the sheer power and energy of the electricity. I stood victorious.
And that was when the tears came.
