Hated

by Fournier, C

  “Who are you?” he asked his voice was scratchy and uneven.

  “I’m a friend,” I told him gently moving the hair out of his face. He seemed to consider that for a moment then he let go of my hand.

  “I’m not one to be saved by such a lovely young lady,” he said taking my hand more gently this time and kissed it. “My name is Alexander, and what may your name be?”

  I became flustered by his words and old fashioned greeting. I mean it’s not like I’ve never been flirted with before it’s just never been put very nicely. I just answered on impulse because I didn’t know what else to do, “My name is Stephanie.”

  “Such a lovely name for such a lovely young lady,” Alexander replied letting go of my hand. I noticed that he seemed to be completely ignoring Antonio so I brought Antonio in to the conversation.

  “Antonio do you mind giving me a hand, I need you to hold the flashlight while I check for potentially life threatening wounds,” I told him giving him the flashlight and moving to the other side of Alexander. Antonio knelt down and held the flashlight exactly where I needed it to be so that I could see without shadows. I unzipped his sweater and found a t-shirt underneath.

  I heaved a sigh and got up. “I need to go get some scissors to get the shirt off I’ll be back in a minute,” I told them and went back to the house.

  Chapter 14

  Antonio Caine

  Boston 9:50 pm Thursday February 15th 2029

  I watched as Stephanie walked to the house and disappeared. Then I turned my attention back to Alexander, he looked tired and sore. I almost felt sorry for him and I would’ve, if he hadn’t kissed Stephanie’s hand and started flirting with her. Just then he looked up at me and smiled.

  “Is she your girlfriend?” Alexander asked. I shook my head wary of where the conversation was going.

  “Good because I’m going to make her mine,” Alexander replied and his smile changed to a devilish grin. I glared down at him; I did not want the likes of him to have Stephanie. She deserves so much better than that.

  Alexander started laughing. “Oh dear me, you like her don’t you?” Alexander asked although I don’t think it was a question, more like a statement. “Well if you like her so much then why haven’t you made your move yet. Someone can easily snatch her away if you aren’t careful.”

  I heard the underlining tone of a challenge in his voice and I was about to say something when Stephanie came outside. She trotted over with a small suitcase and knelt back down next to Alexander. I turned the flashlight back on and angled it so that it wouldn’t catch any shadows. Stephanie opened the suitcase and pulled out a set of scissors.

  Stephanie quickly and carefully cut Alexander’s shirt off. The chest didn’t look as bad as I thought it would. But from the way Stephanie was looking at his chest, I’m guessing it was worse then it looked. She felt around his ribs and he winced every time there was a slight bit of pressure on or around them. Stephanie kept muttering to herself and moved her hands up to his neck, felt around then moved again. She did the head last and was much more gentle and serene then I’ve seen any doctor be towards a patient. Stephanie’s face scrunched up when she found the wounds on Alexander’s head.

  “Well I can’t see anything that’s life threatening at the moment,” Stephanie murmured, and then she looked at me. “Can you help me get him into the house?”

  As much as I didn’t want to help Alexander, I nodded and helped Stephanie get him to his feet. Alexander tried not to make any pained noises but a couple did escape his lips and clenched teeth. Getting him to the house was a little less complicated but not by much. Kevin was at the door to let us in to the house and to take over helping Alexander, while Stephanie went back outside to get her first aid kit. Kevin and I put Alexander on the couch that Kevin had already set up before hand.

  I noticed that Kevin was trying not to put pressure on his leg. I caught his eyes and gestured for him to take a seat. I knew enough about first aid to be able to handle most of this on my own. Kevin nodded a bit relived and took a seat, putting his leg up to rest. His face relaxed as the pressure was taken off his wounded leg.

  I set to work on clean up Alexander’s wounds. He had several deep gashes but as Stephanie had said none of them were life-threatening. I was about to ask Kevin how he was doing when Stephanie came in the door. She took us in, in one comprehensive glance then smiled.

  “Thanks Antonio,” Stephanie said looking at me still smiling, and then her expression changed to a sheepish one. “Um, can you finish up with Kevin since I didn’t get to finish him earlier and…?”

  I put my finger to her lips silencing her.

  “I will,” I told her. As much as I wanted to keep her away from Alexander I knew I wouldn’t be much help to him. I would probably be more help to Kevin anyway.

  “Don’t worry I’m okay,” Kevin said smiling. Both Stephanie and I gave him sceptical looks and he gave in. I double checked Kevin’s wounds and found some ones that Stephanie forgot about. I cleaned out all the wounds that hadn’t been cleaned out and bandaged up all the wounds that needed to be bandaged. I splinted his arm and put it into a sling. I had finished a little bit before Stephanie but she was done a couple of minutes later.

  No one had talked through out the whole process but now we all sighed. Stephanie yawned and looked like she was about to fall asleep. Kevin tapped my shoulder and whispered for me to take her to bed, saying that he was going to watch Alexander tonight. I nodded and went over to Stephanie.

  Stephanie was lying down on the floor beside the couch eyes almost completely shut. Alexander had already fallen asleep so I quietly tapped Stephanie on the shoulder. She groaned and turned over so that she was facing the couch. I sighed and reached down to pick her up. I got her into my arms and her eyes shot open, and her hand shot around to reach for her gun. I grabbed her arm and waited.

  “What are you doing?” she asked her voice husky with sleep.

  “You pretty much fell asleep on the floor so I’m taking you to your room where you should be sleeping,” I told her letting go of her hand and standing up.

  “But what about,” Stephanie yawned and curled up against my chest, “Alexander.”

  “Kevin is going to be watching him tonight and if you want I’ll watch him too,” I said and paused at one of the doors. She shook her head and I continued down the hallway.

  “No…Kevin will be okay…on his own,” Stephanie was starting to fade now. I stopped again and I could barely tell that she shook her head. I continued down the hall to the last room, shifted Stephanie to my one arm and opened the door.

  The room was very small, too small for what was in it. In the room there were two beds, a small bookshelf and that was about it. I set Stephanie down on the one bed and I turned to go but I tripped and landed on the other bed. Stephanie opened her eyes into slits to look at me.

  “Don’t leave,” she murmured still half asleep, “please stay.”

  I didn’t know how conscience she was of what she said but just her saying it made my heart rate speed up. I nodded and she smiled just a little one, before falling back to sleep. Just as I was about to lie down I remembered the roses.

  “I’ll be back in a minute I just forgot to take care of something,” I doubted she could hear me but it made me feel a little better. I went back to the kitchen and tried to find where a vase would be. I heard someone clear their throat and I turned toward the sound. Kevin was leaning against the door frame. He looked tired and worn down but the small smile on his face helped soften his features.

  “Whatcha looking for?” he asked as he hobbled into the kitchen.

  “A vase,” I told him and reached into my pocket. He looked confused but then he smiled when he saw the white rose.

  “I know the perfect one for it,” Kevin replied and hobbled over to the stove. “There is one up there in the cabinet, it was our grandmother’s, then our mother’s and now it belongs to us.”

  I opened up the cupboard and fo
und a small glass vase tucked away behind a couple of old cooking books. I grabbed it carefully and brought it down for Kevin to examine. He looked at it and nodded smiling. Kevin went to the sink with the vase and filled it with water. I found a pair of scissors and snipped the stem of the rose before putting it into the vase.

  “You like Stephanie, yes?” Kevin asked and I turned around to look at his face. He was smiling but his eyes were serious. I nodded slowly.

  “Then there is something you must know before you make your move,” Kevin replied putting air quotes around ‘make your move’. “Steph had gone missing for three days a while back. We went to the police but they were no help. When she did return she was cut up pretty bad. She had said that she was fine but I knew something was up.”

  I gave him a questioning look and he gave me a tired smile.

  “She wouldn’t let anyone touch her,” Kevin replied. “Even now she still has some problems with people touching her. Steph and I, we share a room. A day or two after she came back I had forgotten to knock on the door and I walked in on her changing.”

  Kevin seemed lost in thought remembering what he saw, I’d assume.

  “She had bruises and cuts in places where she shouldn’t have had them if she was just being beaten,” Kevin said his voice distant, but slightly lit with anger. “Hayley used to be best friends with Steph but Hayley for some reason turned on her. She lured Steph away and sold her to some guys so that she could be their slave. I guess I don’t really have to explain what they did to her.”

  Kevin’s fists and teeth were clenched, and he clamped his eyes shut against the anger that I could sense was rising in him.

  “If only we’d found her sooner, we could’ve stopped them…we could’ve…” Kevin’s voice broke and a tear slid down his cheek.

  “What happened to the captors?” I asked. I could feel my own anger rising as I thought about Stephanie being locked away in a cold room with a couple of creepy perverts.

  “Never found them, the lucky bastards,” Kevin replied wiping away the tear. “Stephanie won’t talk and Hayley will just beat us down before we can get a word in edge wise.”

  “Anyway you better get back before she finds out that you’re gone,” Kevin said smiling, and then looked like he was considering something. “Oh and one more thing, she will try and push you away even if she does like you. A word to the wise stand by her when she needs you and you will go far, good-night.”

  He turned around and headed back to the living room without another word. He was quite wise for someone his age, and I think he was starting to grow on me. I smiled to myself and headed back to the room where Stephanie was sleeping. I opened the door and quietly stepped in to the room. I shut the door carefully behind me and went to put the rose on the small dresser that separated the two beds. There was a bit of moonlight slinking in through the blinds and as I put the rose down it sparkled. Again I saw something in the rose but I didn’t know what it was and I was too tired to try to get it.

  I yawned and stretched before taking off my shoes and lying down on the bed. My eye lids felt heavy as I lay on the bed and soon I fell into a deep sleep.

  Chapter 15

  Stephanie Wilson

  Boston 6:05 am Friday February 16th 2029

  I awoke to the blaring sound of my alarm going off. I groaned and fumbled around for the clock. I eventually found the snooze button but by then I was wide awake. I sat up and looked around. It was still dark but there was a lamp on outside, so I could see a little bit. I heard someone groan and move but it wasn’t my brother. I froze and looked at the bed beside mine. In the bed was Antonio? What was he doing here?

  Then I slowly started to remember last night. Oh man, there was a guy sleeping in my living room too. I looked around and found a white rose on my bed side table that wasn’t there the night before. It was beautiful but who had put it there? I sat up and saw something glitter in between the petals. I reached over and looked through the petals. Sitting in the centre of the rose was a diamond the size of my ring finger nail attached to a small silver chain. Ok I really don’t know who got me this. I didn’t have time to think about it I was already late getting up.

  I got up and went to the closet to find some clothes. I had to walk around where Antonio was sleeping but it wasn’t as hard as I would’ve thought. Geez, he was a heavy sleeper. I opened up the closet and found a nice set of pants and a shirt to wear.

  I quickly changed right there on the spot and then quietly left the room to go make breakfast. But first I grabbed the necklace off the nightstand and threw it into my pocket. My moms were out at work already so I wouldn’t have to cook for them today, but I still had two extra mouths to feed. I put a frying pan on the stove and turned the stove on. I got out some eggs and bacon out of the fridge and some bread out of the drawer. I put the bread in the toaster and cracked some eggs on to the frying pan. I grabbed some bacon and put it on some paper towel and put it in the microwave to cook.

  A few minutes later Kevin came in to the kitchen with a new set of clothes on. He wasn’t limping as badly as last night but the limp was still there. I was kind of surprised that he got the shirt on by himself with his badly bruised arm.

  “How was last night?” I asked as Kevin sat down at the table.

  “It wasn’t as bad as I would’ve thought,” he replied stretching his one arm. “How about you?”

  “I think I was out cold before I made it to the bedroom but I don’t remember,” I replied turning to work on breakfast. I grabbed a plate and put two eggs, two pieces of toast and a couple pieces of bacon on it. I put it in front of Kevin along with a fork and a knife.

  “Thank you,” he said and started to work away at his bacon. I smiled and continued to work on breakfast. The next people to come out were Anthony and Andrew and they were still in there pyjamas.

  “Morning,” I said as I placed their breakfast in front of them.

  “Morning sister,” Anthony and Andrew said simultaneously. They both yawned and stretched before digging into their breakfast. Antonio was the last one to come to the table and he looked tired. I guess he wasn’t used to being up so early.

  “Morning sunshine,” I said and placed a plate of food in front of him as he sat down.

  “Thanks,” he mumbled and then yawned. He was wearing the same clothes as yesterday and that would not stand not in this house. I finished the last two plates and took one out to Alexander who was still asleep on the couch. I left the plate on the floor and went back to the kitchen to eat. Once everyone was finished eating and had their dishes in the sink. I sent the twins to go get some clothes on and went to try to find some clothes for Antonio in the basement.

  I kept the extra clothes down here just in case people needed them. It was also the area where my brothers and I would practise our fighting skills. Antonio followed me and eventually we found some clothes that would fit him. He went to go change in the bathroom and I went to check to see if Alexander was awake yet.

  When I entered the living room Alexander was leaning his back against the arm of the couch. He was still lying on the couch however and it didn’t look like he could move much yet. But his breakfast was gone so that was a good sign. His eyes were closed but I could tell that he was still awake. I cleared my throat and his eyes fluttered open.

  “Morning sleepy head,” I said smiling. He smiled back, yawned and stretched.

  “Hey darling,” he said smiling and then looked around. “What’s going on?”

  “Getting ready to go to school,” I replied and crouched down beside him. “You are staying here and one of my moms should be home around lunch, so she will be watching you until I get back.”

  “Awwww and I was hoping to get to know my lovely rescuer,” he said with mock disappointment. He reached forward slowly and brushed his fingers across my cheek. Alexander grabbed a stray piece of hair and tucked it behind my ear. He was being super sweet but he was also being super flirty and I hated that. I grabbed Alexander’s
hand and put it back on his lap.

  He looked confused so I thought I should elaborate, “I don’t like people who are super flirty it absolutely annoys the heck out of me, okay?”

  Alexander nodded slowly letting it sink in.

  “Good but now I’ve got to go or else I’m going to be late,” I said and got up to leave. “Good bye, Alexander.”

  “See you later, beautiful,” he replied and closed his eyes to try to get some more sleep. I don’t normally like flirting but he just does it so casually that sometimes I don’t even notice it. The comments make me feel kind of fluttery and off balance. I’d sworn off men so his comments shouldn’t be affecting me like this, and yet they were.

  I sighed and went to make sure everyone was ready to get going. I had tried to talk Kevin into staying home but he would hear none of it. I had no choice but to let him come with us. With an exaggerated sigh from me we set off toward the schools.

  It was cold outside but I barely noticed it while walking with everyone. We laughed and talked about so many random things that I kind of got lost a couple times in the conversation. The first school we came to was the elementary school and Kevin, Anthony and Andrew left us to go to the school. I smiled and continued with Antonio to our high school. With Kevin, Anthony and Andrew gone the talking had completely stopped and a silence had settled over us.

  I didn’t know what to say to break the silence or even if I wanted to break the silence. But I did have a couple questions that I needed to ask and I needed to get the answers before we got to the school.

  “Antonio is this okay?” I asked not bothering to look at him because I was sure that he would know what I was talking about. That and I don’t think I could stand to see his answer.