by Evie Harper
A headache begins to form as I grow more lost with every word out of the fucker’s mouth. I’m hearing his words, but they aren’t making sense. Has he grown insane during his deserved, grisly prison life?
Piper’s staring up at Phillip with wide, confused and terrified eyes. It’s then I’ve had enough, enough of this world treating Piper as its punching bag. She has me now, to take those strikes, to protect her from harm.
In a split second, I’m between Piper and Phillip, and the gun is pointed right at my heart.
“No!” Piper screams and before I know it, she’s beside me and Phillip swings his arm away from me right before the gun goes off. My heart explodes as I twist Piper around in my arms so my body is covering hers.
The room is deathly silent; I can only hear my rasping breaths. Distantly, I sense wooden splinters fall from the roof around me. It takes a moment, but eventually I feel Piper’s chest rise and fall in my arms. I quickly turn her over and check her body. Her face is pale and she looks as if she can’t speak out of fear.
She’s fine; her body is clear of wounds and there’s no blood anywhere. The moment and thought of losing her comes crushing around me and I hide my face away in her neck, begging my body not to fall apart right now. It’s then Piper finally comes back to life and she grips my shirt tightly, pulling me to her with a grip which defies the strength I know she has in her small, beautiful body.
“Stay the fuck back, or I’ll kill them both!” Phillip roars and I spin around with Piper still in my arms. I push her behind me when I see the gun is still pointed toward us.
Pacer is advancing on Phillip like a predator, stalking his prey.
“I’m not leaving here or dying without my revenge!” Phillip shouts hysterically, his face puffed up and bright with rage.
“Take it then,” I offer. “It was me. I saw Mia’s dead body and got the others out. Before fleeing, I called the police and told them what you’d done. I’m the reason you went to prison.” As I carefully speak to Phillip, I watch Pacer out of the corner of my eye move out of Phillip’s view and begin slowly making progress toward Phillip’s back.
Piper digs her nails into my back and whispers powerfully, “Please stop, Slater. Please, he’ll kill you.”
“Oh, that much I guessed when I was on trial for only one child,” Phillip states.
My mind begins racing, searching for answers to his insane words.
“I want revenge on Piper,” Phillip says while tilting his head to the side to look right at her. “Or should I call you Mia?”
I freeze.
Every single person in the room except for Phillip stills in disbelief. Did I hear him wrong?
He begins moving in a circle around me to clearly talk to Piper. “You put me away. You were all the evidence they needed, you and your fucking statement. Why couldn’t you just fucking die, you little bitch,” Phillip snarls.
His threatening tone wakes me from my shock and I match his steps, keeping Piper safely behind me.
"I'm not Mia, you delusional fuck!" Piper screams from behind me.
My world begins to spin. "You killed Mia!" I roar at Phillip. "I saw her body myself. She was dead, bloody, pale and cold."
"Oh, I know Mia died that day," Phillip finally admits.
"Stop with the riddles and just spit out whatever the fuck you came here to say." My voice drips with a deadly warning, but Phillip barely registers my presence. His entire focus is on the woman standing behind me.
And then he speaks. "Mia ceased to exist that day because Piper was born. Or should I say... Piper was found.”
Chapter Fourteen
Twisted Memories.
Mia – Nineteen Years Ago
My head hurts badly, pure agony. I slowly open my eyes, but shut them tight again when the bright light hurts them.
“Poppet,” I hear a woman say and I slowly open my eyes. This time instead of a bright light, I view a woman’s gentle face. A smile on it grows wider on it the more my eyes open.
She sighs. “I’m so glad you’re awake, poppet. We’ve been worried about you.”
At her words, I look around the room expecting to see my family, but I don’t see anyone I know. There’s just the strange lady and a nurse by the door. The movement hurts, and I’m suddenly aware of bandages around my face and head. I lift my hand to feel my face, but I’m stopped all at once as I examine my hand. Bruised fingers and wrists are also covered with bandages. I whimper when my body registers it feels pain everywhere.
“Shhh, I know. You will be in a lot of pain at the moment. I will get the nurse to give you some more medication to relieve you.” I watch as she glances to the nurse who quickly comes to my other side and begins fiddling with a big, yellow box and tubes.
The lady takes my attention away from the nurse when she asks, “Do you remember what happened to you?”
I stare up at the lady and search my memory. My body begins to shake violently and tears start falling.
“You’re lucky I even keep you here. Girls are of no use to me except to cook and clean. Other than that, you’re just a waste of space.” I continue to wash the dishes. I dare not let my body shake with the tears which are falling down my face. If he sees me crying, I will be in so much more trouble. I feel liquid dripping from my nose, and I quickly swipe it away with the sleeve of my ripped shirt.
“Are you crying?” I freeze and then my body starts shaking with undiluted fear. I can hear the disdain and anger in Phillip’s voice. This is it. Yet another beating there will be no getting away from. I eventually get the nerve to turn my head toward the monster we call our foster father. But I never get a chance to see him because I’m hit on the back of the head with something hard and fall to the floor.
I feel pain to the right and left side of my face, but I can’t grasp what it is. It’s coming at me too hard and too fast. My eyes shut tightly while silent screams are torn from my throat.
Suddenly, he stops and my eyes painfully open of their own accord, desperate to see what is happening. And then I see him. Phillip is leaning over me and just before I go into the darkness, I see a silver belt buckle right before eyes.
Gentle hands swipe tears away from my face, and I see the nice lady in front of me. I hear the soft buzzing sound in the room get louder and louder as my heart races with my thoughts.
My brothers and sister!
I grab the lady’s hand from my face and squeeze hard.
Her eyes widen with the pressure and I begin shouting, “My brothers and sister! You have to save them. Slate, Dell, Mack, Pace and Kel. Please, you have to help them!”
“Shhh, Piper. It’s okay.”
Piper? “My name’s not Piper. It’s Mia, and you have to get to my house and help my family.”
The lady’s eyes soften and her lips thin as she presses them together in thought.
“Poppet, your real name is Piper. That bad man who did this to you has been arrested and is going to prison. He will stay there for a very long time, if not forever. He stole you, Piper. He stole you from your family when you were five years old.”
I frown while trying to process what she’s saying then shake my head, not able to believe it.
“No, my parents gave me away. They didn’t want me. My home is a group home, and I have brothers and a sister whose parents gave them away, too.”
“Oh, poppet, you’ve had hard hits to your head and I think you are very confused. There were no other children at the house Phillip held you in. It was just you and some of your things there.”
I begin shouting wildly. “No, there are other beds, other sheets, clothes, books, some toys! They are my family’s things! I don’t understand what you’re saying.” I’m crying, trying and failing to understand what is happening right now.
“Yes, there were other beds but no sheets, no other clothes and no other children or anything which would tell the police other children were kept there. You need to rest, Piper. You’ve been through so much in the last three y
ears, and now you will have to go through many surgeries to fix your broken bones. The doctors are also talking plastic surgery for your face. Unfortunately, some of your features aren’t salvageable. I think you’re very confused right now and you need time to heal. Then you can remember what really happened in the last three years.”
My heart begins to race and I try to move. I need to make her understand they were real. My brothers and sister are real.
“Don’t move, Piper.”
“Stop calling me that! I’m Mia!” I scream. “I have a family and you need to help them!” My shouts turn into hysterical screams.
I try to sit up, but the woman pushes me back down by my shoulders.
“Nurse!”
“Piper, please calm down. You’re going to hurt yourself more doing this.” The woman repeats this to me over and over again while I flail around on the bed, trying to free myself to get to my family. I need to make sure they’re okay.
“I’ve upped her dosage, so she will drift off soon,” the nurse says to the woman holding me down.
Drift off? What does that mean?
I soon find out when my body becomes limp and my eyes slowly close against my will.
Chapter Fifteen
Stolen.
Piper
My head’s spinning and I’m holding on to Slater to stay upright as blurred images continue to assault my mind. Nothing’s making sense to me, though. Are they memories?
“Mia only existed in my world and she died the day you little brats ran away and called the police!” Phillip ends on a roar. “They arrived, arrested me and realized the bitch still had a pulse. She survived,” he snarls. “And then they found out who she really was, a missing child. My accomplice and I, a woman who I paid a lot of fucking money to take children, were arrested for kidnapping and assault.”
Chills race through my body, and I inhale sharply. “Y-you’re the man who stole me?”
“Finally, now we’re getting somewhere.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Slater growls, turning to look at me.
“I-I was stolen as a child. A woman took me from my parents. She and a man were arrested for kidnapping and assaulting me. That’s all I know; I-I don’t remember that far back in my childhood. But I know when I was found my parents had already died in a car accident. I-I don’t remember them at all,” I end on a whisper. “I-I spent a few months in the hospital, from the injuries I sustained, and then I was placed in a foster home.” I take a big breath, trying to control my stutter. “I had dreams of other children. I thought I had brothers or sisters, but everyone kept telling me I must have imagined them.” My head whips up to Phillip. “You stole them; y-you stole all of us. Y-you took us all from our families,” I state, barely able to control my anger.
“We have families,” Mack says with a disbelieving tone.
Phillip looks to Mack and Pace but with only disdain. He offers no apology for what he stole from them, no sorrow for his sins.
“Slater,” I say, my chin trembling uncontrollably. “Did Mia stutter?”
His eyes pierce mine and all I see is anguish, unmistakable suffering from finding out his childhood was not only a living hell, but also a lie. “No,” he says in a tight, pained voice.
I step around Slater and face Phillip. His gun is aimed at me, but I don’t care at all. He took everything from me: my parents, the family I distantly remember loving even if I thought they were all just a dream. He took my face, my speech and he snatched away any chance I ever had at a normal, happy life.
“Y-y-y-you did this to me,” I accuse, my body shaking with murderous rage while tears fall unbidden and unwelcomed.
“I had heard through the trial the extent of your injuries included plastic surgery on the face, and brain damage which resulted in your speech being impaired.” He shrugs, uncaring. “Sounds painful.” He smiles. “But that’s not enough punishment for what you did to me. I’ve been out of jail for seven months searching for you. When I finally found you three weeks ago, I started following you, and to find you with the other children I stole... Not knowing who you were to them or them to you, what are the odds? I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tell you the truth and then take away the life that should have ended nineteen years ago.”
Wildly shaking, pounding head, physically feeling your spirit shatter inside of yourself and realizing you have irreparable damage... this is what uncontrollable rage feels like. Worry for my own safety disappears with my fury and desire for revenge against this cruel man. No, not a man. Not even a human being.
My whole miserable life of feeling rejected, unsafe and unworthy is because of him.
Strength I’ve never felt before flows through me as if lightning struck its target, and it gifts me with the courage I’ve always begged to have. It’s time to take a stand to make a sacrifice for everyone.
Slater
Mia’s alive. But it’s not possible; I saw her dead body. I race through my memories: her lifeless body lying on the kitchen floor, her face unrecognizable. Did I touch her and was she warm? Did I check to see if her chest rose and fell? I can’t remember!
Did I leave her there alive? Did I leave Mia behind?
I cup my head within my hands in despair.
“No, no, no,” I whisper brokenly.
My head whips up when I hear Piper’s voice boom through the room. “Pacer, take him! Don’t worry about me! Kill the son of a bitch and do it now!”
Phillip looks around the room, wildly unsure whether to kill the one he came for or aim at the one who’s coming at him.
I shout, “Pacer, stop!”
I grab hold of Piper’s arm to move her back from Phillip. When the fuck did she move? But she shakes me off, furiously stepping away from me and holding her arms out, gesturing for me not to come near her. I look to her face in shock, except I don’t recognize her at all. She’s vibrating with anger and agony.
She shifts her heartbreaking stare back to Phillip and says, “Come on, Phillip. Do what you came here to do! Or are you really just here to whine and bitch about your poor excuse of a life, a life you deserved in prison? This is what you get off on, isn’t it? Belittling and frightening people. Well, I’m not afraid of you or of dying. Kill me so I know your death will quickly follow.”
Betrayal shoots through my core. How could she ever think of leaving me? “Kill her and I promise you, Phillip, you will not die today. I will keep you alive and in pain for a very long time. I will make what you experienced in jail like child’s play if you dare harm a hair on her head.”
Piper looks to me in irritation and Phillip starts bouncing around on his feet, fear creeping into his features.
Pacer is tense, waiting on the decision we all know is coming. Soon, someone is going to move first.
How the fuck do I get the aim of that gun off Piper? How the fuck do I stop my brother from going after his tormentor, which will in turn kill the woman I love?
Piper takes a huge breath and screams, “Don’t let him live a-another second, Pacer! Don’t worry a-about me. Kill him!” she cries. “He took everything from us. I-I don’t care i-if I-I live or die, just kill him.” Piper’s broken speech and too-far-gone attitude has my heart breaking in two.
I run to Piper.
BANG!
Piper screams.
Pacer tackles Phillip.
Mack and Jimmy shout.
I turn Piper over roughly, patting her down. She’s breathing so fucking heavy that I struggle to see where she’s been shot. I’m lifting her top in search of a bullet wound and blood I’m sure will quickly follow.
“No,” she says breathlessly. “Slater.” She says my name and swallows roughly. “He missed. He missed me.”
I fall to my knees and bury my head in her lap, trying desperately to calm my shattered heart. I wrap my arms around her waist, around Piper, around Mia—both alive, both safe and in my arms.
“Don’t fucking ever do that again, Piper,” I growl to her while tight
ening my arms around her.
Piper rests her hands on my back, but I shake them off and face her. I want to scream at her for being so reckless with her precious life. Instead, I slam my mouth down on hers and savor her taste. The kiss is hard and rough as if it’s the last one I’ll ever get. I’m trying to show her how much I need her alive and with me, but I’m too angry to put those emotions into words.
Grunts come from behind us. I turn and find Phillip on his back and Pacer with his boot to Phillip’s neck, pushing down hard, and forcing Phillip to grunt in pain as blood spits from his mouth.
“I’m going to torture the fuck out of you,” Pacer growls.
I stand, walk over to Mack and Jimmy, and untie them.
Mack goes straight for the gun and picks it up. Phillip must have lost it when Pacer tackled him.
We both position ourselves beside Pacer, standing over the pathetic old man.
“No amount of torture would ever be enough,” Mack states, his voice dead with no emotion.
“Kill him now. Let’s be done with him, once and for all.”
Pace doesn’t move for a moment and then reluctantly nods in agreement.
Mack checks the gun for more bullets, cocks it and aims at Phillip’s skull.
Phillip’s skin turns white and his eyes widen. The sight is ugly as is everything with death, but even more so on his face. He extends his arms and goes to sit up with his mouth open to scream, but he isn’t fast enough.
BANG!
His eyes roll back and his mouth appears as a soundless scream when his head slams back to the floor. We watch as his body falls, lifeless. Exterminated.
I turn to Piper as she begins to cry and wraps her arms around her body. I’m lost. I don’t know what to do, how to help her. My mind refuses to believe what Phillip told us, but my heart knows she’s Mia; it’s always known. And me, the fool, never listened to what it was trying to tell me.
I kneel next to her and tilt her chin up with my fingers. I inhale sharply at her beautiful, devastated face. I’m hurt she tried to end her life just so Philip would die, but right now, she needs me, and I admit to myself I need her just as much.