Oleander

Prologue

I've noticed that some people are skipping the prologue. This IS a chapter. It gives you a lot to think about while you're reading the story. You NEED to read this to understand the ending of the story.

Thank you,

~Casey

ALL THE BRIGHT colors I once knew became less saturated as I followed her down the hallway and up the stairs. Orange was a light brown... and blue was grey, red faded to dingy maroon. The crate I sat on was turned upside down. Someone before us had also come up here to gaze out this very same window. Rays of summer sunlight failed to brighten the dim space of the attic, or to warm it.

I felt abandoned and washed out. My throat ached, but that could have been one of two things. The actual pain of having had a savage knife cut it open, or the welling up of emotion. The harsh realization that I would never feel another hot summer breeze drenched me in an uncomfortably chilling sweat. I would soon forget the sensation of sweat sliding down my face and the confirmed tickle of hay fever in the recesses of my nose... My teeth gnashed together, holding in my desperate cry for help.

My eyes weren't tearing like they should've been.

I could still hear the screaming downstairs. It was chaotic and animalistic. A clammy hand clasped mine, doing little to soothe the dry sobs inside. A ghostly thumb rubbed circles on my wrist and I finally let out a choking breath. When I inhaled, the air numbed my lungs, like a large gulp of icy water.

I should've never walked past the threshold on that first day. I should've never let that door close behind myself, but I did. I did. I let her smile and nod and stab that knife into me.

"Is it supposed to feel like this?" I asked aloud.

"I think so... I mean, aren't you supposed to look back at your life like a 20/20 episode and think about every decision you made to get yourself here?" Alex summed it up pretty well. "At least she didn't have Leo drown you in the kitchen sink." She was always the optimist.

"You didn't get gutted like a fish, though. Look at this sick set of gills." I stuck a few fingers inside of my throat and yanked upwards, pretending to slide a stringer down my throat and out the gaping hole grinning from side-to-side of my neck.

My sister giggled. "I don't think were supposed to be having fun. It's rumored we have to sit here and be miserable."

"What's the point of that?" I held a watery smile and squeezed Alex's hand.

Her now dull, moss green eyes were bloodshot with muddy brown veins, pupils large and dark in comparison to her pallid grey skin. I grazed my knuckles down the side of her face and she leaned into my touch. "Leo did this?" I frowned and she sighed.

"You know he couldn't help it." Her thick eyebrows knit together as she looked down at the plank floor. "She did what she always does. Manipulates and lies and takes advantage..." We sat in silence for a few moments, listening to the loud roar of angered, panicked voices. I didn't have to move from my crate to know Castor was smashing holes in the walls. I could hear the muted crunch of plaster, I could feel it scrape my skin, my knuckles ache, dust pluming in the bloody hallway. I was there with him, sharing his rage.

"Do you miss it already?" Alex asked.

"Miss what?" I asked quietly.

"Warmth... color." Her lip quivered as she spoke the last word.

"What about music?" I let out a bitter laugh. She gave me a sideways glance and I sighed out of helplessness. "Definitely..." I admitted.

"I thought there was going to be something better, you know?" Alex was majorly disappointed, and awfully tired. "Now all I see is a shit colored rainbow." Her features turned to leather and she let go of my hand, hugging herself. "And you know what the worst part of it all was?" She sucked in a hard breath. "I hid up here, hoping he wouldn't find me." Her cheeks were streaked with grey tears. She sobbed, and all I could think about was how jealous I was that she could cry and I couldn't. "I was the one who knocked the stack of boxes over, so you would find the dagger." She shook with exhaustion. "You couldn't see me, and God I wish you still couldn't, because that would mean you won..." Her voice was small. "You'd still be alive."

"Beatrice always wins." Spoke a tranquil voice. A tall girl with the same mossy green eyes as us said, stepping out of the shadows. "We should all know this by now..." Her face dropped from timid to heart broken. "Every day you lasted gave me hope, Abbigail. Thank you for that hope." Whimpering she looked away from the attic window, away from us, and hid herself behind stacks of boxes. I saw a splash of rain scatter the window.

The earth was crying, too. How unfair? I let my head fall back as I prayed for a single tear, just one.

"You'll get your chance." Alex sniveled, wiping her nose with her sleeve.

"We thought you were the one." Whispered a nameless, faceless voice.

"I'm sorry." I whispered back, holding my head in my hands.