𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐎𝐒 | liam stewart [1]

10. james

An idea splashed into Pandora's head as she trickled her fingers over the technology rack. Radios. E.D.O. "Chubs?" She jogged back, the boy turning to look at her sleepily. "I have an idea," She told him, his body jumping back into start. "I've tried all the languages I know, morse code and sign language too," He told her, showing her his note book. "I don't think EDO is a code, I think it's a frequency," She held up the ancient radio in her hand. "You are so amazing I could kiss you," Chubs jumped up and down as the Slip Kid's message, the safe haven's message, played repetitively. Pandora just laughed, hugging him as he announced that she could officially call him Chubs instead of Charles, like she hadn't been doing it the whole time they knew each other. 

Pandora then slipped back into the tent, moving the pillow which made Liam jump start awake. "Hey, hey, it's just me," She put her hands on his heart, letting it slow down before she started. "We've done it. We know where the haven is," She smiled. Liam didn't process the information straight away, too focused on her beaming smile. "W-wait what?" It finally hit him, his own smile working its way onto his face. Chubs picked up Zu and transferred him to the van, Pandora also slowly waking Ruby. They all silently crept away from the tent, taking as much food with them as possible, along with all the trolley's they'd collected before meeting the kids. Rustling was heard from the other kid's tent, a shadow lit up in the light. "Go guys, I'll handle it," Pandora pushed them towards the truck. Once she made sure they were out of the mall, she let her eyes glow purple. She felt her body changing into the redhead as she watched Mitchell unzip the tent. "Go to sleep Mitchell, I'm just dealing with some stuff for the morning," She told him, her voice much lower than usual. Mitchell stared at her for a second before nodding and sleepily turning back into the tent. Pandora shifted back before running out the shopping center to hop in the baby blue van. 

"Okay, keep going for 300 yards and then turn left. We'll be in Lake Prince in about 7 minutes," Chubs ordered to Liam who focused on the road. Ruby, who was brushing Zu's hair, and Pandora who was busy with Zu's sticker book, both turning around quickly. "Lake Prince?" They both asked simultaneously. "Your house," He smiled to Ruby whose face burst into a smile. "What's wrong, Dory?" Liam asked, noticing the girls off demenour. "Nothing," She shook her head with an awkward smile. Lake Prince. The nearest town to her home village. She would see her father again. 

...

They passed the sign to Salem Virgina just as the sun peaked over the tree line, Liam admiring Pandora's sunglazed face whenever she wasn't looking. They parked under a bridge a sign post to Pandora's village just off the right. "I'm going to have a quick look around, haven't had a proper look at nature in a while," Pandora smiled, hopping out the car as Chubs helped Ruby navigate to her house. "Dory, you okay?" Liam skipped towards her as the dark-haired girl paused. "Mhmm," She smiled, not looking him in the eye for that long. "You sure?" He asked, reaching out to her. "Yeah," She offered a tight-lipped smile before walking off hastily in the direction of her village. 

When she reached her house, Pandora felt her hands start to shake. The long-forgotten feeling of dread sank into her stomach, her whole body feeling cold. The steps up to the porch were the same but the door was painted a bright yellow. She walked up slowly, peering through the window. Her eyes widened as she saw a warm-looking woman, young but tall, cleaning the newly-renovated place. Pandora stepped back, a small feeling of despair mixed with relief filling her up. She turned to the sunshine door, taking a shaky breath. She let her eyes burn purple, her mind focusing on what her mother used to look like. Pandora never truly knew but memorised a picture of her mother before her father took them all outside and smashed them in a fit of drunken rage. She looked down, feeling her nutty brown hair and freckly face. She brought her hand up, rapping her knuckles on the door. She heard the woman talking before opening the door. "Hello, can I help you?" She asked, her face warm and sun-kissed. "Hello," Pandora breathed out. Her voice was silky smooth. "Are you okay?" The woman asked, stepping slightly closer to Pandora. "Does James Drakes still live here?" She asked suddenly, the woman's eyebrows raising in surprise. "Actually it is James Forthwell now," She smiled, showing off her glimmering wedding ring. "He didn't like his connections to his name so he took mine. Isn't it sweet. I'm Molly by the way," She shook Pandora's hand. Pandora felt numb, desensitised as the woman took her hand and shook it. "James!" She called, a grumbling heard from the room before a stranger walked into the kitchen. 

It wasn't her father but it was her father all the same. He was lean, lost most of his old weight. His hair was thinner but still the old brown it used to be, his eyes still slanting inwards. He smiled to Molly, a feature Pandora never remembered seeing on him. "Honey, what is it-" His smile dropped, as did his heart, Dora supposed. "Cindy?" He whispered as he stared at Pandora. "Hello James," She whispered. He'd started over, he had a new family. He'd left Cindy and Pandora in the dirt, smashed them up into powder and thrown them in the wind to never think about again. Pandora felt the anger she'd spent 6 years building up, dissipate into the wind. "May we talk?" She asked, looking to Molly who wore a confused expression. "This is Cindy," James coughed, introducing themself. "Lord, James it looks like you've seen a ghost," Molly giggled, the only one of the three who laughed. He had. Cindy Drakes died from childbirth 16 years ago. "Cindy's an old friend, why don't you come through, we'll talk," James smiled. He gestured her through the kitchen to the sitting room and shut the door. 

He leant against the door, his eyes shut. "Who are you?" He asked, turning to Pandora who sat on the sofa. There were no children, they'd be taken away. Not that he had cared when Dora was stolen from her home. "You're not Cindy so who the fuck are you?" James asked, walking over to where Pandora sat. "Do you remember me? Do you remember how you used me as an excuse to hit my child. My lovely, innocent child. Do you remember traumatising her when you were pissed out drunk? Do you remember that James? Remember hitting her until she couldn't breathe? Until she couldn't stop screaming 'I should've died?'" Cindy asked. James' eyes widened. "That was a different me," He started to explain but Cindy stood up. "Well you never once apologised. You never once loved or even looked for your child. Do you remember Pandora? Remember her name?" Cindy walked towards him. She let him walk back to the wall, a feeling of power overwhelming her. He was finally scared of her. "I do, I think of her sometimes. I wish I'd done it differently," He said, tears beginning to stream down his face. "Well we don't always get what we wish for, James Forthwell," Cindy clenched her fists. "Who are you?" He trembled. "Remember me now?" Pandora spat out, letting her eyes glow purple before she shifted back to her usual self. 

"Pandora?" He breathed, his eyes wide in shock from how she'd just changed appearance. His eyes took her in. She had the same upturned lips, the same dash of freckles and different coloured eyes. However this time she had a crooked nose, blood splatters on her jaw, bruises littering her body. "Christ, what happened to you? How are you here?" He asked in shock. "This is what you made me James. You let them take me. 6 years they hit me and kicked me. But they never broke me. You know why Dad?" Pandora growled. "Because I made a promise to myself that I would kill you before I died," She said, anger beginning to appear in her mind again. "You made me think I killed my mother. That I was a murderer. That my whole family died the day I was born. You certainly weren't a father to me and I hope Molly fucking Forthwell knows it," She shouted. "I'm so so sorry," James cried, falling to his knees. "You disust me. You think sorry will bring my childhood back. Will bring my mother back? Will take away the TRAUMA YOU GAVE ME?" Pandora was crying now, her eyes bright with a mixture of tears and fury. "Sorry, sorry, sorry," James repeated it like a chant. Pandora grabbed him, pulling him up by his freshly-pressed shirt. "You are a child-beater, tell me," She grit her teeth. "I'm a child-beater," He wept, unable to look her in the face. "An alcoholic who hurt his own daughter," She said, letting him repeat it. "I hope you never forget this face, every night you wish you'd acted differently. And the moment you start to convince yourself you're better now, I will return with a knife, ready to carve out any baby sweet Molly carries to save them from you," She seethed. Pandora wouldn't actually but he didn't know that. He didn't know her. 

Pandora then let him go, pushing him away as he sobbed heavily. She grabbed his head and smashed it into her knee, letting the blood fall. "Is everything okay?" Molly's milky voice asked, knocking on the door. "Fine," Pandora formed into Cindy and looked at her father. Her eyes burnt angrily. She watched in surprise as he shifted into himself without the crying or blood. She'd made him shift without touching him. "Well that's a first," She mumbled to herself. Molly peeped through the room, both of them smiling at her before Molly smiled and left. "I hope you die alone," Pandora shifted them both back and smacked him across the face. 

Then she slipped out the window and ran. Ran as fast and far away as she could.