Five

The Punishment

I stand as father enters the room, next to tobias as my fingers grip my shirt. Father eyes the chair in tobias's hand in suspicion as tobias pushes me gently behind him slightly with his other, but so I am still in full view of the man in front of us.

"What was that doing over here?" He says. "Are you trying to keep me out?"

"No sir." Both me and my brother reply.

"That's the second and first time you've lied to me today." Marcus says. "I didn't raise my son and daughter to be liars."

"I-" tobias goes to speak but closes his mouth and carries the chair back to the desk where it belongs.

"What were you two doing in here that you didn't want me to see?" He asks as he glares at us. I gulp, my heart frozen as I look to the floor, tobias still clutching the chair.

"Nothing." He replies quietly.

"That's three lies." Marcus snaps, his voice low and hard as stone, making me flinch. His eyes land on me and he walks towards me, making me back up. But instead of going for me, he crouches down and pulls the trunk from beneath the bed. When he tries the lid, it doesn't budge.

Fear stabs me like a knife and I feel like a blade has stabbed me multiple times in my gut and lungs. I shuffle closer to tobias out of terror as he slips his hand into mine, gripping just as tight as I am.

"Your mother claimed this was for blankets." Father states. "Said you got cold at night and faye's bed was to low to fit it under. But what I've always wondered is, if it still has blankets in it, why do you keep it locked?"

He holds his hand out and raises his eye brows at us. He wants the key. And tobias has to give it to him because he knows when both of us are lying. That's what I hate. He knows everything about us but we don't know anything about him. My body feels numb as my legs weaken. His breaths turn shallow, that always comes when he is about to explode. My eyes shut as he opens the case.

"What is this?" He throws the treasures carelessly, scattering them left and right. He takes them out and throws them towards me and tobias. My brother pulls me close to his chest, his arms wrapped around me protectively as tears start to slip down my face, my hands against his chest.

"What do you need with this or this...!"

I continue to flinch as he shouts, my throat closes up, making me unable to give an answer. We don't need them. We don't need any of them. They are just material possessions.

"This is rank with self-indulgence!" He shouts and I hear a loud bang, telling me he has thrown the trunk on the floor.

"And what is this?! I know it's yours!" A hand grabs my hair roughly and I yelp as I am ripped from tobias's grip. More tears slip down my cheeks as I am thrown towards the bed. My head comes into contact with the wood, making a loud bang and me yell out in pain. Sobs escape my lips as I am forced to stare at father as he holds the fairy.

"Please... Please no." I squeak out but he just a throws it against the wall with such force it makes the weak soldered joints in the metal shatter, letting it come apart. I curl my legs to my chest as I feel something trickle down from the new wound. But I don't feel any pain.

"It poisons this house with selfishness!" He pushes tobias back, making him stumble against the desk and I watch. That's the only thing both of us can do. Watch as the other receives a beating. That's punishment enough. Watching each other get hurt by the man we call dad. Then he draws his hand back by his face, to hit him. I don't know what comes over me but before I know it, I'm stood in front of tobias, my hands up as blood and tears slip down my face.

"The Choosing Ceremony, dad!" I force the words out through my tight throat. He pauses with his hand raised and we both cower. Me into tobias and him into the desk, my eyes too blurry to see out of. He usually tries not to bruise our faces, well mostly tobias's since everyone takes more interest in the oldest son, especially for days like tomorrow, when so many people will be staring at my brother, watching him choose.

Father lowers his hand, and for a second I think the violence is over. But he grabs my hair again in a vice like grip. I whimper as I bring my head closer to his hand, so the pull of my hair isn't as bad. His eyes glare at my face and I can't bring myself to look back.

"Fine. Stay here." He tells my brother before dragging me away. I stumble over my feet as he drags me by my hair into my room, slamming the door behind him. Marcus pushes me towards the desk and I hear the sound of something slipping on fabric. His belt. The strikes he does against my back is easily hidden by abnegation clothing. But the strips against my flesh for being caught by his coworkers still haven't disappeared. I clutch my desk as I wait for the strikes, my body trembling slightly in fear.

"This is for your own good."

That night I sleep in tobias's room. Both of us sleeping on our fronts, faces in the cushion. Pain and burning interrupts every thought. He brought his belt down against my skin so many times I had to bite my lip until it bled and stuff my fist into my mouth so no one could hear my muffled screams. our possessions are still scattered across the floor, everyone stomped and broken beyond recognition. The fairy is the worst of them all. The only thing I could salvage was a bent wing with a crack in the metal through the bottom and the tip of the top broken off. Everything else looks nothing like it did. He then threw the trunk against the wall so the hinges broke.

A hand slips into mine and I squeeze back as I slip the wing under the pillow, next to the glass. But I'm not strong enough to resist this abnegation- inertia, this fear that drives me down the path my father has set out for me. For me and tobias.

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what do you think so far???? I hope you are enjoying it!!

Abi xx