"You're going to make me do bad things to you, sweetheart." | Frank Rider is the new teacher. His favourite word is 'detention'. He's iniquitous, rude and vicious. To get on his bad side would be suicide. Unfortunately for Cleo, she's already dived...
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CHAPTER XXXIII
His stormy grey gaze flashed with rage and he was overcome with a wild, tempestuous fire, violent and struggling to keep a closed fist on his temper. "I'll kill you." He threatened. "I'll bury you alive and ask you to tell Mom I said hi. I mean it, Calla. Call Zeus and you'll be dead before the phone call ends. That sonafabitch turned his back on us years ago, he left because he wanted nothing to do with us. You get in contact with him and I'll paint you with the same brush. You're going to listen to me this time, sis, otherwise you might as well take a pistol to your head and blow your fucking brains out because by the time I'm done with you, you'd be wishing you were rotting underground with daddy dearest."
Unruffled, I leaned my hip against the wall and raised an amused eyebrow. "Eton, I'm confused. Ask me why I'm confused."
Teeth clenched, jaw stiff and brows heavy over his slanted gaze, he didn't speak.
I continued. "You seem to be hallucinating, Eton. Have you forgotten to take your medication again? What you're talking about is a fantasy. You need to be brought back to reality. You're not in charge. You never will be. You're always going to be a dog and dogs follow their leaders, comprende? I love you, Eton, I really do, but make no mistake about it, I would crush you in a hunt. I wouldn't even consider you as competition. You're game, like hare. Easy to catch. Easy to kill. Remember that."
I admired the art work created by his heavy boot and then wandered upwards. "Why don't you go to bed?" My tone was softer, kinder. "I'll clean up and dispose of the body. If Uncle Hektor comes back, he'll call the cops and I don't believe you'd survive another night in jail. It messes with your head, doesn't it? Go on. When I'm done here I'll bring you a mug of hot chocolate. And you don't need to stress, I won't call Zeus."
"Please don't lie to me, Calla," the fight left him, he was miserable and his bones were weary. "If Zeus comes back, I'll murder him. I'll go after you and then kill myself. I'll stage it to look like a triple suicide and then finally you'll get the fame and attention you crave. Your death would be known in all newspapers. Isn't that what you wish for? But you'd be pitied instead of feared or admired and that would haunt you even as you decompose in your coffin."
He paused by the doorway and added before leaving for his bedroom. "I like marshmallows on my hot chocolate. Don't make it too hot. I hate burning my tongue."
**
By the time morning arrived, I was ready to turn the clock hands and end the day. My body was sweaty, I had damp patches under my arms and my fingernails were grimy and dirty with soil. I spent most of the night digging under the tomato patch Mom once loved and later abandoned like all her projects. It was by the garden shed and I patted down the soil afterwards with the shovel and replanted all the green plants. I returned to mop and disinfect the kitchen tiles and managed to catch a shower when Uncle Hektor arrived home. "Nice to see you up early. Getting ready for school?"
