Love's Like Thunder and Storm (Love Like Series #4)

Chapter Four

Ruby

10 years old

Cold.

I was so cold, shivering as I held my teddy close to my chest. The clod round metal of my bracelet didn't help my current state. The blanket covering me didn't keep me warm, the dirty mattress under me stank of old rotten dust. I wanted my mommy and daddy, but I knew I was untended by them. They were sleeping, the strange bottles had made them fade farther away from me. They made mommy and daddy hate me.

A booming sound came from outside, in a split second the light of the thunder shone bright over my room only to dwindle into nothing but darkness. Hard droplets of rain smacked against the one single window, almost silencing the weird noise that suddenly reached my ears. My fear sized into a huge knot, making my stomach ache.

Nevertheless, I stayed alerted. Perhaps it was mommy and daddy coming to me? A small spark of hope bloomed inside me. The thought of my parents coming to protect me from this horrific storm made every bone in me relax even in this cold atmosphere.

But then I blinked. And that little spark of hope diminishes into nothingness.

I heard footsteps. Some were fast while other were slow. Intense and murderess. Another lightning stroke, drowning out whatever sound that I missed to collect. The second it stopped, I listen to whatever unfamiliar movements outside my room. Voices. A language I never heard of nor understood echoed through the nude walls. I wasn't stupid. I was caution. I knew whatever that was outside my room could develop into an unforgettable nightmare. And my parents were unprotected, centered over the danger.

My parents haven't shown me humanely. If anything they dispatch me here in this rotten and almost torn apart house while they were inquisitive over the bottles and sometimes small bags of....white powder? But that didn't mean I couldn't worry for their well-being. In fact, I was frightened.

My hypothesis came true the second a laugh filled my ears. It was cold as the air around me. Deadly as the darkness around me. Frightening as the thunder and storm outside.

But it still made my small legs alerted to roam around the danger behind my door. I shouldn't. But my daddy and mommy were there....

Silently my feet touched the wooden floor, small cracking sound made me cringe with each step. I held my teddy in a death grip, almost like he was the air I breathed and couldn't live without. Eventually, I stopped before my door. I leaned towards the little hole on the door, that was big enough to show the livingroom.

My eyes automatically darted toward a man. He was sitting on my daddy's favorite armchair, the one he punished me for when I dared to sit on it after a long day of cleaning and washing. A smile laced across his lips, his hand flipped a dagger perfectly and skillfully in the air. Sometimes he would dig the tip on the armchair which clouded my mind with wariness. His long legs were stretched.

And my daddy and mommy laid in front of him. Sleeping on the floor, bottles scattered around them, along with white powder.

Another man suddenly came into the view. He kicked my daddy's stomach, growling something right after. A silent gasp left my mouth, and I crashed my palm over my lips as I continued to watch wide-eyed. He kicked again, this time over my mommy's knee.

"Wake up, wang ba dan!"

The sitting man kept silent, eyes watching and hand moving with his dagger. My hands began to tremble. I wanted to run far away from this. Him. Everyone. I wanted peace, quiet and safety. Then my eyes snapped to my daddy. I saw him stir and growl painfully. Confused, drunk and lightheaded, he blinked up, moving his body up to stretch his neck foregather the situation he was trapped in. My heart hammered loudly to my own ears. Ironically, it made my blood warm. Sweat tickled from my neck.