The Instability of Tabitha Hawthorne - TWILIGHT

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Running through the woods, Tabitha's heart was pounding in her chest, throat raw and angry after so many screams had clawed their way out of her lungs. She was short of breath now, quickly running out of stamina. All those years of getting A's in gym class hadn't done anything for her when they had been paid for.

As strange as it seemed to be cursing her family's wealth and influence at this point, it was their fault that she was currently in this situation; barefoot, wearing only her silk pajamas, slipping on the dead leaves of a dense forest while covered in blood.

Fifteen Minutes Earlier...

"Tabitha, I swear to Jesus fucking Christ, if you're bothering your brother at this time of night I'll knock the shit out of you!" Father's booming voice called out.

Tabitha wasn't bothering her brother, she was taking care of him. The poor boy had been crying for twenty minutes before the sixteen-year-old took pity on him and went into his room to pick him up. Not that any of that mattered to their father, who had only just come home fifteen minutes before half-past midnight.

Rocking her little brother, Tobias, Tabitha could only hope their father, Tyler, would be too tired to come to check on them.

It wasn't until five minutes had passed that Tabitha heard something that shocked her to her core.

The sound of yelling-which was a common sound in their home when father came in so late-but this was different. There were three voices instead of the usual two, and as Tabitha strained her ears to hear what was going on, the loud sound of a gunshot rang out through the house, waking Tobias who had just fallen asleep in his sister's arms, followed by two more.

Gasping, Tabitha's eyes widened as tears filled her eyes. Everything was silent for a moment before Tobias began crying in her arms, making the teenager panic as her entire body shook and she held the toddler tighter to her body, rubbing his back and whispering to him to be quiet, that everything was alright. Tobias just clung to her, gripping the spaghetti straps of her pajama top in his chubby fingers, his wet face pressed into her neck.

A minute passed by, then the sound of Tyler's voice rang out, screaming at someone by the name of Bailey, and as this was happening, Tabitha took it as her opportunity to get herself and Tobias out of the house. Carefully making her way out of the toddler's bedroom, using the loud echoing screams of her father and whoever he was yelling at as cover, Tabitha made her way down the long hallway and large staircase.

Stopping a few steps before the bottom, Tabitha stared down at the glossy wood of the first floor for a few moments before peeking around the corner. Looking into the living room, she nearly screamed at the sight; Theresa, her mother, laying on the floor with a pool of blood around her. Apparently, this mystery Bailey was a young man, holding a pistol of some sort with tears running down his face.

Slapping her hand over her mouth, quiet cries left her as she moved her eyes from this Bailey to the body of her mother, and then to her father.

"You said you'd be there. You left me!" Bailey screamed, the gun pointed at his own head, then being waved around.

Tyler's hands were balled into fists at his sides, his face red with anger as he screamed right back at the young man.

"You know that I have a family, you know that I can't just leave all of this behind for you!"

It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on with all of the screamings that were happening. It also wasn't unknown that her father was having an affair, but Theresa was living in the lap of luxury, with two children she didn't have to care for herself, therefore she never brought it up. High Society expected things like this to happen, and for there to be only scenes when the circumstances were right.