Autophobia

Phobia

Zane was surprised when he first saw Amelia. She was shorter than he remembered and she stood tall, well for her height. Her back was straight, her chin held high, her arms loose at her sides. It was strange to have a woman look at him dead in the eyes without breaking eyes contact and have a large and bright smile.

She was beautiful. More beautiful than he remembered. She has grown into the fine woman, and by his first impression a very confident one. Despite only being three years older than Amelia, Zane grown up way faster than she has. He could see it. He can look at her and see that Carter has sheltered her from the outside after the incident. One obvious sign was her lack of fear around him. Even her brother was bothered to see him there.

And now here she was, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, and a nasty frown adorn her face. She looked mad. It was easy to tell. But Zane saw something else.

She looked scared.

Zane wasn't surprised. He knew taking her like this was gonna be a mess. He didn't want to wait though. He wanted Amelia. And he waited a long time for her. He would rather fix their relationship later than build it up slowly with her still in this house.

He could just sign her a therapist if her phobia gets too much.

"You need to understand Amelia," Carter spoke again.

Zane watch as this father crumbled. He resisted to smile at the old mans weakness. Amelia rushed around the table and grabbed her father's hands. Zane could start to see the tears rush down her face.

"Are my troubles slowing your business?" She grabbed at Carters shirt and sobbed quietly. "Please father, I'll stop. I'll fix it!" She cried out.

"Amelia!" Carter silenced his daughter and looked at her softly in her teary eyes. "Please don't say that." He shook his head slightly, looking into his daughter's eyes with his own tears rushing down his cheeks. "It it wasn't my choice." Carter spoke those words as he slowly shook his head. "I can't stop him."

Zane sat and watched with no change in his face. But he gave a small smile to Amelia when she glanced past her father to him. Zane was surprised to not see a sad but an angry face.

She let go of her father and walked right up to Zane. Zane not couldn't resist to grin. He lean back in his chair and waited for her to speak.

He had a feeling she is going to be a feisty one in the future.

"What did you do?" She questioned angrily. "What did you threaten my father with?" Her pale white face was now pink with anger. Her tears were now free to slide down her cheeks and fall unto the floor.

Zane leaned forward and cupped her cheek. She let him but she had cold eyes borrowing into his. Her fists were tight at her sides. Like he thought it was soft to the touch. The tears on her cheeks were spread in small circles by his thumb. He moved his thumb across her cheek watching the tears smear. Again he was amazed by her beauty and size. She will a prize to have.

Leaning forward in his chair he whispered, "His life of course."

Amelia stared at Zane. Her raged was quickly diminished and her face softened. Her eyes stared into his, probably trying to find the tell that he as lying.

Leaning back he spoke aloud, "I gave him two options. Option one was I take you today while your father can visit you with limits. Option two was I take you today with your father dead in the back of some alley for the cops to find with a bullet between his eyes." Crossing his arms he watched as the last of the pink flaming anger back to her original pale ash skin. "In the end, however, the choice is yours."

Carter couldn't look at either of them and had his head hung low with the radio in his hand. Quietly, he spoke into it, "Have Amelia's bag ready at the door."