Bombshells ~ Complete

Chapter Forty-Seven: Horrendous Tomorrow's

His hand came forward, only just touching my cheek. I was trembling so badly that I shook from his grip. His chuckle echoed in both the room and in my mind. Was this him trying to put the fear of God into me? Because if that was his plan, it was working.

He backed away from me and sat in the chair at the end of my bed. He crossed one leg over the other and leaned back in his seat, watching me intently with an amused expression.

My fear made him happy.

"You've been naughty lately, Ariel. Avoiding me, sticking close to the boys so that I wouldn't hurt you. And then you go and tell Lila about Allison." He laughed, shaking his head. He was talking about my mother. He never called her by her real name, Allison. He always called her Alli, which irritated the living daylights out of her.

"I... I..." I couldn't form sentences. My terror was too overpowering. I wanted to sink into the bed and never reappear, to scream and cry for help, to shriek with all my might that he was the one who was hurting me.

But my fear kept my mouth shut and my body still.

"You what? You're sorry? I've heard that one before. You'll never do it again? I know you won't. If I have to cut out your tongue myself, you won't pull a stunt like this again." Father was still smiling through his words.

How sick in the head was he?

"Father, please." I whimpered. He stood up and slowly walked closer, his hands curled up into fists. I knew he wanted me dead, gone from his life.

When he wanted to start the first chapter of his new life he killed my mother.

He wanted to start the second chapter of his new life and I was the only thing standing in the way of that.

"Please what? Oh, don't you worry, darling. I wouldn't dare teach you your lesson here. I'll do it when we're at home and all alone." He hissed, leaning over the bed railing so that he could get inches from my face. I leaned as far away as the bed would allow. His perfect teeth were bared as he snarled at me.

For a second time slowed down and all I could feel was my heart thudding painfully fast in my chest.

"I..." I started. My tongue felt like it weighed a thousand pounds in my mouth. I couldn't speak, couldn't push words from my lips that were on the tip of my tongue.

"We'll discuss this later." Father growled when the door opened. Nurse Mia narrowed her eyes at my father, a scowl planting itself firmly on her mouth. I wanted to thank her for being one of the only people to see that he was worse than bad news.

"I take it that you're Mr. Steel?" Nurse Mia snapped, drawing my father's attention towards her. He turned towards her with a charming smile.

That was the worst part about my father. He could be very charming when he wanted to be, and that's what ruined everyone. They thought that he was simply a charmer, someone sweet and charismatic, but they never saw the monster underneath his skin.

"I am. How may I help you?" He asked, a friendly posture taking over. He didn't want to seem like a threat. He wanted Nurse Mia to feel comfortable around him. He wanted her to feel like nothing was wrong at home.

"Since your daughter isn't feeling super chatty right now, why don't we go talk in the hall?" Nurse Mia asked, a biting glare pointed at him. My father looked a little taken aback by the fact that this woman hadn't fallen under his spell of complete normalcy. My father nodded and they walked into the hall, Nurse Mia leading the way with her head held high and her chin pointed up.

She wasn't afraid of my father.

"Ariel?" A voice came from the door. Kamrie's head was poking through my door, waiting for the okay to come in. I nodded and pat the chair beside my bed. She sprinted into my room and sat down.

"Get away from the guards that quickly?" I asked with a chuckle. Kamrie shrugged, picking at her nails. She seemed indifferent to the blood spotting her nail beds. She just kept picking. She wasn't looking at me either. I think we both just found comfort in being around someone our age in such a depressing place.

"They're easy to lose. Not that smart." She shrugged again. I was worried, but I wasn't going to say anything. I mean, we had only met that day. Trying to be a concerned friend would be a little weird, not to mention awkward.

"Are you okay?" I asked softly, not sure if I was crossing a line. She shook her head, then nodded, only to chuckle. Something was wrong. What could have happened in the hour or so that we hadn't seen each other?

"Yeah. Cops found my mom. Some crack house a couple miles out of the city. Guess finding out that she was still around to be in my life made my whole 'good day' go up in smoke." Kamrie did the poof motion with her hands. I bit my lip in an effort to not say something stupid. I needed to think carefully about my next words.

"You can't let her ruin your day. Or your want to get clean." I mumbled, copying her and picking at my fingers. Her lips quirked to the side in the semblance of a smile. I wanted to say something else, something a bit more comforting, but nothing came to mind.

"I guess so. It's just hard." She whispered, finally looking at me in the eyes. There was some sort of foreign emotion there. A longing to be as normal as I was, perhaps? She was in for a nasty surprise if she thought I was normal.

"It's not about it being hard. It's just about being able to ignore the bad until you can deal with it in a healthy way." I told her. We both fell into a silence. The silence wasn't awkward, wasn't comfortable. It was just one of those silences when you're trapped in your own head, thinking things at a million miles per hour.

That being said, maybe that's just me.

Nurse Mia came into the room once more, a little while later, and escorted Kamrie to her room. I didn't want Kamrie to go, but I didn't have a say in the matter. I rolled over onto my side, not looking forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow meant being stuck in bed, stuck with an onslaught of questions, stuck with being around people I couldn't bear to look at, and stuck with a father I was terrified of.

Tomorrow was going to be horrendous.

If only I had known what was really going to come from the next day.