Bliss - Vanya Hargreeves FF *previously Sour Candy*

CHAPTER TWO

A gunshot tore through the house.

Florence flinched, faint pain flaring up her back at the sudden movement, the wound still not healed after weeks of managing it at home. All she heard after was her heart hammering in her ears.

"Mum?" She tentatively called out, climbing out of bed and approaching the always closed door.

No response.

Her mother had cried for days, apologising for her mistakes and through the wall Florence had heard her pray for forgiveness each night. Still not allowed out of her room, she was only checked on a few times a day in case her wound became infected. It seemed her mother had an even harder time looking into her daughters eyes.

Florence had feared her mother before but that night had sent the young girls mind reeling - she didnt understand how someone could do that to their own child, try to kill them, harm them - she was different, she always would be, but did that mean she should be treated so terribly, she often wondered?

Her heartbeat quickened and she pulled at the handle, opening it a crack so she could see out onto the landing. A light from her mothers bedroom was on, and she went to move into the hall but froze in the doorway, her mothers words ringing in her ears.

'Dont move an inch past that line,' she looked down at the black marker ink across the frame. 'You stay in that room unless I say.'

"Mum!" She called out, louder this time, hoping for a response. She didnt know what to do.

She anxiously shifted, thoughts going to what would happen if she disobeyed her mother, but she knew she'd heard a gunshot. Biting back her fear, she stepped out onto the landing.

Following the light, Florence took soft steps to her mothers bedroom, following the lamp light. She knocked faintly on the wide open door before her hand stilled against the wood.

Tears welled in her eyes.

She couldnt see past the bed, but a pale hand was lying past the bottom of it, just in sight on the grey carpet.

"Mum?" When she tried to call out for her this time the words barely made it past her trembling lips.

She took steps closer, stomach twisting.

She crept closer to the end of the bed, fearful of what shed find on the floor when she got close enough, though deep down she knew.

The ends of her wings dragged against the soft carpet as she stepped out further into the room.

Nausia rose in her throat and she immediately spun so her back was to the horrific sight. Her hands went to her mouth and she closed her eyes, the blood imprinting itself on her brain.

She didnt know what to do.

Tears raced down her cheeks as she committed herself to staring at the dresser, trying to block out the image of the gun and the blood.

Her mother was dead.

Guilt crashed over her and she tried to stifle her cries. It was her fault - she did this because of her. Because she had a disgusting creature for a child, because she was a freak. Her mothers voice rings in her ears, all the times she called her a wicked, demonic thing, unforgivable, a burden for being born - forced on her.

"Im sorry," she whispered, unable to move out of shock. "I didnt mean... i didnt-"

She choked on her words and cried. She didnt know what to do.

Florence would never forget the horrific image of her deceased mother clutching her crucific necklace, never departed even in death.

The scene haunted her still twenty years later.