CHASE
12

'Shhh Sofia, why are you crying?'

'For you.'

'Don't, I'm ok, really.'

'Why does daddy do that to you?'

'I don't know. But whatever he tells you about me, don't believe it ok?'

She nodded, her eyes bloodshot. It hurt to look at her like this. I wanted to hold her, to tell her that it wouldn't happen again. But I didn't want to give her empty promises, not until I knew I could keep my word.

She panicked at the sound of his footsteps coming closer to the closet. Hell, I panicked too. The only thing I could think of doing was to pull her behind me and hope for the best.

I could feel her little fingers clutching to the back of my shirt, it made my stomach sink to see her this scared and I knew that she wasn't scared for her, she was scared for me.

'Ready or not? Here I come..' the sinister in his voice had me feeling suffocated in the small confined space of the closet. I knew it was only minutes before he caught us, minutes before the nightmare begun. I held my breath in hopes of becoming invisible, I knew I was only fooling myself. There was no such thing as being invisible, but I wanted to believe there was.

'Gotcha.' I froze at his sudden appearance in front of the closet as he smacked the doors open. A devilish smile plastered on his face as he leaned in. 'Oh Sofia, it's you I'm looking for.' I leaned back into her, wishing that there was a way to hide her from him forever but he knew my tricks, I'd done them plenty of times before. Grabbing my shirt, he yanked me forward and pulled me out of the closet, all the while I tried to kick and punch him. I couldn't do much, but I could bring his attention to me.

'Not right now Chase.' He shoved me into the floor and dismissed me like nothing. 'Come on baby girl. Daddy's been looking everywhere for you. It's ok, you're safe now. Did he hurt you?' I watched her shake her head, her eyes searching for mine. I would never hurt her.

'I told you, I wouldn't let him do anything to you again. Now tell me the truth, did he touch you anywhere baby?' I wanted to rage at him, to take her and run away. I stood up and ran at him, yanking on his shirt trying to pull him away from Sofia. 'Leave her alone!' I yelled as he turned around and faced me, anger had replaced his malicious smile.

'I'm saving her from you, you imbecile!' He grabbed my ear and pulled me out of the room and down the stairs, I was just happy that we weren't around Sofia anymore, but my happiness soon came to an end as I was thrown to the ground, by mums feet. I looked up at her, she had a worried expression as she kneeled down and held my head in her lap. 'What did you do now Chase?' She ran her fingers through my hair, almost as if to soothe me, but I knew better, she was no better than him.

'I found him in the closet with her, he's corrupting our daughter.' He pulled out the knife in his pocket and waved it around, showing me what it was time for. I swallowed down the fear in my chest and looked him dead in the eye, not running away anymore like I used to.

'Is that true sweetheart? You know you're not suppose to touch your sister inappropriately right? We've told you this before Chase.' She was worse than him. I hated her, I hated them both! A frown covered her features right after I spat on her and then the frown turned into a smile, she smiled like a psychopath right before she wiped my saliva off her face and rubbed it on mine. 'Now now, that wasn't very nice now, was it boy?' She batted her lashes, it was the one thing she always did before they began their games.

'Get off me!' I yelled as Dad held me down while mum dug the knife into my back. I had gotten used to the pain but that didn't mean it didn't hurt, it did, it just wasn't as bad anymore. 'C R A Z Y' she spelt out the word she was drawing on my back like I was a notebook. I had stopped yelling by the time she started on the third letter, I didn't want Sofia to hear this. I didn't want her to come and see what they were doing to me. She was only seven, it would give her nightmares for life.

It was too late. 'Why are you hurting him?' I heard her soft scared voice and instantly I tried to move, to run, to get to her and cover her eyes. She didn't need to see this. But they held me down, momentarily stopping their attack on me. 'Oh hunny why are you down here?' Mum spoke in a soft voice, sounding sickly sweet, something she wasn't. 'Go, Sofia.' I spoke out as they let go of me, quickly turning around and hiding my back from her innocent eyes.

'Shut up child, you're the reason she's scared.' Dad growled at me, my eyes flicked from his to hers, she was scared and maybe I was the reason, if I wasn't here then none of this wouldn't be happening. 'We're just punishing him for molesting you baby.' It was my turn to growl, I looked at Dad with rage burning in my bones. 'I didn't do it!' I yelled out, not being heard. Ignoring my input, he walked over to her. My heart was pounding in my chest, I didn't want him to put his filthy hands on her.

'What does molesting mean daddy?' She cluelessly asked, too young to understand the meaning of a simple word. I pained for her, she didn't even know the meaning of the word, let alone know what was happening to her. 'It's what your brother over there did to you, do you remember him touching you in between your legs baby?' She looked at me with a sad stare, shaking her head.

'I didn't touch her! Stop it! I would never do that!' I couldn't say it enough, I wanted to scream it to the world, to tell the entire universe know that I didn't do it, it wasn't me! It wasn't me! It wasn't me!

'It wasn't me!' I jumped up, my entire body pulsing under my skin as my nightmare came to an end. my head was a mess, I wanted to drown into the bed until I felt her delicate hands rubbing my arm. 'Calm down, it's ok.' Her voice latched onto my eardrums and made its way to my veins, steadying my heartbeat and cooling down my boiling blood. I turned my head to look at her, what was she doing here? What time was it? 3:45pm. The clocked ticked away as she stared at me, her eyes so pure, her look, innocent.

'I came by to visit and then saw you sleeping so I didn't want to wake you, we both know how that went down last time but then you started saying things in your sleep and you looked like you was in pain so I called your name and you jumped up.' A small smile filtered her lips and then it disappeared, she stared at me for a moment, deep in thought.

'What wasn't you?' I turned my head and looked at the ceiling, I didn't want to answer her, she didn't know about that part. 'Talk to me.' I was getting pretty irritated at her questions. I had already told her too much.

'I'm going to need you to stop questioning me.' I could see from the corner of my eye that she needed in response to my demand. I knew she was curious, she wanted to understand but that's not what I wanted from her, I didn't need her to understand me, I just needed her to stay.

'Can I ask one last question?'

'No.' I couldn't do it, at that moment, I just wanted the silence, I wanted her to stay quiet. Her hand reached for mine, she held it and squeezed, without another word, she sat there letting me breathe. And for a minute, I forgot about everything else, at that moment, it was just me and Bella.