Chapter 11.

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CHAPTER 11: screams and shouts

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As I awoke the next morning, I groaned in annoyance at the huge hangover I was clearly sporting. God, the issues of alcohol. I pushed myself up in bed and sighed. What even happened last night?

After we refilled our drinks with something stronger, we headed back to the pool. I was already kind of tipsy so the added strength of the alcohol kicked in and I found myself in fits of giggles, Owen staring at me strangely.

I pushed myself into the pool and dunked my head down into the icy water before resurfacing, my hair wet and my shirt sticking to me even more than it did already. It showed my black lace bra as I smiled at Owen, whose eyes weren't particularly on my face.

"I think you need to cool down a bit before you end up strangling me or something," I giggled lightly and he only shakes his head.

"No, I'm fine. What're you doing? You'll get ill again," he spoke, his voice husky and I only tried to pull him in even more in which he finally agrees to. Before he gets in, he removes his shirt and jeans before joining me. Everyone else was inside after what happened so Owen and I were the only people outside.

"Come on, chicken are you?" I retorted, swimming away whilst making chicken noises in which Owen just smirked once again. He stood up, taking his shirt off along with his jeans before jumping in, splashing water into my face. As I opened my eyes once again, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Owen? Owen, where are you? Owen!" I stared desperately at the water trying to find where he was until a pair of strong hands grabbed me by the waist and pulled me down. I resisted releasing a yelp in surprise as the hands let me go and I resurfaced again.

Behind me, Owen was chuckling his ass off, some of his hair covering his face. It was a muffled noise due to the water still draining out of my ears. Ugh, it's gross.

"Stop laughing, you ass!" I shouted and he soon stops, his smirk widening even more. Sometimes, I never really understood Owen. One minute, he'll try to resist doing something and then after, he enjoys it, "you're a jerk."

I splashed some water in his face as he scrunches his eyes shut and moves his head to the right. Now he knows what it's like to have water in his ears. Then, I realised he was relaxing. His shoulders didn't tense up anymore and he seemed to be at ease with the world.

"See, now you're relaxed," I spoke.

"I am not relaxed. I'm simply not living my life."

"Oh, trust me, this is only one of the things on the list that ensures you're living your best life." he only grunted in response as I grinned. We joked around for a while until I started to shiver in which I remained on the edge of the pool whilst Owen swam a few more laps.

"Aren't you cold?" I asked and he only shrugged before climbing out, joining me at my side. Water droplets fell against his skin, falling into the dips and crevices of his body. Some drops slid down the contours of his face.

"What about you? I don't think you have any spare clothes," he spoke, looking at my wet attire, his gaze lingering on my chest as he gulped. It was a subtle move, but I noticed it anyway.

"I'll just borrow some clothes from Nicole. She won't mind too much." okay, so maybe she might mind a lot, but who's to say she'll ever find out?

We just sit there in silence, our feet splashing against the cold water, which didn't seem that cold to us anymore. Owen seemed so different when he wasn't thinking about gang stuff. He was so much more relaxed and chilled out about everything.

"Owe, can you read constellations?" I asked, staring up at the starry sky. His head turns to me, eyebrow arched and confusion on his features.

"What the fuck are you on about?" he retorted as I rolled my eyes. Okay, so he's still a bit grumpy, but still. We have nothing else to talk about so I'm bringing up what I know best, constellations.

"I'm being serious. See, look up and I'll tell you the ones I know." my finger pointed to eleven stars, which I recognised as Capricorn due to it looking like a dog, "that's Capricorn. It kind of looks like a dog."

Owen scrunches his eyes and looks up to try and make out the shape before shaking his head in defeat.

Okay, so he can't.

Hm, what now? I thought until I realised he never really talked to me about this Liam guy. Of course, he might get angry at me, maybe even furious, but it's worth a shot if I'm to find out who that guy was.

"Who was that guy, Owen?" he stared at me in confusion before the realisation hits him and he has to rethink what he's about to say.

"Liam O'Connor, son of infamous Oscar O'Connor. You know Oscar right? The one famous for the murders of seven people in Summer View and scorching them with the Fire devils' mark."

Ah, the famous Fire devils' mystery murders.

It took over ten years to figure out it was the fire devils due to us not knowing they had a mark to begin with, but as soon as Owen laid eyes upon the mark, he recognised it immediately as it seemed. The murders happened when we were all quite young and most of the victims were associates of Oscar. Still, no one understood why he murdered them.

"Yeah, of course," I spoke as he thought for a while before speaking up again.

"Liam, just like his father has an obsession with torture and greed. He will kill someone if they stand in the way of something he wants. Brute force is what he knows best, but his actions are reckless. They can cause havoc across places so be warned. Don't ever interact with people like Liam. Who knows where you'll end up?" a chill managed to run itself up my spine as he finished, his voice looming over me like a thick cloud.

He was so obsessed with asking about Owen. They knew each other. How else could Owen have known the mark, but they both have something the other wants and they're not willing to give it up.

"He wants summer view again, that fucking joke. I'm not giving up my place in this town. I earned it so if he wants to snatch it from me then he can bet I'll come after him." his voice was calm and collected, but it pricked like needles, sharp and angry. There was no way summer view could ever be taken from Owen. I'd hate to admit it, but this town depends on him pretty much. 

After a change of clothes for Owen and me, we headed inside. I decided to keep my shirt on because it was almost dry anyway and we headed inside to one of the spacious rooms where people danced. Nobody took notice of the incident that happened and Owen reunited me with my friends before heading over to his family.


Earlier this week.

"Are you sure you can't make it on Thursday? We really need you to be here to collect our things." I listened in carefully to the conversation my mother was having with the removal man, who was supposedly coming to our house to get our things, but apparently not.

I could hear my mother's sigh before she places the phone down and heads into the kitchen, grabbing a wine glass and pouring herself a drink, chugging it down in one go. A feeling of disappointment lingered in the air when my mother returned and she released a groan in annoyance before remaining silent for quite a while.


Saturday.

That was on Wednesday and it's Saturday now. All our things were packed ready to go for tomorrow. Mom was stressing out about moving, but I wasn't. She told me she would handle everything whilst I studied for an upcoming exam that I had. I was sceptical at first, but she insisted.

"Darling, do you want me to play a tune for you?" she asked, placing her glass in the sink and walking gracefully over to the wooden piano that stood in the corner of the living room. I nodded and she smiled, sitting herself down upon the soft velvet of a stool.

As soon as she started playing, I sighed in content, the soft flow of music running through my ears. It was soothing for me and I could tell it made mom happier playing the piano. I knew she was a good pianist, but she never really cared because she loved to play and that was all she needed to continue practising.

Her fingers roamed over the keys lightly to play the tune and a small smile was upon her face. Her face lit up as well as her eyes when she played. The life was back in her after putting so much stress upon herself.

The tune she played was the same she played to me as a child when I couldn't sleep. I would remember being too scared of the dark and entering my parents' room where they would still be awake. Well, mom would be. Dad was always too tired at the end of the day. She'd sneak downstairs with me and play a tune for me.

All of that seemed to remind me of how much I missed my old life, but mom wants a fresh start where I wouldn't be consumed by the vile words my parents spoke to each other.

I watched her fingers skim across the keys as if it were simple and the smile on her face only widened the more the music chimed through the air.

It was nice to not have my dad around. There was less shouting and mom seemed to cope fine. Maybe it should've been this way from the beginning. When the shouting started, I should've taken it as alarms in my head that this was only going to have a negative effect on my mother. When I got scared of dad, I should've told mom we had to leave, but I wanted to stay because dad might just be having a hard day. Gosh, he's been having a hard couple of years then.

"Dear, you know why we're moving right? I know you don't want to, but I need to provide you with a life where you have a life to look forward to and where you can take care of yourself instead of always caring about me."

"I know, mom," I started as she stared at the keys in concentration, "I know. I've been looking out for dad too long. It's now time for us to leave."

She nodded once before releasing a shaky breath. If I've learnt anything, it's to not hold onto something that's given up on you ages ago. Dad's done that. He's let me and mom down and I can't go back on my word about it.

He's a toxic person, who doesn't deserve to have a wife like my mother.

"Where are we going to live, mom?" I asked, my voice quiet as she stopped before turning her attention to me.

"We're still going to live in Summer View. Just not in this neighbourhood. The house is bigger for starters and I'm sure you're going to love your room, just wait and see."

There was a hint of excitement that enlighted in me. A new room? Oooooo, maybe it has a walk-in wardrobe, I thought.

As mom got back to playing the piano and I got back to daydreaming about my new room, a loud slam of the front door being closed shook me to my very core. Mom's hands formed into fists as she slammed them down upon the keys, releasing a deep, but saddening sound of chaos.

"Darling, pop up to your room, okay?" my mother spoke calmly, placing the cover down on the piano and smoothing down her skirt. She never once looked at me and instead focused her gaze on the doorway where my father would soon walk in.

"Mom—"

"Go, dear." that seemed to be the last of it as I always followed my mother's orders. I headed out through the kitchen and went upstairs straight away as I passed dad on the way.

"Are you still here?" he retorted as I stood tall. I wasn't going to let him get the best of me. Not this time.

"Unfortunately." my voice wobbled slightly, but he didn't seem to notice. Instead, he rolled his eyes and frowned. Well, frowned further that is.

"This is your father you're talking to. Watch your mouth, missy." it didn't sound like a threat, but the tone was cold like ice and sharp like needles and every word pricked me. I thought he cared about his daughter. He was desperate for me to stay with him and now he's being all snappy, which in a way, was really pissing me off now.

"Jeremy, you have no business with my daughter, right?" my mother pops up to my side and holds me by my shoulders. Dad shook his head as my mother glared at him through gritted teeth, "then don't talk to her. Up you go, love."

As I past dad, his hard glare was upon me. I could sense it was and it had me squirming in my place. I was confused as to why he had become so harsh to his own daughter. Didn't he want me happy? I guess it was due to me agreeing to go with mom. It didn't abide by his standards, his rules so he thought that he'd punish me for it.

As I walked up the stairs, I gazed back down to see mom being dragged away by my father. Her long locks of dirty blonde hair bobbed up and down. I gulped as I only continued up each step, the weight on my shoulders increasing the further I walked. I had to help mom, but she wouldn't want me to.

I had to do what she said, which is not help her. She's a strong woman with a strong spirit, but she struggled like a lot of other people yet she stayed strong. That's what I admired a lot about her. 

But she's dying to get out of here...

...because dad's bound to come after us. 

END OF CHAPTER 11

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