Chapter 1: It’s The End Of The World As We Know It
4:58pm November 1st, 2120
"Hattie!" a voice screamed in the darkness, jolting me out of my thoughts. "'Attie LaRue! You get your sweet ass over to me, ya 'ear? Don't you make me comma find you. I promise you; ya won't be liking the consequences if I do."
The stairs above me shook under his weight as he came down them. Dust lightly rained down on me as the old wooden stairs protested each movement. My heart seemed to beat in time with each heavy footstep, sinking down into my stomach as he finally reached the bottom stair.
"Don't worry, mon ange," came the deep voice beside me. The soft caress of his breath gently brushed past my cheek, and I could feel the tension in my body leave me as I felt the phantom arms around me. "Two more minutes, and the world officially ends. Just two more minutes and those connards, those fuckers, cannot lay a single finger on you. Two more minutes, and you can finally be free."
I let out a long breath and buried my face in Teddy. Two more minutes. I had done 18 years. Two minutes was nothing.
I could hear the footsteps of someone else going upstairs, and once again, the stairs groaned in protest. "She ain't in the crawl," came a younger voice than the first. He was my second step-brother, also known as Shit Stain Number Two.
I had made the mistake of calling him that to his face a little while ago...
My fingers went up to the cut on my face, brushing over the staples still in it, keeping the flesh and skin together.
I won't make that mistake again.