Page 20 of Wraith
Chapter Nineteen
Rain ticklesat my nose as I walk home from school. It’s a mist right now but the further I walk the thicker the drops get. I can’t help it, I love the rain. As the drops get heavier I stop on the damp sidewalk and lean my head back to look up at the gray sky. Even the color is beautiful. My art teacher says that gray isn’t a color, but I don’t care. It’s still my favorite. All different shades of it, especially this one. Fat drops hit my tongue as I open my mouth to catch them. My face is getting soaked as are my clothes. I know that I need to get home. Daddy is going to be mad when he sees that I’m soaked through and that I didn’t ride home in the car that picks me up every day from school. I think it’s stupid to have to be brought to and from school when the school is so close to our house. But Daddy says it’s for my own protection. He is a judge and says there are people out there that may want to hurt him and they might hurt me to do that. But walking home from school on a rainy day shouldn’t be a problem, especially since I sat there and waited for Ted, the driver, to pick me up. But he nevercame.
I smile as our house comes into view. Its white with blue shutters that Daddy said Mommy picked out. I never knew her. She died when I was too little to remember. It has only been me, Daddy, Ted, and Marta, my nanny. One happy family. Even with daddy being a judge he always finds time for me. I know a lot of kids I go to school with don’t have that, so even at ten years old I know I have a good Daddy. The gate that surrounds the house is closed so I ring the bell to the house on the intercom, but I get nothing. I know Daddy told me the password for the gate once but I can’t remember it. I try a couple numbers that I think might be right but get nothing. Thinking I’m going to have to try to climb over the fence I hike my backpack tighter over my shoulders and start forward but, as if magic, the gate starts sliding open letting me inside. My smile is back on my face and I keep walking. My school uniform is completely soaked through and my uncomfortable mandatory Mary Jane shoes pinch even tighter on my feet, only now, my feet slip and slide inside them because of the white tights I have to wear. I will be happy to get inside to take them off and put on something dry and more comfortable. I hate the uniform but daddy says the school I go to is the best and that is all he ever wants for me—thebest.
“Daddy,” I call out as I walk inside. The only sound I get back is my own voice echoing along the walls. “Marta.” Still nothing as I continue the path to my room, needing to get out of these clothes. Passing Daddy’s office, I notice the door closed. It’s never closed. Not even when he is working. He always keeps it open just in case I need him. I’m always welcome to go in and talk if I need to. It makes me pause. I wonder if he is in there? Slowly—as if deep down I know I shouldn’t open the closed door—I turn the knob and push the thick wood open. The smell of the cigars Daddy sometimes smokes hits my nose along with another smell that makes my mouth taste like I’m sucking on pennies. I don’t like it, but I keep going in. “Daddy? Are you in here?” A muffled noise comes from inside and through the dim light of the office my eyes finally land on my dad. He has something tied around his face keeping him from talking. He is down on his knees and I can tell from his wet face that he is crying. He yells something that sounds like run from under the thing stuffed in his mouth but I can’t quite make the word out or let it register before a heavy hand clasps down on my damp shoulder making meshriek.
“Pretty this one,” the owner of the hand says with a heavy accent. It sounds familiar, like maybe I heard it on a movie. “Carlo. You never told us you had such a beautiful daughter,” he says getting another yell from daddy on the floor now struggling to get to me but another man appears at his side, holding him inplace.
“What is going on?” I ask trying to getaway.
“Your father has been a very bad boy. Haven’t you, Carlo?” I shake my head because my daddy, being anything but the nicest man alive, couldn’t be bad. More muffled yelling comes from Daddy but this time the man holding him back pulls the cloth from his mouth allowing him tospeak.
“You piece of shit. You go ahead and kill me but you leave my daughter alone!” His words bellow, vibrating in my chest, making me shutter. In all my life I only remember him yelling a handful of times and never when he thought I waslistening.
“Oh, but you made this personal when you gave Niko the death penalty. How the fuck do you think I’m going to get him out of prison now!” the man holding me back yells, his fingers digging into my shoulder making mewince.
“You are the scum of the earth! All of you should get the death penalty!” Daddy shouts but is suddenly cut off by a loud bang. A bang that rings in my ears and causes everything around me to go silent, except for the ringing. I watch in horror as a red spot grows on Daddy’s chest, his white dress shirt, normally crisp and clean, now soiled with…blood.
“No! Daddy!” I yell and jerk from the steel grip, getting away and running toward my dad. My arms fling around him, squeezing him tight before his weight drops us to thefloor.
“I’m so sorry, Lara. So sorry, my little girl,” he pants out between breaths as we hit thecarpet.
“Daddy. Please. Please don’t die.” I know it’s a pointless demand, his face is fading of life as he looks up atme.
“I will leave you with this one parting promise, Carlo. Your daughter…” the man drifts off reaching down to pull me up my hair, “your daughter will be my slave, the little whore who will shine my fucking shoes and when she grows some tits, she will be the one who sucks my cock before I go to bed.” The last noise I hear my Daddy make is a strangled cry drowned by the sickening gurgle of the blood flowing from his mouth as the man that was holding him drags a thick knife across histhroat.
