RockScars

It was Saturday and that meant no classes, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have a things to do. After I got dressed, I went downstairs to the living room. Lark was sitting on the floor in her pajamas playing with her Barbie dolls. The Rev and Gates were telling Shadows of what happened with Daisy. After hearing their story, Shadows turned around and stared at Lark.

I was about to walk over and ask my sister if she was ok after the crying she did last night, but Shadows walked over to her first and lifted her up in his arms. Without an explanation to anyone, he just walked out the front door with her and took her back to the guesthouse.

“I’m in trouble?” she asked when he set her down on the couch and knelt down in front of her.

“No,” he shook his head. “I just wanted to talk to you about something.”

“But I was playing Barbies,” she shrugged.

“You can go back and play with your dolls after we talk. Can you tell me about some of the other dreams you have?”

“Which ones?”

“Well,” he hesitated a minute thinking about how to word what he wanted to say. “Have you ever had a dream and then it really happened?”

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“Tell me about it,” he said.

Lark wiggled in the seat in front of him and started playing with her hair. “I dreamed you came home and the next day you did. You mean like that?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “Like that. Did you have more dreams like that?”

Lark looked up like she was trying to think and then she looked at him and giggled. Shadows smiled at her. “Tell me, princess.”

“I dreamed you were gonna be my daddy one day.” The guardianship.

Shadows smiled wide at her. “Would that make you happy?”

“Yeah.”

He cocked his head to the side and looked at her curiously. “Did you ever have any other dreams that made you cry like the one you had yesterday?”

“No. I promise.” Lark made an x across her heart and Shadows laughed.

“Ever dream about your sister?”

“Yeah,” she nodded and crossed her legs Indian style.

Shadows raised his eyebrow out of curiosity. “What happens in when you dream about her?”

Lark shrugged her shoulders. “She died.”

“What?”

“She died in my dream.”

Shadows stared at her with complete shock on his face. Not for what she said or the way she said it, but for the fact that she didn’t seem to be upset about it. “Lark, how come that dream didn’t make you cry like the dream you had about the girl in the alley?”

Lark huffed obviously getting bored with the conversation. “Because, Twyla won’t want me to cry for her. She wants me to be a big girl.”

“You love her a lot don’t you?”

“Yeah,” she nodded and put her arms around his neck. “ I wanna play Barbies now.”

Shadows kissed her nose and winked at her. “How about one more question and I’ll play Barbies with you?”

Lark giggled. “Ok.”

“How did Twyla die in your dream?”

Lark looked at him like he asked a dumb question. “You killed her.” And THAT didn’t bother her?

Shadows sat there with his jaw hanging open. It had to be just a dream. No way could this be an actual vision. “Let’s go play Barbies.” He lifted the little girl up in his arms again and carried her out of the living room back to the manor.

*********

“Mr. Vengeance? Mr. Gates said you were wantin’ to see me today.”

“Yeah, have a seat.” He motioned for her to sit in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk. His office was dark. Dark wood floors coupled up with crimson colored walls.

Daisy sat as she was instructed and waited to hear what he had to say. “I guess the obvious question is are you a runaway?”

Daisy’s looked at him like she was trying to remember. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? Either you ran away or you didn’t. Where are your parents?”

“That’s the problem sir, see I can’t really remember much cept for the last few weeks.”

Vengeance leaned forward and spoke again. “You just woke up one night in a cardboard box?”

Daisy shook her head vehemently. “No, not exactly. Can’t really remember how I got there, but one night I was just sitting on a curb. I didn’t know where I was or what I was doing there, but my head hurt real bad.”

Vengeance leaned back in his chair and nodded. “I had no place to go and the sun was coming up so I walked until I found that abandoned building and made my home there. I wasn’t figurin’ it was gonna be for long, ya see. I thought I’d be like one of those kids on a milk box and someone would see my picture and find me.”

It was kind of odd that there were no news reports about a missing teenage girl. No flyers, no police asking around. Nothing. Who was this girl? “The burn on your leg, how did you get it? The truth this time.”

Daisy shifted uncomfortably. “Truth is Mr. Vengeance, I was sleeping and the sun came up and there was a whole in the box. The pain was so bad, I couldn’t stop screamin’ for hours.”

“I imagine it was. It should have at least started to heal by now. When was the last time you had blood?”

Daisy shrugged again.

“Ok. I’ll take care of that. None of this explains how you ended up at Vengeance University though. Obviously no one is paying your tuition.”

“I’m sorry bout that, Mr. Vengeance. I promise, as soon as I know where I belong, I’ll pay every cent back. I just wanted to be around others like me. I didn’t figure anyone would take such an interest in my life and all.”

Vengeance laughed a little. “You don’t exactly blend in, Daisy.”

“I supposed not. I’ll just be getting my things and be on my way. I didn’t mean to be any trouble.”

Vengeance held up his hand. “That won’t be necessary. You’ll stay here until we can find your parents. You’ll continue to go to VU along with seeing your teachers before class like I suggested. You should know that staying here means that you’ll have to do your part. Everyone here has chores and you will be no exception.”

“Oh I understand,” she nodded.

“Good. You can keep the room you slept as your own for now. As for chores, is there anything that you’re particularly good at?”

Daisy tried to think again, but came up empty. “I guess I must be good at something. If I could remember what it was, I’d be sure to tell you, Mr. Vengeance.”

Vengeance laughed lightly. “I guess you can help out in the kitchen with the meals until we find out what you’re good at.”

“Alright.”

“Why don’t you go wait in the living room for The Rev. He’ll take you down to the cellar to get some blood.”

Daisy stood from her chair and before walking to the door turned to look at Vengeance once again. “Mr. Vengeance?”

“Yes?”

“Could I hug you?”

Vengeance smiled and stood from his chair. “Bring it on.”

**********

So, apparently Daisy was staying. As if there wasn’t enough going on in the house.

My chores involved doing the laundry, which I hated, but I didn’t complain. At this rate with the way my eyes were failing, I was lucky I could still separate the whites from the colors. Could be worse, I could have to clean all the bathrooms.

“Why can’t you just try and get along with him?” Gates asked.

I closed the lid on the washing machine and waited for the water to fill up. “Why should I?”

“Because he’s a good guy.”

“So you keep reminding me.” Gates had given me this lecture over and over again and it was always the same old song and dance.

“I keep reminding you because he is! None of us have a damn clue why you hate him.”

“It’s personal.” My reason was my own and I wasn’t about to share it. Not even with my best friend.

Gates leaned back against the dryer while I poured detergent into the washer. “I’m just saying if you try being nice to the guy, you might actually like him.”

“Not gonna happen. Can we change the subject now?”

“Twy, why must you be so damn stubborn?”

“Bri, why must you be so damn nosey?”

Gates shook his head and left the laundry room. There isn’t a single person on this earth that could make me change the way I feel about Shadows. I don’t care how nice he is, I hate him and I’ll take that hate to my grave.