Darkest Before the Dawn

Her finger trailed around the ceramic cup, circling the rim of the grimy mug. She refrained from taking a long sip of what she was sure disgusting coffee and instead peered into its murky depth, preparing herself for what was about to come. Anxiously she tugged at the oversized shirt Patrick had lent her, along with the sweat pants that hadn’t been washed in what felt like weeks. These boys really were filthy, she thought with mild disgust. It wasn’t as if her house had been sparkly clean lately.

“So,” Patrick started, filling the silence, “We can begin with anything abnormal that’s happened that might have any clues as to what William wants with you.”

“Like, what?” She said quietly. Her life had always been abnormal from the start.

He shrugged. “Whatever you think would be linked to Beckett.”

She hesitated as a thought popped into her head. Her mouth gaped open a bit as words almost refused to escape. It’d been nearly a decade since she’d spoken of that night. To anyone. Finally, she began with, “My father…He’d been working with a new business. I guess things weren’t going as well as he’d hoped. He and my mother began to fight at night when the maids and other workers had gone home. You could tell they were trying to keep their ‘perfect marriage’’s reputation from anyone by the way they’d argue. It’d be in whispers that usually developed into shouts. One night though…” She cleared her throat anxiously, her eyes darting up to the three boys’ awaiting looks, “Ah, one night the fighting had stopped. It must have been two or three in the morning when they came for their…” She searched for the correct term to use. What was the word that officials had used? “Debt.”

The guy with the glasses sat up straight in his chair, his face alighting with a sudden though. He interrupted with a bewildered, “Wait, wait…So you’re telling us your father was the infamous gang lord Gregor Lucentio?”

She nodded, and almost nonchalantly said a simple, “Yeah.”

She almost laughed at the surprise on their faces.

Patrick was the only one out of the three to recover quickly. “Keep going,” He encouraged, his eyes not showing what he was thinking.

Penelope nodded and took a deep breath before continuing. “I haven’t really thought about them for a while. I guess it’s been blocked out as a coping mechanism or some shit like that, but when I saw them again last night I knew. I must have been in second or third grade so when I saw them in my living room, attacking my parents, it didn’t click that something was going on until…” She stopped in midsentence again, realizing that she was almost close to tears. She took a deep breath, ignoring the tightness in her chest, knowing that they probably thought she was dumber than dirt. She couldn’t blame them.

“Hey,” Patrick murmured awkwardly, not knowing how to react, “If you’re not comfortable with this…”

She shook her head, “No. If I don’t say it now, I won’t ever. Sorry. I’m being melodramatic.” A nervous chuckle left her lips, making the situation feel more painful than it should have been.

They sat patiently as she struggled to let out the words she’d been holding in for years. Her eyes shut as she tried to grasp the memory. When it slowly came back, she grimaced and began again, her eyes staying closed as she retold the story. “They held down my mom and dad. My mother started to shriek so the closest one to her choked her until she fainted.” She felt the shudder tingle up her spine as she heard the cries echo through her mind, making her almost start to regret agreeing to this. “Dad started to babble for forgiveness and then he crouched over him and taunted him with this claw of a thumb,” Her words had started to rush together and she had to force herself to take a deep breath and slow down. “And then he heard me and he climbed up the stairs, speaking to me in this soft voice, trying to get me to come to him. When I didn’t he only smiled wider and held me down as he bit me, like some kind of dog. I tried to scream, but he wouldn’t let me and he held his hand over my mouth. And then the others had started to attack my mother and father. Their screams were the worst part.”

When she opened her eyes, they were wet with tears. She hadn’t even realized she started to cry. Uncaring, she ignored them and looked up towards the ceiling as she fought to continue. She cleared her throat unsuccessfully to get rid of the lump lodged in her throat and said quietly, “They found us barely alive. My dad though…He wasn’t as lucky. When my mom found out, she shut down. She wasn’t ever the same again. Not even for my brother, who was only a year old. Thank god they hadn’t even noticed him or…” Her eyes shone again at the thought of losing her baby brother too. “The only time she ever showed her normal side was when they announced that my dad had nothing to leave for us. He was absolutely broke, and left all of the debt to us. You could see all of the blood just drain from her face as she just fucking mauled the lawyer. We were lucky he didn’t press charges or we’d be even worse than we are now.”

The room was silent as she finished, finally bringing her eyes up to theirs. To her relief, Patrick was the only one who didn’t show any emotion. She was sick of pity.

“Well, that brings you up to date,” She said dryly, “Can I please go home now?”