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CHAPTERFOUR
GUINEVERE
“Wake up, little bean.” The voice is soft and lilting, almost musical.
My eyes flutter, and when they open, there is cloudiness around my vision. My body doesn’t hurt anymore, and I’m thinking the medications they gave me at the hospital are pretty good if I’m not feeling anything. Not even a headache.
I look at the woman sitting in a chair next to my bed. She’s built like me but with a little more meat on her bones. Her hair is long and pulled over one shoulder. It’s wavy and blond, just like mine. She has a wide forehead and narrow chin, also just like me. I swear I’m looking into a mirror when I look at her. She even has two different eye colors like me. The man standing behind her is tall, muscular, and has very kind green eyes. He smiles at me and my heart thumps funny.
“There is my beautiful baby girl.” His voice runs through my mind, and I remember it but I’m not sure from where I know it.
“Guinevere, you need to wake up and fight,” the woman says as she leans forward. “It’s time for you to remember us. We loved you so much and don’t regret anything.” She chokes on her words, and the man pats her shoulder softly.
“Bean, you were everything to us. You are a Chambers, and it’s time you proved that. Get up and fight.”
“But I can’t. They are my family.” Even my voice doesn’t sound right to my ears.
I look around and see a shimmery mist around my room. I turn back to them, and they are just watching me. “Am I dying? Are you my angels? Will you make sure that Rocco knows it’s not his fault?”
None of this makes sense. If I’m dying, why are they telling me to fight? Who are they? They look familiar yet are strangers. I’m confused even more, and my headache is slowly starting to return along with the aches and pains.
I turn back to them and see they are fading. “Wait! Don’t leave me, I’m scared.”
“We are always with you, darling. We never left you. You need to remember.” The woman’s watery smile disappears as they both do, and I’m left alone in my room.No more shimmery mist. Pain reminds me this is my life.
I slowly sit up. My throat is dry and my body aches. I look at my nightstand where I normally have a bottle of water and don’t see one. I remember coming home from the hospital last night, my mother and father yelling at me, then I took Tylenol and headed to bed. Mother had wanted to yell more and punish me by making me stay up late and do the chores I didn’t get done during the day, but Father told her I would be of no use if she did that. I must have forgot to grab the water when I was in so much pain.
I think about the man and woman from my vision and try to place them. What did they mean by I need to remember? I’ve only ever lived with this hell of a family. A constant throb starts behind my eyes, then I see a bright light that causes me to fall back on the bed writhing in pain. After a moment the pain eases and I sit up again. I make my way to my bathroom to clean up. I need to get through yesterday’s and today’s chores or Mother will beat me again.
As I step into the shower, I rub my hand down the back of my thigh, feeling the small circular scars. Remembering the pain of that day. The day someone tried to help me and failed. I can’t go through that again, and I won’t put Rocco through it either.
After washing my body, I get dressed in my uniform and make my way upstairs. I start the coffee and tea kettle before slicing the bread I made a couple of days ago. I’m going to need to make more today. My body aches just thinking about the long day of baking I have ahead of me. Guess I need to write a to-do list in order to keep myself on task so I can get more done.
A cup of tea, slice of toast with a little butter, and my notebook are in front of me as I plan out my tasks for today. I hear raised voices from the entry way slowly moving toward the kitchen’s entrance. Father and Milton enter my line of sight and my body starts shaking in fear. He let him come home early.
“What the hell are you doing back here? I told you to stay away.” George looks toward where I’m hiding. I know he can’t see me, but I still shrink back further. “I can’t keep the police away if you are here or she goes back to the ER again.”
“Mom called and told me to come home.” Milton’s voice has a whine to it.
“I’m in charge, not her. I told you to stay away until everything cooled off. She’s in the kitchen right now. If she sees you and tells that officer, it could be bad. He doesn’t believe that she fell down the stairs.”
“I thought you got a restraining order. If he comes within five hundred feet of her, he’ll lose his job. I did some research on him. He’s not a very good cop. Maybe we can use that against him. Besides, my guys can take care of him, just like they are going to her.”
George’s arm swings out and he smacks Milton across the face. I gasp and then press a hand to my mouth, hoping they didn’t hear me. I’ve never seen George hit anyone else before. He turns to look in my direction again, and I slink back even further. I can’t see them now, but I can hear.
“Don’t say that out loud. Do you want us to get caught? Come to my office, now.” I hear them move off.
I slip out of my hiding spot, and on quiet feet, I move across the entry toward the office. I need to find out what Milton meant. What her?
“I don’t give a fuck who hears us. She needs to die in the next few months. If she makes it to her twenty-fifth birthday, she can take everything from us. I’m tired of living with her under foot. Do you want that? Do you like it? Do you like that we only live in this condo because of her? I don’t. I’m tired of it. I can’t believe you let this happen. If you had only taken care of her along with her parents instead of letting fate intervene and them dying in a car accident, we wouldn’t be here—” His words abruptly stop as I hear another hit to a body. I don’t need to see it to know George punched Milton this time. I hear his body hit the floor and a scuffle ensues. I know that sound and the feel of it enough.
I hold my body tight, trying to make sense of everything I’m hearing. I’ll be twenty-five…
“What makes you think I wasn’t the one who arranged her parents’ deaths?” George’s voice grates through the walls loud and full of anger. “She was supposed to die in that accident too. But I’m glad she lived because I didn’t know he’d changed his will.” He pauses and I hear him moving away. “My brother, the business minded asshole. The oh so spoiled and doted on motherfucker,” he yells, and something hits a wall and shatters.
“He suspected I only wanted the money, just like our father did. I was the oldest. I should have gotten everything, but instead he gave it to Graham.” The name causes a niggle of something in my head. “But if she had died, Geoffrey would have gotten everything. He and his sick wife were supposed to get her too. Do you know how many palms I had to grease to keep her? To keep control of all of this so you could be raised in the lap of luxury? So you could smart talk me and question me? This way I control not only her, but the company.”
His words give me pause. He killed his brother? A flash of light behind my eyes has me closing them and twisting back, hitting the wall in the process. I can’t stop the groan of pain from leaving my mouth.
“What was that?” is shouted from the room, and even though I can barely see through the blinding pain in my head and eyes, I’m moving. I run. I can’t be here. They killed people. They tried to kill me. I’m the only one who is going to be twenty-five soon.
They want to kill me.
