Ruthless Empire (Royal Elite 6)

It ends with Mum curled into a ball and placing ice to her face. She doesn’t want me to look at her when she’s like that. She does everything in her power to hide it — makeup, baking, smiles.

Lots of smiles.

She’s inside now, hiding, crying.

I’m not.

I stand at the edge of the pool, staring down at all the red.

Chaos in its truest form.

For the first time since that day I returned home, I take a deep breath. A long breath.

I can breathe and it’s not black. I can see and it’s not the darkness. I can feel and it’s not nothingness.

I don’t know how long I stand there, watching and trying to remember what he said.

You’re a monster.

He thought I was a monster.

Maybe I am.

I turn around like a robot, my body heavy and rigid, and leave. Not only the pool area, but the entire house.

Our mansion disappears from sight, but the scene in the pool keeps playing in the back of my head like a film.

The red.

The hand.

The gurgles.

And then…the silence.

You’re a monster. He said something after it, but…I can’t recall. I was too caught up in the chaos to remember.

It’s late afternoon, so the dusk is orange and bright on the horizon.

Not knowing where I’m going, I stand in the middle of the street and watch the sun’s slow disappearance behind the buildings.

Soon, it’ll be dark. Soon, it’ll be chaos.

My feet carry me to the nearby park. It’s usually empty around this time because mummies take their kids home. It’s a small park with tall trees and dark green benches similar to the one near the pool.

Maybe if I sit here and think about the park and the darkness, I won’t think about the pool.

I should’ve brought a book with me.

I’m about to go back and get one when I notice a small figure huddled by the bench at the far end of the park underneath a large tree.

She’s wearing a pink dress that has so much stuff at the bottom, making it twice her size. Her shiny, golden hair is tied in a long ponytail by a butterfly. The same butterfly is on the belt that surrounds her waist. She’s hugging a doll that looks just like her and is even wearing the same dress.

That girl always does stupid things like that.

Silver often comes over when I’m playing with Aiden and Xander, but I don’t like her.

She talks and argues a lot — like, a lot — and it ruins the silence in my head.