Chapter 1

• ARIA
• “Open up Harry boy, we know you are in there,” a deep voice resounded from the other end of the door, and I feel my heart jump to my mouth. My mom’s eyes widened in horror and Audrey jumped off her seat. My dad is obviously confused, his eyes keep darting from the door to the window, as if thinking of a way of escape.
• The sharp knock after knock on the door startled all of us.
• “Two hundred thousand dollars Harry! How the fuck did you manage to gamble such a large sum? What in hell were you thinking?” my mother screamed.
• “You know I had plans for you, for us,” he looked at my mum’s eyes. “I know I promised you I was going to quit, but I couldn’t resist. I want to do so much for this family, I want to take you and my lovely girls out of this slum, I want to do better, and I just thought it was the right move. The reward was so tempting. I could have won up to a million bucks. And I was this close to winning...”
• “That’s the problem Harry, the odds never favor you, yet you keep trying. There are a thousand and one things you could have done with that money rather than gamble it away…”
• “Enough！”I listened to the two of them argue non-stop, and I just feel bad for my mum mostly. She doesn’t deserve a man like Harold Edgar, she deserved better. Year in and year out I see her work her ass out to keep the family running while my father goes about pumping large sums into his dirty gambling games with hopes that someday he would ‘hit it big’, and those were his exact words.
• Selfish, negligent, irresponsible, reckless, are just a few out of the many words I could use to describe the man I call father, but I would save my anger for a later date. Right now, what is more important is dealing with the issue on ground.
• "We should think about what to do now, they're about to break down the door..." I watched the doorknob shake and tremble from the outside.
• “Okay now, I’m coming in,” I heard the angry voice from outside.He was going to kick the door in.
• One. Two. Three.
• The door gave way and mum rushes to hug me and Audrey. She is shaking all over, just like me and Audrey.
• Three hefty men pushed their way in. One of them grabbed my dad’s shirt while the second lunged a hard blow into his ribs. My mum screams “Please stop,” tears spilling out of her eyes.
• Our small living room could barely contain all three of them. The shortest of them would be at least six feet and four inches. They looked scary, and very intimidating. Facial hairs that had not been shaved for many months made them look really rough, with tattoos all over their very muscular arms.
• The third man made eye contact with me, he had to be their leader. While my mum and Audrey were wailing as the men continue to throw punches at my father, I didn’t make a sound, but rather stared at them with contempt.
• Their leader is holding a small knife in his left hand and when he starts to walk towards us, my mum shields us behind her. He raised his hands to stop his men from hitting dad, who already had blood running down his nose.
• Their boss reached behind mum to pull me out. I winced at how hard his fingers felt against my skin, but I don’t let him see just how scared I am.
• “Feisty huh?” he smirked.
• “Please, not my daughter,” my mum shrieked “Leave her alone. We will get you your money, I promise,” she wailed.
• “When?” he thunders, still holding me tightly by my arms. I try to wriggle my arms free, but you can guess how that went. I was only succeeding in hurting myself and making him even angrier.
• “Plea...se, ju..st give us time,” mum stutters, hot tears running down her cheeks.
• “Time?” he thunders “Did you just say time? Do I look like a clown to you?” spittle flies from his mouth as he screams at my mum, and at this point, I wish I had superpowers, because only if I possessed that would I be able to overpower these men.
• He turns back to my father and I watched in horror as his knife went flying in father’s direction, only slightly missing his left ear to hit the wall behind him. One slight movement from my father, and that would have been it.
• “I wouldn’t miss a second time,” he warned before letting me go roughly. He picks up the knife again, then grabs my father and hauled him roughly to the floor, placing his left knee on his back with my father’s arms splurged on the hard floor. He drives his knife into my dad’s pinky finger, and father screamed with pain as blood popped from his hands to the already dirty center rug.
• “No..” mum rushes to him, but another man grabs her from behind.
• “You monster, what have you done?” she screeched.
• The boss hissed, then picked up my father’s finger, wrapped it in a little handkerchief, and inserted it into his pockets.
• “I’ll just keep that as a souvenir,” he flashed his rotten teeth, tapping his pockets.
• Their boss turns to me, then walks towards me, his eyes sizing me from head to toe. “I like this one,” he declares “I want her on my bed...”
• “Take her away!”