Abomination

Mark stood up quickly. Hearing his daughter admit that she had kissed a girl and liked it was a step too far. Mark was expecting Persephone to deny everything, say it was all the result of an argument with a friend or something. There was no truth in it, bullying that has gotten out of hand he could handle, but a daughter who is… is an abnormality, a freak who will not be allowed to live here with her family and peers. How can he be expected to accept that? “No! You must not say things like that, you stupid girl! This is all just bullying that has gotten out of hand. That is all it is, am I understood?” Mark demanded of Sky, leaning over her in a slightly menacing pose, his face a furious contorted mask.

“See?! You see what I mean, Mark? What is the point of telling you anything? You don’t listen. You don’t want to hear it unless it’s the simple answer!” Seph waved her hand at the door, managing to open it. “I am done talking to you. Get out! Get out now!” She cried, pushing him away and turning her back.

Mark threw his hands in the air and turned to face the door. “You self-centred, idiotic girl. This is not all about your feelings. Just don’t speak about this outside of this house,” he spat at Seph as he left. The door closed with a resounding bang.

Tears slid silently down Seph’s cheeks as she curled up in her bed, pulling the covers over her head to hide her silent sobbing. She heard her mother questioning her father downstairs. “Mark? What is going on? You haven’t upset her, have you?”

“Oh, do stop your silly blustering Jane; that conniving little girl is in perfect control, and she knows exactly what she is doing even if she cannot foresee the consequences of these actions.”

“Mark, she is your daughter, and she’s hurting. You can’t talk about her like this-“Jane began.

“Stop defending the girl! She is an abomination! No daughter of mine could be an abomination like that girl,” Mark shouted over Jane.

“Mark!” Jane cried back. Her words were cut off again with a ringing crack, a slap across the face if Seph was not mistaken. Seph knew that would be the end of the discussion; her mother would not take this further now that Mark had hit her.

Over the next few weeks, Mark refused to let any professionals see or speak to Seph. He forced her to go to school, where she sat at the back of every class, did the bare minimum work in silence, and spent her break times in the art rooms, drawing, creating or even cleaning up. Her head of year was always on the phone with her mother, the school were concerned, Seph wasn’t herself, she didn’t argue with them, granted she didn’t often do what was expected of her, but Seph just walked off silently, she was doing no homework, her artwork was very dark now. On and on it went, and every time her father would attempt to start an argument or belt Seph, she wasn’t speaking to him either. The silence went on and on. Eventually, the school had no choice but the invite the mental health nurse and social worker to see Seph at school. Seph walked straight back out of the room after one look at their kindly smiles. It wasn’t worth the trouble. It was plain to see that she was struggling. Something wasn’t right, but Seph wouldn’t say anything, and who can help solve a problem they don’t know about? It wasn’t worth the hassle for Seph, who didn’t plan to be around much longer.

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~~~~~~~ Persephone aged 19 ~~~~~~~~

Theo and Kayla seemed to get front row seats to Seph’s nightmares and flashbacks these days. They didn’t know if she was still weak or simply too distracted to maintain a block that would keep it private or a sign of their strengthening bond that they saw and felt everything she felt. Kayla was on her feet and searching for Seph as soon as she heard how Mark had spoken to Seph. She wasn’t in her room, but her phone was. They knew she hadn’t left the building. Mr Doyle had set up some of his own security; he had invited himself to stay, but only if he could set his own protective measures around the lands. Upon hearing from Kayla, that Seph was not in her room, Theo headed straight for the library. The twins met in the middle of the room, looking around anxiously. Their senses told them that Seph was here, they could hear breathing, but they couldn’t see her. Archer was fighting for control, terrified that someone had taken Seph again; Theo was just about managing to hold him back.

Kayla dragged Theo back to the doorway, knocking loudly on the door. “Seph? You in here?” She called, just loud enough to ensure she could be heard in all the corners of the room. There was a slight squeal and a crash from a corner behind one of the shelves. Kayla grinned up at Theo in a self-satisfied sort of way. The twins both headed in the direction of the noises quickly, finding Seph struggling back onto the sofa squashed in this tiny nook for some unfathomable reason. It took them a moment or two to realise what was happening before their eyes. Eventually, Theo closed the distance between him and Seph, picked her up and sat down on the sofa with her.

“Theo, put me down! I’m still mad at you!” Seph told him firmly once she had caught her breath.

“Yeah, Theo, give me my mate back”, Kayla added, holding her hand out to Seph, ready to take her somewhere with a door that locks.

“My mate too, Kay.” Theo told Kayla, slightly annoyed, before turning his attention to Seph, “And I want to hold you and make you feel better. Sephie, my baby, please… I love you; I swear to you, I will spend my life regretting the pain I caused you and trying to make it up to you. Please just let me love you,” Theo begged, carefully pulling Seph closer.

“Theo…” Seph didn’t know how to respond. She sighed as much as she could without hurting her ribs. Relaxing into him in a moment of weakness, she let her head fall to his shoulder and her eyes close, feeling the contentment, warmth and security of just being with her mates once more. Rationally, Seph wanted nothing to do with Theo. He caused her so much pain and discomfort. She couldn’t even come back and be with Kayla because of Theo’s threats. In the deepest recesses of her mind, the darkest corners of her soul, Seph, at times considered him responsible for her kidnapping, even if she could see, most of the time, the witches would have found a way to get to her regardless of what happened with her and Theo.

“Let’s go up to the loft”, Kayla suggested; now, she could see that Seph had decided to give in to Theo, at least for tonight. She could still feel Seph’s confused emotions.

Theo nodded his agreement and stood, cradling Seph to his chest easily.