Chapter Three

Her attacker wasn't what was expected...Amy leaves as her mother's secret is reveled!

    Amy clasped a hand to her throat as she looked down to her attacker; her heart pounding rapidly within her chest. “Dixie!”

    Dixie was the family cat. She had short, white hair and was rather playful; perhaps a little too playful at times. Dixie purred lightly as she looked up to Amy with innocent golden eyes.

    Amy pulled her hand from her throat and saw that there was a small amount of blood dotting the palm of her hand. “Stupid cat…” she muttered, as she looked down to her. The cat purred more as she rubbed affectionately against Amy’s leg. Amy shook her head slightly as Dixie looked up to her with big eyes. “Oh Dixie, what are we going to do with you?"

    She was just about to stand to her feet when something caught her eye from underneath the bed. It was a small, metal box with a keyhole in the front. Amy looked behind her then slowly pulled the box out from under the bed.

    “Should I open it?” She asked herself aloud as she examined the box. When she picked up the metal box, she noticed it was very light; whatever was inside mustn't have weighed much at all. As she tilted the box from side to side, she could feel whatever it was slide to the one side then stop as it hit the side, making a slight thump as it hit the metal.

    She looked back to Dixie who was now sitting aside of her; she was also transfixed upon this box within Amy’s hands as she gazed curiously at it. “What do you think, Dixie? Should I open it?”

    She then looked back down to the box, not bothering to see if Dixie had actually responded to her name. And, with the tips of her thumbs, she pushed up on the lid. It didn’t open.

      Must be locked.  She ran her fingers over the keyhole. Quickly, she scanned the room, looking for something she could use to get the lock open. Her gaze then fell upon the edge of the bed a few feet from where she sat. There lying on top of the covers was a lone hairpin, beckoning for her to take it.

    "Sorry mom." She thought aloud as she seized the hairpin from the top of the bed. Carefully, she placed the pin within the keyhole. And with in a matter of seconds, she had felt the lock pop open. Who’d ever think I’d learn anything useful from Chris!    Amy pulled the lid back from the box, eager to see what was inside. “Huh?” A puzzled gasp excaped her lips as she saw that there wasn’t much of anything within the box…nothing except for a little red book. She took the book from out of the box, examining its cover carefully.

     There was no title, and looked to be made out of a hard material with a rough texture for its coating. Is this a…journal? She opened the little book curiously.

    There was no name…or anything for that matter written within the book. “Well, that makes no sense.” She said to herself as she looked to Dixie who looked up to her as well. “I mean, why would Mom and Dad have an empty book hidden under there bed…a safety deposit box for that matter?” She shook her head again as she paged through the small journal. There seemed to absolutely nothing within the pages of this book. She was just about to put the book back inside the box, when she saw a blur of black with in the flipping pages.

    Slowly, she flipped through the pages again, looking for the black ink she had seen before. Come on, I know I saw something- she stopped when she saw writing on one of the pages.

    Hm, what is all of this?  Clearly, she could see that the words were written in her mother’s handwriting. So this book is moms- As she read halfway down the page, Amy’s eyes grew large as she realized exactly what it was she held within her hands; it was a confession. “Oh my god!” She cried, slamming the book shut.

     “Oh my god what?” A voice sounded form behind her.

    Amy jumped up, turning to see who was standing behind her. Seeing that it was Chris, she let out a long sigh of relief, fearing at first that it had been her mother standing behind her.

    “What are you doing?” He asked looking down to her hands. Seeing the now closed book, he shook his head and smiled. “I don’t think Mom would appreciate you going through her things.”

    “R-right.” Amy said placing the book back inside the box, locked it, and then shoved the box back under the bed.

    She stood. A bewildered expression outlined her features as she walked out of the room past Chris. “Hey, Amy, are you all right?” He asked as he watched her walk down the hall to her own bedroom.

    Amy stopped, startled by the concern within his voice. She turned, looking to him briefly, yet she was unable to look him directly in the eye. “I-I m fine.” She answered quietly as she turned from him again then continued down the hall to her room, closing the door noiselessly behind her.

    She leaned against the door, fighting a sob that was fighting just as hard to come out. “That can’t be true.” She said softly to herself as a tear rolled down her cheek, remembering what she had read within her mother‘s journal.

 

    Night and day hadn’t passed quickly for Amy. She was still thinking of what she had found the night before as she was now sitting down to dinner with her family the next night. Well, not her whole family. Her father was still out, working another night of overtime at the office.

    The weather fit perfectly with Amy’s mood. It was a cold, rainy night, just as it had been all day long. She had been so bothered about what she had found; she hadn’t even changed from her school uniform from the day before.

    As far as her brother went, Chris was back to being his old, bothersome self. Compared to the concerned expression he had showed her the night before, tonight he was being just plain overbearing for her to even stand.

    She was looking down at her plate, frowning. Tonight, they were having roast beef, mashed potatoes, and carrots; all of which Amy loved. But, she remained sitting with in her chair, twirling her fork in her mashed potatoes, not bothering, or wanting, to eat a single bite. No matter how much she thought about eating, she couldn’t bring herself to eat even a single bite of anything that her mother had made.

    “Come on sis. You’re not still wandering when, I mean if, dear old dad’s coming home, are you?” Chris said taking a sip of his soda before setting it down aside of his plate.

    Amy glared angrily at him. “No.” She said a little frustrated. “Could you just drop it? I’m not in the mood for this tonight.”

    “Well, it’s not my fault that he never comes home anymore.”

    “Just shut up.”

    “Ha-ha. You are just so easy to intimidate.”

    “Chris! Leave me alone!” She hollered as she stood to her feet, ready to go straight up to her room.

    “Amy! Don’t you dare think about leaving before you clean up your mess. You’re not leaving that for me to do.” Her mother scolded with a look of superiority.

    Yeah, like you do much here to begin with.  She took her plate over to the garbage can, scraping all of her food from its surface, and then placed it carefully into the sink.

    She again, made an attempt to go up the stairs but was called back by her mother, just as she had reached the steps. “Where do you think you’re going? You have to clean off the table as well.” Her mother ordered standing to her feet.

    Amy then made her way over to the table. Her brother was now standing as well as he looked to her. He smiled degradingly at her as he began to shake his head in mock disappointment. “You’re slacking off sis.”

    She stopped before him, facing him as she angrily clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides. “Shut up! For once, just keep your mouth shut!”

    “Oh, what a mouth you’ve got, sis. Too bad it’s the only thing you have big on you. Otherwise, I just might have been scared there for a second.”

    That’s when Amy had done something she had never thought she would ever do as something snapped within her. In mere seconds, she had come from thinking about hitting her brother, to actually punching him in the face. He had been so stunned by her actions that he stumbled backwards over his chair, landing on the floor with a painful thud.

    “Amy!” Screamed her mother. She quickly ran over to Chris bending down beside him to get a better look at his face. There was a red mark along his left cheek bone from where Amy had hit him. Their mother then stood to her feet and smacked Amy across the face with a stinging retribution. Amy stumbled backwards as she held her right cheek now soar from her mother‘s angry blow.

    “Who do you think you are you spoiled brat! I swear there are times I wish I never-”

    “Mother!” Chris cut in, standing to his feet quickly. “You’re not thinking of what you’re saying!”

She looked back to Chris then back to Amy. Her daughter had taken a step back from them, wide eyed, knowing what exactly it was her mother was about to say.

    “Oh, Amy, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.” Her mother said in a gentle tone as she took a step closer, reaching out to her daughter to pull her into a warm, loving hug.

    Amy backed away from her mother‘s embrace. “No. You meant it, all right.” Her voice was cold as ice as she backed away from her, moving towards the door. “Tell me mother, when were you going to tell me the truth about my father?”

    Her mother’s hand dropped to her side as she looked to her questionably. “Amy, what are you talking about?”

    “Don’t play stupid with me!” Amy cried, no longer able to hold back her anger. “I saw the book! I read your confession! I know I’m not really Dad’s child!”

    “Amy, now you wait just a minute. L-let me explain-” her mother began.

    “Explain! Explain what? That the one person I ever respected in this family isn’t even related to me?” Amy cried hysterically as she made her was to the front door.

    “Amy calm down!” Her mother cried placing a firm hand onto her trembling shoulder.

Amy smacked her mother's hand away. “Let go!” She quickly made her way to the door, slipping on her shoes.

    “Amy, where are you going?” Her mother asked walking toward her.

    “Humph, like you care?” Amy said viciously through clenched teeth as she slammed the door with a fearsome bang behind her.