Page 126 of Nico

The back of my head hurt badly. Like a really bad hangover accompanied by a physical beating. Not that I had ever been beaten. When I opened my eyes, the room was pitch black. My face felt wet and sticky. I felt around with my fingertips, reaching my forehead. Finding a spot on my head, right on the side of my temple, my fingers brushed against it, and I winced at the pain.

There was a strange prickling sensation on the back of my neck. It sent unease throughout my body. My stomach muscles clenched, my breathing quickened, and my heart started to thud painfully in my chest.

I’m not alone.

I shifted, the mattress underneath my bodyweight squealing in protest.

“Ah, my daughter finally wakes,” a familiar voice reached my ear. “Family reunion.”

I wrenched myself into a seated position, my eyes darting in the direction of the voice.

Benito King!

My bones turned cold, and shivers shook my body. Whether it was from fear or shock, I wasn’t sure. The only thing I knew was that I shouldn’t be in this room with him, alone with him.

“W-what do you want?” To my horror, I stuttered. I wanted to shout and hurt him, not fucking stutter.

There was a click then a blinding white light. The sudden brightness hurt my retinas, shooting piercing pain through my temples.

“Fuck-” I muttered, groaning.

Instinctively, my eyelids shut, and I stifled a pained whimper. I furiously blinked, trying desperately to see where I was, and how bleak of a situation this was. I turned my head in the direction I thought I heard the voice come from earlier. Benito sat in a chair and barely three feet from him...

It can’t be. No, no, no, God, please no!

My heart pierced and a physical pain slashed through me, though there was no blood.

“Mom,” I screamed so loud and for so long, I felt a burning in my lungs. I jumped off the bed and rushed to her dangling body, trying to lift her up, save her. I had to do something.

“Give me your chair,” I screeched at Benito. I tried hard to push him over. “Give me your fucking chair,” I screamed, tears streaming down my face.

“She’s dead,” he replied calmly.

“No, we could do CPR,” I wrapped my arms around her legs. “Just help me. It’s not too late.”

The bastard didn’t move.

My mom’s body hung off the ceiling fan, her neck angled weirdly and her eyes dead. The bleak, ghostly stare that would stay with me forever. Her eyes were truly dead. Tears streamed down my face, but I didn’t feel them. I only tasted the saltiness and bitterness.

I lost her.Silence etched with the realization that I had lost my mother. I had her only for a week, and now she was gone. Forever! Time suspended in my brain and my chest felt hollow.

I didn’t save her. I only took her into her death faster.

I struggled to draw air into my lungs, my chest squeezing, making it hard to breathe.

“You hurt my mother,” I rasped, looking at her limp body, still hanging in the air.

He laughed. “No, she hung herself.”

I knew better. He might not have wrapped the noose around her neck, but it was his fault. All the years she spent under his thumb, enduring his cruelty. She couldn’t bear to go back. She found death to be a better option.I didn’t save her!

Goddamn it; it hurt so bad. It was my turn to save her and take care of her, but I failed her. My eyes went to the man that started the chain of twisted events in our family. The man that destroyed my mother’s life. The man that was my father.

Benito sat in a chair, smoking a cigarette, like he was just lounging around. A gun sat on his lap and there was nothing more I wanted than to take it and put a bullet in his mouth. The bloodthirsty, violent thought shook me to my core but not in a bad way. Maybe there was one thing I inherited from this bastard that would be welcomed. The murderous rage I felt right now!

I wanted to make him pay for what he did to my mother. Make him suffer. The sheer desperate need to see him suffer made me shudder with self-revolt. Yet, it felt right. If only I could somehow hurt him. The way he hurt so many others.

“You know, I always wanted a daughter,” he drawled.