“Nothing good.” I answer, feeling a sense of dread fall over us.
ChapterFourteen
LUKAS
SONG: NOTHING ELSE MATTERS BY APOCALYPTICA
This house is unnecessarily large, with its intricate turrets and over the top moldings that are carved into the stonework. I glare up at the place I once called my home. I drove here in a daze, not even remembering how I got here, only that once I arrived, I noticed that my nails had sliced perfect indents into the palms of my hands from how hard I’d been gripping the steering wheel.
I knock my forehead onto the large wooden doors and slide my key into the lock and wait until the telltale snick of metal churning. I hate this fucking house that’s full of nothing but depressing memories.
The air feels stale, like no one’s lived here in some time, which is probably the case since my dad works long hours and travels while wielding deals with other important businessmen.
I decided what I must do on my way here and I set my shoulders to carry it out. I drop my bag on the floor, knowing I won’t need what’s inside.
It’s unnerving all the details I notice now, taking it all in before I end this.
The silence of this place is a familiar friend that greets me in the towering ostentatious entrance hall. It stretches the length of three stories, a large chandelier full of at least a thousand crystals dangle directly above me. No matter how hard I will it to fall and crush me, it doesn’t budge.
How disappointing.
I trod over to the table housing all our family pictures. Moments frozen in time, weaving a false narrative of a happy family.
Before I know what I’m doing, my good arm careens across the frames of glass, my fist meeting the gilded images, toppling the lot of lies over into a heaping crash of glass. My body shakes violently, as I stare down at the carnage. My hand drips blood down onto the smiling face of my father, and a sick sense of satisfaction rolls through me knowing that I’ll be the one to deprive him of all his hopes and dreams of the Ledger Legacy living on.
I take off my sling, knowing it’s fucking useless now. I place it on the now empty table like a calling card.
I drag myself up the stairs, leaving spots of blood on the rail as I walk intent on following in my mother’s footsteps.
I shuck off my clothes, leaving them piece by piece as I climb the curved staircase straight to my parent’s bathroom. I grab my phone out of my pant pocket before pulling them off at the top of the stairs, holding onto the device so I can send one last message.
I walk through the doors of my parent’s room, my steps full of purpose, my mind a wasteland of turmoil.
I fill the tub to the brim, fishing out a razor from the bathroom cabinets.
I press my finger to the tip, drawing a bead of blood. I deem it sharp enough, and submerge myself into the scalding hot water, my skin turning beet red as I sit. I grab my phone from the edge and pull up my father’s name. My thumbs hover over the tiny keyboard, wondering what words I should leave him with. I could always leave it short and sweet with a well-deserved, “fuck you.” But I really want him to suffer the way I have.
The water becomes tepid as I type my goodbye.
Father, it’s me. Your biggest disappointment.
Soon, I’ll no longer be your issue anymore.
You gave me a life full of misery, no matter how much you tried to buy me off with material things.
You called me weak and tried to crush my dreams. You demanded I become a person I would never want to be.
You’re the reason mom was so depressed that she left us, and now I’m leaving you, and I’m taking your precious Ledger Legacy with me.
My finger hovers over the send button. He should rot in Hell for what he put us through.
Just as I’m about to go through with sending him the message, my phone beeps with an incoming call from Skye.
I look down at her picture that fills up my screen. The two of us, smooshing our cheeks together, making a kissy face at the camera.
I trace her cheek with my thumb.
Fuck.
