A Change Of Heart - Part 9

Seth's POV

To be honest, I wasn't thrilled about Kayla's visit. What the hell was I thinking?! I never let a guy in here, let alone a girl! How am I supposed to explain that to my family?!

But then I remembered: I didn't give her my address. Plus, she's just moved here. So that means there's no way she'll come then! I let out a relieved sigh and plopped down on the couch and turned the TV on.

"Don't you have any homework to do?" Mum said suddenly, poking her head in from behind the wall. I nearly jumped up in shock.

"No," I said, continuing to flip through the channels.

"You sure?" She asked again.

"Yes mum," I said in a loud, exasperated tone. Honestly, why doesn't anyone believe me in the first try?

"Okay, if you say so," she said, leaving me and WWE alone.

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"I got an A+ in biology today!" Larry announced at dinner, waving a piece of paper with a red blotch in the corner.

"That's great, Larry!" Mum said, grinning. Anthony clapped his hands delightfully, even though he has no idea why Lilly just smiled. Me and Tania just sat there stony faced.

"Cool," Tania said flatly, her fingers rapidly moving across her phone's keyboard. I pretended to be busy eating my dinner. Mum let out a sigh.

"Really, you guys..."

"Oh, I gotta go!" Tania exclaimed, rising up from her seat, grabbing her handbag and heading out the door. But mum blocked the exit with her body, stopping Tania mid step.

"And where do you think you're going, young lady?" Mum inquired suspiciously.

Tania sighed gruffly. "Eliza and Catherine are going to the movies, and No Strings Attached is showing," she explained.

Mum raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"So?! So I need to go, like, right now!" Tania said, raising her voice.

"You know the rules, Tania," mum said.

"Rules?! Rules are meant to be broken, mum!"

"Tania, do we really have to go through this again?"

"I will if I have to!" Tania yelled. "I'm going, I'm going right now, no matter what you have to say!" She struggled to push past mum, but mum didn't budge.

"Mum, let go!"

"No!"

At that moment, Anthony started crying.

"Guys, look what you did!" Lily yelled over the noise, but they didn't seem to be listening. She got up and tried to carry Anthony to the living room to quiet him down. Larry followed her, leaving me alone watching the fight unfold.

And I thought WWE was pretty intense.

Suddenly, I heard a sharp sounding slap and Tania lost her balance, falling to the floor. She had a bright red handprint on her left cheek. Mum was towering right over her, eyes narrowed and lips pursed into a tight frown.

"That's it, young lady, you are grounded for the next three months! From now on, you are not permitted to leave this house! Don't even try to sneak out!"

Tania's expression was aghast. "What?! That's not fair!"

"And while you're at it, I might as well take away your cell phone, too!"

"I hate you!" Tania spat at her.

Mum's eyes were slated, her eyebrows were furrowed and her nostrils flared. I held my breath and braced myself. I know her signs; she's about to explode.

"You ungrateful little bitch! I'll show you, you nasty-" she raised her hand to hit Tania again but was interrupted by a series of loud knock on the front door.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Mum and Tania froze in place. I spotted Lilly standing on her toes trying to see through the peephole in the door.

"Lily, who's there?" Mum's voice was shaky.

Lily turned her head around, her small round face pale. "It's dad."

I jumped up from my seat. Larry gasped and quickly jumped up from the couch, grabbing Anthony's hand and leading him up the stairs as fast as possible. But Anthony's legs weren't used to running, so he stumbled a lot. Lily caught up with them and grabbed Larry's shirt.

"Open the door!" A deep growling voice yelled from outside. He started banging his fist on the door, attempting to break it down. Mum squealed in fright.

"Let go of me," Larry whispered menacingly. He was scared of dad. We all are, including me.

"Carry Anthony up," she said, her voice squeaky with panic.

"I can't!" Larry said, his glasses slipping from his nose. Suddenly, there was a sharp crack and the door flew open with a bang. The cold wind rushed inside, blowing on our pale, frightened faces.

Tania hurriedly stood up and took Anthony in her arms and rushed upstairs with him. Lily and Larry did the same, but dad caught them by the collar. They all fell back with an oomph. Part of me wanted to go help them, but my butt was superglued to my seat.

"And just where do you think you're going?!" Dad growled quietly but angrily.

"N-nowhere," Larry said nervously. Lily nodded vigorously nest to him.

"Nowhere, you say?" He said, standing straighter, his mouth twitched into a deep frown.

They both nodded. Dad motioned Larry to come forward. He nervously got up and approached dad slowly.

"You want to know something, kid?" Dad said smoothly. Before Larry could open his mouth, dad's hand lashed out and slapped him on the cheek. Larry cried out in pain. Lily screamed and tried to scurry away, but dad was quicker than that. He reached his hand out and grabbed her by the foot.

"Going somewhere?" He said, his hand striking out to the back of her head. She screamed and yelled in pain but dad ignored them. I've finally had enough and ran forward.

"Dad, let go of her!" I yelled, trying to pull dad off of Lily. But he was much stronger than I am, so he pushed me off him with ease. I lost my balance and felt to the floor. I quickly got up and cornered myself in the room. That was when mum came rushing in.

"Sam, stop it! You're hurting her," mum cried out. She struggled to pull her off Lilly too, but this time, Dad turned around, making mum fall over. Dad stopped hitting Lily and towered over mum.

"What did you say, woman?" He asked menacingly.

"Nothing," she replied, trying to sound brave.

Big mistake, mum. Big mistake.

Lily weakly tried to sit up, but her body was in too much pain. Larry helped her up and they slowly made their way upstairs. I could tell that Lily was trying hard not to whimper too loud for dad to notice.

"I don't think you heard me right, woman! I asked you, what did you say?!"

"And I'm telling you, I said nothing! I've had enough of your comings, Jim, now leave!"

Dad smiled slyly. "You can't kick me out like that, I'm head of the house!"

"We're divorced, Jim! I honestly can't remember why I even married a filthy, scumbag like you!"

That did it. Dad's eyes went wide with rage as his hands lashed out to mum's cheek. She let out a blood curdling scream. Dad kept on beating mum with his hands and feet, kicking and punching her, not caring about the consequences. As scared as I was, I couldn't let my mum get hurt. I lunged forward and scratched dad on the face. He growled in pain and threw me off his back. I heard a crack as I hit the floor.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw dad grab a beer bottle and smashing it against the wall, broken glass and its contents went everywhere. I didn't have the strength to get up and defend myself. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up. As soon as I managed to stand on my own two feet, he pushed me against the wall. Before I could react, he pointed the broken beer bottle in front of me, the jagged ends just inches away from my nose.

"Don't. You. Dare." He growled at me angrily.

"No, dad, those are my siblings and mum you're beating up, and I'm not going to let that happen," I said bravely.

"You're really done it this time, kid," he said lowly. He knocked me back to the floor and raised his hand to hit me. I braced myself for the upcoming pain.

Suddenly, there was knock on the door.

"Seth? Seth, you home?" A timid voiced was heard.

Kayla! Shit, I completely forgot!

Dad roughly got up and grabbed something fragile nearby: a porcelain vase. He headed towards the door, hiding the vase behind his back.

"Who are you?" He asked as he answered the door.

"I'm Kayla, Seth's partner," Kayla replied casually, unaware of the danger before her.

"Partner?"

"Yeah, for a school project," she answered. "You must be Seth's dad, right?"

"Damn right, I am," he mumbled. "And I'd also like to let you know that Seth will not be seeing anyone tonight."

Kayla's face fell. "W-what?"

"You heard me, young lady, now scram!" He bellowed and raised the vase in the air. Kayla screamed and ran away to the metal gates. Apparently, she wasn't fast enough. Dad threw the vase in her direction and it hit her, smack, right in the back of her head. She tumbled down to the ground and lied there.

She didn't get up.

"I'm leaving now," dad said gruffly. "I've had enough of some pathetic idiots like you!" He spat and stomped his way out. Once I made sure he was out of sight, I ran over to Kayla. She looked fine, except for a bruise that was starting form on her forehead.

What do I do? I can't put her in my house. Then again, I just can't leave her here. With a grunt, I picked her up and carried her back inside. She wasn't that heavy. I quickly took a peek around. Mum wasn't in the dining room anymore. She must've gone back to her room, crying her eyes out. The others are probably hiding in their closets. I tiptoed my way to my room and placed Kayla down on my bed.

I headed over to my drawer and took a book out. It had a black cover and a white rose.

Beastly, the title read. Mrs. Nichols made me pick it up last time I was announced suspended.

I flipped over the pages. Boring.

I kept flipping and flipping but sad nothing interesting besides love, witchcraft, and cheesy romance books. I sighed and threw the book onto the floor, but it fell open at a ripped page. I glanced at it and read the words.

You are ugly now, on the inside, where it matters the most. You are beastly.

I stared at the words for a couple of minutes. Ugliness. I never really thought about that. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. No fur, no horns, nothing. I looked completely fine.

I flipped through some of the pages again and came across another quote.

A beautiful thing is precious, no matter price. Those who do not know how to see the precious things in life will never be happy.

I pondered at this. I never really thought of it that way. Maybe this book isn't so bad after all. I went back to the first page and started to read.

Sometimes, unexpected things can happen.

Yeah, right.

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Comment Replies

Simi: Okay, happy new year to you too!

Natalia S.: Thanks!

Noyonika: Thank you!

Zenny: (part 5) Already did!, (part 6) they're both sixteen, (part 7) thanks, (part 8) okay and thanks!

Stephanie: (part 7) Hehe.. (part 8) and now you know...