Arianna's Tale: The Beginning (5 page)

“What is going on?” Austin demanded,
standing in the open doorway, “You took off in the blink of an eye
and I find you up here, with Anna?”

“I… I’ll… I’ll let him tell you… when we get
moved,” I stammered hesitantly.

“Jason, load up her stuff, I’ll stay here
with her,” Austin offered and Jason darted out of the room, but I
flinched when Austin sat beside me and reached for my cheek, which
only made his anger flare.

“S… sorry…” I stuttered. I knew Austin
hadn’t done anything wrong, but he was a guy, an adult guy, and I
saw him as such, despite the fact that he was my brother; I didn’t
see Jason as anything but my sweet little brother.

“Truck’s loaded,” Jason announced, “Car’s
ready too… bet you’re glad you took care of the other two cars
already, huh?”

“Yeah, I am,” Austin admitted, holding his
hand out to me as I cautiously took it and he helped me to my feet,
leading me through the house and out to my car. “You’re driving
your car with Jason, I’m driving the truck. We’ve got a long trip,
so let’s get going.”

Hours later, with only a couple of stops for
gas and such, we reached Dad’s house. Our new house, I guess, on
Asena Lane. Jason and I had been talking practically the whole way
over and I made him swear to keep his mouth shut, despite what I’d
said earlier; at least until we found out what this big secret
was.

Dad came rushing out of the house with the
biggest, goofiest grin on his face. Dad had aged a lot better than
I thought he should’ve, being a workaholic and all. He and Austin
had the truck halfway unloaded before I could even get around the
house and back outside.

An hour later, each of our rooms was piled
with our boxes and Dad called us down to the kitchen for dinner,
which was pizza; Dad never was much of a cook.

“Hey, sorry kids, but there’s been a break
in a huge case… You know your way around, if you need anything. I’m
really glad you’re here,” Dad apologized with a faint smile before
he darted out of the house and I gawked after him.

“Hey, so… tell me what happened,” Austin
interjected a moment later, but I shook my head.

“Not until you tell me what you’re hiding
from us,” I rebutted calmly.

“Dad’s going to tell you.”

“Dad’s not here. I’m definitely not going to
tell you until I know what your secret is….”

“I guess we’re at an impasse for the time
being then,” Austin decided with a sigh, “I’m still surprised you
chose to move….”

“You don’t have control of this high
school,” I commented with a faint smile, but Austin rolled his
eyes.

“I don’t, yet. I hope you don’t really think
you’re going to get a boyfriend after all the trouble I’ve gone
through… after your new classmates meet your little brother… And I
will be making myself known as soon as possible.”

I realized something, something that could
be considered stupid, but it meant a lot to me. “I’m not going to
get through my senior year without ever having my first kiss,” I
announced. I didn’t have control over what had happened, but I
wouldn’t lose my first kiss.

“You might get through without it; you
should,” Austin argued, but I shook my head.

“I’m hopefully going to find a boyfriend and
finally get my first kiss,” I concluded with a grin.

We were standing around the kitchen eating
the pizza Dad had gotten, so I was quite startled when Austin was
suddenly beside me.

“Arianna,” he whispered, sliding his hand
across my cheek and softly pressing his lips to mine. Jason gasped,
my plate that I had held fell on the floor and Austin chuckled
faintly as he backed away. “Now you’ve had your first kiss.”

“Brothers don’t kiss their sisters like
that!” I blurted in shock.

“And so we arrive at what I wasn’t going to
tell you,” Austin calmly continued, “You were adopted, Arianna.
You’re not our biological sister. Mom and Dad had me, and knew they
wanted a second child, and tried for over two years to have another
kid…. Fertility treatments and everything… but none of it worked
and when I was three, and you were one-and-a-half, they adopted
you. Two years later, completely unexpectedly, there came
Jason.”

“I’m adopted…” I repeated dumbly, staring
across the kitchen with my hand covering my lips. Suddenly all of
those things I’d attributed to Mom having had so many cosmetic
surgeries and dying her hair, made a lot more sense. I didn’t look
a thing like them, because there was no blood connection. I slapped
Austin’s arm. “So to tell me I’m adopted, you have to steal my
first kiss?!” One more thing stolen from me… and I had a feeling it
wouldn’t be the last.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for five
years, so you’ll have to forgive me,” Austin reasoned, and that
time he gently grabbed me and pulled me to him and kissed me again.
“The
awkwardness
, as you called it, was when I got old
enough to realize that us being so close wasn’t normal. I drove
myself crazy trying to figure out why I couldn’t stand the thought
of being away from my
sister
for any length of time… and
finally asked Dad one day and he told me the truth… but also that I
shouldn’t tell you… so instead I protected you.”

“Tried to protect her,” Jason interrupted,
there was fury on that young face again. “You should see her face
under that makeup….”

“Jay…” I whispered, “Please don’t….”

“I know you’re upset Jason… but she’s not
your sister… and I think you’ll discover that’s
why
you’re
upset,” Austin reasoned, tilting my face back to him, “Wash off the
makeup and let Jason tell me what happened.”

I barely nodded and rushed out of the room,
but the bathroom was close enough to the kitchen that I could still
hear them.

“I know how you’re feeling,” Austin
comforted with a distant laugh, “I know… ‘cause I’ve been there…
You were just starting to wonder, I could tell….”

“Yeah, well, I would’ve protected her a lot
better than you did,” Jason rebutted coldly, his eyes landed on me
in the open doorway and I barely nodded my head. “Mark raped her,
Austin.” He didn’t look away from me when he said it and I know he
saw the tremor run through me at the thought. “That bruise is from
him….”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Austin
spin around to face me and heard him gasp at the black and blue
mark covering my entire left cheek.

“That’s what you weren’t telling me?!” he
blurted in absolute shock, and I barely nodded my head, though I
had yet to break my gaze from Jason’s, “That’s why Jason’s been by
your side… why he bolted in the house earlier… What did Brianna
bring you?”

“Morning after pills… but she didn’t know
why,” I mumbled, having to look at Austin then because he was
standing right in front of me, “Jason only found out because he saw
me when I left the bathroom….”

“Arianna… we have to tell Dad,” Austin
replied and my face blanched as I shook my head, “Why didn’t you go
straight to the police? Why… didn’t you tell me?”

“He said if I told anyone he’d hurt Jason,”
I admitted, before biting my lip and slamming my hand over my
mouth.

“I’m calling Dad… is there anything anywhere
that will help him?”

“I put the sheets out at the trash bins,”
Jason added, his voice a lot softer, “It was Saturday… obviously…
so the trash hasn’t been picked up yet….”

“We’ll go get them in the morning… you and
me, not her,” Austin decided, glancing over his shoulder at Jason
before looking back at me. His eyes kept shifting to the bruise on
my cheek as he asked, “Are there any other bruises?”

I barely nodded; lifting my arms up there
was a yellowish ring around both of my wrists. “Ones on the insides
of my… my legs, too….”

Austin nodded and his eyes shifted down my
cheek before he stepped out of the kitchen and into the living
room. Jason rushed over and hugged me tightly.

“Dad,” Austin had his stern voice, “Arianna
needs you, now.” He was silent for a long moment, “
Now
,
Dad.”

“I could’ve taken care of myself…” Jason
whispered, but he had no conviction, he knew it wasn’t true.

“If you go with him… don’t let him do
anything stupid…” I insisted and Jason nodded.

“But I think it would be better if Dad and I
went… the only reason I should go is I know what bag I threw out…”
Jason explained and I realized the house had gone oddly quiet.
Austin wasn’t on the phone anymore, but he wasn’t coming back.

“Find him,” I whispered and Jason sighed
before he darted out of the kitchen. I sank into a chair at the
kitchen table and rested my forehead on the tabletop. It was ten
minutes before I heard them come back inside the house, bickering,
Austin sounded… distraught….

“I never thought…” Austin sighed, staring
across the kitchen at me, “I mean… I knew I didn’t like him… but I
never… never thought he’d do something like that….”

“Dad’s on his way,” Jason included, crossing
the kitchen to sit beside me, “You’re going to have to tell him
what actually happened….”

I furiously shook my head. “Not Dad… I can
give a deposition… I’ll… I’ll make myself do that… but not to
Dad….”

“What’s going on?” Dad called as he came in
the kitchen door from the garage. I slowly looked over at him and
saw his step falter as his eyes widened. “My God, Arianna… what
happened?”

“Mark… raped… me…” I faltered across the
words and Dad fell into the seat across from me.

“You didn’t report it…” it wasn’t a question
as he stared across the table, “All right… I need to get you to the
station… what have you done since?”

“She probably burned off a layer of her skin
with that shower she took…” Jason muttered, Dad’s gaze briefly
darting to him.

“My friend got me morning after pills,” I
included quietly, “It was Saturday… I don’t know what….”

“Jason threw the sheets out, but the trash
hasn’t been picked up, so they should still be at Mom’s… we’re
going to go get them tomorrow,” Austin contributed, but Dad shook
his head.

“I don’t want you near that house, Austin,”
Dad countered calmly, “Jason threw out the bag… so I’ll go with
him… You take Arianna to the station, have her see Detective
Gaines… I’ll call her tonight and give her a head’s up. Arianna…
Detective Gaines will take you over to the hospital for them to do
a work-up… they’ll need details… Call your friend, get her to get a
copy of that prescription from the pharmacy… ask her if she’ll give
a deposition on giving you that medication… or if she’d be willing
to at least talk to our detectives.”

“I’m sorry, Dad,” I whispered and he smiled
softly, reaching across the table to hold my hands.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,
sweetheart. We’re going to get through this… we’ll get through it
as quietly as we can… try to keep it out of your school… it’s a
small high school though…” he thought aloud, “For the time being
I’d feel safest if you weren’t left alone….”

“Jason’s been attached to her, Dad, that’s
not a problem,” Austin announced with a faint smile, “I told them…
by the way….”

“Oh… I guess that’s good,” Dad faltered,
squeezing my hands, “I have the information on your biological
parents, if you want it; if you don’t, that’s fine too. I got it so
that if you ever wanted to know… it wouldn’t be so hard on you…
But, I have always, and will always consider you my daughter.”

“I know, Dad,” I quietly replied, squeezing
his hands back before he smiled and took a deep breath.

“Okay, I’ll talk to Detective Gaines… if
you’re all right, I really need to get back to work,” Dad stated,
“We’ll take care of everything we can tomorrow.”

“We’re good here, Dad,” Austin finalized and
Dad stared at me a moment longer before getting up and heading
towards the back door.

“If you need me, for anything, just call,”
Dad added. He looked older walking out the door than he had walking
into it and my gaze fell to the table as I realized that was my
fault.

“Anna… it’s late,” Austin whispered, gently
resting his hand on my back, “Why don’t you go to bed?”

I went into my new room distracted and tried
to fall asleep in my new bed, but every unfamiliar creak or groan
of the house had me bolting awake with a racing heart. As luck
would have it, one of the many times I jumped awake wide-eyed,
staring at the open door, Austin and Jason were walking past, and
Jason came to a screeching halt.

“You can sleep in my room,” he offered,
Austin’s gaze falling first to his little brother, then following
his line of sight to me.

“Arianna…” Austin whispered, slipping into
my room and falling to kneel beside my bed, “I’ll take you
downstairs… we can all three stay in the living room tonight…
okay?”

I barely nodded, staring back into his blue
eyes that worriedly inspected me. “I need to change…” I murmured,
suddenly embarrassed by the pale pink silk nightgown I had put on,
but Austin rolled his eyes, “I’m serious! I’m not a little kid
anymore! You shouldn’t see me in my nightgown!” That had his cheeks
flushing pink and I bit my lip with realization.

“We’ll be downstairs,” Austin decided, his
fingers lightly brushing across my cheek, “Don’t take too long.” He
softly kissed my forehead before leaving with Jason and closing the
door, but that kiss had my face beet red as I forced myself out of
bed and over to my box of unpacked work-out clothes.

I couldn’t help thinking about things then.
Austin, my gorgeous, perfect big brother that all the girls swooned
over, wasn’t my brother at all. He didn’t have to put it into so
many words, his actions made a lot more sense then. The fact that
he kept all guys away from me; that we had that awkward phase where
he wouldn’t come in my room, or let me in his, or even hug me; the
way sometimes he watched me, like at his graduation party; the kiss
earlier in the kitchen, and the one just then in my bed….