Chapter 3 - The Caprian Tales - A Family Torn (Blaine)
#3 of Caprian Tales
"When Gareth moved from the Capital of Ibisa Seven to the small outer colony of Caprian Eleven, he expected nothing but disappointment and backwards tail-draggers. Turns out....He's in for much more than he expected. Can he, and a party of highly unlikely fellows escape before their world collapses around them?"
A novella by Barta Lemton, Matthew Courtney.
Copyright 2014 © Matthew Jeffrey Courtney
Chapter 3
A Family Torn
(Blaine)
The Caprian Tales
By Matthew Courtney (Barta)
"WELL MAYBE IF YOU AND YOUR SLUTTY-"
"DON'T CALL THEM SLUTS YOU PIGHEADED DRUNKEN BASTARD!"
SLAM
CRASH
"DON'T TOUCH ME!"
"BITCH, I'LL SHOW YOU WHO'S PIG HEADED!"
......
"I hate it when they fight....."
The door creaks as I step out into the alley, I can still hear their screaming and hollering behind me....There's a fine mist in the air of the Fenran District, and tonight is just like any other....There's hollering echoing from the windows, and the sounds of fighting down ricochets and reverberates down the alleyway. She screams bloody murder, and my blood curdles as the hackles upon the nape of my neck rise to attention. My nostrils flare, and my ears begin to slowly pull back against my skull, I can feel the tension building in my arms. My pelt creaks, or perhaps that's the leather of my gloves as they pull into tight fists, protesting against the strain. A cold wind bites through my bones and soars through the alleyway in a deathly moan, howling and droning it pushes at me....but I do not budge. She screams again, this time I can tell....she is in pain.
The door bursts open to announce my arrival, it hangs limply upon the hinges as I stand livid in the threshold of our dingy kitchen....She lay battered and bruised upon the floor, her maw is torn and rivulets of crimson flow upon the floor....Her breathing is haggard, rattling in her chest, she's not moving very much....He's standing above her, the triumphant loser, a bottle once again in his hands. It takes him a moment to realize I'm standing in the doorway.
"Blaine, She-" My arm finds his muzzle, a sickening crack fills the air as blow whips his head to the side and sends hims stumbling back violently, he crashes into the cupboards and loses his balance. "DON'T TOUCH HER!" I advance as he regains his footing, and raises his fists in defence, such a drunken fool my father is. The sudden burst of life flows through me, adrenaline shot along veins, summoned by wires and silicon lodged in my head....I burst, erupt, and lunge forward in a vicious movement, an obvious and easily dodge blow....The haymaker cracks upon the side of his head, an almost dazed and confused look spawns upon his eyes as he crumples to meet the ground. In the far distance I hear the sirens, I check her pulse....Alive....Good...I call on the family Holophone to report the incident, they know me by first name. Tonight, Cherry is working.....She understands my situation, and she'll try to convince my mother to stay in a woman's shelter. My mother will fight it, and say that he'll change, that he loves her, that's she's just not good enough for him and deserved it, or that she'll never find love again. I give my barely lucid mother a kiss upon the brow. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hit Dad..." The words come strangled and forced, and there is a wetness upon my eyes.
The wind blows through me, and I shudder...Rain trickles down my fur, and drags away the sting in my eyes, however the hollow ache remains inside. "ARRRGGGGHHHHH!" A noise, a loud, bellowing, ear-splittening and deafening noise erupts and spills from my maw without control, and the puddle below begins to fill with red. There is glass in my hand.....A whimper of weakness escapes my parted lips, and I silence it with steeled resolve....My broken bus stop is as useful as my broken family, and it's all thanks to me. "I ruined their lives, I wish I was never born....." I hear the hum of the hoverbus approaching, and wipe away the sting from my eyes.
Copyright 2014 © Matthew Jeffrey Courtney