Another Way To Die

[woodyloveslinkin]

****

"Ugh," David said as he sat back in his chair and clenched his head. He had been songwriting all day with Jack who was on the floor near him with his guitar in his grip and looking down at the notes that he had written down previously. "Is it just me or is time just going slow deliberately?"

"Must be you, it seems to be going quick for me," Jack replied, putting hus guitar aside for a second, resting it against the other armchair they had in the living room and getting to his feet for a glass of water. He entered the kitchen to find that Jess was having trouble trying to reach something on the top shelf of the pantry. She was even on her tippy toes and her fingers were stretched out. "Do you want help?" Jess noticed Jack's presence in the kitchen and nodded. He got the box of chocolates that one of the various adults in the household had deliberately put up there for a good reason and handed it to her. "There you go."

"Thanks for that," Jess thanked Jack with a smile to go along with it. "How are you going with my father with the song writing?"

"It's a slow but yet, interesting process," answered Jack. "With such things you have to be patient. Why do you ask? Do you write much yourself? I mean, I'm only asking that, because you're the daughter of a talented musician."

"Sarah and the rest of Ravyn's kids would beg to differ with you on the last remark there you said about my father being talented," Jess told Jack. "And as for the rest of your questions, yes I do, but I keep my writing to myself. I stick them into my journal so no one can see them or even hear about them unless I mention them. So don't you go around telling everyone that I'm creative, Jos would be jealous."

"Oh, really, why would it be that way?" asked Jack.

"She's the brain not the artist of the family, she sucked at art but passed science and maths with flying colours," answered Jess.

"Ah, yes, I know the feeling, me coming out of a ten children family, and me being the seventh son," Jack commented. He lowered his voice a bit and muttered to himself. "And I'm the only one with the big enough brains to get this far in life with the music I was raised with..."

"Talk about sibling rivalry," Jess couldn't help but to mutter to herself. "I better go and get whatever I'm supposed to be doing instead of talking to you here, and loitering about before my man kicks my ass and chucks a skitz over it." She smiled as she disconnected herself from the conversation with Jack and went back to her bedroom.

Jack shrugged, thinking about how odd David's kids were. He got himself a glass of water and then left the kitchen, just to enter the living room to hear knocking on the door.

"I'll get that," offered David, getting to his feet. Jack sat down as he placed the water on the coffee table and slouched against the furniture. "What the hell do you want?" Rob had appeared before him, along with an unfamiliar face beside him.

"Where's Ravyn?" asked Rob.

"At work," answered David. "Why are you even over here? What's your business?"

"Well seeing she gets to shove her new love of her life in my face, I thought I could do that as well," answered Rob. "Meet Joanna, my partner." The woman with the curly brown hair, smiled faintly, looking as though she didn't want to be here but she had no choice. Just as that happened, Ravyn pulled got out of her car and stopped. She saw him coming up the driveway, walked right past her an the two girls who ha come back from work and was stuck inside the car looking for an earring Josipa had lost.

"Dad?" asked Sarah, standing by her mother's side, wondering what her father was doing there. Jos just stood there, interested in meeting Rob again, for another time. Rob turned around and smiled. "You're not supposed to be here."

"Says who or what?" Rob challenged.

"I say so," Ravyn replied smoothly. "Who's this you're trying to drag into my household?"

"Joanna," Joanna had to introduce herself before Rob said the wrong thing that might end up insulting his ex-wife. Joanna was a peaceful person and didn't like hatred or arguing. She smiled again. "Nice to meet you."

"Okay, you two can go now," Ravyn said, walking over to the couple. "Go off and make babies, I don't give a crap." She stopped and looked at Rob. "And for you.." She gave Rob the finger. "That's what I think about you."

"Would you like to know what I think about you?" asked Rob, as Ravyn retracted her political statement of the year.

"No, not really, your opinion has no influence on me whatsoever," answered Ravyn. "Well, other than my upchuck reflex."

"You're a no good mother that can't keep her kids under control," Rob told as Sarah hit the roof and stormed over to her father. Rob shifted his gaze to Sarah storming over. "You're a fine example."

"I...will..not..tolerate...such...shit... about my mother like that," Sarah huffed in anger as she met her father at a stop and smacked her father across the face. People where quick to restrain both persons in the fight, but Rob had gotten the upper hand on the situation before it was controlled. He grabbed his daughter by the throat and threw her against the brick wall. David sprang to help Sarah as she started to throw more insults at her father as she gasped for air. "Fuckwit." Was one of them.

"Listen child, I'm still your father and lately, I've had enough of your crap," Rob said through gritted teeth, as David pulled him away from Sarah. Ravyn saw Joanna's reaction and wasn't too impressed about it.

If it was Ravyn she wouldn't be staring into thin air like Joanna was, she would be trying to pull Rob away and prevent him strangling the child to death.

David got him by the collar of his shirt and threw down onto the front lawn. Ravyn and Jos ran to Sarah's aid as she hit the ground.

"Now listen up, when you're on this property, you don't arrive with your snotty show-and-tell doll just to provoke a fight and you certainly do not do that to anyone in this household, what you just did to Sarah just then," David told Rob, still gripping on tightly to his collar. "Don't be surprised if Sarah or Ravyn gets a restraining order out on you. Don't come back to this property ever again or I will call the police for real. You hear me?"

"Are you alright?" Ravyn asked her child, as she sat on the ground, with her head tilted back and cried. "Come in you need to go inside."

"I want to kill him," her daughter rolled her head on the brickwork and faced her mother. "I'll fucking kill him one day."

"We're on the same boat there," Ravyn commented, as Jos and herself helped Sarah to her feet and helped her inside. Ravyn gave Rob one last filthy look as she went inside with her stepdaughter and her daughter. Ravyn was afraid that Sarah would actually kill her father, knowing how bad her daughter's anger could get sometimes.

"You need to go now, and take your barbie doll with you," growled David, dangerously. He let go and stepped aside for Joanna because she had came over and helped her lover up to his feet. "Now."

Rob walked upto David closely. "You better know what you're getting yourself into." Just as Rob had said that, Sarah had walked out with a knife in her hands.

"Sarah, come back here right now!" Ravyn yelled at her daughter but decided to chase after her. Rob wasn't scared by his daughter holding a sharp kitchen knife in her hands. Then her mother stopped as she realised that her daughter wasn't heading for him. In a matter of seconds, Sarah had slashed a tyre of Rob's and walked back inside. Rob laughed as he thought that was the only thing that Sarah could do.

"What? Too afraid to kill me? Is that it?" asked Rob, laughing. "I can still drive with one tyre damaged for your information."

"Consider yourself lucky," answered Sarah, not looking at him, but looking straight ahead at her shocked mother's facial expression.

****

[woodyloveslinkin]

****

It was dinner time now and there was just silence as everyone ate in peace. The smell of a baked dinner darted in and out the rooms of the Bourdon-Draiman house, which itself resembled a huge mansion. Fox sat next to her eldest sister, Sarah, while she sat in the middle in between Fox and her twin sister Mel. Mel sat next to her mother which was at the end of the table who faced her husband and a stepchild of hers. Jos sat quietly next to Jack who sat in between Jos and Jess. David was at the other end of the table next to Jess and Fox, as he sat facing his wife. There were various plates of food spread across the table, still steaming into the open air. No one said anything as they sat and ate the food that they were grateful for, well most of them anyway.

Sarah just there in her chair staring at her food and picking at it with her fork. She was reliving the moment where she had the knife in her hand and was working towards her father. The only thing that stopped her from driving it into him was the thought of spending the rest of her life locked behind bars and unable to walk the earth as a free person. So instead she slashed a tyre of his. He was still her father at the end of the day, that never stopped her from doing anything to him before today. The sheer fact that he had the guts to attempt and kill his own daughter was heartbreaking. She had only defended her mother. She wanted to be disowned on days from the Bourdon name, but at the same time, she wasn't prepared to trip over hypocrisy and change it to Draiman. She had more self-respect than do that. She was waiting for her surname to be changed to White, legally, when the day came.

Mel and Fox had been told of what happened in the kitchen by Josipa, who seemed a bit shaken up and somewhat very weary of Sarah and her violent mood swings. They didn't blame her and what she did, especially after their encounter with Joanna and Rob at the county fair that day and how casually he had shoved his new barbie doll in their faces. They're still not quite sure what Rob was aiming to prove. Was he just picking a fight just for the heck of it or was there a point to it all? If there was a point, Mel and Fox were currently quite blind to it.

Jess was in her room when everything went down and saw out of her window that overlooked the front yard and she saw the event taking place. She remembered clasping her hand over her mouth as she thought that Sarah was going to commit murder in their front yard; in front of the neighbours to see. Jess, like her sister, was weary of Sarah now and her ability to alternate moods so quickly and violently. But yet again, Jess had witnessed her father choking Sarah almost to death and the look on her father's eye. Jess remembered how she felt when the wave of intervention had swept over the situation.

How Ravyn felt about the situation she was unsure. She was concerned for her daughter and how she's displayed her mood swings quite clearly to the neighbours and everybody else who had witnessed a crime nearly taking place in her front yard. This was the precise reason why Rob was never granted custody of the kids, especially Sarah. As of lately, not only had her behaviour had grown highly defiant of the rules and her own mother, but her mood swings had become frequent and all honestly, it was starting to make her child unpredictable, even more. Could this be early signs of a psychotic phase that was slowly starting to affect her oldest daughter? She couldn't stand this silence anymore, she just had to break it.

"So, Jack, how did the writing go today?" asked Ravyn, making conversation.

"Slowly, but we're getting there," answered Jack. "It's long and tedious, but in the end, it's about the passion of music you have in yourself. You can try once and look at your music and say, ah crap, and you give up. Been there and did that, it doesn't work for me. It's the continuation and getting off the high horse and being consistent."

"Wow, you really do have a passion for music, Mr White," Josipa commented, as Jack nodded. He stopped his eating to chat. "How long have you been at it?"

"About ten years or so now," answered Jack. Jack chuckled. "Yes, I do have a passion for music. A very big one."

"And a very big ego," Ravyn muttered under her breath. She didn't mean to say that, but it just had to be said. As long as no one had heard her, she would be fine.

"He is a very talented man," commented David. Ravyn rolled her eyes knowing that David was in a sucking up sort of mood. "But yeah, we're coming along slowly, aren't we?" Jack smiled and nodded. David caught Ravyn's stare. "What's for dessert?"

"Whatever you can go and fix up yourself," answered Ravyn. "I'm over cooking for tonight. Cooking for me right now, is overrated and I can find better things to do with my time. But since I'm nice, I do cook for my family, and guests." Ravyn looked to Jack. "Did you enjoy tonight's dinner, Jack?"

"Yeah, it was very well done, thanks for that," answered Jack, with a polite smile. "You're a good cook."

"Okay, don't suck up too much or you might regret it when you rock up here half drunk like you did this morning, a few hours before you were actually meant to be here," retorted Ravyn, somewhat bitterly, as she collected her dinner plate and stopped as Sarah had caught her attention. She had barely touched anything for someone who always left nothing to give to Niles on her plate. "Why aren't you eating it? I cooked it just for you."

"And pigs might fly," retorted Sarah, as she smelt pure bullshit coming out of her mother's mouth. "I'm not hungry."

"God, that's a miracle," commented David, at the other end of the table. Ravyn gave him a filthy stare. "What? Only pointing out the truth here you know. She's always fitting more than she can handle down her throat."

"Want to help me in the kitchen?" asked Ravyn, as Sarah shook her head. "What's the matter? Come in the other room and tell your old mother what's the problem."

"There's nothing wrong with me, I'm just not hungry," protested Sarah, angrily, as she got to her feet and dismissed herself from the dinner table. Ravyn sighed and collected Sarah's fully loaded with food plate in the other hand.

"The rest of you kids eat up, I didn't slave over the hot oven for nothing," Ravyn made it clear to the rest of the kids who were already shovelling the rest of their dinner down their throats. "Excuse me for a second." Ravyn dismissed herself from the table and walked into the kitchen. She saw Niles laying down by the door and watched him race over wanting some dinner or whatever was leftover from the dinner that she had cooked. "Alright boy, here's Sarah's dinner, seeing that she barely touched it." She set it down next to his water dish and he got stuck into it. She placed her plate in the sink and went after her daughter to see what was going on with her. Ravyn went straight for her room. Only to find a suitcase, half empty, and Sarah packing clothes into it. "Excuse me, but where do you think you're going?" Sarah looked up and continued packing. "Don't ignore me either. You know how I feel about ignorance."

"Anywhere but here, I'm going to explode here," answered Sarah. "And I'm already at stage one already. You saw what happened between me and your ex husband. I'm gonna end up killing someone soon if I don't get out of here for a short while." Sarah went back to packing.

"And where do you suppose you'll go?" asked Ravyn. "Your father's place?" Sarah stopped in her tracks and gave her mother an evil glare. "You know I'm only kidding. Seriously, where will you go?"

"Going to a friend's house, Tabitha's," answered Sarah. "She's invited me over for a couple of nights and I intend of taking that offer of hers." Ravyn wore a concerned look on her face which Sarah was quick to notice. "It's not like I'm going to end up homeless Mom, and on the streets. I'll be back. I just don't want to stay here any longer just in case Dad and his new barbie slut comes around again."

"You can always get a restraining order on him," argued Ravyn, as she started to see the bruises around Sarah's neck where Rob had grabbed hold of her previously. "You've got the evidence starting to appear around your neck." Sarah didn't respond, as she zipped her suitcase shut. "You know, running away from the situation isn't going to help your problem anymore than how bad it already is?"

"Why do you want me to stay in this household, that for starters I don't like?" asked Sarah. "You've known from day one I would rather throw David a bone and for him to fetch it, than to like him and hug him and act all family around him."

"Because here, I know that you'll be safe," argued Ravyn, as Sarah lifted the suitcase off her bed. Someone outside in the street beeped their horn twice. Ravyn frowned knowing that was Sarah's ride. "How do I know that Tabitha isn't a drug dealer or a sex offender?" Sarah rolled her eyes, as she started to wheel the suitcase behind her. "If you do go, please, please call me and please do come back. You're still my daughter and I don't want to lose you." Sarah gave her mother a peck on the cheek as she left her room. The wheels against the carpet made a squeaky sound as David was at the other end of the hallway, just near the kitchen, and wondered what was happening. Ravyn lent against the frame of the door, with her arms crossed and sighed.

Once Sarah had passed David, who let her pass without a question to be asked, he walked towards Ravyn. By the time that David had reached Ravyn, they both heard the front door open and slam shut. The sound of the squeaking wheels had faded and both of them could hear the wheels of her purple suitcase, being rolled against the concrete path outside that led up to the doorway.

"Where is she going?" asked David.

"I've allowed her to take a break from this household and its inhabitants," answered Ravyn. "I need to get my daughter serious help, David." David wrapped his huge arms around his wife, as Ravyn started to cry into his chest. Both of them heard the opening and the closing of the car outside's trunk. Then the door opening came and then the closing of it. Moments later, they heard someone spin the wheels on the car along with the starting of its engine. Seconds later, the car was gone and the only sound David and Ravyn could hear, was the sound of Ravyn's tears being wept.

****

[maverik68]

Wow, that's one hell of a heavy update I just got here!!

 

 

Bump in the night? Harr Harr that was actually pretty funny. :lol:

 

And whats up with Mel and fox, if neither of them had argued, none of this choking/running-away/family awkwardness would've happened! =O

 

And as for Rob, what a change.

 

In a way, I enjoy reading this because it reminds me that the world isn't the culture I'm partly from.

[woodyloveslinkin]

****

It was now dark and it had been a couple of hours since Ravyn broke the news to her family and the one that she had married into, about what Sarah had decided to do. Mel could remember the look of surprise and somewhat heartbreak on her mother's face. Despite the fact that Ravyn had decided to be, what she called strong, Mel could really see her mother crumbling into a million pieces and hiding away from society in the corner of her and David's room. Mel wasn't the only person to notice this. Like her sister, or more like her half-sister, Fox had seen the brave face that her mother tried to put on. The only reason why Josipa and Jess were so easily fooled by Ravyn's charade of fake strong might, is that they weren't raised by the same woman and they hadn't been what Rob had put the whole family through previously. Neither child said anything to their mother about their mother's brave face through this all, for the sake of getting on the wrong side of her.

Mel recalled the situation pretty well and again, chose not to say anything. She knew if she had mentioned it to Josipa or Jess, they would play the hero in this and confront their mother about it when it was clearly obvious that the woman was distressed enough about the situation.

Mel and Fox sat in Fox's room who she was forced to share with Jess. Jess was outside playing with Niles in the backyard while Josipa sat on the armchair in the living room, stroking whichever cat had come in and bug whatever family member for food. Mel sat on Jess's neatly made bed, while Fox sat on hers, unmade bed, as usual.

"Do you think she would really stick a knife in him?" asked Mel, uncertain about what to think about her twin sister anymore. She had never seen Sarah lose the plot so much over their father and to be triggered off with something so little. Mel had seen Sarah bear witness to many insults that flew out of their father's mouth about the way that their mother parents her children, and never once had she reacted this badly before. But yet again, Mel had to rethink what impression she was under, her father had never physically choked one of his children before.

Fox shrugged, not knowing what to think now. Like Mel, she had never seen Sarah react so badly to a situation. Even though Fox had wished to death for her to be with her biological father, she knew she couldn't be with Chester, deep inside, and be away from the half-siblings that she had grown attachment to after all these years, despite their insults and arguments.

"I don't know what to think now," answered Fox, briefly, as there was a knock at the door. Fox's eyes darted to the door immediately. "Who is it?"

"It's only me," answered their mother at the other side of the door, who was wrapped up in her dressing robe that had been a present from David. She turned the handle and opened the door. She saw the blank stares that her children were giving her. It was just silence in this room. She couldn't help but to frown at the silence. "Why so quiet? Did someone die in here?" Mel shook her head suddenly. "Then stop treating this as a funeral house and come outside. Everybody's out and about and you two's are just stuck in here like there's no tomorrow."

"I like being in my room," argued Fox, as her mother closed the door behind her. "And I like talking to my sister." Ravyn sat at the end of Fox's bed.

There was just silence as their mother looked to the floor in silence and pondered away in her own little land. Asking questions to herself that she would never know the answers to and yet, she just had to ask them. She was indeed trying to be strong because she had known from previous experiences, being weak did nothing for no one. She was the mother in this family and she had to keep them together through thick and thin. And now, she felt as though she had lost that maternal quality and she felt more than ever, felt like she was so close to having the family split up again.

"You don't have to put on a brave face for us, we know what you're going through and thinking Mom," Mel felt like she was going to be the one to say it and said it, breaking through the harsh and bitter silence that light from the overheard bedroom light somewhat highlighted it. Her mother turned and stared at her daughter, not knowing what to say to her. "We know what you're like when shit hits the roof, especially the type of shit that makes you feel like you're not in control of our family anymore."

"How would you know what it feels like to lose that maternal quality in your life, Melissa?" asked Ravyn, suddenly quite irritable at the fact that she's being told what to think. That was the last thing she wanted to hear from her daughter, especially coming from Mel. Mel just shrugged not knowing what to say or do. She had just found herself at the hands of a suddenly irritable mother that she didn't intentionally cross. Her mother's eyes had become suddenly glazed with tears and a couple of seconds later a few tears fell down her cheek. Ravyn didn't say anything, as the only thing she could think of, is how much Mel and Sarah looked alike, despite the different eye colours and different personalities. They were twins yes, which meant they looked alike and they acted alike. Ravyn shook her head. "Then don't tell me what to think."

"I didn't say that nor did I intentionally mean to convey that message," defended Mel, trying to remain calm at her mother's accusation. "We know what you're trying to do and it's not going to help any of us deal with Sarah's psychotic problem. You're making it worse by not facing it."

"Your sister does not have a psychotic problem, she's just-just-just......unbalanced, yeah, emotionally unbalanced, it's natural for someone like her, given what she's been through and her age, everyone goes through a mid-life crisis," Ravyn defended, not wanting to class her daughter as a crazy person. "And-and-and...what problem do you think that I have Melissa? I'm sorry if I have the problem that's mainly based on, my maternal instincts and wanting the best for my children. Is that it Melissa? Is that it? Are you wanting to break our family apart...again?" Mel shook her head. "Then what is it? What is it you're trying to prove?"

"What is it that you're trying to prove by ignoring the fact that everything's not going to be okay?" asked Mel, suddenly getting to her feet. "Mom, she's barely an adult and I highly doubt that Sarah's going through a mid-life crisis. Just because you went one with Dad doesn't make her so exposed to a crisis in her life."

"How dare you bring that up...you have no idea what or how it felt like to endure your father's crap like I did," defended Ravyn, as she got to her feet also. Fox didn't want to say anything for the sake of, well, she just didn't want to get involved. She just sat there and let the two of them fight the battle that she wasn't going to be part of, by choice. "You kids are lucky, you only got the half of what happened with your father. And by the looks of it, you're not grateful that a wonderful man like David has come into my life and made it all better again."

"There was no mention of David in this argument so don't try to drag him into it or even change the subject!" Mel found herself slowly losing her temper at her mother and her drama queen antics. "Show something for Sarah, show anything, show fucking emotion. You stood out there today when you told us that it was her decision to leave this house for a couple of days, just in case Dad came back to pick a fight with either you or her again. You told us with basically no emotion, you're going to kill yourself by pulling this fake charade on everyone and telling us that it's okay, when obviously, it's not. Even go and ask Fox, she knows what I mean." The pair of them looked to Fox for clarification.

"I didn't say anything so don't get me dragged into this," Fox found herself defending, again, not wanting to be blamed for any words said or any actions done.

Ravyn and Mel faced each other again, one looked astounded that her daughter was saying this to her face and the other, too astounded that her mother had lost all guts to show emotions and the fact that her mother was in denial.

"I'm not looking to break this family up, in fact, that's the last thing I want to do, I'm trying to do the opposite," Mel continued on defending herself, but she knew in the end, knowing her mother's moods and stubbornness, her mother would never listen until she calmed down. "I'm doing this for you and only for you."

"It looks rather the opposite right now," Ravyn retorted. "When you become a mother and you possess the same maternal instincts as I do, then I'll listen to you. I'm the one that's trying to keep a roof over our heads, but I cannot tolerate such accusations like I don't care for one of my other daughters coming from her younger twin sister. Do you want to go back to living under your father's autocratic rule?" Mel shook her head without a word to be spoken. "Then be grateful. Is that too much to ask?"

"Is trying to understand you're in denial and it's affecting the rest of us, too much to ask?" Mel couldn't help but to retort.

Ravyn was now furious at Mel, as she took one last look at her daughter and at her other daughter which was sitting on her bed with her hands over her ears, and stormed out of their room and into the hallway outside, slamming the door behind her. Mel too was also angry, as she laid back down on Jess's bed and looked to the ceiling. Fox removed her hands from her ears and looked over to Mel, to see her sister's face smothered in Jess's pillows and sounds of crying coming from her. Fox got to her feet and walked over to the bed which was on the opposite wall, and hugged Mel.

"It's going to be alright," Fox told Mel, as she shook her head. "Why won't it be alright?" Mel removed the pillows from her face and got to her feet, throwing Fox off her. "Mel, where are you going?"

"Anywhere but here," answered Mel, as she left the room, like her mother also slamming the door behind her and stormed to her room that she once shared with her twin sister.

"Mel, you can't go," Fox pleaded with Mel, following her into the room that Mel had once shared with Sarah. "It's the last thing that Ma would want or expect of you." Mel shook her head, as she opened the cupboard and started throwing clothes onto the bed.

"And where do you think you're going?" asked Ravyn, who was standing behind Fox, and in the middle of the doorway. Fox and Mel quickly spun around to see a still weeping mother with her arms crossed. "You're not going anywhere. You're staying here, like a good child."

"I fucking hate you and I want nothing to do with you ever again!" snapped Mel, as Ravyn swore a bullet had hit her heart and now was shattering into a million pieces. Ravyn shook her head, as she disappeared into the hallway, probably to Mel's guessing to get David. Fox continued to plead with Mel not to leave but Mel ignored Fox as she started to pack her clothes into a suitcase.

It was only a matter of minutes after Fox had stopped pleading with her sister to not leave home, that Mel was ready to go. She packed all of her clothes into a suitcase and without another word said or done, and without a final goodbye to anyone, she had closed the front door of the house and continued on her way to a friend's house. The bloody sunset that was above her outside, was the only thing that she walked into, as she dragged her suitcase along the footpath.

****

[Ravynlee]

My god, such violence! Such heartache! Such... bad tempers running rampant in this family of late. What the hell is going on??

First Sarah and Rob going at it, then Sarah walks out, then Rave pushes another child out of the nest she's figuratively attempting to rebuild - I'm a little stunned at Mel's reaction, but in another way I'm not.

Teens (and post-teens) have a tendancy to run (or want to) when things get heavy, and seeing as how none of the Bourdon kids have ever really had a stable home life the twins' choices to simultaneously run away from their problems isn't as surprising as it might otherwise seem. Avoiding problems, as Mel pointed out (poor kid, I wanted to slap Rave for her reactions to it) denial and the familial inability to avoid facing one's problems is arguably what caused this family so much heartache in the past - when will any of them learn?

 

Now having said all that, and seeing as how I didn't really comment before, I think Rob needs one hell of a wake up call for the way he's been acting lately too. What the hell? That thing between him and Sarah stunned me - I'm surprised no one pushed for assault charges (on either end) considering how strained relations have obviously become.

What's Sarah's problems and what is she really running from?

Is Mel running out of spite or is she reacting to her twin's dissapearance and gone to find her when it appears no one else wants to?

I'm glad Ravyn stood up for her new life with Dave and his brood but even by that admission and the way it was all delivered makes me think things arent as peachy in her mind as she wants them to be. Is that what Mel was alluding to?

And, I wonder, how Jess and Jos, who aren't used to this chaos, will react to the stereotypical Bourdon family crisis re-emerging all over again?

Good, good.

I wanted to slap Rave and I wanted her to chase Mel but I'm interested to see where you take this... angst. Oh and thanks for the updates despite your illness and such too. Proof no matter how ill you are your talents can overcome mostly anything, yeah?

*hugs*

[woodyloveslinkin]

****

"We have to call the police," was David's first suggestion as Ravyn frantically paced up and down, deep in thought of how she could at least get one of her daughter's back. Sarah was fine, although she hadn't call, Ravyn knew Tabitha well and she would take good care of her daughter. No child of either Ravyn's, or David's were in the room as David and Ravyn had vacated the living room for themselves and Jack was nowhere to be seen for once. Ravyn shook her head in protest. "Why the hell not?"

"Because she's my daughter and I'm not going to call the cops on my daughter," answered Ravyn, not knowing if she was making the right decisions or not. "She's my daughter and unlike you, I love her with my life."

"What makes you say that?" asked David, frowning at the last comment. "She's my daughter as much as she is yours. Well, daughter by marriage. Are you implying something here Ravyn that I'm missing?" Ravyn shook her head. David frowned. "I don't know who the hell you are by that assumption." Ravyn stopped and looked at David frowning.

This was the last thing that Ravyn wanted, a fight or an argument with David, especially given the current situation - Mel going somewhere on this Earth, probably at a guy's house or something more gruesome was happening to her daughter and she was helpless to do anything about her daughter. She didn't want to call the cops and track her down with a sniffer dog in one hand and a piece of Mel's clothing in the other.

"Please don't start on me, please, David, I'm going through hell and back and the last thing I need right now is more tension and more bullshit being directed at me by my own husband," Ravyn found herself pleading with David, but David shook his head as it looked like Ravyn had crossed him, which was very hard to do. "David, please, this is my daughter we're talking about. I know where Sarah is-"

"Despite the fact that she hasn't called at all," David interrupted. "For all we know she could be getting doped up on drugs-"

"Now my child might not be as pristine and perfect as your two kids David, but Sarah isn't a drug addict," Ravyn interrupted, getting hot-headed again with David, the last thing that she had wanted to do was to fight with David and have him leave the house. Ravyn shook her head. She wanted to apologise for that remark but decided to go against it. "No I won't apologise for that comment, I don't take accusations about my children doing drugs very well. You should know this, out of all people David."

"I didn't mean it, it was just a random guess, okay, look I'm sorry about that remark," David apologised, not wanting to get into a pointless argument, the same as with Ravyn. "I'm just saying, if you get the police involved they'll find Mel quicker and sooner that us. We can't just starting taking the law into our own hands."

"You obviously don't know this family of mine then," retorted Ravyn, as she continued pacing up and down the room, thinking about how quick the events of the night had gone. One by one the twins had left, just hours apart. "The police will just make matters worse, I don't want them involved. What are we going to do David?"

"Call the fucking police," growled David, getting angrier by the second for he was starting to be repetitive and that was one thing that really ticked him off. "Like I've been trying to tell you for the past hour or so that you've been fretting for."

"Do I look like I'm ready to call the police, David?" asked Ravyn, suddenly coming to a halt. "The only reason why I'm going to have anything to do with the police is matters concerning my ex-husband, not my children. And if you don't like that, you can get fucked. Because frankly, let's face it, I'm the only parent the kids have ever had and I'll be damned if I'm going to lose another one."

"Fine, I'll get fucked," replied David, getting to his feet in a fit of rage at being told to get fucked by his wife, in a bad mood or not, it was a thing that he didn't like to be told. "I'm taking my children, both Jess and Josipa, to a motel for tonight, while you dwell in your hole of pity and when you come out of it, call me, and then we'll have an adult conversation."

"Wait, Dave, I didn't mean it that way, in fact, I didn't mean it all," Ravyn argued, trying to save whatever and whoever was left of this torn household. "Please sit down, I'm sorry that I told you to get fucked, I really am."

"That's more like it," replied David, sitting back down again and ready to hear whatever Ravyn had to say for herself for once. "The reason why I'm strongly urging the police as an action that you have to take, is because they'll find Mel and drag her by her tail back here. I would do that if I were her biological father."

"I don't want to force my child back in a household that she doesn't feel right in, I learned it the first time around that you don't do that because they'll just rebel more and run away more times and quicker faster than you can blink your eyes," Ravyn tried to explain to David, but she felt more like she was talking to a brick wall. Ravyn went back to pacing up and down the room, as Ravyn saw Fox entering the room. Ravyn stopped as David's and her eyes fixated themselves on Fox. "What?"

"Stop freaking out about Mel, she's going to be okay," answered Fox. "I can hear from my and Jess's room and Jess is quite freaked out about this."

"How so?" asked David.

"She's never endured one of the Bourdon fights and she's crying, and telling me the whole world is going to end if Mel doesn't come back," answered Fox, crossing her arms and looking at David. "I don't know about you David, but the Bourdon family is so used to fights and arguments all the time, it makes me wonder why the hell you would want to marry into such a family. Especially to this one, who started most of the fights in the household." She looked towards her mother's way who was pouting at such an accusation of Fox's. "Don't lie."

"I didn't start any of the fights in that household, you're father did," Ravyn accused.

"Don't lie," Fox repeated herself.

"Don't you have something else better to do than to point fingers at people about who started what fight?" asked David, as Fox looked to David. "Go back into your room, tell Jess to go to sleep it's past her bedtime and don't worry, we'll find your sister one way another."

"For a father, you're really demanding," Fox couldn't help but to comment about the way that David fathered his 15 year old daughter. Maybe it was because Fox hadn't had the same fathering as Josipa and Jess got from David, but Fox was sure David was beyond the realm of weirdness some days.

"How would you know?" asked Ravyn, as Fox went back to looking at her mother. "You're father never did anything besides be an ass. He never did his job as your father-"

"He's not my biological father, so I didn't have to take orders from him," Fox interrupted.

"And that you did, very well," remarked Ravyn. "Trust me, I have the migraines from it. Now do what David said, go back and calm Jess down, tell her it's not the end of the world and for the love of God, get off my back for a while. You're an adult now and you should know how to do that." Fox smirked and left the room without another word said, as Ravyn looked back to David who looked unimpressed with Fox's behaviour.

"Something wrong?" asked Ravyn.

"Other than the fact that Fox needs some manners on her, no," answered David, meeting his wife's gaze. "No, nothing's wrong other than that, I'm fine." David got to his feet and sighed. He was wiry from all the high emotions and dramas that had taken place within the couple of hours that had flown past so quickly.

"Where are you going?" asked Ravyn, thinking that she might have said something wrong, with in fact she had said or done nothing wrong for once. She was innocent, this time around.

"Bed, tired as," answered David, walking over to his wife and giving her a kiss goodnight. "All this bullshit tires me and makes me want to sleep more."

"Goodnight," replied Ravyn. "I'll be going to bed soon, if I can sleep without the two daughter's of mine that usually broke the silence in the household." David faintly smiled at the fact that Mel and Sarah were the two loudmouths of the family and the household and yet somehow, everybody else was the opposite. David shortly disappeared out of sight. Ravyn shortly heard the opening and the slamming of their bedroom door, leaving her to ponder in her own state of mind.

 

****

[Ravynlee]

You know that last part had me questioning Ravyn's motives evenmore. If I didn't know better it's almost as if she married David so that he could be the father that Rob wasn't but there's nothing more than that except false sentiment: is she trying to make herself love him or does she really? I dunno now... weird ass family.

Oh and Fox as always has her father's ability at pointing out the obvious and somehow making light of it. Got to love that.

Hope she's right about the girls.

I still think the cops should be involved but again, David is right. If they're adults they have the right to leave and there's nothing Ravyn can do, they have to learn by living it, as hard as it might be. But we'll see... I didn't think it would be long before the kids (any combination) would start causing more profound problems in this happy household.

[woodyloveslinkin]

****

Ravyn found herself in a mysterious and eerie woods that the only noise was the cracking of the twigs underneath her bare feet and the sound of the wind whistling past her ears and through the leaves up above her. She looked up to see how tall the trees around her were, they were metres up into the sky and looked rather intimidating given their height.

She looked back down at height view and looked around to see if there was anyway out. She didn't like the mystery that surrounded these woods.

On her side there was a white marble church that looked like it had been abandoned for years at end and on her other side there was a graveyard that was protected by a black and rather Gothic-looking fence that bore a gargoyle's head on the pillars in the four corners that the fence connected to.

She scratched the back of her head, fearing this was some sort of omen and that nothing good was going to come out of this journey to this bizarre land. She looked back to the church to see what seemed to be a monk clad in the traditional monk black robes and hooded. She walked over to the monk, taking care where she tred as she could already started to feel scratches appearing from walking bare foot along the ground that was covered in twigs and other spiky objects.

"Excuse me," she tried to say to the monk who just stood there in front of the white marble church that stood out so brilliantly under the grey sky and thick canopy. "Could you help me out?" She came to the bottom of the white marble steps and looked upward to the monk. The monk looked familiar to her, very familiar. She took her time going up the steps as she felt the cold sensation of the white marble touch her skin and sent a few shivers down her spine. "David? Is that you?" She smiled, thinking that he was trying to pull her leg or something. "I know that's you." She stopped in front of the monk, who still didn't reveal his face to her. "Okay, David, you need to stop fooling around and tell me where I am." Then she realised something as she looked down to what she was wearing. She was wearing a white dress that had been torn across the stomach as though something had slashed her with its claws. She was wearing a white flower bracelet as well that had various pieces torn off it. "What the hell?"

"You should not be here," said the monk, in a deep voice, quite similar to the one of David's. The monk pulled away and separated himself from the conversation with Ravyn, but she wasn't going to give up that easily. She ran after him, grabbed his arm and pulled him back so that he would face her. But when she did so, it was like looking at the back of his head. She walked around him, trying to find his face, but it was always the back of his head.

"What's going on here?" asked Ravyn, as she stopped and the monk pulled away and started walking the opposite direction. "Tell me! What the hell is going on here?"

"I told you before, you should not be here," repeated the monk, as he walked down the stairs. Ravyn didn't know what to think as her eyes followed the monk walking down the stairs. Then when he had reached the last step, he just simply disappeared into thin air.

Ravyn shook her head thinking that she was only seeing things and that everything wasn't so strange and abnormal as she had perceived it to be. But everything remained the way that it was and it was starting to spook her out.

She started to hear noises coming from inside the church. It was all mumbling to her but she recognised the mumbling as some sort of chant and she recognised the mumbler as one of her daughters.

"Fox?" asked Ravyn, as she slowly entered the white marble church to see one of her daughters knelt down in front of a table that wasn't quite the alter for the alter was black with red cloth spread over it. The table was bare with nothing on it, revealing its Rosewood timber to the strange world that Ravyn had entered. She slowly walked up to her daughter who wore her red hair backwards in a braid and wore a black dress. "Sweetie?" Like herself, Fox's feet were bare and had been patterned with scratches and grazes from unknown force. She knelt down beside her child and placed one hand on her shoulder. She was quick to notice that her hand was scratched severely. She withdrew her hand and took a closer look at the cuts. They said something, Ravyn couldn't help but to frown and notice at the same time.

It read -

Intereo intereo intereo

Ravyn mouthed the words and silently spoke them to herself. She didn't know what language it was, but she took a random guess and assumed it was Latin.

"Die die die," Fox mumbled and, as she faced her mother. She looked up from her hand and met Fox's gaze. Her mouth dropped when she saw her child's face. There was a bloody slash across her face and her eyes were a bloody red. There was eyeliner down her face indicating that she had been wearing eyeliner and she must've cried to make it run, and the red lipstick that she once wore, smeared across her face. "You should not be here...Vos should non exsisto hic...you should not be here..."

"Fox, where am I?" Ravyn asked desperately. "Cut the ritual crap and tell me where I am. What's happened to you? Where's the rest of the family? Are you okay?"

"Vos should non existo hic.." she continued as suddenly a scream was heard from inside the church. Ravyn spun around to see who had made that scream, for that scream, again, was very famailiar. She spun around again to grab her daughter by the arms and drag her, but Fox had gotten hold of a candle and looked more spookier than ever. "Vos should non existo hic!" She yelled at the top of her voice.

"You should not be here," Ravyn mouthed as she turned around and started to walk back towards the door and down the aisle. Past the wooden seats that were placed in neat rows and stopped for a second. She spun around to see where Fox had gone and she had disappeared. "What in God's name is happening here?" It was like something out of a horror movie like Silent Hill, but even creepier and without the number of monsters coming after her. She turned back around again and almost felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart with a knife when she saw one of her other daughters hanging from a noose in the doorway. Again, dressed in a black dress. She dropped to her knees and covered her mouth in shock. But Mel looked like she had been attending someone's funeral by the black hat that she wore. Her eyeliner and other makeup were still in contact.

Mel's blood soaked the noose that kept her hanging down from the ceiling and the body casually swayed from side to side. Like every other person's feet, they were bare and they had scratches and grazes on them. Her hair had been braided, just like the way Fox had her red hair braided. Ravyn touched her hair, after realising that she hadn't noticed that her hair too was braided. What kind of world was she living in?

She got to her feet, as she overcame her shock of seeing her daughter in such a state, she turned around to see if Fox was still there. She was gone. She yelled out for Fox but got nowhere in her attempts to try and figure out what was happening and why she was there. She turned back around again to see her daughter swinging in the breeze in the doorway by a noose.

But she was gone. Mel was gone.

Ravyn's heart was beating a million miles a second and she wasn't sure that she could handle such shock. She turned around again, still standing in the aisle and started to walk towards back to the alter. She suddenly came to a stop as she realised she heard whimpering and crying somewhere. Where was it coming from and who was it who was crying? Ravyn frowned.

She looked around and in the corner of the front part of the church, she saw the remaining daughter crying. Huddled into a ball in the corner and crying. Ravyn's maternal instincts kicked in and rushed over to her daughter, not thinking for one second that this could be another trap for whatever was playing this sick and twisted game.

She came to a halt in front of her child, bent down and hugged her child.

"Let go of me," she heard Sarah say, as she realised that Sarah, like the others, were wearing a black dress and had her hair braided back. What was it with the black dresses and the braid that made everything seem so spooky and mysterious? Ravyn frowned as she let go of her child, but was somewhat relieved that Sarah wasn't like Fox and kept telling her that she shouldn't be here in more than one language. "You shouldn't be here!" It had started as Ravyn shook her head in protest.

"I'm your mother Sarah, you're not going to do the disappearing act on me like your other two sister's have done on me, you need to get out of here," Ravyn urged, as she grabbed hold of Sarah's arm and tugged her to her feet. Sarah looked up and Ravyn's mouth dropped and her hand also let go of Sarah's arm. Ravyn covered her mouth. "Oh my..." Sarah's throat had barb wire fencing around her neck and from the wound that it inflicted on her, red blood, the colour of a bloody sunrise, dripped down from the barb wire. Her eyeliner was smudged across her face as well with her red lipstick. There was a noise that made both women jump and Sarah looked back to her mother with urgency in her eyes.

"I told you shouldn't be here," she repeated. "You must go before he comes out and finds you. You must run! You must hurry!" Urgency flashed in Sarah's eyes as Ravyn realised that Sarah didn't have her normal dark blue eyes, she had light green eyes. Ravyn took a step back, slowly, keeping her eye firmly on Sarah. "Volito, festino!"

"I'm not going without you...." she heard herself speak, as she kept walking backwards. "You're my daughter, I'm not going without you..." Ravyn didn't know what happened next but the next thing she knew she was running for her life in the woods. She felt her heart racing more than ever inside her chest and felt as though it was going to explode. She kept looking backwards to see what it was, this thing, it was chasing her, and she didn't know why. Sarah was right and Fox was right, she wasn't supposed to be there. She had unknowingly interrupted something like a ritual taking place and now she was running for her life. Over fallen trees, logs that seemed to be decaying quickly and through shrubs that stung her when she went through them.

And then next second she was down on the ground, after tripping over something on the ground, she was covering her face yelling at whatever was going to get her...

"Ravyn! Wake up for the love of God!" came David's voice, as Ravyn woke up from her deep sleep. David sat on her side of the bed next to her, ready for a day's worth of work, and looking very worried. Ravyn suddenly felt all sticky and sweaty. "I don' t know what happened but you were yelling out; I'm not going without you. I was really worried there for a second, you sounded as though you had seen a ghost or something. Oh well, we all have bad dreams."

****

[maverik68]

Wow, ^^; pretty neat updates!

 

Though, I'm not too concerned about Sarah, She's an adult and quite frankly can handle herself.

Ravyns Motherly instinct is quite a feat to handle through such bullshit times that goin' on, Poor her. =\

 

As the lack of parenting is still evident as Fox is just ill mannered and well...

 

D: lots of violence.

 

I did enjoy the last dreamy part ^_^ the visual and the nightmarish scenery were quite the picture!

[Ravynlee]

My god - what the hell was that?! And what the hell was his (Dave's) apathetic reaction all about?! Jesus! That whole update was just... unnerving. I get it that was the intention, but wow... dark, visual, archaic... got my mind reeling here at what it all must mean. What the hell was she running from? What the hell was after the girls? (Did anyone else find it strange no mention of her other child, her son, or Dave's kids were in danger here?)

Love the latin. Love the horror aspect. Love the visuals. Just how it all ties in... no clue whatsoever.

You've got me intrigued madam, kudos!

[woodyloveslinkin]

****

Ravyn didn't know what to say as she laid there staring at the white ceiling with the covers over her. She was soaked in her own sweat as she heard David say some things but wasn't sure what they were as she was too indulged in trying to make sense of what had happened and what that dream could have meant.She wasn't working today which was a relief but the looks of David he was going out, probably to the studio. David gave her a peck on the cheek and told her to get up and left the room. She swore there was a mention of him going out but she wasn't sure.

She closed her eyes, trying to catch her breath and trying to bring herself back down to ground level as the dream had left her very shaken up, as any decent mother would be after seeing their children in such a state. She frowned as she realised that she had only seen her three girls - where was Viking? He was still in her life even though he didn't live with them. Where were Josipa and Jess? She couldn't help but to remark to herself, something about it shows how much those two girls really had an importance in her life.

She suddenly found herself struggling for air and trying to struggle to reach the thing or person that was doing this to her, the hand had around her throat and she couldn't see who it was. She started to cry as she realised that she was going to die and had now started to regret disobeying everyone's warnings.

"Please," she choked. "Please."

"Ravyn?" asked a voice, and the hand suddenly let go of her. She realised where she was, she was back in the strange world full of Latin and bizarre metaphors. She was still wearing that white dress with that slash across her stomach that something or someone had made with its claws. She drew a deep breathe now thankful for every breathe of fresh air that she had available. The hand caught her hand and pulled her up to her feet. She didn't know what to think when she realised that the person that had tried to choke her to death was indeed - her ex-husband, Rob.

"What the hell do you think you're doing and what the fuck was that for, Robert?" she asked, still being thankful for every breathe. She frowned as she pulled her arm away from his grip. Then she realised something about him. He was wearing a suit, like the ones you would wear to a funeral. He was nicely dressed for some odd reason and Ravyn didn't like the look of it. "Where are my children Rob? Why are they dying on me?"

"What are you talking about woman?" asked Rob, frowning. "They're right here." And as soon as he said that three girls dressed in black and white dresses came and stood by his side. Ravyn's mouth dropped as she realised that something was really wrong here as those children matched her memory of the girls when they were young. Mel and Sarah, had identical brown length hair and Fox, had curly red hair. She remembered those dresses - they were a gift from one of her friends to them. She dropped to her knees, still knowing that she was still in that same white dress and she was still in the same surrounding environment that grey covered the sky and it still had that mysterious feel to it.

"Come here," she said to the girls as the girls came to their mother. The only way to tell Melissa and Sarah apart was the colour of their eyes. But something didn't feel right when she wrapped her arms around the three of them. She looked to Mel and Sarah and she knew something was very wrong with them. "What's wrong with the twins Rob?"

"Nothing, why?" asked Rob, frowning as though he had missed something wrong with his beloved twin girls. "They're fine."

Ravyn shook her head. "No. Mel has green eyes not blue. Not the other way around." She looked to Rob and frowned. "What the hell is going on here?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mel has always had the blue eyes of the family," argued Rob. "You're just going crazy." Ravyn got to her feet and took a step back. And another. And another. "Where are you going? You're not going to abandon us are you?" Ravyn shook her head, as she realised she had to find Viking.

"Where's Viking?" asked Ravyn. "Where's our only boy?"

"Who?" asked Rob, not knowing who his wife was talking about.

"Viking!" yelled Ravyn. "You know, our son, first born?" Rob shook his head again, still looking confused. "I want to know where my son is. What's happened to him Rob?"

"What in the name of God are you talking about?" asked Rob. "We've only ever had girls. Sarah's the eldest, you should know that." Ravyn shook her head, as she continued to step backwards, still keeping eye contact with Rob. "What is wrong with you?"

"I don't want to be here," mumbled Ravyn, almost at tears. "I want my son...I want my son..."

"We don't have a son, how many times do I have to tell you this?" asked Rob, suddenly getting angry. "Now come home, we were expecting you to cook dinner." Ravyn shook her head. "Don't you start a scene here, missy. You know no one likes dramas."

"...I want my son...." she repeated under her breath, as she started to break into a run. She didn't look back either, she wanted Viking, she wanted everything to go back to normal. The church, she suddenly thought to herself, as she came to a halt. "He must be in that church." Ravyn looked beside her and there she was, back where she had started to begin this nightmare. She looked to her side and there was the white marble church where she encountered the two girls. Then she heard some childish singing coming along her way.

"Ring-a-round-a-rosie.." the child sung as she could barely see the child coming her way. She squinted to see what her next surprise would be. Fox? Sarah? Mel? It had to be someone who was a girl because it was sung in a girlish tone. "..pocket-full-of-posies-ashes-ashes-we-all-fall-down..."

It was Sarah, again, but with her head down, like she had her head down in the church before. Ravyn shook her head, thinking this couldn't be happening.

"Sarah..." Ravyn heard herself say.

"Mother...." she trailed off and eventually came to a stop in front of her mother. She looked up at Ravyn and Ravyn covered her mouth and fell to her knees. Instead of the barb wire around her neck, like previously done to her, something worse had happened to her. She had no eyes. Her eyes had been gauged out and she was walking blind. Blood ran down her face and there was just empty holes where her pretty blue eyes had been. "....I have failed you..."

"No baby, you haven't failed me," Ravyn wept as Sarah got on her knees and Ravyn embraced her in a hug, crying as she thought about what happened to her child and who could be so cruel to do that to her. Then suddenly, Ravyn started to feel Sarah crumble beneath her grip on her child. In a matter of seconds, Ravyn couldn't believe it herself, Sarah was just a pile of ash on the ground and ash on her now-grey dress. "Dammit! Who's doing this to me and why?" She couldn't see anyone getting pleasure out of doing this to her, torturing her the way that they did. She hung her head and cried some more, hoping that everything would be okay in the end. It had to be okay in the end, she told herself, as she was obvious to her denial stage. She didn't even know if this was real or not.

She soon got to her feet and dragged herself into the graveyard as she realised it was the one place that she hadn't gone and had a gut feeling that was the place where she would find solace and some peace of mind. She dragged her feet into the graveyard, eyeing the stone gargoyles as though the stone in them would disappear and they would come to life. She pushed the gate open, and left it open. Leaving it to swing open and shut in the air, squeaking its hinges like an out of tune mouse.

She walked across the small area of graves and looked at every single tombstone. She stopped at one and just immediately embraced the tombstone in a hug.

It read -

Here lies David Draiman, rest in peace ol' man.

That's all it said.

If this was David's grave, who was the man in the cloak that had the same deep voice similar to David's then?

"I told you shouldn't be here," came the monk's voice from before. Ravyn turned around and got to her feet. She stormed up to the monk thinking that someone had conned her into thinking that David was dead and that everything was going to be okay. She ripped the monk's hood off to see if it was David or not. It wasn't David. It was Viking. And it had been Viking all along. "But you never listen!"

"What is happening Vi?" asked Ravyn. "Why am I being punished? And what am I being punished for?"

"You were never there for us and now it's time that you suffered a bit!" came Mel's voice from out of nowhere. Ravyn looked around to see Mel's body still swinging side to side and with Mel's throat still in the blood-stained noose. The rope was tied to a tree that was outside the graveyard, but that wasn't the freaky thing about it, her daughter was looking up at her mother.

"Not true," Ravyn shook her head. "I-I-I, put you guys first, ahead of my marriage with Rob. Always! I-I-I-never neg-neg-neg-neglected you." Then suddenly it was a high pitch squeal that escaped from her daughter's mouth. It was ear-piercing that Ravyn fell to her knees and had to cover her ears. "Make it stop!" She found herself yelling at Viking and Mel. Her world was going around and around and around. "No! I haven't done anything wrong! I'm a good mother!"

"Of course you're a fucking good mother," Sarah's voice broke through Ravyn's world, as Ravyn woke up for the second time. She woke up with her wrists in Sarah's grip. Ravyn felt like she had wet the bed or something because it was just so saturated with sweat.

"Wh--at?" asked Ravyn, confused about what was happening and what had happened.

"You tried to attack me when you were asleep," answered Sarah, calmly, slowly letting go of both of her mother's wrists, one of her wrists , of course had ink circulating all around it. "Is that what I get for trying to wake you up?"

"..just happened?" asked Ravyn, still trying to wake up and come to terms with it was just a bad dream. "What are you doing here?"

"I came back to get some stuff and here you were yelling and flailing your arms around as though you were being attacked," answered Sarah. "Josipa and Jess thought you were having a seizure of some sort. It's okay, Ma, it's okay, nobody's here to hurt you."

"It was just a dream then?" asked Ravyn, as Sarah nodded.

"A quite disturbing and a violent one I assume," answered Sarah. Ravyn slowly nodded and sat up. "You wanna talk about it?" Her mother shook her head. Sarah suddenly felt like she was going to be squeezed to death because her mother had suddenly embraced her in a hug and for a second she thought her mother was crying. "Ma, are you crying?"

"I'll never let you go..." Sarah heard her mother mutter. "I'll never let you go........."

****

[woodyloveslinkin]

Okay, uber short update.

****

Today, unlike yesterday, was cloudy and the smell of rain was in the air. It had become gloomier by the hour and the weather forecaster on the news station had predicted a thunder storm. Sarah laid down outside, next to the pool, in her usual spot but not in her usual swimwear, she read her book that she was trying so hard to finish.

Josipa and Fox sat outside the back as well but they sat on the outside dining set just near the barbecue. They were deep in conversation and by the looks of it, they were arguing about something. Sarah had this gift of ignorance that she inherited from her mother - she had selective hearing and was casually blocking out their argument which was getting louder by the second. But Sarah didn't budge as she had her head engrossed in the book. She hadn't been told where Mel was and every time she asked where her twin sister was, everybody else would just change the subject which Sarah thought that was really odd. Sarah swore to herself that wasn't going to go back living in this house for a while but at the same time, she was already starting to miss the instability of this household, as hypocritical as that might sound.

Ravyn had drove Jess to her karate lessons in town and had automatically remembered that today in fact was Jess's karate lessons and normally had to be reminded consistently from Jess herself, and David. It didn't take that long to run from point a to point b and back to point a. She didn't feel like going outside today, due to her constant reminder of her nightmare she had, that still, felt like it was too good to be fake. She sat on the couch as soon as she got home, turned the CI channel on and hugged a cushion, as she wished that David was home so that she could tell him about the dream.

She watched the CI channel without a word to be said or another sound to be heard other than the television itself playing. She didn't even know or hear Jos's and Fox's argument outside and was just thankful for everything. There was only one thing that could spoil this quiet moment and knowing her family too well like the back of her own hand, it happened.

"Can you just shut up?" came Jos' voice and Ravyn frowned, as her personal silence had been broken by one of David's kids.

"Why don't you just shut up instead of telling me to shut up?" came Fox's voice, as Ravyn chucked the pillow outside, as she knew pretty well that she would have to get up and find out what the argument was about. "For someone who thinks they know everything in the world, you're pretty useless Josipa."

"And how the hell would you know that?" asked Josipa, as Ravyn got to her feet and sighed, as she walked to where the two voices were coming from.

"Stop it, I was just starting to relax," intervened Ravyn as she stopped in the kitchen's doorway and crossed her arms. "What the hell are you two arguing about this time around and give me a reason why I shouldn't drag you both by the ear and into your rooms?"

"Because you're not my mother to start with," retorted Josipa, who had just struck a nerve ending with Ravyn. "You're hers not mine."

"Who's her?" pouted Fox. "The dog's breakfast?"

"You look pretty close to what Niles' dog food looks like though," answered Josipa. Ravyn frowned as she had always known Josipa to be the friendly and social child of David's. Josipa in the eyes of Ravyn, was a non-annoying version of Sarah.

"Mum, make her stop," pouted Fox, as she turned to her mother for support.

"Why did you do to Josipa in the first place to end up in such an immature argument?" asked Ravyn.

"She called me a whore just because I have a boyfriend and she doesn't," Jos accidentally blurted out. Now, she knew what she was going to get - a lecture of a lifetime about boys and girls.

"Boyfriend? What boyfriend?" asked Ravyn. "You've never said anything about a boyfriend to me or your father."

"His name is Mark," Fox added, as Ravyn knew Fox was trying to get Jos in more trouble and it was working. "She used to sneak out with him before th night when the cops busted them in a nightclub."

"You know how your father and I feel about boyfriends - you're not having one until you graduate high school," Ravyn lectured firmly.

"You're not my mother and you can't tell me what to do," Jos rebelled, as she stormed out of the room, now fuming mad at both Fox for telling the whole world about Mark and at Ravyn for trying to be the mother she never liked.

"Jos! Come back!" yelled Ravyn as she saw Jos walk down the hallway, headed for her room. Jos didn't stop, but continued on with her walk of rage. "Now, thank you!"

"I fucking hate you!" Jos yelled, as she entered her room and slammed the door behind her.

Fox looked to her mother to see what her reaction would be.

Ravyn just stood there, biting her lower lip, and not knowing what to say. She had tried her hardest not to be the evil stepmother from hell and it had looked like she had failed. She turned around and went back to her spot on the couch, and continued to watch the CI channel. She wasn't really watching it, she was too busy with the million or so thoughts running through her head. Jos had basically repeated the final words that Ravyn heard come out of Mel's mouth before she packed her bags and left without any word or without any phone call to her mother that she was okay. She sighed as the front door opened. Her eyes immediately darted to who was coming through the door, hoping that it would be David.

Her heart sunk as she realised that it was only Jess coming through the front door, still in her karate uniform.

"That was a bit quick," commented Ravyn.

"No, you were supposed to be there waiting for me in the car, I told you that I would only be a minute or so, I wasn't going to karate, I was going for a ceremony for the younger kids for about ten minutes that's all," frowned Jess. "I had to take a fucking bus to get here." Ravyn's heart dropped even lower. "You're pathetic at being a mother, you really are. Now I see why you and your previous husband didn't work out."

Ravyn bit her lip, as she restrained herself from getting up and shaking that kid senseless for such comments. Jess shook her head in disgust and left the room, headed for her bedroom. Ravyn knew she was going to be in for it, when Jess realises that her sister is crying and angry at her evil stepmother for even living.

It wasn't Ravyn's day at all.

****

[LPNailz]

Ooh. Creepy stuff. I wish I could contribute something more interesting\helpful, but I can't.

[woodyloveslinkin]

****

 

There was a knock on the door, later on that afternoon. Ravyn didn't want to get up and get it just case it was Rob trying to ruin her life even more. She looked around to see what important things Fox was doing on the couch and stared at her. Fox was quick to catch on that her mother was staring at her, knowing that she wanted her daughter to do something. Fox looked back at her mother, as the person knocked again. Ravyn nodded her head and pointed to the door without a word said and Fox sighed.

She got to her feet and her mother lowered her pointing finger and smiled innocently. And plus, she was also glued to the television and was hugging a comfortable pillow with her other arm. Fox stamped her feet across the floor, indicating that she was getting lazy and didn't want to do anything but she was made to do something. She opened the door and she didn't recognise the face at all.

"Hi," said the guy who was looked about Jos' height. He wore long baggy army pants, matched with an army singlet and an army printed cap that was back to front. "Err...Is Josipa home?"

"And who's asking?" asked Fox, already knowing her mother's reaction to the circumstance. She didn't even need to look at her mother, as she had already got to her feet and was walking towards the door. Fox suspected that this was Mark, Josipa's love of her life boy.

"Mark," answered the guy, who now looked uneasy as Ravyn had arrived at the door and was eyeing the boy suspiciously as though he had murdered someone. "You are..?"

"I'm her stepmother and no you cannot see Josipa," answered Ravyn, bluntly. "When I want grandchildren, then I'll give you a call." Ravyn slammed the front door in Mark's face, leaving Fox bewildered at her attitude. Fox looked to her mother, a tad confused about why she was in such a foul mood. "What's that look for?"

"You seem to be in a very foul mood today," answered Fox. "Care to tell me why?"

"Jos knows the rules - no dating until she graduates," answered Ravyn. "Breaking such rules resorts in moodiness and crankiness. What do you expect, Fox, seriously?" As soon as Ravyn had stopped hammering her daughter with questions that Fox didn't know the answers to, Sarah arrived on the scene. "Yes, can I help you? Do you want me to shine your shoes or scrub the floorboards today?"

"What the hell is wrong with you today, woman?" asked Sarah, a bit confused why her mother was suddenly arrogant and dry sarcastically moody. "You're on your ever continuing rag or did you wake up next to the wrong person this morning?"

"I don't need shit from you," snapped Ravyn. "I've endured nearly twenty years of your crap, just give it a break for once in a while."

"Who's blood are you really out for today, Ma?" asked Sarah, folding her arms, trying to understand why her mother was like. "Dad's? David's? Ah...mine?" Her mother shook her head. "Then quit with the animosity. Save that for when Dad and his new Barbie doll comes around next time."

"There won't be a next time when they can come around and cause shit whenever they feel like it," argued Ravyn. "I'm going to get him charged with assault and coming onto private property without legal permission. This isn't his house you know? And I'm going to be damned if I'll ever grant him permission to come on this property and treat the family like he did yesterday. You also have to thank David as well, for saving your hide." Sarah rolled her eyes, and Ravyn saw it, even through the over-grown fringe of hers that covered her eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me. You know I hate when people do that to me."

"Then don't roll your eyes at them," retorted Sarah, leaving the scene to go to the kitchen and stuff herself.

Ravyn turned back to Fox and looked at her sincerely.

"I'm serious, Josipa is not allowed to see any guys until she graduates and that rule applies to everyone who's still in school," Ravyn clarified firmly. "And that means you too."

"What about Sarah and Mel?" asked Fox.

"They can go nuts, they just can't wind up with a kid like I did at their age, or they'll be out the door within three seconds of conception," answered Ravyn. "Trust me, losing my teenage years in those nine months or so, wasn't fun. On another topic, do you know where David has gone?"

"He went to the studio with Jack," answered Fox. "Or that's what Jos told me." Ravyn sighed and detached herself from the conversation with her youngest biological daughter and sat down in the same spot as she was sitting before she had to get off her backside and tell the rat to get lost. The CI channel was still going, and it was basically the only thing that Ravyn watched on cable television. Well, that and American Chopper, when she was watching television with David. And the kids usually sat down with her and watched either the cartoons (after an hour long debate of course about Ravyn not wanting to watch cartoons and at the same time not wanting to do something else other than watch television) or the CI channel with her, it really depended in what mood she was in. Then it occurred to her as she realised that Fox had left the scene along with everyone else that had been on her back previously about everything under the sun. Ravyn frowned as she fumbled around for the remote control with her eyes still stuck to the television screen. She detached her eyes knowing that she would never find it that way. She looked beside her and there was no remote control.

She swore just moments ago she had the remote control in her hands, but instead there was a gossip magazine that one of the girls must've picked up from the up the road. What intrigued her the most was the picture of her ex-husband dodging the cameras with who looked to be like Joanna, hand-in-hand with him.

That'll be right, she couldn't help but to think to herself, as her curiosity got the better of her and gave in. She picked up the magazine and skimmed across the page's first few paragraphs. It read -

So the famous Linkin Park drummer, Rob Bourdon, is up to no good once again. Sources have revealed that he has not only recently physically attacked one of his children he had in his previous marriage but the daughter, whose name cannot be disclosed for legal reasons, actually fought back and had threatened to stab him.

Not only has his violent and angsty side gotten the better of him, there have been rumours floating around Tinsel Town that David Draiman, who is more well known as the lead singer of Disturbed, there have been rumours floating around suggesting that the pair are planning to do a collaboration together.

Ravyn frowned. This was wrong, oh so very wrong. It was Jack White not her ex-husband who deserves nothing better to be alone and whither in his single life. She was more than intrigued about these false and misleading accusations but was now starting to think that the unknown source could be living under this household. She read on.

What is ironic about these two collaborating is that they both have or had the same wife.

That's when Ravyn shut the magazine as she knew she was going to be named in it. All she wanted to do is live a normal life and she had it until she had picked up this magazine which had turned her world completely upside down.

Seconds later, Josipa arrived through the front door, looking hot and bothered from the walk from town seeing that she had missed the bus that spared her the twenty minute walk. Ravyn thought for a second that she better pretend that she didn't know anything - about Mark and about what she had just read. But she couldn't.

"Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" asked Jos, looking at Ravyn who sat in front of the CI channel, patiently.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" asked Ravyn, getting to her feet firmly and showing Josipa the gossip magazine that one of the girl's bought. The trouble was, there were too many in her household and she couldn't tell which one it was right now.

"What's that?" asked Josipa, innocently, not knowing what Ravyn was talking about.

"I know you hate me, and I've taken so many precautions so that you wouldn't, but why leak our private family business into these sort of magazines?" asked Ravyn. Josipa just stood there looking confused. "You have no idea what I'm talking about?" Josipa shook her head. "Okay I understand, you might not be the one who did it."

"Someone leaked private family business into the magazines?" repeated Josipa, as Ravyn nodded. "Can I see what they wrote?"

"No, I'm showing your father first before I show anyone else," answered Ravyn. "But if you maintain your innocence and you're innocent in the long run, fine. But tell me about Mark and why you have the sudden urge to go break rules?" Before Josipa had the chance to defend herself, Ravyn continued. "Do you have any idea how young I was when I fell pregnant with my eldest child, Viking?"

"Oh well, it was your fault not mine," defended Josipa, taking off her shoulder bag and dumping it near the doorway. "You don't have to protect me, you're not my mother you know?"

"But David is your father and he's set rules down in place to protect you," retorted Ravyn. "I hate to sound like an old nag but it's true. I wasn't even twenty-five when I had finished popping kids out, I was barely twenty-one."

"Then stop blaming me for your mistakes," retorted Josipa, angrily. "It's not my fault you hadn't discovered contraception."

"Josipa, your father and I set down these rules to prevent you having to be a teenage mother," explained Ravyn. "I've done it to all my girls, even to my son, no dating until you graduate."

"It's not my fault that you've turned out to be a crack whore," snapped Josipa, as she took one last look at her stepmother and went to her room where she would smother her face in her pillow and yell insults into the pillow.

She was just so sick of her stepmother and she also knew that the other girl's were also sick of their relationship. Josipa rolled over onto her back and looked at the ceiling. She had heard countless of times Jess talking about how much she hated their stepmother and the rest of Ravyn's daughters complaining about the complete opposite, their stepfather. She got to her feet and dashed to see where Sarah was. She didn't even knock on her door and closed the door behind her as Sarah turned around because she was in her cupboard trying to look for some clothes she had desperately trying to find before her mother killed her for losing the pieces of clothes.

"What?" Sarah asked, as Josipa closed the door behind her. "You've never heard of knocking before?"

"Before you get stuck into me, I have a plan," puffed Josipa, as Sarah closed her cupboard.

"She doesn't like Mark if that's what you're going to plan about," Sarah assumed that Josipa was going to start finding ways to see Mark now that she had been discovered.

"It's not about Mark," replied Josipa. "It's about Ravyn and my Dad."

****

[Ravynlee]

reminds me of the good old days when the kids would plot and scheme in their hurt and confusion to get their parents back together... ah memories...