Childhood memories best left alone
Jayce grew up an orphan in Gaia along with a lot of other children after the bot war. At first she had no idea who her parents even were. All she had was a photograph of her mother inside a cheap gold colored locket made of steel. It was not worth much at all but it was worth everything in the world to her.
The only connection she had to her past, that she shared her mothers pale hair.
She was adopted by a middle class couple and her foster mother abused her terribly. Noone did much at all other than avert their gaze when she walked by sporting yet another scar. The school nurse and her were on very close terms due to this and she was not always able to even attend. She still always looked for her foster mothers approval at every chance. Even after her foster father left them both and it only got worse.
She sparked a kind of friendship with a man a few blocks away, Mr. Reinhardt. It was nothing romantic as he was much too old for her and she wouldn't be interested anyway. The conversations usually were of fairy tales, disillusionment, and bitterness. She no longer believed in happy endings, only the cold familiarity that was reality. He seemed to agree to her view on life and continued to offer his house, his ear when she could steal away for him to yet again dab the fresh blood off her or when her foster mother was away.
This continued for several months until the day she walked up the stone steps of her house and found her dark haired foster mother speaking with him. The shock almost made her pass out since she knew what lay ahead. She was immediately told to stop pestering Mr. Reinhardt and received a severe beating that ended with her being thrown unceremoniously in the bathtub and almost drowned.
She decided she had had enough and when she woke up the next morning, there was no recollection of what she had done. Her foster mother lay facedown in a pool of her own blood. She called the police and turned herself in. Eventually she was not charged with anything as she was still a minor and everyone knew how badly abused she had been. Still this effected her deeply as she did not even remember taking a life and would carry the guilt to her grave.
Within a few days she found herself standing at Mr. Reinhardt's house just staring up at the windows. She didn't know if she had the courage to go up and ring the doorbell but fate had it that was just about to leave anyway. Their eyes locked and he got the impression his plans would have to change. He let her in and made her some hot chocolate with a tiny bit of mint in it. Then he waited for her to talk.
She let it all out between sobs, all her pain and guilt. His arms surrounded the broken girl as he hugged her and tried to be there until she was a little bit stronger. He took a napkin and dabbed at her tears until her face was dry. Then he noticed the locket clutched for dear life in her hands. He asked to see it and after a few moments of hesitation she showed him the picture of her mother.
Mr. Reinhardt immediately clasped his left hand over his mouth as the recognition displayed on his face. The face of his fallen sister stared back at him through the battered looking metal. . . .
To be continued. . . .
 Jayce Reinhardt · Sun Jun 13, 2010 @ 11:58pm · 3 Comments |
