The usual silence was interrupted with a loud bang downstairs which always had the same outcome and that scared her. Every time it was the same routine, she hid, he came, he found, he preyed. All the hiding spots she thought she found had been unsuccessful, to the point where she just accepted the fact she couldn't hide from him. She then heard a loud crash that sounded like glass breaking, indicating he was drunk.

"Don't hide, sweetheart." He slurred. She figured she would accept her fate as she slowly crept downstairs. He smirked when he saw her, a smirk that made shivers run down her spine. He started stepping, more like wobbling towards her and she backed away. There wasn't much room to move, she was now backed up to the wall with him towering over her.

"Don't look so scared. If I wanted you dead, I would've killed you, almost did. In fact, it's the special anniversary of that 'accident', right?" The alcohol on his breath burned Rayland's nostrils, not enough to distract her from the last part of the sentence. He read the confusion on her face and laughed.

"Oh, you don't know?" She nervously shook her head which made him belt out in more laughter. Rayland figured the best way to get information out of him was when he was drunk, he often let certain details slip.

"That 'accident' wasn't such an accident, sweetheart." He hiccuped again, the wheels in her head started turning as she thought about what those words would have meant.

Accident.

Car accident.

Car accident, two years ago.

Darren planned the car accident two years ago.

Darren killed her father.

She finally realized how dangerous he really was. He killed her father without a trace of evidence leading back to him. He meant to kill her and he got caught in the crossfire. Rayland never loved her father but it didn't mean she wanted him to die.

It also made her question, if she and Darren met when she moved in with Linda after the accident, how did he know who she was before it?

Darren never had it out for Rayland, he had it out for her family but why?

Today was the day.

Today was the day of the accident.

Today was the day I was going to fucking die.

I had always expected to die of old age, maybe even a common illness but I was blessed with brutal murder by my aunt's ex-boyfriend. I had no choice but to obey his wishes, he had undeniable power over me and there was absolutely nothing I could do. I didn't want my family to get caught in the crossfire, like my father.

Family is a strong word, a word that I don't use lightly, a word that was almost unknown before I got here. Even with Blake's glares, Liam's affectionate nature, Micheal's grumpiness, Paul's protectiveness, Hayden's playfulness, Jaxon's peacemaking abilities, Jayden's awkward niceness, and Jaylen's weird way to make people laugh, every single one of the Brown's became a part of my family.

Weston's kindness, Myles' annoyance, Matteo's confusion, Alexander's humor, Max's random questions, and Aria's shyness were all things I looked forward to when I entered the school building.

Last but not least, my twin brother, Ryan. The brother I just got back, I was gonna leave again because of some unknown family feud. My annoying, sensitive, weird yet caring, sweet, and funny brother was going to suffer the worst and I always reminded myself 'I am doing what's best for him.' But maybe I wasn't doing what was best for him.

Who am I to tell my brother what's best for him when I can't even do what's best for myself? I know he would rather die than know I was in pain but I was being selfish. Instead of telling somebody or finding a solution, I was taking the easy way out. I told myself I was being selfless when I made this decision but it was anything but selfless. I was selfish.

And it was the worst decision of my life.

"Pumpkin, are you alright? You're zoning out a lot." My heart melted and broke at the nickname, it made me feel like I was loved but it also would make today a lot harder. Everyone except Micheal looked confused.

My initial plan was to push them all away, stay in my room, and not talk to any of them but it was all disregarded when Liam lured me out of my room with bagels, the only thing I thought I could stomach right now. I had been playing with the bagel since I got down and my stomach churning made it impossible to eat without throwing up.

I decided I would try to make the most memories with them before I left, to make me someone worth remembering.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

Lie.

He obviously didn't believe me and neither did anybody else but continued eating. One more look at food and I would vomit so I quickly excused myself and ran to the closest bathroom. I heard footsteps behind me but didn't even have it in me to care.

As I was emptying the contents of my stomach, I felt a soothing rubbing on my back which would've been comforting if I wasn't vomiting my lungs out. Once I was finished, I was handed a napkin by Jayden, surprisingly. I thanked him and wiped my mouth.

We walked out of the half bathroom and were met with concerned, confused, and careless faces, the careless face looked like he was forcing himself to look nonchalant. Liam rushed to grab me a bottle of water but Jayden stopped him midway.

"You're not supposed to eat or drink after vomiting, if you do, small amounts." He explained, everybody silently questioned how he knew that. "What, I had my fair share of hangovers. Damn, I'm kidding." He shrugged, quickly adding the last part of his sentence when met with the stern face of his dad.

"Go get some rest, kiddo." Micheal ushered me up the stairs with no room for discussion. Once I made it to my room, I plopped down the bed, wild memories clouding my thoughts. I let them take control.

(Continuation of memory in Prologue)

"Mommy look. It's a picture of me, and Ry, and Mommy, and Daddy." I held the picture up to her face and looked at it in awe.

"Oh, it's wonderful sweetie. Let's go hang it on the fridge." she replied.

I nod vigorously as she leads me towards the kitchen.

"Daddy, daddy, daddy, look at my picture." I yelled at my dad.

"It's nice honey." Dad said with a forced smile on his face but I was too excited to notice Mom and Dad glaring at each other.

"I have to show Ry." I ran upstairs to show him.

"Ry, come down so you can see my picture."

"Okay, I'm coming."

As promised, he comes down seconds later and looks at my picture.

"Wow, I love it Liv." He always calls me Liv or Livvy because my middle name is Olivia.

"Thanks, Ollie." I sometimes called him Ollie because his middle name is Oliver.

We were interrupted by the sound of glass breaking from the living room.

"You are fucking insane." I heard Mommy's voice, Ry and I gave each other a look and we both crept into the kitchen, getting a peek of what was happening in the other room. Mommy was glaring at Daddy with a crumpled piece of paper in her hand. Mommy's favorite vase was shattered on the floor so I knew she was mad.

"I'm not the one that's insane, you are a psychopath. I can't remember why I even married your pathetic ass." Daddy retorted, she only scoffed in response before throwing the deteriorated paper to the ground.

"Pathetic? No, what was pathetic was begging to have me back when I broke up with your pathetic ass." Mommy said with tears in her eyes, I wanted to go and hug her but Ryan pulled me back and shook his head.

"You're so lucky I care about our kids or I would've kicked your ass to the curb."

"You and I both know you don't give a damn about our kids." Ryan dragged me upstairs and I hugged him when we got to our room. We sat there for about an hour, huddled in each others' arms.

"Ry, do you think they're still fighting?" I asked.

"I think so." He sighed, I cuddled closer to him if that was even possible.

"I'm scared."

"Don't worry Ray, me and Rex will always protect you." He said, giving me a big hug and placing the stuffed dinosaur that I got him next to me. I smiled at the dinosaur and brought him closer in our hug.

I woke up that night and he and 'Mommy' were gone.

I forced myself out of my room and spent time with the whole family except Blake who grumbled like a baby and locked himself in his room when I invited him. The more time with them, the more guilty I felt. They started to become suspicious and it was so hard to lie to them about something of this magnitude. I also felt guilty for leaving them with these memories just for me to put myself in harm's way hours later, not even knowing if I'll make it out alive.

I repeatedly told myself that I was overreacting, that I was going to be fine but I couldn't bring myself to believe it. I'd rather not die and call myself a drama queen than have my life flash before my eyes without expecting it.

Expect the worst and prepare for the best.

I quietly snuck out the door, most of my stepbrothers were in the game room, Paul, Micheal, and Liam were at work, and Blake was doing who knows what in his room.

I wiped the stray tear off my face with the jacket tied around my waist and started walking to the scene of the accident. Even with my bad memory, Darren never let me forget. He made it a constant reminder of what he had taken from me.

As I was walking, I kept hearing rustling of bushes that I walked past, giving the impression somebody was following me. Knowing Darren, he had eyes everywhere and I was hoping that this was not the case, I kept my eyes out though.

-

"Glad you could make it." He smirked as I approached, I glared at him which he only laughed at. "Still as feisty as ever I see." He chuckled.

"What the hell do you want?" His smirk only grew when I demanded and he started coming closer to me with his hand in his pocket. I backed up until there was no more room and he was towering over me like in my flashback.

"I want you to hurt like I did, Rayland. I want you to pay for what your family did to me and I don't see anybody else," He comically looked around before continuing. "So it looks like you're the lucky guest." He smiled.

"You want to hurt me for what my family did, are you kidding? What did they do to you?"

"Now you remember your family? They weren't your family when you went and replaced them with the rich bitches you moved in with." He said, ignoring my question.

"Shut up about them, okay? Do whatever you want to me and leave them out of it." I gritted while he laughed even more.

"I hit a soft spot, good to know."

"Are you done with the supervillain monologue or are you gonna tell me what I'm doing here?" I huffed and crossed my arms, he finally took out the shiny metal that made my blood run cold.

A gun.

He cocked the weapon in front of his face with a sick smirk covering it.

"I already told you what you're doing here, sweetheart. I want you to hurt like I hurt." He drawed the gun closer to my stomach, the metal poked into my stomach.

"What are you gonna do, kill me? You don't think people are going to hear the gunshot, call the police, and get your ass busted?" I questioned, trying to sound confident but the crack in my voice let the false confidence slip.

"You think I haven't thought of that? I shoot your pathetic ass, flee, skip town, and your death be pronounced as a suicide." He chuckled. Why he was telling me his plan, who knows?

"You're not gonna get away with this and I will make sure of it." I threatened.

"How? How, huh?" He smirked and took my silence as weakness. "That's what I thought." He then turned his head to the commotion.

He was interrupted by police sirens that were coming nearby, he snapped his head back at me with the worst glare that I have ever seen.

"Oh, you think you're so smart huh?" He turned off the safety on the gun and jabbed it back into my stomach. "Well not smart enough?" And that's when I felt a pain in my stomach, he shot me. I held the wound as hard as I could but the blood was spewing out too fast.

I soon collapsed along the wall and didn't pay attention to the chaos surrounding me. I felt something being wrapped around my stomach but my vision was too blurred to realize who or what it was.

I heard footsteps surrounding and more bodies huddled over me.

The last things I heard were three gunshots, police sirens, and five words.

"Please don't leave me again."

_____________________________________________________

2296 Words

Any thoughts?

Sorry for no update last week.