The Flashbacks: Chapter one

A young teenage girl learns her mom and stepdad want her dead! Presley has to find a place to hide to keep her and her unborn baby safe.

     Presley read the directions on the pregnancy box, sucking in a cry as she took the test. The results took three minutes to appear.  A pregnancy could only aggravate her problems. Fatigue struck her without warning. After unlocking the bathroom door and returning to her bedroom to lie down a cacophony in her closet ruled that out.  

     "What are you doing, Mother?" Presley grasped the bedpost to keep herself steady.

     "Looking for your dress to wear tonight." Sylivia held out a fuchsia off the shoulder knee length evening gown as a frown etched her face and placed it back in the closet to begin shifting dresses aside.

     "I can dress myself!"  Presley shouted.

   

     A slap to the face knocked her into the bedpost. "I'm your mother, show me some respect,"

     Presley laughed. "You have never been a mother to me."

     "I gave birth to you." Sylvia scowled.  "That makes me your mother."  Then turned her attention back to the closet full of dresses.

     Presley gritted her teeth.  Sylivia never wanted her. If it had not been for her deceased dad, she'd never been born. Dave Matthews took care of her as an infant and on up till the day he died. Her heart clenched daily in grief. She wanted to move out, and Paul, her stepbrother offered her a place to stay. Even though they were not blood related, they were close. Sylivia and Stan refused to let her move out because of her age. Seventeen wasn't that young. Presley knew why they refuse to let her move out of the house. On her eighteenth birthday, she would inherit one million dollars from her deceased father, and they wanted the inheritance.  Stan and Sylivia planned on murdering her once she got the money. 

     "I'm not going to the stupid party."

     Sylivia glowered with a dishevel grin. "This is the dress you'll wear, and your Sliver Glitter shoes will go perfectly. The party starts at seven sharp, don't be late." she said, emphasizing the word sharp.

     "Have you ever loved me?" Presley asked as she sucked in some air, waiting for a reply.

     A red fingernail pointed directly in Presley's face. "Never!" Sylivia yelled in a scathing tone. Stiletto shoes clicked against the hardwood floor as she left.

     Presley felt she might melt into a wad of despair. Her pulse pounding, she made her way to the bathroom. The ringing of her cell phone halted her steps. 

     "Hello."

     "Presley is that you?" Shea Russell, her best friend asked. "I can hardly hear you."

     She cleared her throat and continued to the bathroom. "I had a tickle in my throat." Fear lines rippled across a worried face. Eyes opened wide and stared at the pregnancy test, she was pregnant.

     Shea's voice change to concern. "Anyone there?'

     Presley struggled to keep the tremble from her voice. "I'm here." Her pulse quivered with dubiety.

     "How about we catch a movie?" Shea asked, returning back to her cheerful self.

     "I can't. Tonight, is Stan and Rick's campaign party."

     Shea always had a smile to share, and her faith in God was strong. Presley often wondered if God even existed. If there was a God, why didn't he love her enough to help her?

     "Stan as president, and your mom First Lady, and Rick Taylor as vice president." What is this world coming to?"

     "She's not my mother!" When the harshness of her voice caught her off guard, she hung up before anything else was said.

     Presley walked out on the lovely vine-shaded balcony into the stillness of the evening, her favorite time of day. The sun alteration of colors blotched into a beautiful sunset. A hush fell over the day into a peaceful darkness. A plan methodically formed in her mind as her eyes landed on the Amish book she'd been reading. She contemplated becoming Amish and vanishing to keep her and the baby safe. Presley laid her head on the balcony wall; it was then she gave herself permission to cry. Long black eyelashes fell on wet cheeks. Brad Taylor raped her. Stan and Sylivia force her to date him all because he was Rick Taylor's son. 

     "Are you okay?" Paul, her stepbrother asked. His compassionate voice covered her in a soothing balm.

     Her eyes were bloodshot from crying. How it would be so easy to uncoil her burden onto Paul's shoulders, but she couldn't. Brad would kill anyone she told because he claimed he didn't rape her. The threat of a migraine throbbed at the base of her skull. When she turned and set eyes on Paul's Leaf Weed Party Suit, laughter filled the air.

     

     "You can't wear that suit," she said with another snicker.

     He tried to look offended. "I brought it especially for tonight." Paul arched one eye and winked at her. "I hope I looked handsome."

     Presley pursed her lips to calm another bout of giggles. "I didn't say you weren't handsome, but Stan will not like that suit for his political party."

     "Stan will have to get over it.  I'm old enough to wear what I want."

     Presley sat down on a lounger. Paul turned his attention to a tragic memory. Lately, it'd been waking him up at night in a cold sweat. One mention of his dad's name and the memory flashed in his blurry mind, it had to do with his mom. Paul placed his hands over his ears to muffle out the recurring screams.

     "What's the matter?" She placed a comforting hand on brawny shoulders.

     Paul shook his head to clear the image from his mind. "I keep trying to remember something the night my mom died." For a long moment his throat clogged with emotions. He didn't want to say what he was thinking. "The night my mom died, I heard her screaming for help." Anguish along with guilt collided with each other.

He grimaced. "I came out of my room into the dark hallway." A tear slid down his stubbled cheek. Embarrassed, he swiped it away. "I stayed hidden, afraid to go help."

     Presley followed Paul back into her room. "Are you saying Stan murdered your mom?"

     A hazy glint clouded his vision as he hurried to close the bedroom door. What kind of son accused his dad of murder? His heart galloped in his chest.

     "Yes, my dad killed my mom." He put his fist in his mouth to cut off his sobs.

     Paul sat down in a wooden rocker. Presley rubbed her hand along the wood until she found the engraved words. My baby you'll always be, love dad. A sickness fluttered in her stomach, and it had nothing to do with the baby. With the resurrected of Paul's ghost resuscitated her own ghost.

     "No, no, no," Presley shook her head.

     Paul grabbed both her shoulders. "What's wrong?" He rubbed her back. "You're okay," he whispered.

     "The night my dad died; Sylivia told me he had a heart attack, but I saw red smeared on his shirt." Presley shuddered. "She didn't know I had come out of my room and was watching them."

     She fell into Paul's embrace before breaking free and running to the bathroom. She knelt in front the toilet and vomit.

     "You're pregnant?" Paul asked, holding up the pregnancy test. He handed her a cool washcloth.

     "Please don't tell no one."

     "I won't say a word, but this is something you can't hide for very long." Paul's face turned angry. "I thought you didn't like Brad."

     "I don't like him!" She stared at her milk white complexion. Once again, the harshness of her voice frightened her.

     "Let me get this straight. you don't like him, but you're having his baby." His face reddened with fury.

     "It just happened!"

     "Did that rich punk force himself on you?" His hands balled into fist. "Because if that's what happened he's dead."

     "Paul, wait." Presley paused a moment to gather her thoughts.  "We both got drunk, and it just happened."

     "You never drink. I'll let it go for now, but we will talk again, and I want the truth." Paul headed to the door. "And Presley, we'll also figure out what to do about this nightmare we're living in."

     Presley couldn't speak, she only nodded a response. It didn't matter because she planned on running away as soon as she had a plan.

 

     

    

Author's Note

Tell me what you think!

Reviews

[Carola]

hi kathy,
the story is quite interesting.
I'm no writing expert, however, IMO, maybe rethink how to introduce some of your characters in the story. 'cos I found that I had to go back to the beginning several times to find the characters & their position & relationship to each other.
also, I found a couple of spelling/ grammar mistakes -->>
-- "Looking for your dress to wear tonight." -> Looking for a dress for you to wear tonight
-- "Presley knew why they refuse to let her move out of the house." -> refused
-- "Stan and Sylivia force her to date him all because he was Rick Taylor's son." -> Sylvia & forced
-- "My baby you'll always be, love dad." I would place single quotation marks at the beginning & end and maybe even write the words in italic to differentiate them from speech.
-- " With the resurrected of Paul's ghost resuscitated her own ghost." -> it doesn't read right. maybe use resurrection and a comma after Paul's ghost, ___ OR 'With the resurrection of Paul's ghost, it resuscitated her own ghost.' ___ OR 'The resurrected ghost of Paul, resuscitated her own ghost'
-- "She stared at her milk white complexion." -> i think it needs some explaining here, how did she stare at her complexion? ___was there a mirror that she walked past?

(can I be so bold as to suggest you download 'Grammarly' & then open up 'new document & write everything on that page. Grammarly makes spelling & grammar suggestions. after all corrections are done I then copy the whole page & paste it where I want. ___ I only use the free version which is limited, but you can subscribe to get the full version if you want.)

just my thoughts, again i'm no expert. hope this is of some help.

cheerio carola

[Neville]

Cor blimey Miss, Ms. or Mrs imagination101 .. I was not sure what to expect before turning the first page .. the tile of your book was most intriguing though .. Once that first page was opened however, I found the whole bloomin thing to be quite captivating & enjoyable .. I'm glad I dared to visit, I dont often venture into what could be very long reads .. because I can get bored very quickly unless something has that little come and get me feel to it from the off .. I fear that life is too short for that sort of thing ..

Should you see Presley on your travels .. please say hi from me ........................... Neville :)

[KATHY SUE SILLS]

Neville, thank you so much for your awesome review! I have been working on this novel for a long time. Couldn't find a publisher. So, I decided to put it on writer'scafe and see what happens! You made my day!

[Neville]

you really are most welcome .. my pleasure entirely ... N :)

[Patricia Wedel]

dear Poet... a well expressed Story that happens fairly often.
Many such Babies grow up to be wonderful loving people.

gently, Pat

[KATHY SUE SILLS]

Thank you for reading!

[M. J. Smith]

Yeah, I can see why God would be hard to believe in. That blasted free will thing. That's why I prefer dogs over people. Thought about becoming Amish, huh? Tough row to hoe, but something to be said for the life. No running away from problems, though. Well written.

[KATHY SUE SILLS]

Thanks for reading!

[KAREN]

I love the start of this book. It is suspenseful, and it keeps the reader interested from start to finish. I feel sorry for Presley, her mom is so mean!

[KATHY SUE SILLS]

Thanks for stopping by!

[KAREN]

You're welcome! It's good and deserves to be read and reviewed!