Mary was living a life of dreams, but the only difference was that, this dream was a nightmare.
Her face was still itching from the slap last night as she stepped into the house. "Where were you?" Asked a person standing in front of her. He was wearing all black. It was a clerical suit with a Roman collar. "I went for a walk, Brother," she answered slowly, hoping to get away from this without any damage. "Did I not tell you to not go out?" He asked in a steely voice
"I- I just want- wanted to visit the new neighborhood, Matthew" Her hands were shaking violently because she was lying. The the only thing Mary wanted was to breathe. That was the reason why she went out of the house and broke the rule made by her brother "You don't know if it's safe for you or not, Mary! When I order something, you are supposed to obey." Matthew raised a hand at her in anger. Mary pinched her eyes hard, ready to deal with the pain for another time but his hand fell making a tough fist.
In some exceptional and lucky cases this happens "Let's take a moment to calm down, May God be pleased with us" suddenly the anger was gone and her brother was talking calmly to her. It would have made Mary relaxed if it wasn't for her knowing what kind of a monstrous person, her brother was. Mary didn't reply and Matthew kept on reading prayers. After a while of Mary standing in terror not knowing what her brother would do next, he stopped uttering words in his mouth and it was the time for the next order "Do not miss the Sunday prayer or the consequences would be hard to bear" Mary nodded in reply, hard "Yes, Brother"
"May the Jesus guide us," said Matthew in a relaxing voice. She hoped his words to be true "Amen," She replied, and Matthew walked out of the door.
Mary breathed in relief, and then she glared at her mother, who was sitting on a couch. Her eyes were darting at various places at the same time and suddenly she stopped, looking at Mary "I ma-made some-some breakfast for- you-you" She said pointing in the kitchen with a shaking hand "Shut up, Mom" Her tone was exactly opposite to what it was like in front of her brother "Ma-Mary, Listen to-to me—"
"Stop behaving like you care about me, Mom. Where the hell does all this go when my brother beats me? Why don't you show your fucking care then, huh?" Serene stopped talking, her face grew in sorrow, and she sat back on the couch while saying prayers. "May the-the Lo-Lord guide us," She hissed loudly, and her mother stopped saying words.
Mary took some angry steps to the stairs and went straight to her room
She didn't want to act rebellious to her sick mother, but to her, Serene was a burden. She couldn't hold the thought that she was her mother because mothers were supposed to protect their children, no matter what and that wasn't the case with Serene. She was suffering from severe depression and because of this illness she can't even takecare of herself
Neither Mary nor Matthew cared for her because her recovery was only possible through months of treatment, and neither of them ever had the time to give her. Mary had tried it a couple of times, but she had a busy schedule sometimes, and was unable to take her mother to the hospital. After days of making an effort, Serene would go back to her original state with just a couple of days of break. So, in the end, Mary concluded that it was a waste of time.
She was now used to it because it's been years. Serene has been suffering from it for years and it kept on getting worst with time. She got sick when Mary's dad passed away twelve years ago. It was the first time when she felt the beast in her brother. Matthew used to be a good brother but something happened with him and her late father that caused him to change. Mary didn't know much about her father as she was only nine at that time, but Matthew had told her that their father had made a wrong choice and the death came to him as a punishment. It never made sense to he yet she never really gave it a thought as her life was already messed up
Mary opened the door to her room and went straight to the balcony. By some luck, she got the room with a balcony attached, and now, at least, when she has to cry, she won't be locked in a closed room like the last home.
This house belonged to her family, and they used to live there before the death of her father. Mary doesn't have many memories about that time because she was so young back then, but for some reason, it feels like home.
As Mary walked to the balcony, she was still wearing the mask, even inside the home. The mask and hoodie were her best friend as the two of them were perfect to cover the marks her brother gave her.
Right at the moment Mary didn't remember to remove it because she was so eager to jump onto that balcony. It was a small place. She sat on the chair at the wall and rested her head back. There were some flowers grown in pots. She never knew the mystery behind them because this house was locked for years, and those flowers were beautiful and so alive, as if someone was specifically taking care of them. For a brief moment, her mind went to that Weirdo whose flowers she broke, and he acted like the world was ending.
Anyway, Mary was thankful for it because those roses were spectacular to her eyes and she couldn't hold a smile while looking at them.
As she was glancing at those red petals with full concentration a voice pulled her out of the zone. It was a song,
'I want to tell you something that I have never been able to say'
She had never heard this song before. But the voice was familiar and almost perfectly nailing the melody. Mary stood up and walked forward.
'It's my feelings that I have been holding in my heart, but now it started to hurt.'
She saw a boy sitting on a chair. His legs were dangling on the edges of the chair with the nods of music and a guitar was placed on one of his legs. His voice was clear and heartfelt, mingling with every perfect nod from the guitar he played. Mary gave a look full of concentration to his face, and she located the Weirdo. It wasn't like Mary didn't recognize the leader of ART, she just wanted to not make him so pleased. ART was a local music band from Hawthorne, and the reason why Mary took an interest in them was their music. It was similar to the music of The Beach Boys, her favorite music band. Mary had been listening to them since her childhood and she found no other singer who made music like them and then two years earlier, she randomly found ART
She was not a fan of him or something. She just liked their music.
The boy stopped playing guitar and his voice was nowhere to be found as he looked at her. For a long moment he just stared at her as if she was some sort of celebrity, maybe she was "Oye" the boy said a word that didn't make sense to her "Hey, Mary" He smiled at her and she was just staring at that symmetrical face figuring out how someone could look this amazing— she rolled her eyes at the boy "Do you have some sort of allergy?" He sounded a little worried. Mary was certain that when they met in the morning, he had seen the scar on her cheek but then why was the boy behaving like he never knew it? "None of your concern, Weirdo", she said, looking at him again. "No, Diamond, you should not be talking to strangers like this. Who knows they could be dangerous and end up hurting you" At the words, all Mary wanted to do was laugh out loud because the most dangerous man she had ever seen was her brother and he was not a stranger "By the way I am, Adrian Joseph you can call me Ryan as well" She already was well aware of the name but there was a confusion between it being Adrian Joseph or Aaryan Yusuf. The boy was lying and not telling her his real name, she figured, but never said a word. "You know me, right?" He asked. Of course, Mary knew him and the two of his fellows, Raheel and Taha 'The Sky is Looking Beautiful' was her favorite song from ART. Mary was again sure that she was never a fan of theirs but their music was of her liking, especially the lyrics that just touched her heart— "No" she replied "Well, then I must introduce myself to you, Diamond" She hissed at her nickname and at the way she did not hate it "I don't—" Her words stopped coming out similar to her breaths when she saw her brother coming back to the house and without saying a word she turned around and went straight to her room "Diamond?" He called but Mary could not reply to him because she never wanted to put Aaryan's life in danger
Thankfully Matthew didn't saw her standing on the balcony or talking to him