𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒂 (18+) *On Hiatus*

22. Daniel

"DANIEL."

I turned over in my bed my brain pounding against my skull. The bright light from my room wasn't helping and as I try and pull the covers over my head they're yanked off my body completely. Groaning I curled into myself to shield away from the cold.

"Daniel!" Someone yells and I wince. My ears rung for a few seconds hurting like a bitch. "Daniel, you have to get up. Vincent's home."

Feeling my entire body starting to shake I tear my tired eyes open to see Isaac— one of my foster brothers jerking my arm back and forth. "You hear me?"

My brain slowly became less foggy and soon the sound of yelling came to my ears. Chaos early in the morning. Sitting up and scratching my head I tossed my feet off the side of the bed. "What's going on?"

"Vincent came back." He says more sternly and I see a look of fear pass through his green eyes.

I nod getting what he was trying to silently say. "Okay— just... just stay in here Issac."

He climbs into my bed and to the far corner. Getting up I tossed on a shirt and pulled open the room door. My eyes instantly take in the mess tracked through the hallway, mostly glass and broken picture frames that were placed upon the walls last I remembered. Across from me is the twins Ari and Kai both seven years old. They were standing at their door with tears in their eyes and despite my worry I didn't ask what was wrong.

Walking through the mess I avoid the glass and head for the living room where all the commotion was coming from. I went to turn the corner but I flinched back as a glass vase flew past my head. "Shit." I mumbled my chest rising and falling from fear of being hit.

"You stupid bitch!"

"Vincent you have to calm down!" Anora my foster mother sobbed. She was tucked away in the corner behind the couch all bruised up and bleeding. Her lip was busted and her nose looked broken at this point.

My heart sinked in my chest and I felt like I wanted to puke. As much as I wanted to help I couldn't. I was still in the process of healing my own bruises from Vincent's drunken torture that occurred last night before he sloppily stormed out.

The man raised his hand at her and I opened my mouth to say something but I was pulled back into the hallway before anything could come out. The hard slap resonated through the room and her head hit the floor. "Shut the fuck up, I didn't tell you that you could speak!"

My eyes were squeezed shut. I didn't want to see that. I didn't want to hear it.

"What did you think you were about to do?" River whispered harshly to me. He pushed my shoulders softly against the wall and I looked at him. "We don't interfere."

"H-he's killing her." I told him. "She's beat up bad enough and he's just going to keep going. You know this."

"Daniel have you not taken a hard look in the mirror yet this morning? Do you have a death wish?!"

"N-no." I shook my head. I didn't have a goddamn death wish. This was just inhuman, how could anyone sit through and listen while he basically pushed her further towards an early grave?!

The room door beside us yanks open and Joe comes rushing out. His disheveled hair told us they he'd just woken up from his sleep. "Fucks happening?" He asks just as Vincent screams more violent threats towards his wife.

"You cheating on me I'll kill you, you fucking slut! You're just like your goddamn mother, both good for nothing whores!"

Joes widened eyes seem frightened. He wiped his hands down the front of his shirt. "I'll get the twins and Issac ready for school— j-just make sure she doesn't die." His voice was more of a painful whisper as he walked to the end of the hallway to get the younger ones ready for the day.