"RAIN OF FIRE" by Sarah Ryniker

STORY LAST UPDATED ON 21/04/2002

Rain of Fire Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Epilogue

CHAPTER SIX

Just because my grandfather had told me what he had didn't mean that the two of us were any nicer towards one another. He was still his mean, grouchy self, and I was, according to most who had met me and known her, a carbon copy of my mother. I didn't have any respect for him because he had done things the wrong way, and had ignored his daughter when she felt that she was endangered. Had she warned him of my father's advances as well? Did he just ignore her then, too? Knowing him, he probably blamed it on her. It wouldn't surprise me any.
    I told Mitch all that I'd found out from Grandfather Gerald, including the reason he married Ella. He was definitely shocked. His mother had always been so cool, calm and collected, he'd never assumed that she'd always been crazy just underneath the surface. But she was. We both knew it. I just didn't understand what had kept her sane for years and years.
    "I just don't get it. For years, according to you, Jenny and Grandfather Gerald, she wasn't the least bit crazy. What happened?" I stood in the library, looking out the big windows as I always did when I was deep in thought.
    Mitch thought for a moment. "Maybe she did get rid of Rachael. Maybe she thought she'd got rid of her for good, and then Karen didn't keep her end of the bargain and brought you back here. You weren't ever supposed to come back," he reasoned.
    That's when an idea hit me. "Oh my God, Mitch! What if my grandfather had nothing to do with my being given to Karen and my father!" I cried; spinning around so fast I nearly fell.
    "You could be right. He didn't mention any of that to you?" I knew the inner workings of his mind were in full service right now, trying to figure out what was going on. It wasn't that easy, though.
    I shook my head. "No, he didn't say anything about that. But I know a couple of people who will." I smiled. "In a few days I'm going back to see Mama," I announced.
    Mitch's eyes widened. "Why not just call her?" I knew he was worried about my seeing Damian, but he had nothing to worry about. I loved Mitch, even if I hadn't told him so.
    "Because this is something I have to do face to face. I need to know her side of it. She has never told me. Maybe because I never asked," I answered his question, almost as soon as it left his lips.
    He nodded, understanding my reason. "When will you go?"
    I thought for a moment. "I'll wait until after Christmas. I think I'll spend that with you," I announced and sat on his lap to hug him.
    This Christmas was going to be one of my most dramatic yet, however. It partially made me wish that I had decided to leave before Christmas, just so I could avoid it.
    I had just got dressed for the grand Christmas feast that they had every year. I pinned my long black hair back with two barrettes and had brushed it until it was shining. I wore a dark ruby red velvet dress that reached just past my knees and was off my shoulders. The sleeves ended at my elbows and flared out, which was my favourite fashion for dresses. It hugged my breasts a little too tightly, however, and no matter how I tried to pull and stretch it, it remained that way.
    I made my way down the stairs and to the foyer with Mitch to greet the guests. Everyone was dressed so beautifully and looked so happy. It put something in my heart that hadn't been there for the past three years. I could feel the holidays wrapping themselves around me, making me happy and content.
    Everything was going well enough. Everyone had eaten dinner and now we were in the grand ballroom dancing. Mitch felt left out but I tried my hardest to make him feel differently. I was standing with Mitch by the garden, thinking about how perfect everything seemed to be, when we heard the commotion from inside.
    We rushed in to see Ella standing in the middle of the band's stage. She wore a silk violet dress. The only thing was it looked as if she had taken a pair of scissors and cut it to pieces. You could see her breasts, because she had cut holes in the bodice and you could see her lower half every time she moved the right way, she had cut it so high.
    She had the microphone in her hand and was singing, very off-key. But then she spotted me standing there and she stopped singing. She began to cackle like a witch and pointing to me. "Look at who it is, everyone! It's Phoenix Parish, Rachael's daughter. And everyone knows how much of a whore Rachael was! Her daughter is no better. Everyone knows she's having sex with my son, her own family member! Can you believe it? Like mother, like daughter. After all, Rachael had a love affair with her own cousin to make her daughter!" she cried into the microphone, laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach.
    My eyes went wide at what she said. For one of the first times in my life, I was completely speechless. How could she? I wanted to kill her. She had just told everyone about my birth, only making it seem like my mother had the choice to produce me. She had also told everyone a lie. She had told them that Mitch was my blood relation. And that wasn't true at all. Why? Why did she have to do this to me?
    I ran from the room then and through the garden. I kept running, weaving my way through the maze of flowers, trees and bushes. I ran into the giant acres of field and kept running away from her until I reached the stables. I passed all of the horses in the cold dark and found a patch of hay where I sat with my arms wrapped around my legs, my knees pulled tightly to my chest.
    I couldn't stop crying. She had said such good things about my mother and about me. Why was she being so vicious now and saying cruel things about me? She had told me that she loved me and I was a much better daughter than Jenny was. He had told me I was beautiful and a good girl with morals. I wasn't a slut! I wasn't! Neither was my mother! I just didn't believe that. How could one person be so jealous?
    I wasn't sure how long I'd been sitting out there when I heard someone moving outside. I didn't know who it was so I stayed very still. That's when I was stunned to see Mitch walk into the stable. I sat up slowly, my mouth open wide in absolute shock. He was walking? How was that possible?
    "I thought I should show you," he said softly, coming towards me. "I can walk. I just haven't shown anyone because I liked the attention I got. But I couldn't get my wheelchair out here and I had to see you."
    "But, Mitch," I said, standing up. "Why didn't you tell me? I always thought of you as equal to somebody who could walk. You shouldn't have kept it from me."
    "I was afraid to tell you. I was afraid you'd think me nothing but a liar. I've been able to walk for almost a year," he confessed.
    "You kept this from me for a year?" I asked incredulously.
    He nodded. "Hey, at least I got your mind off of what just happened, huh?" He gave a nervous laugh.
    I shook my head. "You should have told me." I walked toward him, still in shock to see him standing over me. He was at least six foot. I stopped walking inches in front of him.
    "I couldn't. I was scared" was all he could say. And I understood. I knew he had to have been scared to tell me that. I mean, how did he know that what I felt for him wasn't out of pity?
    But it wasn't out of pity. "You didn't have to be scared," I whispered. "I love you. I think I've always loved you. You don't have to fear the people that love you."
    He didn't say anything then, just leaned down to kiss me. It was so soft and sweet at first. But I moved just slightly closer to him and his arm wrapped around my waist to pull me to him tightly. I let out a cry of surprise but didn't stop kissing him. My hands lifted to cup his face in between my palms.
    I don't really know how it came about. I don't remember how we ended up on that patch of hay in each other's arms, our clothes being gently peeled away. I just remember never feeling as loved and needed as I did at that moment.
    He kissed me all over, and everywhere his lips touched a fire seemed to start. I had never felt like this in all of my life. Then I was wrapped in his arms again and he was pushing himself inside of me.
    I cried out in pain. I was in so much pain that now I wanted to cause him pain. I bit down roughly on his shoulder, but he didn't seem to feel it. And then the pain went away and I was no longer crying out in pain, just sheer pleasure. It shocked me but the shock went away, along with all other thought.
    And it happened like that all night long. It seemed that if we made love over and over we could get rid of all other thought. And it did work. We stayed the night in the stable, locked contentedly in each other's arms and it was the most romantic and sweetest thing I had ever experienced in all of my life. For the first time in my life, I felt no stress, just comfort in the arms of somebody who loved me.
    When I woke, though, I woke up very confused. The sun filtered through the old window just above our heads to wake me up and realise what I had done. This wasn't me! I was more cautious than this! And since when could Mitch walk? What was that all about? I shook him to wake him up. He groaned and rolled over with such ease I felt a sickness in the pit of my stomach. For some reason I couldn't believe him. I just couldn't believe his story.
    "Mitchell! Wake up!" I nearly screamed into his ear. I was suddenly becoming desperate. What had happened?
    He sat up and rubbed at his eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked.
    "You have some answering to do!" I told him. The night before I had been so upset and hurt that I had let myself become vulnerable and disoriented enough to go too far, and not to mention, believe what he had said. I knew I had no reason to not trust Mitch, but something in me was telling me that things were just not right.
    "What are you talking about?" he snapped. He seemed irritated and I knew it wasn't because I had woke him up. He was scared. I could see it in him. He had not told me the truth the night before.
    "When did you decide you needed to walk again?" I questioned. I didn't want to believe what was going to spew from his mouth, so I firmly set my mind against it.
    "You gave me the inspiration I needed, Phoenix," he said softly, looking deeply into my eyes. What a good liar, I thought to myself. Not good enough.
    "I do not believe you. What the hell is really going on?" I was by far the most confused seventeen-year-old ever. And he was taking advantage of it, and I knew it. I could sense it.
    He sighed deeply and rested his elbows on his knees with his head in his hands. "Phoenix, why would you think anything isn't as I told you?"
    "I just know that something isn't right and you're not telling me." I was calm now, but I knew that something was wrong. I needed the truth. I was tired of the lying.
    He suddenly laughed. "You want to know the truth, Phoenix?" He laughed again. "I'm not sure you, as unstable as you are, can handle the truth."
    My mouth fell open. "Who gives you the right to judge how stable or unstable I am? What is your problem?" I was letting myself get hurt and I quickly tried to put the wall around my heart.
    "Come on, Phoenix. You've come to let me know you better than anyone else. We both know you're as unstable as your mother was. And I've heard plenty of stories about her." He shook his head as if he were talking to the most idiotic person on earth. "Do you honestly believe that I could love somebody in the Parish family? You're all unstable and crazy. But it was fun, wasn't it?"
    I had a feeling that people within a fifteen-mile radius heard the sharp sound of the slap I laid on his cheek. I didn't run away, either. I simply stayed there, waiting for him to recover. I didn't say anything either. He sat rubbing his cheek and I sat staring at him. And when he was about to open his mouth again, I attacked him.
    I sat on him, straddled and flinging punch after punch. I couldn't stop myself. I hated him! He had made me fall completely, head-over-heels in love with him, only to do this to me. The son of a bitch! I didn't care where my fists connected, my temper got the best of me and it felt damn good. I didn't realise how strong I was until that moment. He tried to shove me off but I stayed put.
    Well, I did until I was yanked off of him and thrust to the side. A stable servant by the name of Kent Lording had pulled me off of him and quickly checked Mitch. However, I was thrust straight into the arms of my grandfather. I stared up to him and for the first time I really bawled right in front of him. I just let go of all of the tears. And what shocked me more was the way he held tightly to me, holding me up and keeping me close, in spite of the fact that I was naked.
    A few minutes later some servants came out and helped a very bleeding Mitch into the house, and I was covered with a blanket and sitting on a barrel. My grandfather and Kent sat across from me, questioning me about what had happened.
    "Why did you blow up like that, Phoenix?" Grandfather Gerald asked.
    I looked up and looked at him. I shook my head and then looked back down again. "I supposed I shouldn't have," I began quietly. "But never in my life have I been used or treated in such a manner. He was one of the only people I trusted and now this." I proceeded to tell them what had happened last night and then what had happened this morning.
    My grandfather nodded. "I didn't know he could walk. But I've had my suspicions since the supposed accident," he admitted. Kent left us quietly and my grandfather and I sat there together, both lost in our thoughts.
    I looked down at my lap and pulled the blanket tighter around me. I had to get dressed but the roof had leaked during the storm the night before and now my clothes were soaking wet. But I really didn't feel like showing my face in the house yet.
    "I made mistakes with Rachael because of the pain I felt over losing her mother," I heard my grandfather say. I jumped as he broke the silence. "I won't make the same mistake with you. I won't ignore you like I did her and I'll try my best to protect you where I haven't before."
    "This isn't your fault," I assured him, realising he was blaming it on himself. "I wouldn't have listened had you warned me that Mitch was an awful lot like his mother."
    He nodded. "That's true. But I will, from here on out, protect you and no longer treat you lower than me. There is a lot about what happened in the past you still don't know about. I'll tell you, but you're not ready for it, yet. But trust me, I'll tell you."
    After that, my grandfather and I did become closer. No, we didn't spend time together, but for the first time in my life I had more of a father figure. He watched over me and I felt safe.
    Then one day the most unexpected thing happened and Jenny pulled me into her room. I was shocked, but I didn't object when she turned and locked the door and ushered me to sit down.
    "What's wrong, Jenny?" I asked her; worried that something was wrong. "Everything all right?"
    "No! Everything isn't all right!" she cried. "I thought that all I wanted was to hurt you. I hated you! But still, that's not what I really want and don't really hate you!" She sat down at her vanity table, her fingertips rubbing her temples.
    "What is it, Jenny? How did you want to hurt me?" My heart was pumping with nervousness. What was she talking about?
    "I've known all along," she confessed. "I've known about Mitch and why he and Mother have done what they have! I know what's going on!"
    "What?" I felt the blood rush out of me as Jenny confessed what she knew.
    "Don't talk until I'm finished," she ordered. It was one of the few times I obeyed Jenny. "Okay," she said, after I confirmed I would stay quiet. "A few years ago, Mother found out that Daddy had made her sign a prenuptial agreement, making her agree that he owned all of his money, and what she spent he allowed her to spend. It said that when he died, the money would go to his children and grandchildren, but not to his wife and her previous child." She took a deep breath.
    "Her and Mitch were furious about it. Both had high hopes on the money, but he wanted to make sure that she wasn't crazy enough to kill him for the money. So he made it to where she wouldn't get any, should he die.
    "That's when she started sucking up to me. She started letting me do whatever I want and have whatever I want. When Mitch got into the accident, I was worried about him. At first he really was put into the wheelchair and when he was brought home he had horrible seizures, which he still does, as you know, when he doesn't take his medicine.
    "But within a month, Mother made him walk again. They worked on it with doctors and everything. When he started walking again, they hid it. Daddy was forced to pay phoney, very expensive doctor's bills. The money went to her. She had a bank account he didn't know about. She kept it there and for these past years she's been getting money from him without him even knowing it. It all had to do with Mitch, who will now get all of that money unless we tell Daddy about it.
    "Mitch screwed up by his seducing you, really. He not only showed you his ability to walk, but also told you that he had ulterior motives and didn't truly love you. He didn't keep up his lie. I don't know why. I know he and Mother planned on having the two of you wed, so he would get even more money from Daddy. Maybe he really just couldn't stand you, so he couldn't marry you and wouldn't force himself to. Money or not!" she exclaimed, ending her confession.
    "So I've been being used for money this whole time?" I felt the tears welling up behind my eyes. I had been used. I had fallen in love, only to find out at the last, very wrong minute that he didn't love me. That he wasn't at all what I had thought.
    "I'm sorry to tell you that, Phoenix. I really am. I never thought I would be," she admitted sadly.
    After I left the room, I went into my own and laid on my bed, and cried so hard I thought I would break apart. I no longer was going to see Mama for the answers I wanted. Not now. I just wanted to fall asleep forever. The pain in my heart was excruciating, making me feel as if someone had shoved a knife in my chest and was twisting it around viciously.
    New Year's passed slowly. I stayed in my room the night of the big New Year's Eve bash. I couldn't go down there. I was afraid of ruining of everyone's time, for one. And I really didn't want to see Mitch, who I knew would be there. I hadn't even breathed in his direction since that had happened. I knew he was laughing, though. Any time I was around him, he gave me a sly smile and laughed when I turned away from him. I suddenly realised just what kind of cruel, heartless person he was. He was as crazy as his mother.
    When school started again, I walked through the halls like a zombie. I did my schoolwork, getting lost in it. I was going to become my teachers' best student, considering I made sure to lose myself in my work and do it to perfection. I took satisfaction out of doing my work to my best ability. It helped me forget how miserable I was.
    After a week had passed, my science teacher approached me. It was my last period of the day and I was dreading going home. But he gave me more work and told me that though I was already doing better, he had a tutor for me.
    "My nephew, Jacob Weston, is just starting out as a teacher. He needs a job and I am giving him one. If you are willing, he will be your tutor from now on," he announced.
    I shrugged. "That's fine with me. I want to do better in this class and my math class. I am sure your nephew will be just fine." I gave a small, tight smile and picked up my stuff and left.
    I truly wasn't interested in having some young man tutor me. I hated anyone of the younger male gender at the moment. Yet I knew if I wanted to get better, passing grades in those classes I needed it. So I would take on this tutor and hope that he wasn't some pigheaded, egotistical jerk who only wanted teach a school girl more than she wanted to know.

Rain of Fire Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Epilogue

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