NOT ALLOWED

CHAPTER SEVEN: SECRETIVE PERSPECTIVES

HOURS later, Athena and her friends- including her brother- had gathered into her room to discuss how they were going to get the gun inside, and to be honest, they had no ideas.

"Can't we just tie a rope to the bottom and lift it up into your room?" Aidan questioned, his sister frowned, "what if Apollo comes outside? Hmmm? Then we're more screwed than our relationship with Dad."

Aidan's eyes widened to the size of saucers at the remark before he jabbed his finger in her direction, "that was uncalled for." he paused watching as his sister raised an eyebrow and slightly leaned her head forward, "true, but uncalled for."

The boy let out a sigh, he was tired, and he knew the others were too, so why couldn't they all just relax and wait till the next day to figure something out, he knew that it wasn't a priority, for now.

"Mmm, I suggest we blow off some steam with a game of uno." Grace suggested pulling her backpack from the corner of Athena's bed. Amber, excited to finally have something interesting to do, sat up and rested her hands on her knees as Grace pulled the deck from her bag and handed it to Aidan.

Everyone knew she was a shitty excuse of a shuffler, and although Aidan usually shuffled, they let Grace deal, a small price to make up for her not being able to shuffle.

After a few moments of fluttering cards and contained excitement throughout their small circle on the floor, Aidan handed the cards back to Grace and leaned his head into his hand as she dealt out the cards.

"Remember." she spoke going around the circle with her cards for the second time, "no teaming up, stacking is allowed, and we play for money." she paused for a moment to look up at the group, "how about cookies instead?" not a single complaint was heard, instead, several heads contently nodded before Amber stood with a smile to retrieve the cookies from where they'd stashed them earlier.

"Are we gonna invite Apollo?" Grace questioned, despite him being so bland and difficult at times, she still liked him.

When he was alone with someone it seemed he was a different person, one Grace didn't recognize, but she liked it.

Aidan was the first to shake his head, "definitely not." he mumbled carefully picking up his cards once Grace finished dealing them out, with seemingly perfect timing, Amber slipped past the door and into the room with a smile on her lips and two packages of cookies in her hands.

"It's not like he'd want to play anyways." Aidan added holding his hands out to take one of the packages from the blonde, Athena let out an exaggerated sigh, "can we just stop talking about him? Let him be a stubborn mule in his room."

That seemed to be the end of the discussion as Amber began to hand out small stacks of the cookies- ten for each person- and minutes later they would begin their game.

It wasn't till near one in the morning that they heard the front door open and they all went dead silent, twisting her head to look over her shoulder, Athena checked that the door was closed and locked.

She knew her father was home.

Reaching a single finger up to her lips, she motioned for them all to remain silent as she crept towards the door and leaned her ear against the once blue wood, she could only hear two voices, both of which belonged to Irene and Stan.

And as soon as the door closed Irene's voice disappeared, instead, it was replaced by that of Mitch's as Stan began to question him.

Aidan seemed the most terrified of the bunch, his face pale- almost as if he was about to be sick- and his hands nervously clamped together as he tried his best to remain silent.

They all silently prayed that for once in his life Apollo kept his mouth shut and didn't snitch as he always did.

If he did, he'd be in for a beating from his siblings the next morning, more than likely turning into Athena and Aidan chasing their brother out of the house with a fork and wooden spoon, both of which would pain Apollo more than he wished to think.

Grace seemed the calmest of them, or at least, as calm as she could be given the circumstances.

All of them watched as Athena continued to listen to the ongoing conversation between Mitch and her father, she was only able to catch bits and pieces before the sound of footsteps slowly proceeding down the hall became evident and she quickly jumped from her spot urging her friends to hide.

Frantically searching for two spots large enough for the girls they eventually settled on the closet and the toy chest Athena knew was empty. Quickly forcing them to settle into their spots she prayed they remained silent and stuffed the mess they'd created under her bed before practically tossing nine cards in Aidan's direction.

Furrowing his brows, he picked up the scattered cards and watched as his sister made a second deck, almost as if they'd already been playing for some time before she snatched up a set of cards for herself and set one down on top of the second deck.

Seconds later, a knock arrived at the girl's door. Casting her brother a final look, she stood and crossed the small space between her and the door, Aidan watched on with an expression of confusion spread across his features quickly diverting his attention to the cards as his sister opened the door.

"What?" Athena questioned the door barely cracked open as she leaned into the gap, glancing over her shoulder Stan met his daughter's gaze, "where's Apollo?" he spoke his voice low as he stared down at her.

"I'd suppose in his room where he can pout." the girl offered gently jabbing a finger in the direction of the boy's door, giving a soft nod of his head he peeked over her shoulder for a final time, "Ares, time for you to head to bed boy, got a big day tomorrow."

Aidan fought the nerve to throw something at his father, the man knew how to annoy him, how to enrage him, and it seemed lately he was using that to his advantage like the sick shit he was.

Stan didn't bother to move, instead, he gently pushed the door open further- carefully glancing around the room as if he was searching for something- Athena knew what he was thinking, knew what he was searching for.

Her friends.

Mitch was a fucking snitch.

She should've guessed it sooner.

Not that it would've been hard to guess.

He was eager to keep people from being on his ass about things, so he used others to divert the attention away from him and what he was doing.

"Come on." Stan stated again stepping away from the doorway to allow Aidan to exit the room. The boy- annoyed and ready to yell- silently set down his cards and stood before stepping out into the hall with his father.

If he was being honest, he would have much rather preferred staying in Athena's room for the night, somewhere he seemed loved and welcomed instead of his empty and desolate room.

It was so depressing to him.

Sitting there staring at the blue walls his mother and father had once painted upon realizing she was going to be due with him soon, the same faded walls that would be burning holes into his being as he emptily stared into the ceiling.

Meanwhile, Apollo would be sleeping in his own room sound and tight with his green walls. He'd sleep perfectly fine, not even bothered by their mother's death in the slightest, at least not enough for him to show it.

After a few moments of silence, Stan moved down the hall to his old bedroom and Athena found herself closing the door to her bedroom with a soft click.

Holding her breath for a moment, she listened as Grace quietly lifted the lid of the empty toy bin and peeked out- worried Stan may be waiting to catch her in the act- before she completely popped the top and slipped out.

Amber followed suit- sliding the closet door open- her noises far more muffled as she proceeded to crawl across the carpet until she found herself lying beside her friend's bed.

What had their lives come to?

Hiding from their friend's father, dealing with a bodyguard that didn't know how to shut his mouth, a boy that had a stick up his ass, and another boy that suddenly seemed interested in the concept of guns.

Absolutely nothing odd about that.

Athena listened carefully as her father trod down the hall towards his room, she waited until she heard the door click shut and the bathroom light turn on.

That was when she let out a sigh of relief.

They were safe for the night.

They could worry about tomorrow in the morning.

At the moment it just seemed like too much.

As if merely thinking about it would shove her over the edge, and if Athena was being honest, she didn't think she could afford one more shove, no matter how tiny.

She'd only end up further spiraling out of control.

Moving away from her door- once she'd relocked it- she found herself in the middle of the carpet with her two friends in cold silence.

It wasn't that any of them didn't want to talk, but rather, they were scared to.

It was no secret that Stan had impeccable hearing and that the slightest shift in the air would alert him of their presence.

Taking the man's sudden appearance as a sign of sorts, the three girls decided it was time to head to bed, they could restart the game the next day, if they were still there to play it.

Athena hoped so.

Quietly moving from her spot, she made her way across the room to the closet where she pulled out a few blankets for the girls before tossing them a couple of pillows from her childhood bed. The purple walls glared back at her, angry and frustrated as they tried to reflect what had gone on in the home, softly shaking her head, Athena laid down beside her friends on the carpeted floor.

She thought about Aidan as she slept, how unfairly he was treated among the rest of his siblings, she felt bad for him, she hoped that once he turned eighteen he'd be able to escape the terrors of their home, the terrors of their father.

She knew she would be.

And as she closed her eyes, she smiled to herself at the thought.

Waking up the next morning, she realized Grace was already up and groggily looking at something on her phone, peeking up from the screen, she cast a small wave in the girl's direction before emitting a long yawn from her thin lips.

"How'd you sleep?" she questioned setting her phone on the floor in front of her, Athena shrugged, despite the few nightmares that had plagued her mind she'd slept alright, better than she had thought she would.

"I slept okay, what about you?"

Grace chuckled, "the floor was actually a lot more comfortable than I thought it would be." she remarked reaching her hand out to pat at the pillow she'd been using, "d'you think you Dad's up yet?"

The teen shrugged her shoulders, she hadn't the slightest clue, but knowing her father, he was more than likely already up and had already left the house.

That felt funny to her, not in the actual humoring sense, but rather in a weird way, as if it didn't sit right with her. If her father was trying to protect them, why did he keep leaving?

It seemed his efforts were going to waste at his own hand.

NOT ALLOWED

CHAPTER SEVEN: SECRETIVE PERSPECTIVES