The Killswitch; Return of the True Heir

Chapter 6

Ugh what an awful Saturday morning." Cassiel said, holding his pounding head as he stirred awake from his bed.

He would have gone to work this morning but Darcy would probably threaten him and call Sariah, and that was the last thing he wanted right now. He knew his father was back from the flurry of footsteps he heard and because the classical music that blasted through the house, that was his father's signature style.

He grimaced, and went to the bathroom to have his bath, memories flashing through his head as a result of the blaring music.

The water trickled down his back, highlighting the twisted scars on his back. The look in his eyes was distant.

It was his eighteenth birthday and he had taken Sariah out, well sneaked out to a stall in the suburbs. What happened after they found them was nothing particularly new to him just a bit... more intense.

" To the study!" His father said.

His body went rigid. " I won't let you touch him!" Sariah stood at the top of the stairs, she had been dragged inside when they got home.

" Don't you-" a hand covered her mouth and whipped her away, glaring at him before she took Sariah out of there, it was their elder sister Sabrina.

The next thing he knew, he was in his study, knees to the floor without a shirt. His body was riddled with scars.

" Do you know what you did wrong?" His father approached him, taking out a whip that was soaked in water.

" Yes father, I should never have taken Sariah out."

" You don't speak to my daughter, you don't laugh with her, perhaps staying here too long made you feel at home, hands crossed behind you." He barked.

" You know the drill. " He raised the whip up and hit it heavily against his back.

" One." Another whip.

" Two." Another.

" Three." He didn't flinch, he stayed perfectly still. The lashes kept coming until finally he began writhing, his eyes tearing up. The whip was now blooded, the red liquid dripped from his back down to his trousers.

" Thirty nine." A tear slipped down his left eyes. His hands were squeezed tightly against his back, a couple of veins ticking on his hands and on his forehead, as beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He felt his body falling forward and the next thing he knew,his vision went blank. The next time he woke up, the first thing that greeted him was the sight of Sariah crying her eyes out,her hair out of place.

Cassiel turned off his shower, breaking away from his reverie. He left the shower in his room and put on some clothes. He sat down on a chair and opened his laptop and was about to go through his email, when a knock came through his door.

" Yes?"

The door opened. " Uh Sir José calls for your attention in the study." One of the house attendants informed him.

He gave the person a curt nod and closed his laptop and went to the study, knocking on the door before going in. His hands shook out of reflex, he balled his hands into a fist and stood before the man he had now come to his father.

" You called for me."

" I received a report."

....

After the conversation Cassiel  went back to his room and changed into a grey sweatpants and a black loose shirt and a pair of sneakers and grabbed a face mask just in case. The media somehow always wanted to get scoop of the bastard adopted son of the José family. He got into his car and drove out of the house and drove round the city before coming to a stop at a bustling street. He comes down to take a walk. There were different stalls with a bunch of people everywhere, the aroma of different delicacies drifted to his nostrils, this place reminded him of Sariah, he had been here with her before.

He sighed, taking his hands into his pocket. The place was a little different from the last time he was here. There used to be just three benches  close to the road and a lake behind the benches. Now benches were littered across and there was now a barricade close to the lake.

Sariah had  been a crying mess when he brought her here, her crush in school had apparently rejected her.

" Take the popsicle Riah." She snatched it from him and sat down on the bench and tried unwrapping it, after several failures she gave up.

" Hunn." She gave it to him without saying a word. He took it from her and unwrapped it, handing it back to her. She popped it into her mouth and her eyes lit up.

" He said he couldn't be with me because I was too intimidating and rude." She said, " I mean I can't blame myself for being confident." She puffed up her chest. " He also said no one would  want to be with me because of my attitude. "

" Don't let him get to you okay, he doesn't deserve you anyways . "

She looked at him, a little hesitant to speak. " You won't leave me right brother?" She asked, staring at him.

" I won't ever dream of it. "

" Pinky promise? " She held out her pinky finger.

" Pinky promise. " He responded by crossing her pinky fingers with his.

Later that day, they would face the repercussions of sneaking out, their father had been waiting at home, angrily and drunk. The minute they opened the door.  A bottle came flying at him, he turned sideways but was not able to duck in time and it grazed his  under eye blood seeping out of it immediately. He aggressively came at him and was about to drag him when Sariah stepped in front of him.

" Don't touch him!"

He stared at her for a second before slapping her across the face causing her to fly to a corner and dragged Cassiel to the study. She spent the next couple of days throwing a tantrum and breaking whatever she could find. She was definitely bratty but he didn't mind.  If someone  had why he endured everything he had been and why he was still in a household that clearly despised him, she was he's why.

He broke out of his reverie when he saw an elderly man crossing the road and a car was speeding towards him.

" Sir watch-" he saw that the old man didn't seem to have heard him. He rushed into the road and pushed the old man out of the road but he was now left on the road, the car was now closing in on him,  a second later and he would be pummeled by the car.

Someone crashed into him and they both rolled to the other side of the road. "Are you crazy? You could have died. " A girl's voice sounded from above his face,  she was breathing heavily from the stunt she had just pulled.

"I could ask you the same thing." He said.

Her huge afro  curls  covered her face. " You could have pushed yourself alongside the old man, what were you thinking? "

"Well ma'am can you please get off me first."

She looked down and saw that she was straddling him. " O my! I'm so sorry." She said, scrambling off him. She stood up and dusted herself and stretched out her hand to him. He took it and stood up.

"Thank you." He said. She nodded and turned her head looking for the elderly man.

" Grandpa! Why did you leave your ear plugs with me??"

"Oh so that's her Grandpa. " He looked at the man and a look of familiarity flashed through his face, then he strode towards them stopping before the man and his grand daughter.