Chapter One (Rough) The Unfortunates

I.

Ellen Campbell, the short, not so skinny, not so smart, middle child of a middle class family wanted what every other seventeen year old soon-to-be woman wanted at that age: attention, love, and –despite already being dead center in the middle of one- family.
Being the middle child Ellen never really got much attention, at least not after the birth of her golden child brother Ronnie. Before him it had only been her and Selene, best friends from birth, the untouchable, inseparable Campbell girls. For a short time it had been what she could only assume was bliss -even after Ronnie was born- a friendship that acted as sanctuary from the cold and heartless world that surrounded the pair. But high school soon approached for Ellen, and though that wasn’t the biggest of deals it meant that Selene had to leave.
During Ellen’s second semester of grade 9 Selene had packed her things and left for Massachusetts without so much as a goodbye. It was for school her parents told her, she was going to the University of Phoenix to be a paleontologist, a last minute acceptance.
If her parents had even bothered to ask, Ellen would’ve admitted that she felt a little betrayed by Selene’s sudden departure. But as she expected, they simply didn’t care about how she felt; it almost seemed as if they liked the idea of Selene leaving.
“One less mouth to feed” She’d heard her father say to her Mother the following night. “Maybe we’ll get a little more peace and quiet around here”. And despite it being early in the night she’d went up to her bed and cried herself to sleep.
Two days later she received news that her parents were moving her out of the room she and Selene shared, their darling Ronnie, who at this point was only eleven years old, apparently was in need of a larger room.
That was four years ago. Ronnie had since grown into a very attractive young man, a lady killer in the making and Ellen was still the same except for the addition of a few unwanted pounds along with a knack for dying her hair strange shades of purple and blue. The pair of them had barely looked related nowadays. Each had their own style of clothing and ways of life, if it hadn’t been for the dominant blue eye and thick curl features passed down from their mother it would easily be assumed that they were step-siblings or simply bitter-sweet acquaintances.
Ellen had learned now that her rivalry with Ronnie in his youth was almost completely the fault of their favoring parents and, though she hated it, tried to get along with him. For the most part this didn’t work too well. Ronnie was still used to getting whatever he wanted and he never hesitated when it came to a choice of either betraying Ellen’s trust or getting his hands on some measly trinket to further his popularity at home or school. It had actually gotten to the point where Ronnie was usually bribed by their parents to extract information about her, false or not.
She recalled the time when they gave him a cellular phone, Ellen swore it was a top-of-the-line smartphone, in order to sap information as to if she was smoking or not. In truth she had been but Ronnie hadn’t known and as far as she knew her parents had no way of even thinking such a thing. The egocentric Ronnie immediately told them what they wanted to hear, ‘yes’, and received his ill-gotten reward. Her sentence was summer vacation at a Christian reform camp, an experience that proved to be more ridiculous than effective as somehow they believed the bible was an effective weapon against delinquency.

The worst and last of Ronnie’s exploits had occurred exactly three days ago, two weeks into winter break.
It had been for the most part a quiet Friday, Ellen had returned from school almost completely unscathed by the harsh whispers of her peers, Ronnie was nowhere to be seen (a relief to Ellen), and her parents had been working late as usual. So assuming that she’d have at least a few hours privacy she invited a close friend over, young Lisa Waits.
Lisa hadn’t been much different than Ellen; they’d actually been even around the same size and height. Both had similar bright blue eyes and curly hair which they often dyed strange colors (Ellen stuck to Blues and Purples, Lisa preferred more vibrant colors). The biggest difference between the two, though it hadn’t mattered to either of them, had been that while Ellen was of a definite Scottish and Irish decent with even the stereotypical freckles under her eyes and peppering her almost non-existent cheekbones, Lisa was of a clearly middle eastern decent. And by no means was Lisa unattractive, her tone of skin was almost perfectly even, the shape the two girls shared almost suited her perfectly. Ellen often envied what she called the ‘Waits luck’, no matter what Lisa seemed to do, make-up or no make-up, girls clothes or boys clothes, dresses or pants, Boys went after her. Boys had never gone for Ellen no matter what she did, not once.
Ellen had no idea when she’d invited over Lisa that night she’d be bringing a boy (Ellen never managed to catch his name). As far as she knew, Lisa had been disinterested in the dating game and just as Selene hadn’t told her she was leaving, Lisa hadn’t told her that she had a boyfriend. Though it was not as major as what happened with Selene, Ellen felt the familiar sting of betrayal.
“He’s really nice.” said Lisa, a smile across her face as if somehow their romance was the source of ultimate fulfillment and clueless that the relationship, if it could have even been called that, would end that night and almost completely ruin her and Ellen’s reputation. “I met him at school; he gave me a little flower and everything. It was sweet.”
He’s sweet? Ellen had though, but what are Mom and Dad going to say when they see him in the house?
“That’s great Lisa but-”
“Don’t worry he’ll be quiet.” She interrupted. “Really quiet, he promised.”
It wasn’t even as much as an hour before things begun getting out of hand. Lisa’s ‘really quiet’ boy quickly went from shy and quiet to straight up obnoxious.
“So ladies, what’s the plan?” He said for the third time since he arrived, feet up on Ellen’s parents oak coffee table.
“What do you mean what’s the plan?” Ellen said, irritated. “I’ve told you already that we’re just hanging out here while my parents aren’t home.”
“Well that’s just boring lady, downright boring.” He laughed a little, nobody knew why. “We should head out and find something fun to do.”
“Look if this isn’t-“
“If you don’t want to be here, go home then, I’m not stopping you.” Lisa interrupted; Ellen thought it was probably to stop her from saying something she’d regret.
“Man, I thought girls like you were fun.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Ellen said, shooting up off the couch with one of her fists clenched. For a moment she swore she saw shades of Ronnie on his face: a sickening blend of cockiness and cowardice.
“Whoa! Calm down lady, I’m just kidding.”
“I think you should leave.”
“C’mon now, we can-“
“I said, I think you should leave.”
Lisa’s eyes were wide, with what Ellen didn’t know, fear or maybe surprise? “Ellen, come on, calm down okay? He’s just joking around.”
“Fine then.” Ellen said then plopped down on the couch. “But you better shut up.”
For a moment there was silence. The boy sat scratching his head and snickering a little and Lisa was clearly in thought.
“Sorry, you just know how it is Lisa, with my brother and all. I get a little stressed.”
“It’s okay” Lisa said, a warm smile on her face. She understood, maybe not as well, but she understood.
“Listen” She said to the boy, putting her hand on his leg. “Can we talk?”
With that the two of them headed towards the kitchen and the inevitable breakup begun.
Ellen hadn’t quite seen one happen but from what she was hearing, they didn’t seem to end well.
“What!?! All because I wanted to do something besides sit around all night? What is so wrong about that?”
“No, it was the way you went about it, you didn’t have to be so disrespectful.”
“Fuck! Man, what the hell.”
“I’m sure you’ll find-“
And with that the conversation escalated, suddenly the two were yelling. Ellen half wanted to step in and put an end to it, that or bash his face in but it wasn’t her business and she’d already acted out of line tonight, even she would admit that.
“What the hell am I supposed to do now? Huh Lisa? You think women just grow on trees is that it?”
“Listen, you’re getting on my nerves! Get out of the house! Stop making yourself look like an idiot!”
“Oh, I’m the idiot am I? Look at you, your just some Paki birch in a small town!”
With that comment Ellen heard a rustling of clothes, a yelp and then watched as the the boy came running through the living room and out the door clenching the side of his face with both tears and blood streaking down. He’d really hit Lisa where it hurt all right but he’d be the one feeling it.
After a few minutes Lisa walked out and sat on the couch beside Ellen. Her face was red, but there was no sign of tears. She’d clearly been more angry then sad.
“So, he’s nice.” Ellen said, trying to lighten the mood.
Lisa laughed a little and rested her head on Ellen’s shoulder. “Yeah, just think what the assholes are like.”
For a moment they sat there, in the silence just thinking. Ellen recalled that it was nice, sort of a calm before the storm. The birds had been chirping outside, the horizon was a beautiful picture of black and orange as the twilight approached.
Then it happened, at the time it seemed like hours but in actuality it had happened within only a few minutes.
Her father had burst in the door; his face was beaten red and full of rage. Behind was her mother, face full of tears and following them was Ronnie, showing the same sickening shade the boy had: cockiness and cowardice, paired with a smile that said ‘I win’. Poor Ronnie really thought that day was his day.
“Dad, what-“Ellen’s words went unfinished as her father’s hand swept across her face. She was instantly in tears, less because of the pain and more due to her complete and utter confusion.
“Shut the hell up!” Her dad said, blind with rage. “Tell me the truth!”
“What are you-“
He tried to take another swipe but missed and instead hit his hand off the couch’s wooden frame, though it didn’t seem like he’d noticed at all. “You stupid little bitch!”
Ellen jumped off the couch and got out of range while she could, putting the coffee table in between her and her family.
“What the hell? What do you think you’re doing Dad? Hitting me? You piece of shit!”
“Don’t you talk to me like that, don’t you ever talk to me like that!” He said. He looked as if he was half considering jumping over the table to get at her.
“Get her out!” Her mother was shouting from behind him, now holding Ronnie close. “Get that whore out of my house! She’s no daughter of mine!”
“What are you talking about?” Ellen yelled. “What the hell are you talking about?!?”
“You bring some whore into my house and fuck around in my living room like some sort of whore?!? This isn’t not fucking brothel!”
Some whore? She thought for a moment, oh god, Lisa!
Ellen had almost forgotten about Lisa Waits. Ellen let out a sigh of relief to see that she was safely curled up in on the couch, though crying her eyes out.
“You leave her out of this, we didn’t do anything!”
“You’re a liar! A no good liar! Get her out of my house!” Her mother screamed, pointing a boney long nailed finger at her.
“Ronnie told us what he saw, he saw you three fucking on my couch, in my home!”
And with that the real nightmare began.
Fifteen years of favoritism, of being ignored and walked on, of being the scapegoat for Ronnie and an emotional punching bag for her parents seemed to manifest itself in a single moment.
She found herself reaching down and lifting the coffee table with almost no resistance at all. Almost in slow motion she could see her parents eyes widen as is slammed down on top of her father, and then toppled to the side just enough for the corner to hit-.
Her mother began to scream as if she was dying, like some sort of cosmic god had come to tear her and only her, soul out. And Ellen felt for a moment that maybe that’s what she was, adrenaline had filled her veins, her whole body was numb, and she swore that at least for a little while she could take on anything and everything all at once if it tried. Then after a moment of silence, her father unconscious and her mother awestruck holding out hands coated with the fresh blood of her precious son, Ellen came to full realization of what just occurred.
Ronnie was dead.