𝗔𝗣𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗧𝗔𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗜 𝗡𝗔𝗝𝗝𝗔𝗥 𝗗𝗘𝗖𝗘𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗥 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟳

"Why can't you be normal?! You always fuck shit up!" Aphrodite's brother yelled at her. She cringed from his use of profanity, but didn't say anything. Not a peep.

Triton always yelled at her. At this point, she'd become immune to it. It was something he did on the regular, over the smallest things too. Like playing music too loud or too low.

"... I am being normal." She mumbled, scratching her right palm. She didn't like people yelling at her. It didn't make her feel safe, and Triton knew that, he just continued to do it, not taking her well being into consideration.

"You see that? You're not being normal!" He pointed at her hands.

"Okay." She still spoke in a low manner. No matter what she did, she wasn't normal to him or the rest of her family.

Except for her sister, Bia. Bia didn't see why her family didn't like her. She didn't do anything. Literally, she didn't even talk to them. She was just there. It was like she was a shadow.

Aphrodite didn't have friends, and she barely understood social cues. She only knew normal feelings that normal people felt. She could read the room, but that's about it. She didn't know when someone was jealous or any feeling that wasn't sadness or anger. She knew when people weren't feeling those feelings though.

She didn't understand what happiness was or how someone could be happy though. It was only because she wasn't happy and she hasn't felt happiness in a long time. Longer than usual and longer that it should be.

"You act so fucking stupid sometimes. You're like the dumbest person I've ever met." He shook his head, and walked out of her room, slamming her door on the way out.

"I'll never be normal. Why can't he accept the fact?" Aphrodite shook her head, walking to the side of her bed. She laid down on the floor and tried to suppress any feelings of sadness.

She tried dozing off to sleep before any tears could fall, but she failed miserably.

She didn't even want to cry anymore. She was tired. She cried all of the time and it was so exhausting to her.

She tried not to cry this time, but the feeling was too overwhelming and she gave in.

Balling her eyes out, she grabbed her teddy bear Triton gave to her when they had a great bond. She still held on to the little bit of hope she had for them to be normal again.

She cried until she fell asleep, and everybody in the house heard her. No one cared to check on her though. Her mom didn't, her father didn't. Her little brother, Jupiter, wanted to, but was stopped. Triton told him "Aphrodite does it for attention, don't give in to it." And little Jupiter believed it. He adored Triton and believed he wouldn't lie to him, even though he did... all of the time.

___

"Dite?" Bia walked into her sister's room. She looked around, and still didn't see her. Until she looked over her bed.

She saw Aphrodite sprawled out on the floor, with the teddy bear still in hand. She was sleeping. Not peacefully, but she sure was sleeping.

Bia could tell she had been crying. She saw tear streaks going down her cheeks, her eyes were puffy. The biggest factor in knowing she had been crying was the teddy bear. She only held the bear when she cried, it was so often that Aphrodite always held the bear.

Bia walked to her and laid down beside her. She stared at her sister for a minute or two before shaking her.

"Dite, wake up." Bia shook her gently. She knew Aphrodite could be sensitive to things like that.

"I'm awake sissy." Aphrodite mumbled, waking up from her three hour nap. She slept all of the time. It seemed to numb the feeling of sadness for her, or any feeling for that matter.

She loved to sleep, it took her mind off of everything. She could dream all day and night, and she didn't have a problem with it. The only problem was she had to eat to survive, and she didn't want to die.

Although she believed in Heaven, she never knew if she would make it. Though she tried her best, there was still a possibility of not making it and that terrified her. That was the only thing she was scared of besides God.

If she didn't make it to Heaven, where would she go? It definitely wasn't Hell, and she knew that for a fact.

"Did you eat?" Bia asked, making Aphrodite shake her head. She hasn't eaten since Monday and it was now Thursday.

"When was the last time you ate?"

Putting her head down, Aphrodite answered with "Monday." Barely even audible for Bia to hear. That made Bia's heart swell. Nobody even noticed that Aphrodite wasn't eating, and when she ate it would be a piece of toast or an orange, something of the sort.

"They didn't get you any food?" Bia asked, referring to her dad, mom, and obviously Triton. He always ate out. He barely bought food for anybody else though. He did for Jupiter, and that was on a very rare occasion.

"No." Aphrodite responded, still whispering.

She was just waking up so she wasn't going to talk much. Even though she rarely talked anyways. She only responded to Bia and Triton. She only responded to Triton so he wouldn't yell more than he already was.

"Come on." Bia sighed, standing up. Following suit, Aphrodite stood up and walked out of the room behind her. Even though she wasn't obligated to go with Bia, she chose to.

She wouldn't say she was hungry, because she wasn't. She got used to not eating for a large amount of days.

She wanted to leave so she wouldn't be stuck in the house. She liked being alone in her room though.

She wasn't always alone though. She did have a guinea pig named Clio, but Triton killed her by accident.

Bia walking ahead of her, had a scowl on her face. They were literally neglecting her sister and she wasn't hare for it. At all.

"What the fuck did I tell you?!" Bia pushed Triton's head, making him push her back.

That made Aphrodite turn around and cover her ears. She hated conflict, it made her want to ball up and stay inside a cave. Like a hermit crab maybe? That's what it made her feel like, anyways.

"What are you talking about?" He spoke in a calm manner with a smug look on his face. That only set Bia off even more.

She looked over at her little sister and her face softened. It might've been a weird sight for anybody else, but not to Bia. It made her feel cold. Like a sadness type of cold.

It was her sister, and she shouldn't be doing that, but it was still her sister so she accepted the weird coping mechanisms she had.

"Look at her," She pushed his face towards her. He looked at Aphrodite with a blank expression and that made Bia even angrier than she already was. "You did that shit and now I'm finna bust yo ass. I told you to stop yelling at her and what do you do? Yell at her. So we're gonna fight." Bia shrugged, ending her rant.

"What?" Triton laughed. He didn't understand why Bia was going so hard over someone who barely talked to her. It baffled him how much Bia defended her when Aphrodite couldn't do the same.

"Go get in the car." Bia told Aphrodite, and she listened, going straight to the car. She got in and looked out the window.

She saw how "happy" everybody else was. She really didn't understand how someone could feel that. She hasn't felt the emotion, so she never actually knew what it felt like.

It made her sad seeing how everybody else looked so free, while she was trapped. It felt like she was living in a shell. Not even a shell enforced by her, but everyone around her. Everything made her sad. Even teddy bears, but she has a reason for that.

Minutes later, she saw Bia stepping out of the house, yelling something at Triton. She knew it was some type of profanity, so she looked away. Bia stomped to the car and got in, slamming the door. She took a glance at her sister and noticed many bruises on her shoulders and arms.

"Where'd you get those bruises?" Bia asked, pulling out of the driveway.

"Umm well the ones on my arms are from volleyball. The ones on my shoulders are from when Triton pushed me down the stairs." She mumbled an answer.

Aphrodite's life consisted of school, volleyball, sleep, crying, getting yelled at, then repeat. Nothing new. She was quite used to him being aggressive. Him pushing her down the stairs was something he did on the regular as well.

"Interesting." Bia made a note to herself. When she came back, she was going to flip the house upside down. "Here put this hoodie on." She reached back and handed her a white Nike hoodie. It really didn't match her green Christmas pajama pants, but that was okay.

Aphrodite looked out the window as Bia drove away. She wasn't sure where they were going but it didn't matter to her as long as she was out of the house.

It was early December but people were still out like it was late July. She never understood that. Being in cold weather made her nose run and that was something she hated.

Well, hate was a strong word to her. She wouldn't let the word come out of her mouth. Ever.

"We're gonna go to the corner store and then to Xion's house." Bia spoke, talking about her boyfriend.

Saying Bia was in love is an understatement. Xion and Bia's relationship was one of a kind. It may seem cliche, but they've been together since their freshman year of high school. And now they were in their last year of college.

Aphrodite only nodded and laid her head back.

___

"Can you go in there and get me some skittles please?" Bia asked. Parked outside of the corner store, Bia looked into the store from inside of the car.

"Yea but you gotta pump the gas." She answered. Laughing at her, Bia gave her a ten dollar bill for the skittles.

Aphrodite unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. She slowly walked into the gas station looking side to side. She'd always watch her surroundings, because anytime Triton would come and harm her.

She walked further into the store and went to go get skittles.

On her way through, she bumped into a tall muscular figure. She stumbled back and the male only mugged her. She looked up at him and quickly looked away, trying to walk to the skittles. He grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards him, looking for an apology.

"You not gonna say sorry or anything?" He asked with his face scrunched up.

Truth is she wasn't going to say sorry. She was watching where she was going. To her, he's very much taller than her. Even though people could barely see her, she still would've expected him to see her since he was looking down.

"No?" She answered. She was confused on why she had to say sorry. She didn't see a reason to, they could've just gone their separate ways without saying a peep to each other. If he actually wanted her to say sorry she would, but to her this was just an excuse to talk. Which it was.

"You stepped on my shoe. That's disrespectful, say sorry the fuck?" He told her.

He felt offended. He was wearing his all white Fazos and she wasn't going to say sorry? He thought she would've known the importance of the shoe but he thought wrong. All the way wrong.

"Sorry?" She looked at him skeptically then walked towards the skittles. That had to be one of her most awkward encounters, not that she has many.

Honestly, what was the point of even speaking? And his tone came off as rude. Also, he cursed. There were so many cons compared to pros with this man, but she's not one to judge. He was cute to her though, but she wouldn't want any relations with him. Not like she was ever going to see him again.

He, on the other hand, thought she was "fine". He wanted to see her again, and little did they know, he would. He watched her as she picked up the skittles and walk to the counter.

Aphrodite purchased the skittles and gas then swiftly walked out. She was trying to avoid all of the men that were crowded around the door, but failed.

Some men crowded around her when she tried walking away. She wasn't even in anything that could make her look presentable.

"Aye ma, what's yo name?" A man asked her, making her cringe. She was trying her hardest not to cry. It was overwhelming to her that so many new men were crowding around her when all she wanted to do was sit in the car.

She tried moving away again, but someone grabbed her, making her tug her arm away.

"Say bitch I'm talking to you." The man sneered. He felt disrespected now. There wasn't any way he was going to let her reject him.

By Aphrodite not answering him, he felt like she was rejecting him. Nobody ever rejected him and he didn't let any female reject him.

In his mind he didn't work out to be rejected, he didn't get all those expensive clothes to be rejected, he didn't get his hair cut every week to be rejected. No way was he going to let that happen. And Aphrodite's light skin. He would understand if it was a dark skin girl or a brown skin girl but never a light skin. They were too cocky to him.

"Please leave me alone." She mumbled. He took that one to heart. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her towards his car. Only to be stopped by Bia.

She ran up to Aphrodite and tased him. She didn't like him touching her sister at all. Everyone knew about Aphrodite through Bia, "that's her little sister" or "don't touch Bia's sister."

Grimey wasn't cool with Bia or nobody for that matter. She and everybody else thought he was nasty. And given his name, it was obvious he wasn't the best person.

Aphrodite rushed into her sister's arm getting ready to cry, before he got back up. But before he could even throw a punch, Aphrodite's mystery man popped him. Right in front of everybody. But nobody was going to snitch.

They all knew Paris, or as they call him, Perri. Although he hated that name and wanted people to call him by his name, nobody really listened.

Grimey's body laid slumped over on the floor and Paris looked at him with a mug.

"This bitch got blood on my shoe." Paris kicked him. He had just bought these Fazos too.

Aphrodite stared at Grimey's body in shock while Bia held an emotionless stare at Paris. She knew of Paris since him and Xion were friends. He'd been around but she never held a real conversation with him.

No point anyways, if it wasn't her boyfriend, why talk?

"Anyways, you gone say thank you, or...?" Paris looked towards the two girls. Already eyeing Aphrodite.

Bia shrugged and gave him a thank you but Aphrodite shook her head. She refused to.

There wasn't any way he'd kill someone in front of her and expect her to say thank you? No way would she ever. Yea, the dude might've been hurting her, but Bia could protect her. Even if he was successful at getting her in the car, so what? She has pepper spray, at the moment she just couldn't grab it.

"Yo sister is rude. As fuck." Paris looked over to Bia. He really didn't think that. He just wanted Aphrodite's attention. One way or another he was going to have her.

"She's not, but oh well." Bia shrugged. She really just wanted to go to Xion's house, have some sex, and eat his food.

It may seem rude because Aphrodite was coming with her, but she falls asleep in her room. Yes, she has a room at his house, Xion loves her. Everybody loves Aphrodite.

Aphrodite took one last look at Paris and walked to Bia's car. Now her head was hurting. All she wanted to do was sleep. Really.

Bia followed behind her and opened her door. Yes, she opened Aphrodite's door. Once she got in, Bia got into the driver's seat and headed towards Xion's house.

___

"Hey Dite!" Xion greeted Aphrodite. He was beyond happy to see her. Hasn't seen her in about a month and to him that was too long. She was like his daughter that he had no custody over.

"Hey Xi." She smiled, giving him a hug.

After, she headed up to her room to take a shower. "I'm talkin' wap, wap, wap, right?" She mumbled to herself, turning the shower on. She stripped of her clothes, then turned some music on. Russ' voice filled the speaker as she got in the shower.

She flinched when the water hit her body. She had scratches and bruises all over her from Triton, and now Grimey. She washed her body up, wiping some tears with her free hand.

Even though she may come off as "wealthy", her life wasn't peaches and cream. Yeah, she had money, but that didn't make her happy.

"Money doesn't buy happiness", and she always told people that when they asked why she was so sad if everything was given to her when she wanted it. Her parents threw money at her but never took the time to get to know her or spend time with her.

"She's falling in love now..." She sang along to her music. She didn't let the water touch her hair because she wasn't going to wash it anytime soon.

She stayed in the shower for about twenty more minutes and got dressed.

She put on a pair of spandex shorts and a white spaghetti strap shirt. She slid on her light pink fuzzy socks and skipped down the steps.

She was going to watch "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" which was her favorite movie. She watched it almost everyday ever since they took Charlie and the Chocolate factory off of Netflix.

"Dite! Open the door for Paris!" Xion yelled, and she shrugged. She didn't know who Paris was, but if Xion knew him then she felt comfortable. He would never bring someone around her that made her feel unsafe.

About 15 minutes into her movie, somebody rang the doorbell. She hopped up off of the couch and went to the door.

She cracked it open and scrunched her face up, seeing Paris standing at the door, in a whole different outfit. He was looking down at his phone. He finally looked up at her and returned the look.

"Are you Paris?" She asked. He could barely hear her since her voice was so soft. And, he could barely see her, she wasn't letting up on the door.

"No, I'm France." He gave her a straight face. "Can you move out the way please?" He had attitude problems, and it was evident. She nodded her head and moved out of his way, so he could walk in. At least he asked nicely.

She went and sat back down on the couch to finish her movie.

Being around him made her uncomfortable because he showed up and acted like he didn't just kill somebody.

He had on a whole new outfit, and it made him look like a slut. He had a white tee on, Nike sweat shorts, and another pair of Fazos.

"Your sister told me to get you something to eat." He passed her a bag of Chick-Fil-A. Which confused her, because she really wasn't hungry.

"I'm not hungry mister." Aphrodite mumbled, making him cock his head back. He just paid for food and she didn't want it? Who even refuses food? She must've been crazy.

"Nah," He shook his head. "You finna eat this food." He chuckled. She made a face and turned away from him. She wasn't hungry and that's a waste of food. If he didn't want to waste his money and the food, he should just eat it. She wanted him to stop wasting his breath talking to her.

"Hm." He hummed, pushing the bag into her chest. He was standing in front of her now, and she couldn't see her movie. She rolled her eyes and turned away from him. She didn't want to be associated with a killer.

"Leave me alone please." She sighed. All she wanted to do was watch the movie then go to sleep. Why must it be that complicated?

"Come here." He pulled her off of the couch and pulled her into the kitchen. She glared at him and snatched her arm back. She didn't like when people touched her, it made her feel dirty. "Eat this shit." He opened the bag and took the chicken sandwich out.

"I'm not hungry mister." She repeated with a huff. She was getting frustrated because she really didn't have an appetite.

He rolled his eyes at her and opened the Polynesian sauce. If she didn't like it, oh well because he was going to make her eat it either way.

"Shut the fuck up." He waved her off. He put the Polynesian sauce on her sandwich and passed it to her, making her pass it back.

"Girl, eat it." He laughed at her, making her start walking away, but he pulled her back. "Stop playing and eat."

She sucked her teeth and grabbed the sandwich. She took a small bite and chewed it slowly. He watched her as she ate, making sure she didn't waste any. Once she ate half, she put it down.

"Eat some fries." He lightly tossed the french fries to her, making her roll her eyes. "I hope them bitches fall out too." He chuckled at her reaction.

She was not amused by him. But he liked making her mad. They'd only known each other for all of twenty minutes and some change, and he took a liking to her. He claimed her in his head as his.

He was crazy, but nobody knew. Only Xion and his mother, but they didn't think it was a big deal. It was bigger than anyone could know, but they have yet to find out.

Aphrodite finished half of everything and went back to the couch. He watched her walk away, and he would be watching her from now on to whenever he lets her go.

He didn't know how crazy he was, and he was going to find out how crazy he could be over someone he just met.

_____ 5/30/21