Vanessa

(Currently in progress)

HelloITSplato

## Backstory

Vanessa stood by her twin sister, Heather, and she watched her mother stare at her father, a suitcase in her hand.

“Listen, Daniel, I can’t live with you anymore. Don’t think you can keep me from leaving like you did the last two times. I can’t live with your torment anymore.” Her mother said, her blue eyes on her visor were solid, like she was actually leaving this time.

“Siren..You know I didn’t mean it, I just got mad. I won’t hurt you again, I promise.” Father took a step closer to her, the dangerous tone started coming out in his voice, “Don’t leave.” He raised a hand like he was going to pull her closer to him

Mother smacked his hand, “No, Daniel, you *know* I’m leaving. And I’m taking the kids with me.” She looked at Vanessa and Heather, “Heather, go get Markus.”

Heather nodded and took off inside, Vanessa looked up at her mother.

Siren looked down at Vanessa, “C’mere Nessa.” She knelt down and opened her arms

Vanessa ran forward and hugged her mother, Siren’s dirty blonde hair falling in-front of Vanessa’s visor.

Markus came outside and stood there till mother got up, then looked her in the eyes, “So you're gonna leave *again?* How long till you come crawling back this time?” One of his eyebrows raised

Siren looked down at Markus, “I’m not going to argue with you, Markus. Either you come with me, or you stay here with your father. Permanently.” Her mothers voice had a sense of finality.

Vanessa looked down at the ground, she didn’t like going with her mother. Pack, unpack, pack, unpack. She might stay here, it was like Markus said, ‘how long till you come crawling back?’. It *was* only a matter of time for leaving with her mother. *But,* she looked up at Heather, who was staring at their mother with a glow in her green eyes, Heather will go with her, and I don’t want to leave Heather all alone… Vanessa sighed and looked up at her mother.

“I’m not going with you.”

Vanessa clenched her fists nervously and looked into her mothers sad eyes on her visor.

Siren nodded, “That’s your decision.” She looked at Heather, “Are you coming, Heather?” Heather nodded and slipped her hand into Mothers.

Daniel tried again, “*Dear*, why don’t you come into the house and we can talk this out?” He reached out and grabbed her shoulder, a menacing tone going through his voice.

Heather let Siren’s hand go and kicked Father’s ankle, he breathed in quickly and looked down at her, anger showing on his screen.

Siren grabbed Heather and pulled her back before Father could hit her.

Mother looked down at Vanessa again, “Vanessa, I wish you the best of luck darling.” She kneeled and kissed Vanessa’s forehead.

Vanessa watched her mother and her sister walk toward the street and out the gate, her father rushed forward and yelled into the busyness of outside their garden walls. “Fine then! Don’t come back this time, you hear? You come back again and I’ll send you out to the disassembly drones!” He shouted.

When he turned around he made a beeline straight for Vanessa, “This is your fault! She was never unhappy till you and that other brat came into the world!” He raised his hand like he was about to strike her, but Markus came up behind him and hit him over the head with a flower pot. The pot shattered and Father slumped to the ground, a screen showing ‘unconscious’ showed on his visor.

Vanessa looked up at her brother standing over her, her eyes wide, expecting him to start yelling at her as well. But Markus looked down at her and held a hand out to her.

Vanessa took his hand and he helped her to her feet, giving her a hug when she came up. “Listen, we’re the only ones now. We have to look out for each other.” Markus said.

Vanessa hiccuped and realized that she was crying a little bit. She rubbed her eyes and pulled them back, oil smeared on her hands. “But Mother-“

Markus shook his head, “She’s not coming back this time. I could tell, it’s for real this time.”

Vanessa looked up at her brother, scared.

————

It had been two weeks, but Vanessa hadn’t stopped looking out her window every morning and staring out it for hours after she was supposed to be asleep. Markus had helped her whenever he wasn’t working, but Father chose to mostly be drunk durning the day, when Markus wasn’t home. She often had to wear bandages to school and say she fell when someone asked. They all laughed at her and called her stupid for falling. Markus helped Vanessa with her schoolwork if she didn’t understand it. Vanessa *hated* when Markus had to work late shifts, it was the worst time of the day, when the alcohol started wearing off of her Father, he was *terrible*. Vanessa tried to not get in his way, but it was like he seeked her out because her Mother wasn’t here for him to yell at and abuse.

Today felt different, Vanessa didn’t feel very upset. Speaking of which, she hadn’t felt much the past few days except boredom. It was interesting that she was bored at all, Vanessa usually found all her classes exciting.

Today *was* different, today when Alex pushed her, she didn’t feel anything toward the cheerleader. Today when Mason and Levi tripped her during PE she didn’t feel anything. *Anything*.

Today when Markus told her that father had been killed, she didn’t feel anything.

…

Wait.

What…

Vanessa held her hand out and started seeing it shake, her screen felt hot. *What was happening?* She pulled her hands up and put them on either side of her visor. She started breathing rapidly, oil started dripping from her eyes. *What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?*

Vanessa knew what was happening, she was having a panic attack and overheating. They had talked about this in school, but she hadn’t really paid attention.

Vanessa dropped her head between her arms. Markus wasn’t home yet, she had to get outside.

Vanessa got up and stumbled to the door, opening it and rubbing her eyes, they became slick with oil.

She went to the front door and twisted the handle and it just barely opened, oil coating the knob.

She ran into the garden and out the gate. Vanessa ran through the streets until she saw the city gates. She pushed them open and ran outside.

Vanessa didn’t know how long she was running, it felt like hours, but if she looked back she could see the lights of the city.

Suddenly, when she looked back there was a new light in the sky, following her. She knew what it was.

A Disassembly drone.

Vanessa started running faster, not taking her eyes off the drone in the sky. The Drone swooped down and slammed into the ground right behind her, making the ground shake and she fell. She whipped around onto her back and the Disassembly Drone landed on her, pinning her to the ground. Vanessa cringed back from the bright yellow X on the Drones visor.

The Disassembly Drones tail flung toward her neck but she grabbed it as it went over her head, just barely scratching her screen.

As she held the tail, she got an idea. With that idea she stabbed the Drone in the face and its screen went blank with an ‘error’ page. Vanessa pushed the drone off her and sat up, her eyes wide.

She stood and looked in the direction of the city. The Drones screen flashed yellow and then dark, before showing up with a ‘Reloading’ message.

The Drone stood up behind Vanessa and she turned around, just barely getting a look at the Drones X marking before she saw the tail whisking toward her face.