Deadly by Chant'e Francis (leveled readers TXT) 📕

and steadily walking forward. She was determined. Making her way to the stairs, she felt overjoyed.
She lifted her foot to initiate the climb when the ground was stolen from under her. She fell forward and hit her head hard. A third set of hands had grabbed her. They were stronger than the others, stronger than she, and had more determination. Grabbing her ankles, it dragged her. More hands shot out and wrapped around her, her arms secured to her sides. She was moving so fast, she couldn't hold onto anything. Then suddenly, the ground once again disappeared. She had entered the cave, the opening of it rose as she fell. Her drop never ending, taking her further and further from any sanctuary, from any light.


*~* CHAPTER 2 *~*

Aerandria awoke very alarmed. There was something heavy on her. Clamped around her torso. Cold hands squeezing the sides of her face. Remembering her previous predicament, she thought the cave dwellers were on her. She thought they were devouring her. She began flailing about, eyes still closed. Afraid to open them. Afraid of what she might see.
If the outside of the cave was so frightening, she could just imagine the inside. It had to be grotesque. So she kept her eyes closed as she fought. The creature holding on to her for dear life. Its weight was shortening her air supply.
"Ouchie!" the creature cried out. Aerandria would recognize that squeaky little voice anywhere, Cyruson. "Aeri stop. You're hurting me."
She stopped fighting immediatly and opened her eyes. Sitting on top of her, staring down with huge brown eyes was Cyruson. His cute little face covered in scratches. Many tear tracks staining his face.
"Did I make those scratches on your face Cy?" she asked, calming down.
"No"
"Have you been crying?"
"No" the evidence was plain on his face, but he didn't want to remind her.
"Then who made those scratches? Did you tell Zander the other kids were picking on you again?" She asked a bit worried. All the other kids at the kindergarten were always picking on him. Calling him names, stealing his toys, hitting him, pushing him in the mud. Just because he was different. Because he was smarter, and faster than all the others. He shouldn't have to deal with that, his teacher shouldn't be turning a blind eye to such cruelty.
They picked on him because of his home life. Their mother worked, but then again so did Aerandria and Zander. The huge difference was, their mother used her pay to buy drugs and alcohol, to go to bars and be man handled by guys who would use her for a one night stand. Aerandria and Zander used their pay to pay the bills, to make sure they had a roof over their heads.
Their father had died when Aerandria was 3, and Zander was 8. Cyruson wasn't even alive then, he was the product of a one night stand. Although his father had probably forgotten about it, he never would be able to. His fellow classmates made sure of that.
"Aeri? Aeri are you listening?" Cyruson asked as he squished her cheeks together.
"Sorry Cy, what were you saying?" It was hard to talk with him squishing her cheeks, the words came out meshed together. Aerandria wondered if Cyruson could understand her.
"I was asking if you were awake now."
"What do you mean?" He could be so confusing sometimes.
Before she could get an answer, or ask anymore questions Cyruson flew out the door. He was probably going to get Zander. She looked around her room wondering what motel she was in. When her mother would bring her male friends from the clubs and bars home, Zander would always take them to a motel. 'To ride out the storm' as he would say. Funny thing is, she didn't remember making the trip here, she didn't remember waking up to the blasting music, or strange men in her room. How strange.
Usually Zander would pick better motels than this as well. There were cracks and holes in the walls. A layer of grime over everything, and roaches everywhere. Everything was broken, the TV, the air conditioning, the bed, everything. There were beer cans and plates of green brown slop that was once food, littered all over the floor. It smelled horrible, like month old vomit. The bed was rock hard and had springs poking through the yellow urine tainted mattress. This place was filthy. Zander must have had to get them out of the house as soon as possible.
The door creaked open and Cyruson ran back inside. He dodged the foul debris and jumped into her waiting arms. She sunk lower into the mattress with his sudden weight and something squeaked. The sound distinct through the groaning of the beds springs. What was that?
"How you feeling?" Asked a stranger as he walked into the room. He was tall, had a strong build and a slightly better than average face. He had hazel eyes and brown hair that hung in his eyes. His smile was breath taking.
"Who are you?" she asked inspecting him through narrowed eyes.
"After all we've been through you still have to ask me that? I thought we had something special." He replied squirming under her analysis.
"What are you talking about? Where's Zander? Are you a friend of his?"
"You really don't remember do you?" Asked another guy with blond hair and brown eyes. He was as tall if not taller than his predecessor, and had pretty much the same build.
"And who are you?" she asked this new guy. She felt as though she should know the answer to this, but ignored it. They looked so familiar, but who were they? Recognition pulled on the edges of her memory, but she just couldn't place them.
"Me Ashur, you Aerandria."
"Thank you Tarzan, but I believe I know who I am." She replied with a roll of her eyes, "Ashur huh? That's a bit of a strange name."
"Your one to talk" he said, challenging her to deny his claim.
"Aeri doesn’t remember?" Cyruson said, effectively ending their little conversation.
"Remember what? Did something happen?" She couldn't remember the night before at all. She couldn't even remember her dream, although it still made her shiver. How strange this day was turning out to be.
The three males exchanged a worried look before settling their gaze on her once again. It was a long while before anyone spoke. It's hard to tell someone their brother went homicidal and tried to kill everyone. How do you tell someone her mother died saving her life? How were they going to inform her that in one night she had lost everything? Someone had to tell her, but none of them had the heart to break hers.
"Well if no one will answer me, I'm going to take a shower before finding my brother. He doesn’t keep anything from me."
'You and Zander were pretty close, weren't you?" asked Ashur.
"Yes. What do you mean were?"
All the males exchanged wary glances before Ashur finally answered, “We actually just got this room like an hour ago, and none of us have used the shower. Tell us if its any good."
"We haven't even gone in the bathroom yet." Cyruson said as he ushered his sister through the bathroom door.
Aerandria opened her mouth to speak, but Cyruson simply closed the door on her. She would shower first, and get her answers later.


*~* CHAPTER 3 *~*

Aerandria quickly turned toward the tub and turned on the shower. While the water warmed she assessed the bathroom. It was just as bad as the room she had just exited. Little dots ran all over the walls in intricate patterns. Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be roaches and other little vermin. There was no escape.
One of the little critters fell down her shirt, so she stripped off all her clothes. Standing there in her birthday suit and breathing heavily, she kicked her clothing away. After taking a few deep breaths to calm down she turned towards the mirror to survey herself. She would always wake up with bruises the morning after one of her mom's parties.
She tried to look in the mirror, to inspect her reflection, but that was nearly impossible. The mirror was cracked in a way that resembled someone punching it dead center. It had green mold growing out of its cracks and the rest of it was covered in brown sludge. Its filth cause Aerandria’s heartbeat to quicken a bit as she thought of all the diseases it could be harboring. Deep breathes were doing nothing for her now, so she turned on the sink to splash water in her face.
The water that emerged from the pipes was brown and anything but clean. Her day could not get any worse. She turned off the water and looked into the shower, making sure the water streaming down was clear.
Without stopping to check out the cracks in the tub, or the shower temperature she climbed in and closed the sliding door. She looked down and saw that the tub was full of cockroaches and water. Many were climbing on top of their now dead companions trying to get to safety, while others attempted to swim out.
Aerandria let out a sigh and thought once again, "How could this get any worse?". Her shower then turned cold and the water turned from a translucent color to an icky brown similar to what flowed into the sink.
Aerandria simply sighed and turned off the water, cutting short her shower. Staying in this hell hole any longer was just a waste of time and she should have known from the beginning she wouldn't be able to bathe. If nothing else in this room worked, what made her think the shower would?
She turned to leave the stall, and froze in place. There was a huge rat on the handle.
It was absolutely hideous.
It was missing patches of fur in many places, proof that it was battle hardened.
It had an extremely long tail that it swung back and forth. It's teeth were jagged and sharp, perfect for biting into her flesh.
Aerandria screamed and backed up as much as she could.
"Aeri what's wrong???" Someone screamed through the locked door.
She said nothing, and only continued squishing herself to the wall.
The rat jumped at her, teeth bared. It was hungry, and she looked like breakfast.
Aerandria dodged by a hair and swiftly flew out the shower stall, almost tripping over the tub lip. She shut the glass door behind her, just as the rat leaped again. It left a semi clean streak on the glass as it slid down into the water, its face wiping away the mildew.
Someone broke down the door, and the splintered wood flew everywhere. One of the planks hit the shower door and it shattered, glass landing in the pond of roaches.
Ashur stepped into the room, and Aerandria ran into his arms. He held her close while Juliano searched the room looking for an intruder. He saw the tub, and the corners of his mouth tilted up in a small smile. Any woman would scream if she saw a tub full of roaches, and a shower head spew filth. He figured that she was in no danger, and opened what was left of the shower stall and turned off the water.
Before he could close the door, the fighter rat attacked him. It landed on his face and bit his nose. Aerandria screamed again and Ashur turned her away, shielding her with his body. Juliana yelled a few oaths, and tried to fight back.