The Unclaimed Human Luna
Chapter 11

El POV

The truck pulled up right at the apartment complex and she got out, saw her mother and Logan both standing up there on that top step. Turned her eyes away from them and walked up the stairs, dodged Conners hand that tried to take her arm and marched herself right passed them.

“El, sweetheart, I was so worried.” She heard her mother state.

She just moved on, passed them and into the building, headed for the stairs, didn’t care to be anywhere near that man at all. Her mother had been standing there and his hand had been resting on the small of her back. Even after what had happened, she saw nothing wrong with his behaviour. The woman was beyond saving in all likelihood.

She climbed those five flights of stairs to find both her mother and Logan waiting for her. They had used the elevator to beat her up there, “Eliza, I would like to apologise for yelling at you like I did.”

She didn’t care for his apology at all, knew he didn’t mean it. A man like him would always apologise only to lose his temper again another time. It was the pattern of abusive men or women, for that matter.

Abuse and then apologise, placate and repeat, that’s all it was, empty words to get one back under control, to have one stay put and do as they were told. Walked passed both of them without saying anything, had nothing to say.

“El please, he truly didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“You’re a fool mother, one day that temper will be directed at you, and he’ll beat you senseless for some stupid reason that makes sense only to him. You know it, have seen it before.” Turned and looked right at her “Or have you forgotten already, what happened to aunty Sarah.” Moved her eyes to Logan, briefly. Then back to her mother, “Died, remember. Beaten to death by her husband for some stupid reason, she’d made him angry, spoke up against him and he beat her to death for it.”

She saw her mother sigh now, “It’s not like that.”

“You sound just like her now, you know. I will not be a victim like you.” She stated and turned and walked away, back to her room and banged the door shut. How many times did they take Aunty Sarah to the hospital? or to the doctor to be patched up? How many times did she make excuses for that man? That was her abusive husband. How many times did they hear the very words her mother just stated? “It’s not like that.” Hundreds of times over the years.

They’d not been able to convince her aunt to leave her husband, they had tried a lot, the woman had been in some sort of denial or fear or just so damned demoralised she couldn’t see a way out. Then one day they’d gotten a call to state she was dead, found in her own home bludgeoned with a frying pan. Left to bleed out and die by her own husband.

They’d all seen that man’s temper, it was less than Logans. But those very words from her own mother, she was not going to leave him, and Eliza knew it. It was unlikely she was going to be able to save her own mother. Was going to get that call one day herself, and she just knew it. Closed her eyes briefly and pushed that thought aside.

She’d warned her, reminded her of what her sister had been through. If she couldn’t see it herself even with those reminders, then it was likely already too late.

Probably also why she’d not been invited to their so-called impromptu wedding. Hadn’t even met the man her mother had met and then married like six weeks later. Gone on a month-long honeymoon with him, and then simply announced they’d be moving in with him.

She had a whole new wardrobe as well, never dressed like she used to. Logan had bought her all new clothes and wanted her to dress how he liked, not how she liked. El saw that as just another sign of being controlled by that man.

Wondered how many people here were afraid of that man, likely everyone she thought. His temper was easily unchecked. She’d seen it more than once now. Looked down at her wrist, it was no longer bruised. But he’d not cared if he’d hurt her. Called her family, which likely just meant in his eyes he could beat her and feel like it was justifiable.

Walked over and showered and changed, sank down on her bed and texted Cordi, ‘They found me and brought me back.’

‘Any trouble?’

‘No, but I tried to tell mother what he was, remind her about aunty Sarah, she stated it’s not like that.’

‘Not good, El.’

‘No, I’m going to leave when I can get the chance, though he had me watched in town. Now I wonder if he’ll watch me here to?’

‘Sounds like it, El. Be careful.’

‘I will.’

Just lay there and stare out into the darkness of the night, needed to get back to the lake, it had taken them ages to find her down there. If she went there for swimming, surely that wouldn’t be suspicious at all right. She got up and went through her clothes to find her swimwear. She only owned a few bikini’s, not exactly good for long distance swimming.

Looked at the three pairs she owned. A black string bikini; she was not going to wear that, she only wore that for sun baking. Then there was her high-waisted blue and white ruffled halter top bikini, covered more, probably better for swimming but used that one too lazy around the pools. Then there was her boy-leg yellow and orange strip bikini with a fairly modest halter neck top that showed only a little of her cleavage. Was going to have to go with that. It was the one she would play beach volleyball in, or frisbee at the beach with her friends.

Put the others away and placed this one on the couch in her room, found a pair of joggers to wear on her walk down to the lake, would need good shoes when she got to the other side. Her walk was going to be long. It had taken a good 25 minutes for that drive back along the road to get here to the apartment building. It was going to be a long walk.

Though she was hoping there would be a walking path that would be quicker for her to take than the road, if not a stroll on through the woods it would be. She knew it was east of the complex, not so hard to find. Hunted for her beach towel and laid it out as well.

Stood staring at her clothes wasn’t going to be wearing much when she got to the other side. She needed something waterproof for her phone and wallet to go in. Headed to the kitchen and found some zip-lock bags that would hold her things. Wallet and phone, there wasn’t one big enough for her shoes to go in. She didn’t even have a backpack. Didn’t know exactly how she was going to get herself out of the building with things zip locked up.

Perhaps she could just get up and leave right at sunrise, when everyone was still sleeping. That could work. She didn’t want to leave her father’s car here, but had the feeling she wasn’t going to be allowed to just drive out the front gate. Though she would try it, she thought, if she was sent back, she would drive down to the lake and make that hideous swim across it.

She might have to put it off for a day, to find a backpack she could use, would try and source one in the morning. Maybe she would be able to leave in the afternoon. Laid back down on her bed, she was tired. It was after midnight. The plan was to get a backpack and put her stuff in it. Put that in her car and try to leave via the front gate. If denied, she would head for the lake and the longest swim of her life.

She’d not seen any water sports activities down there, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have any. Maybe she could find a kayak or sailboard. She could actually use both of those. That would be good.

Perhaps her acting skills could come in handy. Go apologise to her mother for her outburst and ask her about water sports activities. Surely that wouldn’t be too obvious. Her mother knew she could kayak and sailboard, not very good at surfing, but had tried it. She could use jet ski as well. Now that would be a good option, she could just turn it on and roar away from this place, not only to the other side of the lake but the other end as well. Cross the border into Idaho and call Cordi from there. That was a good plan. Surely she could get away that way.

Took a long breath in and released it slowly, play the apologetic daughter card to get the hell out of here. Away from these assholes, that her mother thought were lovely. Didn’t understand that at all. She tried to get some sleep. Although she was tired, it was difficult with her brain trying to run through scenarios of getting out of this place.

What would happen to her if she got caught? Wondered how many times she’d be brought back before they just locked her up completely. Or maybe the constant trying to leave would show them that she really didn’t want to be here, and they would eventually just let her leave, send her away. That would be nice.

Slept in, well past the sunrise and sighed to herself when she saw it was nearly 11am, so much for getting up early, had been too tired from her freak out yesterday. Ate something and dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt, went downstairs to find her mother. She was pretty certain she would be in Logan’s office. Saw her coming along the first-floor hall towards her.

“El, honey, can we please go and talk?”

“Sure.” She nodded. “Where?”

“I have an office we could use. It’s private. It would be just you and I.”

“If Logan is in there, I’m not going in.”

She saw her mother just nod her head and then motioned for her to follow, El did. There were lots of offices down here, she noticed. She walked into the one that was, she presumed, her mother. It was large and spacious, though what she did here was anyone’s guess. She’d not worked in an office before, had been a primary school teacher.

Eliza was curious as to what she did around here, hadn’t seen her do much of anything other than stand around with Logan, walk with Logan. She saw a picture of her mother and Logan on her desk and looked at it. She was wearing a very beautiful dress, a wedding dress it looked like, and he was wearing a suit. Their wedding day, she guessed, looked like it was not impromptu at all. Looked very flashy and likely planned.

Turned her eyes from it and looked at her mother, actually saw guilt in her expression, let it go. What did it matter, she wasn’t welcome here. Why her mother insisted on her coming was a mystery to her. She seemed happy those weeks here without her around. She should have left her in California.

“El, I’m sorry.”

“I don’t really care mother.” She shrugged and sat down. “you and Logan did what you wanted.”

“I didn’t want you left out. I just got so caught up in things and then it was the day, and you weren’t there. It was too late to get you here.”

“Like I said, it doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t have come anyway.”

“El.” She sighed.

“You want the truth, I wouldn’t have. Still think it’s too soon after dad died. So, I likely wouldn’t have come anyway.” It was the truth.

Watched her mother sit behind her desk, looked a bit sad about what she’d heard “Honey, I know it’s been a little rough here for you.”

A little rough, she thought, that was an understatement. She got ditched the minute her V-card had been given away. Barely three hours afterwards and Conner had gone out of his way to prove to her it was nothing to him. Rough was not the right word. She’d been denied her right to leave for most of the time she’d been here, and bruised and felt threatened by her stepfather. The man clearly hated her as much as his son did, and neither of them appeared to want her there at all.

“I’m bored in my room all day by myself mother. What is there for me to do around here? If I must stay here, then I need something to entertain myself.”

“There is plenty to do here,” she saw her mother smile now, liked the idea of her wanting to stay. “I’ll take you to the entertainment zone and you can hang out with people your own age. Make some friends.”

“I tried that, they all stared at me and then dismissed me like Conner does.”

Saw her mother blink in shock, “I don’t understand.”

“It’s simple, I don’t fit in.” she shrugged “I don’t belong here. Surely there is something I can do on my own to keep the boredom away. It occurred to me last night that there is a massive lake nearby. Are there water sports activities I could do? Dad used to take me jet skiing or sailboarding. And I would go kayaking with my friends when off camping with them. All of these things I can do on my own.”

“Yes, there are those things to do here, but I’d rather you make some friends, El. Logan even has a really nice boat out there on the lake. Perhaps we could all go and have a family dinner on it. The four of us.”

“The four of us?”

“Yes honey, you and I, Logan and Conner, you can get to know them. I’m sure you’ll like them if you give them a chance.”

“No thank you mother.” She shook her head. She was not interested in sitting down to have a meal with either of those men. “Can Cordi and some of my friends come visit? It is summer break.” Might as well ask and see what response she got.

“I think you should settle in before bringing friends here. Once you adjust, I’m sure it can be arranged for them to come visit.”

“How long will that be?”

“That depends on when we see you settle in and make some friends, want to be here.”

That would be a more difficult act to put on. She didn’t want to be here, wanted nothing more than to get the hell away from this place. From Logan, from Conner himself, hated having to see him after what had happened, hated having to pretend it didn’t hurt. Knowing that he’d simply used her to get his rocks off.

He was an a*****e of the worst kind and she didn’t want to have to see him at all. “That could take a long time.” She stated honestly. “I don’t feel welcome here, I told you how I felt yesterday, I meant that.” She had voiced it now not only to her mother and Logan, Conner knew as well, not that he cared.

“Honey.”

“Stop, I don’t want to fight with you anymore, I don’t want to fight with anyone anymore, I’m done fighting. I give up. Tell Logan he wins. But I cannot live all alone here and do nothing. I need something to do, or I will go insane. A jet ski or sailboard, hell a canoe or kayak will do I can spend my summer on the lake.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to him. But this is not about him winning El.”

No, she thought it was about him always having his way, but she didn’t say that to her mother. “I’d also like to request he stay away from me. I’m not at all comfortable around him.”

Saw her mother sigh softly, then after a moment just nod her head, “For now, I think that is also the best.”

“How do I get to the Lake from here? I don’t exactly recall how I got there last night.”

“There is a path. It’s a long walk though, you could take one of the cars. Your father wouldn’t be suitable for the road down, but you can have one of Logan or Conners trucks. There are a few here, and they don’t use all of them at the same time.” Saw her mother stand up. “Come, I’ll show you.”

“I don’t need a car, the walking trail will be fine, I like a bit of hiking.” She stood and followed her mother out of the office to find Logan coming this way. “Dad and I used to hike all the time.”

“I know, but around here.”

“Wolves. I’ve seen one.” She nodded “Didn’t really scare me, just a shock.” She shrugged, “Get the feeling I’d be safer with them, then others here.” She muttered.

Saw her mother look right at her and frown, but it was true, though that wolf had been there it had not attacked her, seemed more curious than anything else. She’d not presented herself as a threat and it hadn’t either. Likely they both startled each other that night.

“Eliza again, I would like to apologise to you for my behaviour.” Logan stated, stopping a few feet from her.

“Mother, I’ll take my leave.” She said, could play nice with her mother, but was not in the mood to play nice with him.