(Warning lol there is um... a scene towards the end that is uncomfortable to some... I don't know how else to word it lol...Enjoy)

The potent force in which I was propelled from my mother's memories held so much power within its push that my vision turned hazy, objects wavering into distorted shapes until what had become disfigurations transformed into piercing blinding white light that soon receded my view, my mother's dismayed image finally clear. The ground felt cold as the damp arctic chill of its green blades pressed relentlessly into my palms, shoving against my fallen form, all eyes surrounding us remained worried and yet avidly curious.

I felt Maria's arms grasp my frozen shape quickly helping me to my feet while never pausing in her rush to move me to the solitude of the balcony, the forest giving us much needed privacy. It was only as she released me did I turn to see that Clarice had repeated those actions with my bewildered mother, Andrea still lingering behind them.

"We'll tell them you both were overcome with emotions. Everything will be fine," Maria quickly inserted into the awkward silence, her eyes so easily revealing her own painful knowledge of what really happened.

"And what's the truth?" My mother harshly whispered, her voice hoarse, her brown eyes focused on the scenery clearly avoiding anything to do with me before finally she turned, glaring at Maria's unnerving sense of calm.

"Why don't you do you and your daughter a favor for once and take out the time to ask her," Clarice unsympathetically snapped, her revulsion for my mother's earlier actions barely concealed.

My mother finally looked directly at me or more accurately she looked through me, for clearly from her hateful expression she did not see the daughter she always claimed to love, the little girl who she once wiped tears from her cheeks from the cruelty of the other children's words, the child who resembled her most. No, what she saw was evident. In her cruel emotionless eyes I was nothing more than a monster and at last in that moment clarity fell over me as I realized the truth in Andrea's words. Finally the image of a strong, courageous, beautiful woman who could do no wrong crumpled, its edges peeling back to reveal nothing more than an insufferable, cowardly bitch.

Tears that I'm sure were more for herself and the part she was supposed to play flooded her cruel gaze, "I only have two daughters and they are currently both at home."

The pain was immense if not unforgiving as it pierced into unshielded skin, ripped into an unprotected heart, the blood seeping from its wound surging as if within its flow lied all our tender memories viciously snatched from my reach. Her words injured with the accuracy of an arrow aiming for its intended target.

"And Andrea?" I questioned, my voice finally clear enough of its emotional blockage to speak, my eyes focused on Andrea's pained features.

"My eldest died tragically with her beloved father," she admitted with distaste at the words beloved father as if vomit rested on her tongue. "I'm sure wherever Andrea is she is at peace. God certainly knows she rarely gave me any."

Andrea's distressing tears slipped silently down into her agape mouth, her lips quivering, her sapphire gaze holding such unspoken anguish that it caused moisture to come to my own eyes while rage shimmered beneath its surface.

"How can you speak that way about your own deceased child!" I screamed watching as her expression turned vicious as a look I had never seen rose to capture my mother's features.

"Easily," she spat out sadistically as she slowly advanced closer, her eyes centered solely on mine, her anger insurmountable, her fear still lurking underneath. "You two never understood, or cared about what I sacrificed so that your lives could be better, so that-."

"Better?" I mocked, my voice overcome with emotions, "You mean snatching us from the only home that we knew of, keeping us from our father-."

"Your father was nothing more than a criminal!" she raged.

"And you were nothing more than a whore!"

The slap stung my cheek, its sound resounding along the air that surrounded us. "You will not speak to me that way!"

I fought to control the ravenous demon inside me, red wrestling with hazel, just barely containing the uncontrollable need to slice into her, to watch her blood paint the gray pavement beneath my feet. "I will speak to you in any way I please, as you felt compelled to point out. I AM NOT YOUR DAUGHTER!"

"And thank god for that."

"Why anyone would want you for a parent is beyond me. You moved us in with a virtual stranger; spread your legs in exchange for luxuries our father couldn't give you instead of getting a fucking job and becoming a real woman, a mentor we could look up to! You think these jewels, makeup, and expensive clothes can conceal what you truly are? You're nothing, you're pathetic."

She noiselessly wept as if she was oblivious to the falling of the tiny trickles of wretchedness, "Anna, I did the best I could-."

I held up my hand to silence her, "do not even dare to utter those words to me! Remember, I know what you endured," I unpityingly mocked, moving to stand closer to her now stationary form. "How he talked down to you," I whispered feeling my inner darker self gloat as another tear fell from her chin.

Moisture blinded her gaze, her footsteps quick to retreat as I advanced, "Stop it!"

"How he treated you like garbage behind closed doors," I nastily taunted watching as she stumbled over some loose pebbles falling into a broken heap, her grief stricken features gazing up at me.

"Please, no more."

"How he stayed out all hours... how he repeatedly cheated."

Her head shook pitifully if not vigorously, waves falling over her shoulders, "no, it's impossible for you to know that."

"You know that everything I say is true. After all, you were there with me, remember? That ... Fucking... Red... Tie," I mimicked callously, ignoring the fear radiating from her pounding heart, its sound awaking my malevolent hunger.

"Stay out of my head!" she raged, her cheeks flushed, the sight of her crumpled, infuriated form huddled on the dirty ground disgusted me because for once I saw how weak she was, how quickly her perfect image failed her, her current true self more identical to those who resided within these walls, walls she had made sure I was encaged behind.

At my silence she gazed wildly at the two nurses behind me finally realizing what had become of her false façade and quickly she rose on unsteady heels, shaken hands hasty to pat the dust from her black dress, to smooth a wayward strand of hair.

"Is that why you could never seem to love us, mother? Did you blame us for the way your life turned out? Hate us because of the way he beat you?"

There was a fanatical glint in her eyes, "That never happened! Rick loves me!" she screamed "your father was my mistake. Rick, he remains my savior," she pathetically insisted as if trying desperately to convince herself because I certainly knew better.

The sight of her standing proudly before me declaring such lies was almost funny if it hadn't been so sad, "Really, mother? Is that truly what you believe? Then why is it every night as you cry yourself to sleep you repeat, 'Carmen, this is the life you dreamed of. This is the life you wanted?'."

Sadness morphed so quickly into anger, "How dare you! How could you even know-. It doesn't matter, none of this matters! The only thing you've just proven is that what everyone says about you is true! You really are evil!" she brutally retaliated, her words insensitively scaring my very soul. "How can you stand there and judge anyone after what you've done! Just take a look around you, at where you are!"

Tears dripped from my own chin, "And how easy was it for you to believe the worse about me?"

She grimaced bitterly, "Clearly my assumptions were correct. It seems trouble and unhappiness follows you where ever you go, Anna. Did you think we wouldn't hear of your recent episodes? Do you even know how much money it took to cover your current indiscretions?"

I watched as she dismissed my stricken expression, her hands quick to remove her compact from her bag fixing her minor flaws until she turned back to me, her immaculate, perfect persona back into place.

"Then you also knew of my time in the hospital? How I almost died?" I whispered my heart breaking.

"As I have said I only have two remaining daughters, one of which I believe had her own stay in the hospital thanks to your heartlessly, callous hands. Now, I will certainly pray for you, Anna Marie Cortez, but I'm sure those words will fall on deaf ears for it is obvious from your sinful, wicked ways you are beyond redemption. Enjoy your stay here because if I have anything to do with it this shall be the permanent place you call home."

With that phony, plastic smile back in place, her image of the perfect mayor's wife embodied she swiftly turned from me, her heels hasty to put distance between us and yet I felt compelled to chase her movements, her abrupt twist to face me again saved her from my touch. Her face mere inches from my own, her fury overwhelming, "You will not dare to touch me again! And if you ever repeat your false claims of being my daughter I'll make your charges of attempted murder look like child's play!"

I watched in stunned silence as this shell of a person dressed in her overpriced finery, a person I once called mommy strutted away from me already smiling as if no tears had ever left her eyes, as if she hadn't just stomped on my already fragile heart. As if her broken daughter didn't gaze forlornly after her.

My eyes fell to my shaken hands, tears blurring the sight. I felt a slight comforting pressure on my shoulder and Maria's voice whispering that they would give me a minute alone and then I lost it. I fell to my knees crying all the tears I held back, all the tears my mother pretended she never shed.

"Anna, you shouldn't cry over her. She's not worth it," Andrea whispered, her body stooping to sit beside me on the hard cement.

I glared up into her cheerless blue eyes, "I'm sorry Drea, but I can't just turn off my emotions like you can."

I knew she didn't deserve my harsh words but I was hurting and she was here.

Her arm came around me, "I'm glad you finally told her how you felt. I wish I'd had a chance to do that."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, my fingers wiping away some of my sadness. "You guys fought all the time."

Her laugh was humorless as her arm dropped to rest along her bent knees, her gaze on the sky instead of my own, "Yeah, about things that didn't matter. My curfew, my allowance, parties... boys. She never truly knew what was bothering me. What I really wanted her to know." Her voice broke as she tried to hold back a sob, "the signs she ignored."

"What do you mean, Drea?" I asked almost too afraid to know what could make such sadness enter her normally joyful cerulean gaze.

A smile was forced upon her full lips, "Nothing Marie. Let's go back and join the crappy party."

Andrea rose onto unsteady feet, her fingers extended to help me up but it seemed as soon as our hands collided a tingle shot from her palm to mine and instead of a bright white light taking over, darkness transcended and slowly I felt us leave the balcony and the peaceful forestry that surrounded us, yanking us back into memories I never knew existed.

We remained cloaked in darkness and yet I still could feel Andrea's crushing grip on my fingers, her palm sweating as if from fear.

"Oh god, no, no, no!" Andrea moaned, her eyes wildly scanning the shadows around us. Her fear did nothing to lessen my own for I wondered why she was so frightened after all we'd been through, what could cause her to tremble in terror?

My eyes adjusted to our new surroundings, the only light to be seen came from the small crack beneath the door directly in front of us.

Her grip suddenly clenched my shoulders shaking me vigorously, her eyes panicked, "Anna, what have you done?"

My mouth remained agape, for no answers came to mind to appease that horrified expression on her pretty features, no response seemed to fall from my lips at all. Silence ensued after her words, Andrea's body quickly moving from my side frantically dashing around this small space, shoving items off shelves, her movements flustered, her expression distraught.

"Drea, what's wrong?" I asked softly, her chaotic actions causing the dread to weigh heavy in my heart at the increasing sadness conquering her features. "Stop it or someone will hear you."

She rounded back to me so suddenly, her tear stained face livid, "No one is going to hear us Anna!" She advanced back to my side with such speed that I almost took a step back, once again she took hold of my shoulders but this time with such force I wanted to cry out. "You brought us here! You have to get us out!"

I began to shake my head in denial, "No, it's impossib-."

The sounds of sheets rustling, weight shifting and the slight squeak of bed springs forced me into silence as it penetrated the air, the slight bang of the head board slamming into the wall started softly before slowly increasing its speed, its repetitive thumps ringing out like a gun shot continually fired managed to halt us both.

"Drea-."

"Anna, you get us out of here, and you get us out of here now," she screamed, her features bordering on hysteria, her trembling hands resuming her movements of jerking my body desperately.

"Calm down on the crazy, Drea."

"Don't you realize where we are, Anna?" she practically screamed, her arm making a sweeping gesture towards the dimly lit space around us.

"I see that maybe you and I should switch places in the mental ward because you are freaking losing it, nut job."

Andrea swept a row of high heels to the ground, the sound of its crash piercing the air, "God, Anna open you pretty brown eyes and take a fucking look around!"

I glanced at the ruined rows of heels, sneakers, and wedges all appearing to be recently purchased. I took in the rows of jackets, shirts, dresses, designer jeans some still with their tags attached to them and then I froze. There in the center of the abundance of retail was a red shirt. The same tee Andrea had on the night of the car crash.

The same shirt she was still currently wearing.

"We're in your closet," I whispered. "But why would you bring us here?"

"I didn't, you did!"

"My powers to travel into memories have never worked on-. It's not possible."

"Apparently when dealing with you nothing is impossible."

"But I've never been outside a person's body in a memory before."

"That's something you should be grateful for this time," she muttered indiscreetly.

"Drea, I don't understand."

"You don't have to. You just have to get us out of here!" she screamed, her fear overriding her anger.

"I can't, I don't know how."

We could hear the rough movements of the bed rousing, that never-ending pound from those bouncing springs and then finally a series of deep hoarse moans before at last silence erupted, Andrea's tears falling aimlessly to the carpeted floor. My hand rested on her trembling shoulder, "its okay Andrea, so you snuck a boy in one night. It's not the end of the world."

She turned away from the door to gaze down at me, her anguish overflowing from her blue gaze, "You really can't get us out of here?"

"Drea, its not as if I thought you were a virgin. That ship sailed a long time ago," I joked, searching for anything to bring a smile back to her quivering lips, to deplete her sudden depression, her hysterical weeping.

"Innocence is a fragile thing Anna. You never realize how easy the purity of childhood can be snatched from within your reach," she whispered over her sobs, her hand trembling as it moved to grasp the knob before us.

"What do you mean?" I murmured almost too afraid to ask in fear of what she'd reveal.

Her hand twisted the knob, the soundless opening of the door, the light suddenly illuminating the darkened closet, "this is what I mean..."

The first thing my eyes captured was the pink crumpled sheets that covered Andrea's bed, her pink comforter had already fallen laying discarded on the carpet along with what appeared to be her night gown. A lamp next to the bed lay shattered, broken shards embedded along the carpeted floor. The sound of someone using the bathroom pierced my ears and yet the door remained closed, the only evidence of it being occupied was the oddly joyful sounds of a person whistling. I roamed over Andrea's cheerleading uniform still hung on the back of her closet, her stacks of teddy bears still sitting along a table next to the window still, my fingers slid over the vanity still lined with her makeup and brushes all things I always begged her to let me try...

And then I realized what I had been avoiding.

What I had been distracting myself from by remembering all the useless things that cluttered our childhood. My hazel tear filled eyes wandered back towards the bed, pass the fallen clothes, pass the crumpled covers, over the wrinkled sheets to the blood that stained the fabric, and there lying in the middle of every girl's worst nightmare come true was Andrea.

And yet not the sister I knew of today. No, this person cowering beneath stained sheets in an attempt to cover her nudity was not the sister I knew her to be. Her beautiful face was distraught, her lips swollen, her eyes so red from crying that the blue of her pupils only seemed to stand out that much more, her blond hair was tousled, her body shaking, and her skin... so deathly pale I almost reached out to check for a pulse.

And yet still the sight of her broken image was not what shocked me most. No, what caused the dam of emotions I held back to crumple from my eyes was the fact that sitting before me was Andrea at the age of eleven.

The door to the bathroom finally opened causing me to fall to my knees, my chest heaving in my attempt to breathe, tears clogging my throat, my shaking fingers rising to cover my trembling lips so that the unspeakable scream trapped within me was not released as I watched helplessly as our half naked step father emerged strutting causally into the room.

Andrea seemed to withdraw even further into herself, her arms rising quickly to wrap around her legs, her legs drawn into her chest, the sound of her continued sobs almost unbearable, and still it only seemed to cause Rick more amusement as he moved to tug his shirt back over his bare chest. That red tie still hanging carelessly from his neck. My hand gripped the vanity behind me with such force I was surprised the wood did not detach from its surface, my other hand taking hold of something else. A hard glass object embedded itself in my grasp and as my fingers rose it was an older Andrea's grip on my wrist that stopped me from hurling the object at his heartlessly cruel face.

I turned towards her, her face a mirror image of the pain the younger version of herself had endured and yet still she held me back, "Anna, that won't work. They can't see us. And you couldn't hurt him even if you tried."

"He's a monster Drea! He deserves to die!" I raged feeling the dark shadows lurking beneath my skin.

"Anna, this is a memory, and as much as I hate him for all he has done you should know better than anyone that you have no control over what happens in a memory. You are only allowed to observe."

"Fuck observing! He should pay for ruining our lives!" I screamed, my hand yanking from her grasp, my legs running quickly to where he stood, my arms rising to repeatedly bash his skull in but as my fingers collided with his skin I watched with frustration eating at the very core of my being as my hand glided straight through, as if trying to capture smoke. "No! It's not fair! He deserves to pay!"

I continued to swing, and kick and still every hit went without contact until finished dressing he walked straight through me ignoring Andrea's sobs as he made his way towards the door. Rick paused in the entrance, the hallway light casting a glow around him, his handsome features that charmed so many formed a beautiful smile back towards my sister's crumpled form.

"Don't worry sweetie this will be our little secret. You know your mother would never leave me, not that she would believe you anyway. Remember, you wanted this to happen," he whispered, Andrea's eyes rising from the covers to glare up at him through her tears. "I never wanted you Andrea. You shouldn't cry. You offered yourself to me."

I turned horrified eyes on the older Andrea hoping to god his words were lies but her face remained impassive, the only show of emotion being the clenching of her jaw and the damp trickles of pain running down her cheeks.

"I hate you," her younger self whispered, her face flushed with unleashed anger.

"It's funny how much you love your little sister. To offer such..." He licked his lips before he continued, "Innocence just to stop me from going into her room is quite commendable if it were not so ridiculously weak. Emotion makes us vulnerable, it clouds our view of what the world should be, what we should be... invincible, but enough of this your mother awaits. I'm sure I shall see you soon," He said with a leering smile before quietly he shut the door.

Andrea finally unable to hold back anymore jumped from her bed fallen onto bended knee before white porcelain gagging up everything inside, her tears falling mixing into her vomit until finally she felt empty. She drug herself towards the shower, too weak to stand and there under the warm spray, her hair tangled, her eyes puffy, her body hugging her legs to her chest was where she remained, her body barely able to control the heart wrenching sobs.

I watched my older sister finally realizing exactly how far she'd go to protect me, and how unjust life was to force her into this sacrifice. It was only now that I became conscious of the fact that I still held that glass object in my hand. My eyes blurry with emotions fell to my fingers finally noticing the perfume bottle within my grasp, its weight heavy in my palm. I remembered it being a gift from mommy from one of her many trips. I lifted it to place it back on the counter, but found myself frozen in mid-movement because there before me was that scent, that same distinctive smell of lilacs drifting up to meet my nostrils that in my earlier observations I noticed enraged my mother's jealousy. Adultery she had called it... my mother just had no idea how close she was, and yet how far off from the horrifying truth she remained ignorant to, a truth that seemed to continually go unnoticed.

(Okay. I know this is shorter than my normal uploads but I wanted to upload something instead of leaving you guys hanging. I hope you guys liked it! Please leave me feedback if you liked it or not, or even if it's just a comment like god I hate her mom and step dad! Lol so is Anna starting to become a real person in your eyes? Her life story is not as simple and black and white as it first seemed? Lol okay going to upload as soon as possible and I hope you guys were cool with the way I described Andrea's memory. I tried to kind of give detail without actually describing the actual act vividly.

So comment, vote if you like it, but as always come back for more... Anna is about to get pissed lol)

Until next time...