Unwanted Blood (Harper) novel Chapter 3

Harper’s POV

I opened the drawer with trembling hands and took the knife hidden in it. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, pressing the cold blade against my skin. I felt numb as it cut through.

I watched the blood drip down and I didn’t feel the sting. Not really. The physical pain was nothing compared to the ache that lived inside me every second. This just made the inside hurt a little less for a few minutes. That was all I wanted.

I tried my best to limit it to once a week, but it was hard.

I cleaned the blade and returned it to the drawer. Then I took off my clothes, pulled out the gauze I kept and began wrapping and dealed with the scald.

Outside, birds flew past in small groups. They looked so free.

I had tried to leave more than once, but every single time they dragged me back and punished me even more severely.

Gradually, I accpeted my fate, but still couldn’t control myself to dreame that my family would love me, accept me, treat me as one of their own instead of the daughter of a rapist. I’ve dreamed that on this day, they’d celebrate my birthday with joy.

But I was wrong. Dreams don’t come true. Not for me.

Maybe it was time to end it.

I let out a long breath, and picked up the pen to write something for my brothers.

Then the knock at my door made me freeze and hide the letter in my drawer. My heart was released when I heard the five rhythmic taps.

Lily.

I rushed to unlock the door. She slipped inside quickly, her eyes darting nervously down the hallway before she closed and locked it behind her.

“Harper, are you okay? God.”

She took my hand gently and pulled me to sit on the bed, her fingers carefully examining the angry red marks.

“I already treated them,” I told her softly. “It’s no big deal. They’ll heal.”

She exhaled shakily. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out several small bags of dried prunes, pressing them into my hands like precious treasures.

“I brought these for you,” she said. “I know you haven’t eaten anything real today.”

I smiled. She knew that these sweet-and-sour dried fruits were one of the few things I could force down.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

She leaned in and hugged me tight. Her arm brushed against the fresh cut I’d just made. I flinched before I could hide it.

She froze. Then she grabbed my arm, turning it toward the light. The gauze had a bright red spot blooming through. Her mouth dropped open.

“Harper…” Her voice cracked. “You promised. You promised you wouldn’t do it again.”

“I really am trying to quit, Lily. But it’s… It’s too hard. I can’t—”

Tears spilled down her cheeks. She was crying for me again, she was always crying for me.

She shook her head hard and wrapped her arms around me again. “It’s going to be okay,” she whispered into my hair. “It has to be okay.”

“Really?”I buried my face in the crook of her neck. For a second, I let myself feel it, the warmth, the safety, and the one good thing in this whole house.

Then I pulled back and looked at her.

“I’m leaving.”

She blinked. “What?”

“I’m leaving this place,” I said more firmly, “This hellhole. I don’t know where I’ll go yet, but anywhere has to be better than here. But I need your help.”

Lily was silent for a long moment as she held my hand.

“I support you,” she said, voice shaking. “Whatever you need, I’m with you.”

Ryder’s POV

I jerked awake with a scream caught in my throat.

“Mom!”

I was sitting up in bed, chest heaving, sheets twisted around my legs. In my hand I held the old photo I kept on my nightstand where Mom was smiling with her arms around the four of us boys.

No Harper.

The picture was taken two months before she got pregnant. Before everything went wrong.

I stared at her face in the dim light from the hallway. Yesterday had been the anniversary. Sixteen years since she died giving birth to that… thing. Sixteen years since I lost her.

In the dream she was back in the hospital bed. Pale. Weak. Machines beeping. She reached up with a shaky hand and touched my cheek.

“Ryder,” she whispered. “Promise me. Promise you’ll take care of your little sister. Treat Harper like family. Like your sister.”

I shook my head hard. “No. That monster isn’t one of us. She did this to you. She made you suffer.”

Mom’s eyes filled with tears. “She’s innocent, Ryder. She didn’t ask for any of this. She’s your sister. Please.”

Her hand slipped off my face. Her eyes closed. The machines flatlined.

I screamed her name in the dream, same as I screamed it now.

I pressed the photo to my chest. My breathing was ragged. I hadn’t slept right in years. Not since that day. Every night I saw her face. Every day I saw Harper’s.

If it was up to me, Harper wouldn’t carry our last name. She wouldn’t live in this house. She wouldn’t breathe the same air we did. She ruined everything. She took Mom away and left us with nothing but pain and anger.

On the day of the funeral I stood by the grave with my brothers and made a promise to myself. I would make sure Harper paid for it. Every single day. I would make her life so miserable she’d wish she’d never been born.