ABUSED, SCARRED, SCARED AND FINALLY REJECTED?

The First of Many

AMELIA’S POV 

My 7th birthday came and went by. Nothing changed, Logan didn’t even wish me and Asher just shouted it from across the large garden. I celebrated alone and sad. The only person who seemed to remember or care was Alpha Marcus. He actually got me some cute small gifts. Moreover, he said to me, “I can see that there is something going on with you. Now I do not know who all are involved but you need to start standing up for yourself or you’ll just end up getting used or discarded. And I don’t think you would want either of those things to happen.”

Things kept going downhill from that point onward. As much as I desperately wanted to follow out the Alpha’s word and stand up for myself there was only so much I could do against a Luna’s direct command. Over the next year the Alpha kept pushing me, and I kept failing to do it, I kept disappointing him. His belief in me started dwindling while my work load kept increasing. 

Over the next year I was slowly made to start cleaning the house, washing the dishes and catering to various pack members' needs, and this was over and above all my other previous duties.

I had thought all of this was bad. The real nightmare, however, started shortly after I turned eight. The Luna had asked me to get some stuff for her. When I arrived with it she was mad and started yelling at me saying that I took too long, and I need to stop wasting her time, I need to learn to stick to timings etc. After all that her anger towards me had still not decreased and the next thing I knew her hand came flying and struck me straight on my left cheek. 

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I couldn’t even register what had happened for a few moments till the stinging became horrible and I was jolted out of whatever trance I was in. Tears pooled in my eyes and pack members started surrounding us. I didn’t wait to see their reaction towards the Luna or hear how she would turn it on me, I just ran. I ran as fast as my little legs could carry me and kept running till I had no energy left and was ready to fall. 

At that point I just sat on the ground and cried my heart out, not caring about anything anymore but still wondering why me?

Running away from the situation had, however, not turned out to be a very good idea. When I returned at night, Luna was waiting for me. One look at her face and I could tell she was fuming. And then I remembered, it was already ten pm and I had not made dinner. s**t I was going to be in trouble, I was probably going to get hit again. And of course, I was right…..

Since that day getting hit became a regular thing for me. It wasn’t even necessary that I did something “wrong” and reasons ranged from being two minutes late, to a dish not tasting nice, or even for looking someone directly in the eye. 

My main tormentors were Luna Victoria, Aunty Lillian, Penelope and two - three other pack members. Others would mostly just yell at me or look at me disapprovingly. 

This of course took a turn for the worse one day when the Alpha finally raised his hand on me. It was almost like a silent sign to all the other pack members that it was okay to hit for doing something they thought was wrong. After that there were very few pack members that did not raise their hand on me. Thankfully, my brother Logan and Asher were amongst the few, otherwise I don’t know if I would have been able to take it anymore. 

ALPHA MARCUS’ POV (Amelia age 5-8 and then present time)

I had been noticing the change in Amelia’s schedule lately. I had also noticed how she was being given more and more work over a period of time. At first it had all seemed harmless and she seemed to be having fun doing it. But soon enough I could see it was too much work for a 6 year old girl to be doing. I had even spoken to my wife about it, but she had just shrugged it off and thought I was over analysing the situation. 

By the time Amelia was seven I noticed that her relationship with her brother had also become strained and he would usually walk off anytime he saw her coming towards him. I thought the best course of action would be to speak to Amelia directly. I met with her on seventh birthday and told her what I thought. I could see that Victoria was subtly encouraging this behaviour towards her and I did not know to stop her. 

However, no matter how much I told Amelia to stand up for herself that girl never did it and after a while I just did not think it was worth my time to help someone who did not want to be helped. 

By the time she had turned eight I had completely given up on her. Soon after that the beatings started and shamefully I turned a blind eye to them. I would never have thought that I would have been one of the people who hit her. But unfortunately one day I was really stressed about some pack work, I had barely slept in 3 days and there was a possibility of a war on our hands. I came out of my office after 6 hours of continuous work and just wanted a decent cup of coffee and some food. Someone told Amelia to do this work and when she brought it to me it was horrible and all of a sudden I found myself slapping her across the face. That one small, stupid incident by me was the full turning point in Amelia’s life. It was almost as though the entire pack now thought it was okay to hit her and take their frustrations out on her. Sadly though the deed was done, I couldn’t take it back even if I wanted to, and I couldn’t say anything to the others as they would just turn around and question my fairness.

Every time, even today when I think about it I wish I had done things differently, I wish that I had handled her situation better, then maybe things would not have gotten as bad for her as they did. I will always blame myself for the way her life turned out and believe me when I say that is a heavy burden to carry.