Chapter Twenty: Rebellion:

Celeste wasn’t the only one who suffered from Lanie’s cruelty back in the day. Bree looked around her living room. How did this mess happen? Three weeks ago, she got a knock on the door in the middle of the night. Bree pulled the sheets over her head and turned over in bed. The banging on the door grew heavier. Bree grumbled as she drew her knees to her chest. She pressed her pillow over her head.

“Go away!” she shouted. The pounding on the door didn’t stop. Bree gritted her teeth and threw back her sheets.

“What is it?” she grumbled to herself. She climbed out of bed and made her way down the stairs. Bree pressed her eye against the peep hole.

“Who is it?” she asked.

“It’s me, runt,” a woman’s raspy voice hissed outside. Bree froze. No… It couldn’t be. She slowly backed away.

“Let me in, bitch!” the woman’s voice yelled outside. Those words took her back to a dark time in her childhood. That woman was a terrorist to the school. The pounding came again. Bree jumped up and opened the door. Lanie stood outside, looking like a pile of garage. Her long dark hair hid her face. Her clothes looked like they needed to be burned. Washing would not help them. Bree stood, blinking.

“Let me in!” Lanie commanded. When did they go back to junior high?

“W-W-Why?”  Bree asked.

“Just let me in, damn it!” the other woman shouted. Her eyes seemed to be glowing red. Bree trembled as she backed away.

“S-S-Sure!” she stammered out. Lanie pushed her way past the woman into the house. That’s where all of the troubles began.

Lanie never did anything around the house. Bree sighed as she looked at the living room. Empty beer cans covered the floor. Bits of food was stuck to the wall. All Lanie did was sit around and watch TV. Bree covered her nose as she opened the windows. She never allowed smoking in the house. Even her husband could only smoke at the tree in front of the house. Bree couldn’t have guests over due to Lanie taking over the living room. It didn’t help her former school bully kept bossing her around.

“Get me more cigarettes!” Lanie would bark. “Get me something to eat! Pick that up! Get me more beer! Get more toilet paper! Ash tray! Hurry up! I’m hungry! Ashtray, bitch!” Bree was just as spineless as she was in junior high. She could never stand up to Lanie. Even now, she couldn’t do it. It didn’t help that her “house guest” was suddenly gone without warning. She started picking up the cans from the floor. Bree winced as she picked up them. What was that sticky substance on them?

“Ewww,” she said. Each can she picked up stirred up an old angry that she thought that she had buried a long time ago. Why was she putting up with all us this? They weren’t in school anymore. Bree was about to be twenty-five for god sake! She was happily married and ran a successful business with her husband. She shouldn’t be bowing to her bully again. A phone call from her husband last night reminded her of this.

“Hello, baby,” he said on the other line.

“Hi,” Bree said. There was a pause on the other line.

“Is something wrong, dear?” her husband asked. Bree jumped up in place.

“What?” she asked. “N-N-Nothing! Everything’s fine.” It felt like a kick in the gut to lie. Bree worked so hard to make herself appear strong and stable to the man that she loved. If he knew that she was breaking down over the phone, he didn’t say anything. That call alone reminded her that she was not thirteen years old anymore.

Once the cans were collected, Bree turned on the TV. Maybe the background noise would calm her nerves.

“Breaking news,” the news anchor said. “A fifty-eight-year-old woman was found murdered in her apartment this morning at Robin Apartments.” Bree paused as looked up. She saw Linda’s picture on the TV screen. Right away, she gasped.

“That’s Lanie’s mom,” she said. The woman turned up the volume and sat down on her cigarette-butt covered couch. Lanie was now on the run and a person of interest. She was also suspected in the murder of her grandfather. The gears began to turn in Bree’s head. This could be her ticket out. Also, this could be sweet revenge for all of the misery that Lanie put her through. Plus, Lanie was out of the house right now.

Bree reached over and picked up her phone.

“Hello, police,” she said. “I know where Lanie Cape has been staying. No, I don’t know where she now. But she’s been staying in my house for the past few weeks now.” Bree smiled to herself as she spoke as visions of revenge danced in her head.