Determinant -Guardians of Vesturon [3] Read Free Page A

with a full fisted punch. Every bit of oxygen had been sucked out of the room.
    “No, she didn’t go,” he mumbled, sounding as if he didn’t have the time or energy to speak to me.
    He never took his eyes off the TV. I turned away and started making my way to the crummy staircase that would take me up to my crummy little room when his voice stopped me. I was having difficulty processing this news.
    “There’s no need to go up there.”
    “Well, I need to change out of this,” I murmured, motioning to my gown.
    “Your stuff isn’t up there anymore. I took the liberty of moving it into the garage.”
    “The garage? But why?” I was puzzled by his comment. I was also feeling the first stirrings of alarm.
    “Because as of this moment, you no longer live here.”
    “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
    “You heard me…you don’t live here anymore,” he said with a satisfied smugness.
    “I’m not sure what you mean.”
    “Come on January! I thought you were a smart girl! After all, you graduated first in your class. What about, ‘You don’t live here anymore,’ do you not understand?” He asked me in such a nasty manner I was speechless.
    My mouth had turned into a big O and I couldn’t respond for a moment. “But what am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go?” I stammered.
    “That’s not my problem.”
    I opened and closed my mouth several times, but no words would come forth. I didn’t even realize I was crying until a tear fell on my hand.
    “All of your belongings are in the garage. You can load up your car…I’m sure everything will fit since there isn’t much. Your cell phone has been paid until August. When you move to North Carolina for college, you will have to get one on your own.” His eyes bore into mine but I felt like I was in the middle of a bad dream.
    “But why? Why are you doing this? What have I done to make you hate me so much?” I croaked. It was a question that I had wanted to ask for a long time.
    “January, I’m not the only one that hates you. Your mother abhors your very existence.” He smiled then, enjoying my anguish.
    “Why?” I choked out.
    “You mean you haven’t figured that out yet? I thought a smart girl like you would be a bit more perceptive. Haven’t you ever wondered why you were named January? Shall I tell you? It’s your mother’s least favorite month of the year. Cold, gray, usually nasty.”
    Memories from my childhood suddenly flooded my mind. My father would egg me on to do things that I now realized he knew would result in injuries. A slip down some stairs, a misstep on a tree limb; he would often dare me to do things that landed me in the emergency room with a broken something-or-other. Then I heard the words…horrible words that I knew he was thinking. How much he hated me…how he was glad I had finally graduated because now his obligation to me was over…how he couldn’t wait to see me out of there…how happy he was when I was moved to the attic. He totally loved the fact that I was scared to death. Who is this man? All these years I wondered about the treatment I received from him but now I was questioning his integrity.
    “Come on January. How did you not figure all this out? You’re so perceptive. You have to know I am not your biological father. Lucky for you, your mother decided to give birth to you instead of having an abortion. You see, your very existence is the result of a rape.” Again, he gave me that smug smile.
    His words, uttered with sheer joy, sucked the air from my lungs. I dropped to my knees in shock. This can’t be true. The fact that my mother was raped and I was the product of that nasty deed wasn’t the worst thing I was experiencing. It was the fact that the man before me, the man, who for sixteen years I thought was my father, was enjoying delivering this horrific news to me. His sadistic enjoyment of my pain was the very thing that was crushing my heart. How can he act this way?
    His thoughts