Chapter Three

Voices.

She could hear voices coming from the outside of her door. She threw off the blanket that was covering her body and padded her way to the open bedroom door. She heard her mother's voice, arguing with another woman's voice. A voice she did not recognize; a voice she would never forget.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she cautiously made her way into the hall, hiding behind the wall. She watched.

"You tramp! How dare you say Mikkos loves you. You are nothing but a cheap, desperate, second rate whore!" The woman yelled, her eyes spitting fire.

"You are wrong! Mikkos loves us. His whole face brightens when he comes to visit us. He is happy here!" The other, who stood before her, enraged the woman. No one defied her and lived to tell about it.

The woman lunged forward, taking Kristen off guard. The woman caught her by the wrist, spinning her around.

"Mama!" The little girl cried.

"Natasha, stay back!" Her mother yelled, terrified for her little one. Helena looked at the young girl, a smile curling over her lips. She brought her hand up, enclosed around a knife.

"Leave my Mama alone!" Helena simply laughed. She looked into the girls pleading eyes, and slowly drew the knife across the woman's throat.

"Mama, no!" Tears streamed down her face as she ran towards her mother.

Helena let the lifeless body fall to the floor. A dull 'thud' was heard throughout the silence of the room. "You're next," she icily told the girl weeping over her mother's body. She disappeared from the room.

"Mama?" She asked, looking at her still body. "Mama, wake up. I'm scared," she whispered in a small voice. "Please."

She took her mother's hand into one of her smaller ones, and kissed her softly on the cheek, afraid she would hurt her. "Mama, I love you. Please wake up."

She began to shake as she saw the blood on her mother, and on her. She placed her head atop her mother's stomach, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist. She curled her legs into her chest, starring at her mother's pale face.

"I'm sorry I didn't help you Mama. Please forgive me?" Her face was blank and pale. A tortured scream came shattering out of her as sobs wracked her small, thin frame. She rocked herself back and forth, until the tears exhausted her into sleep.

*****

Sonny was startled awake by the sound of something high pitched. It was screaming. Alexis was screaming. Looking down, he realized Alexis was no longer in his lap.

"Alexis," he called frantically getting up from the couch in search of her. She screamed again. He ran quickly into the kitchen and was shocked at the sight before him.

Alexis was sitting with her back pressed firmly into the wall, knees drawn tightly to her chest, eyes shut tightly, as though she were trying to block something out.

"Alexis, my god!" He said, running to her.

The screaming continued.