Chapter 58: Prologue

VOLUME THREE: TRUTH
Anna Age 5
"Again."
I run as fast as my little legs will carry. I hear father running right behind me and I know I need to beat him this time, I'm just so tired. The scorching sun reminding me of the invitation to a pool party I had to decline because my training came first.
My training always came first.
"Do not let me catch up with you Annabelle." Father shouts from behind, his booming voice terrifying me enough to nearly stumble.
This is our third time running today. I want to tell him that I don't want to run anymore, but I know what that will lead to. He just doesn't understand that I'm not as fast as Jed. I feel father gaining speed and know he is coming up right behind me. A gripping hand grabs the straps of the heavy backpack and my little body goes flying backwards.
I land hard on the backpack which is holding about ten large rocks inside. My back immediately protests with pain. I hold in the scream that is threatening to rip out of my mouth because father hates it when I scream. Father is over me immediately, he lifts me up by my school uniform's collar. He didn't even let me get undressed when I got home from school today.
"Dammit, Annabelle, I said not to let me catch up to you. Which part is so hard to understand?"
I don't dare answer him, father is not looking for an answer, he never is.
"Go the hell inside. We're done for today but come first thing in the morning we are trying this again, and you better not let me catch up with you."
With that, father walks past me, and I slowly take my training backpack off. Father always told me and Jed that we only had enough money for training materials, so Jed and I share a school backpack, though I usually just let Jed have it since I'm only in kindergarten and don't have much to take home that is heavy yet.
I walk slowly into the house from our training field, my back piercing at me in pain. Mother is speaking to father in hushed tones and when the screen door closes behind me and they both turn to me, eyes narrowed, they always look at me like I bother them.
I walk to the small bedroom Jed and I share and lie on the bottom bunk of our ten-year-old bunk beds that our parents purchased when Jed was too old to sleep in their make shift crib. The springs dig into my back and I hold my breath and close my eyes until the pain dissipates. I try not to move but the bunk lowers by my feet.
I open my eyes to see my big brother sitting down slowly. He is extremely muscular for a boy the age of ten, Mother and father feed him more than me since he is a boy and physically stronger. I must maintain my small thin figure as much as possible so if they need me to squeeze into a small space, I can.
"You okay?" Jed asks, his head down and long shaggy blonde hair covering his eyes. Mother wanted to cut it, but father thought it would be a good idea to keep it long, said the hair hid his eyes well. He was right, it hides it well, like the pair of black eyes he is currently sporting. Guess it doesn't hide them well enough from me.
"My back, it hurts. Father put rocks in the pack today to teach me to grab something heavy and be quick to get away. Said my adurance needed to be built up."
"Endurance." Jed corrects. Jed has always been extremely smart and not just from the training mother and father put us in. Jed has always been gifted but it was ripped from him and morphed into however they could manipulate and control him. Most days he walks around like a zombie.
"Want me to take a look at it?" Jed asks.
Before I can answer him, father booms into the room. Jed and I are instantly on our feet for him. My beating heart petrified of what he may want from us. Normally father beckons us for dinner when mother is finished but right now feels different. Right now, his gaze is transfixed on me.
"Get dressed Annabelle, I want you to come with me to meet our new neighbors, they live a couple blocks away so we will drive there." Father says leaving me to his demands.
I look over to Jed, but he just pushes me to get dressed. We have specific clothes set out for us for specific occasions. Being in front of the new people means my purple summer dress. Even though the sun is almost down, and the cool temperatures have set in, this is my outfit I must wear.
Father comes back in exactly five minutes later and takes my hand. Just the two of us are going so we must be going somewhere they have a little girl.
We arrive ten minutes later, and I see a moving truck in the driveway. We make our way to the front of the house, father holding my hand pretending to be a doting parental figure. A man, tall, wide, with a suit on, walks over to us and shakes my father's hand. I don't make out much of what they say to each other but feel my father nudge me when a boy runs out of the house. A woman walks out right after him and she has a radiant glow about her. My mother is a very pretty woman, but I've never seen someone wearing overalls and a bandana look so beautiful. She has a very earthy and comfortable look about her.
Another nudge stops me from staring and I look up to the man father is speaking to. I look back over to father and he gives me the signal I need to play the perfect daughter. I get introduced to the young boy, I answer the mother's questions about my age, favorite color, the school I go to. I learn everything I can about the whole family while being in their presence.
After an hour, father and I say our goodbye's and head home. The whole situation was strange for me because normally Jed would go if it were a family with a boy.
"Father, who were those people?" I ask.
"Those were the Cole's and you will be spending a lot of time with them eventually. I want you to get to know everything about their son Jared, Annabelle, one day you will be his wife.