The Underwinds

“Daddy!” Little Willow called. “You’re hurting me!” She cried. He had her by the arm, and he was yelling at her. He didn’t seem to notice her tears. “Please stop.” She cried again, but he wouldn’t. “I won’t do it again, I promise!” The six-year-old begged.

“Please, father.” Seen-year-old Warren said quietly, also crying.

Winney sat in her chair, her eyes wide as she watched her father let go of Willow, and slap Warren hard across the face. She was five, but she understood what was going on. She loved her siblings, but fear made her turn her back on them. She didn’t want to end up like them; broken and unloved.

She couldn’t stand seeing them that way, but she knew if she showed them pity she would end up just like them. Slowly, over time, she made her self stop caring, and even went as far as to add to their pain. She became “The Monster” to them, almost worse then their parents, almost.

But what did they do wrong?

It started on Willow’s fifth birthday. That was when her day dreams, her visions, started. She was blowing out the candles on her cake when her eyes went blank.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Her mother’s loving voice came, but Willow didn’t respond.

Willow was, in her mind, standing on a sinking ship, in the middle of the night. People, dressed all funny like and even some in their Pajamas, were yelling and running about her. She was confused, were was she?

“I can’t believe the Titanic is sinking!” Someone cried, as they ran past her.

No one seemed to notice her. They just kept running around, panicking, and the ship was sinking.

“Willow!” Her mother yelled, worried, snapping her out of it.

She looked at her and told her what just happened. Her mother smiled, and laughed, thinking she just made it up, but her father paled. He knew exactly what just happened.

There was family stories that his grandfather would always tell. He found one of those stories really interesting. So interesting, that for the most part, he named his kids after it.

A long time ago the Underwinds were soldiers. They had a saying: “In every war, with the will to fight, we shall win.” War, will, and win were the three most important words to them. The first three letters of each of his kids names were those words. Warren, Willow, Winney.

The story their father liked the most was about a great war hero; Warren Al Nat Underwind the sixth. This was the man Warren was named after. Winney was named after his prized hunting dog, Winney, and Willow was named after the family symbol, a willow tree.

Warren the sixth was a hero, but he was also crazy. He was a smart man, he won every battle he lead. But, he often daydreamed. He claimed to be able to see the past and future. His family slowly came to believe him, how else would he know all he did? But they still believed him slightly crazy.

He once said, “Generations will pass before a daughter will be born with the gift of hindsight.”

When their father heard this story he didn’t really believe that he could see the past or future, or that some girl would be born with that same gift, but he stood there, his face pale as he realized it was all true, and that it was his daughter who he was referring to. His beautiful daughter was a freak. Before that happened he loved his child, but ever since he was ashamed of Willow. He was afraid of what people would think if they found out. He was ruined.

It was funny, if people found out they would think she was crazy, and he was worried what they would think about him. Wasn’t he a great father?

Every time he saw her eyes blank he would slap her, hoping to beat it out of her. It never worked. Soon he became even more violent, beating her for every little thing.

And what did Warren do? He stood up for her.

~!~

Screams, from excited students, came from the school’s gym. The cheerleaders ran, or rather cart wheeled ,into the gym, making the kids yelled louder.

Then there was a loud whistle. “Willow!” A male voice echoed through the gym. “Looking good!”

Willow turned her head slightly, and let out a small laugh.

Sitting in the bleachers was a group of boys, all whistling and hooting. Well, almost everyone was, and a lot of it was directed at Willow, and the other cheerleaders.

“You shouldn’t let Marcus, and the others look at you like that.” Aden said after the pep rally was over, in a facetious manner. Aden was a tall blond, with brown eyes, and a boyish face, wearing skulls.

Marcus, a brunet with playful green eyes, and similar boyish good looks as Aden, wrapped his arm around Willow. “Oh? Really, Aden, your saying you don’t look at her the same way?” He said playfully.

“I look at her like a brother does.” Aden said, only half joking.

“And what makes you think I don’t?” Marcus asked.

“Because you hit on every girl you see.” Aden retorted. They were like brothers, always going at it with each other, seeing this Willow couldn’t help but laughed slightly.

“Not true!” Marcus protested.

“Uh huh.” Willow added pulling free.

“Sometimes, you two worry me.” Another female put in. Her name was Lacey. She had short brown hair, dull brown eyes, and beautifully pale skin. She was also one of the shortest in the group, okay, she was the shortest.

“Honestly, I would be more worried if they got along for a minute.” Someone else put in. It was another boy; Seth. He had black-blue hair that went down to his shoulders, and dark blue eyes. Unlike Aden and Marcus, Seth didn’t have boyish features, but had those ‘bad boy’ looks.

Willow laughed. “I’d be worried if you some how stopped getting in to trouble.” She said, looking at the detention slip he was carrying. To go along with those ‘bad boy’ looks of his was a ‘bad boy’ personality.

Seth walked over to Willow, and put a hand on her head. He glance at Aden and Marcus, still auguring, and Lacey trying to get them to “grow up”. “Now what fun would I be if I stopped getting in trouble?” He asked.

“You’d be a lot more fun, because I would see you more.” Willow pouted.

Something shined in his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that.” He wasn’t joking at all. It was rare to see him so serious. “Well, I have to go serve jail duty now.” The rare moment gone, his evil smile back on his lips. Suddenly he frowned. “The Monster is flirting with Vincent again. I feel sorry for that kid.” Seth said before walking off.

Willow turned around and watched as Winney tried to talk to Vincent. He had black hair, and eyes nearly the same color, he was tall and slim. His face wasn’t really boyish like Aden’s or Marcus’, nor was it “bad” in the sense of Seth’s, and it wasn’t bad in the sense of ugly. He had a unique look to him, but Willow didn’t understand what made her sister want him to talk to her so bad. Vincent talked to no one, not much anyway. He was quiet and usually withdrawn. Depressed. That’s what everyone said he was. Willow didn’t think so, she thought he just needed a friend. She tried, but every time she tried to talk to him Aden would find, and pull her away.

‘He needs a friend, but not Winney. Not The Monster.” She thought as she watched.

He was laying in the grass of the court yard, looking up at Winney, with dull, bored eyes, but there was something else in them. Something that was only in them when Winney was around him. Winney was standing over him, smiling and talking to him.

Aden came up behind Willow, and leaded her away.

“So how are you today, Vincent?” Winney asked, looking down at the boy, a year older then her.

“Why do you care?” His normal answer, he made no move to sit.

“Why -”

“Can’t you?” Vincent finished for her. They said the same thing to each other every time, and quite frankly he was getting bored of the same old same old.

Winney blinked, he never finished her sentences before. She took this as a bad sign, thinking it meant something along the lines of ‘let’s hurry this up, so you’ll leave me alone’.

“Because, I don’t like it.” He said, something else he made different. He normally said that he didn’t know.

“Why do you not like it?” Winney sounded hurt, that’s when he realized his mistake.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that.” He said sitting up, he swallowed as he saw something shining at the edge of her eyes. Tears.

“Then what did you mean?” She demanded, the tears suddenly gone. She didn’t tear her eyes from his face, something about the shape of his lips intuited her.

He stood up, he was taller, much taller, then her. He crossed his arms, and sighed, he suddenly knew he wouldn’t be able to do this with out being mean. “Look, I don’t like it because I don’t like fakers.”

Faker!? He thought her a faker. He didn’t believe she really did care. That hurt.

“And that’s all you are, a faker, a liar.” He said, adding venom to his voice. “The nickname you siblings gave you fits you well. You are a monster.” He thought he went over the line there. He wanted to kiss her, he wanted to hold her, he wanted to smile at her, he wanted to believe that she felt the same about him, but he didn’t have that kind of courage. “Would you please just leave me alone.” The way he said it showed he wasn’t asking her to leave him alone, he was telling her. He didn’t like it, that she could make him feel like this.

She didn’t let the hurt show in her eyes, she let anger show instead. “How dare you!?” She yelled, and turned and stormed off. She was happy the tears didn’t find their way out until she was safely in the bathroom. In some ways she was like Willow, in the way that she usually shouldered her own pain, sometimes lying straight to peoples faces about being alright.

~!~

Winney watched as her sister tied her ridiculously long black hair up, Winney preferred to keep hers shoulder length.

“Another modeling gig from mother?” Willow asked, not really caring.

“Yeah, and let me guess, you’re going to go surfing instead of coming with us?” Winney already knew the answer, or thought so.

“You know even if I waned to go, I wouldn’t be allowed to, mother won’t let me.” Willow said, standing up, and grabbing her surfboard. “Now get out of my room!”

Winney couldn’t focus. It was only last week that Vincent called her a monster, and told her to get lost. She didn’t show it, but she was really hurt. She liked him since middle school, through, she wasn’t completely sure why. To her, he was amazing, but she was 100% sure he hated her.

The camera flash snapped her back to realty. Her mother made her a young successful model. Winney got to travel around the world, see many different places. She was rich, and beautiful, and that mattered in this world. Her face was known worldwide, She was lucky, she should be happy. In a way she was happy with her life, but that didn’t mean she really liked it. In truth she didn’t like the fame at times, and sometimes she wanted to be like Willow.

The camera flashed again, breaking her from her thoughts once more. What did it matter? Was she really thinking she would enjoy something other then this? No, she wouldn’t be able to, this was who was raised to be, who made herself be. No longer caring about her recent thoughts, she flashed a smile for the camera, and suddenly forgot about Vincent. She was going to let a little crush bring her down.

Willow was standing on her surfboard, riding a huge wave along the Florida coast. She had a huge smile on her face, but in a moment it disappeared when her eyes went blank.

Suddenly she was, in her mind, standing in the middle of a battle felid. At once she knew where she was. She was in times of the civil war. The two armies came at her. She suddenly let out a scream, but it wasn’t until the water hit her face that she realized why she was screaming. She had fallen off her surf board. Her limbs couldn’t react, she couldn’t find her way back to the surface, she was going to drown.

Arms wrapped around her, and pulled her to the surface.

She gave Aden a warm smile. “Thank you.” She said.

He didn’t return the smile. “You should be more careful.” Was all that came from his mouth.

“I’m sorry.” Willow added as they swam back to the beach.

Seth ran up to them when they made it back up onto the beach. “Willow! I thought you were more careful then that!” Worry in his voice.

“Seth, don’t be ridicules!” Willow said rolling her eyes at him. “You know just as well as I do. I’m a klutz. I don’t know how to be careful.” She was only half joking.

“Yes, Willow, you really must be more careful. We wouldn‘t want you to mess up your pretty little face.” A female voice put in, and a blond stepped out of the shadows. Lisa. She hated Willow, ever since second grade. Why? Just because Willow always had more friends then she did. But Willow didn’t understand why Lisa would hate her for that. Willow tried to make friends with everyone. Goths, like Aden, sport stars, like Marcus, trouble makers, like Seth, shy kids, like Lacey, and she had so many more friends then just them, of all different social standings. But Lisa, she only wanted to be friends with the “cool” kids. So, it was her own fault that Willow had more friends then her.

Besides, Lisa was mean, who wanted to be a mean girl’s friend. Well, apparently those “cool” kids were all mean. So, maybe didn’t have friends in all social standings. She didn’t have any “cool” friends. The “cool” ones made fun of Aden, and Lacey, and some of her other friends. Honestly, Willow didn’t care if the “cool” kids were her friends of not. But sometimes she just couldn’t stand them.

“Shut it, Lisa.” Willow said.

Then Roni stepped out of the shadows. She was usually quiet, but she could be just as mean. “You should warn her.” She said, in her annoying voice.

“Oh, yes.” Lisa agreed.

Aden and Seth stood on either side of Willow. “Would you just go away?” They asked at the same time, both of them with venom in their voices.

Lisa didn’t seem to hear them. “Benny,” Benjamin. “Said that an exchange student was coming. From England. Stay away from him!” Maybe that was another reason Lisa hated Willow, guys seemed to be like moths to a flame around Willow.

“From who? Benjamin, or the guy from England?” Seth asked.

“Let us just say both.” Roni put in, then dragged Lisa off, laughing.

“Hmm, from England she said?” Willow looked thoughtful.

Aden laughed slightly. “Let me guess, you’re gonna make friends with this boy?” That would be just like Willow.

“I have to at least try.” Willow said. “I would be going against my very nature if I didn’t at least try.”


~!~

It was two weeks later that this exchange student made his appearance. It was only the sixth week of school. It was lunch time. Willow was sitting with Lacey, Marcus, and two others. Aden was sitting with his other friends, who were mostly hardcore Goths. Seth, not unexpectedly, was serving a lunch duty, and had to sit up near the stage. Winney, didn’t have this lunch, and Warren graduated last year. Like always, Lisa’s table was the loudest. Well, that was until Jake stood up and told the all to hush. Jake was one of Lisa’s friends, he was “cool”. He was mean. He liked to have everything to be his way.

Shamefully, Willow use to have a crush on him.

“Hmm, that’s weird.” Lacey said, as she kept glancing over at Lisa’s table.

Marcus gave her a weird look. “What’s weird about it? They act like this every day.” He felt inclined to point that out.

Lacey shot him a look. She seemed shy around others, but around Willow, and the others she was more open. “No, I mean Benjamin, he’s not there.”

“Perhaps he isn’t here today.” Marcus liked to point out things like that, but it didn’t help that he said it with a know-it-all tone.

Willow didn’t say anything, just kept picking at her fudge.

“You don’t think I thought about that?” Lacey shot back.

“I didn’t know you did much thinking.” Marcus retorted. They was always going back and forth, it was almost as bad between them as it was between him and Aden.

She frowned and threw a fry at him. Willow couldn’t help it no more, she laughed. “I still say you two would make a perfect couple.”

“Oh, but Willow, I wouldn’t want to make you jealous.” He was completely joking.

She rolled her eyes. “So, Lacey, what’s so weird about “Benny” not being there?” Willow asked. She laughed slightly at the use of Benjamin’s nickname, that even he didn’t like.

“I seen-” Lacey began, but was cut off by Marcus.

“Speak of the devil.” Marcus mumbled, just as the lunch room doors opened, and Benjamin, and another guy entered the cafeteria.

“Oh, he’s cute!” Lacey said, licking her lips.

Willow, who had her back turned to the doors, and didn’t know there was another person with Benny, made a disgusted face. “This is Benjamin we are talking about, right?”

“No, I think she means that English guy.” Marcus said.

“English?” Willow said, as she turned quickly in her seat. “Wow, he /is/ cute.”

“Really, you two have a handsome /American/ boy sitting right here, and you rather stare at some foreign boy? Frankly I’m hurt.” Marcus said, making his most dramatic gesture.

Willow turned back and looked at him, both her and Lacey laughing.

“Really, what about foreign boys makes them better then navies?” He asked, sipping his coke.

“I think it’s the accent.” The girls said at the same time.

“Interesting.” Marcus said thoughtfully, acting as if he just made a huge, amazing discovery. “So you are saying if I go some other country, with my American accent girls will be all over me?” He asked.

“No, Marcus, you have to have looks to go along with the accent.” Lacey said, stealing a fry off his plate.

Marcus glared at her.

“Hey!” Lacey suddenly called, when Willow stood up, and started to make her way towards Benny, and the new boy.

“Hi, I’m Willow. Welcome to Miami.” She said when she made it to them.

The foreign boy smiled. He was had black hair, and light blue eyes, that looked like they were up to no good. “Thomas.” He said with his accented voice. “From London.” And oh, his smile, it almost made Willow melt.