Secret:

Simone’s Notes:

Everyone has secrets. Some are light and pleasant. Others are ugly and brutal. We all have secrets for a reason. Some secrets could destroy our lives and our careers. Some can tear families apart. People go to extreme links to cover up these bitter secrets. But no matter how hard one tries, those secrets are eventually going to come out. But there are just some secrets that should just remain buried.

It started to rise its ugly head when Alessa was not in her bed at Derek’s flat. Erin was concerned about the little girl. “I’m worry about her, Derek,” she told the girl’s older brother. The lt. looked at her confused. “How do you mean?” he asked on the couch in the living hall. His girlfriend turned to him from facing the hall. “Well,” she began. “Alessia doesn’t talk to or play with the other children for starters. She barely touched her meal tonight. She always looks so pale. And I found some disturbing pictures in her desk while I was cleaning her room.” Bailey sat up at the last comment. “She usually doesn’t talk to many people,” he reasoned. “But now that you mention it…” Derek looked around quickly. He took in a deep breath. Bailey buried his hands into her face. Erin slowly walked closer to him. “Derek?” she asked. “Is something the matter?” The lt. looked up again. “Okay,” he said softly. “You’re the first person that I’ve ever told this. Do you promise not to tell anybody else?” Erin sat down slowly. “Okay,” she replied. “What is it?” Derek began to spill out the cruel parts of his and his sisters’ pasts. Erin sat there in complete shocked silence.

“But why didn’t you go to the police about it?” she asked. Derek shook his head. “Do you think the police would believe us because of our family status?” he questioned. Erin thought about that for a moment. Then she shook her head. “Exactly,” Bailey said in a serious tone. “All we could do was run or take it!” His girlfriend rose to her feet again. “I’ll go check on her, just in case.” she said. “All right.” Derek replied. Then, Erin headed right down the hall. A few seconds later, she came back looking worried. “She’s not in her bed!” she cried. This time, the lt. looked worried. “Oh shit!” he mumbled to himself. “She’s started that again!” His girlfriend looked at him in question. “What do you mean?” Erin questioned. Bailey rose to his feet in a rush. “Sleep-walking!” he answered in a rush. “She hasn’t done that since she was six-years-old! Come on! We have to find her!” Then, the couple hurried out the door to retrieve the little girl.

They found little Alessa standing out near the wired fence in the entry. Her eyes were like two black holes in the sky. She was screaming loudly in misery. The girl was so loud that she woke up most of the residents in the apartment. “AHHHH!!!” Alessa screamed out. “THEY’RE HERE!!! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!! THEY’LL KILL US ALL!!!” Derek and Erin ran into Addi who was trying to wake the kid up. “Alessa!” she screamed out hard. “THE FALLEN HAVE ARRIVED!!!” the little girl kept on screaming. “THEY’LL KILL US ALL!!! THEY’LL KILL US ALL!!!” “Alessa!” Addi screamed again. “Wake up, sweetie!” The girl began fighting the sergeant off in her sleep. Erin and Derek rushed to Addi’s aid. By this time, everyone was out of bed and staring at them. Alessa was still screaming uncontrollably. Hunter stood there confused. He didn’t know whether or not to help out. The last time he tried, the little girl bit him. “They’ve got it under control tonight!” he thought. “Shhh!” Erin kept telling her softly. “It’s okay, Alessa! You’re safe now, just wake up!” At long last, the little girl woke up and looked around.

Derek, Addi, and Erin all helped her back to her bed. Everyone else kept looking on at them. Some of them were whispering about abuse. Addi became nervous. “Derek,” she whispered to her brother. “They’re talking about us! I’m worried!” “Pay them no mind!” he whispered back. “It’ll blow over my morning!” “All right!” his sister whispered nervously. She felt uneasy about that piece of advice. This had become a problem. Alessa had been sleep-walking and screaming for the past eight nights. People were getting concerned.

By morning, the problem got worse. Everyone kept staring at the older siblings and whispering about them. Addi was worried. Derek looked annoyed. At breakfast, he couldn’t take it. “WHAT?!?” he snapped at his comrades. The men didn’t speak at first. “What did you do to that kid?” Havoc asked at last. “Why does she yelling about someone coming to kill us all?” The other lt. shot a harsh glare at him. “Are you saying that I abuse Alessa?” he snapped. “Well…” Fuery cut in. “She doesn’t talk to anyone at all and she barely eats. The girl looks sick all of the time!” Derek slammed his hands against the table. “Stay off of me!” he yelled out. “I can’t believe you guys! Why the hell would I *even* think about hurting my little sister! You don’t know anything about us! So quit asking me about her!” The others went quiet. Bailey looked around and noticed that everyone was watching him. “WHAT?!?” he snapped again. Everyone went back to what they were doing. Annoyed, the lt. got up and walked off the cafeteria.

Meanwhile, Addi and Hunter were playing around for the morning. Both managed to sneak off for some time together. The Irish boy was lying on his back smiling. His girlfriend was huddled over him. Both were stripped down and aroused. “So,” the sergeant called aloud. “What would my naughty schoolboy like today?” Hunter lied there thinking for a moment. Then he said, “Anything daddy wants! Just please daddy the best way you can!” Instead of arousing her, the sergeant became upset. Bad memories resurfaced for the first time since that night. This had never happened before. Hunter had said that many times to her and she was just fine with it. Why was this happening now? Her eyes were welling up with huge tears. She climbed off of Hunter and walked over to the window. Confused, her boyfriend looked up at her. “Addi?” he asked. “What’s wrong?” The woman didn’t answer. She was just softly sobbing at the window. The woman held the sheets at her chest as she cried. Now Hunter was really worried. He climbed out of bed and silently walked over to Addi.

“Addi,” the boy said softly to her. “What’s wrong? I’ve always said that and you’ve never acted like this! What’s the matter?” “Just go away!” his girlfriend snapped. “I don’t want to talk about it!” But, Hunter didn’t leave. He just stayed right by her. When she saw that he wasn’t going to leave, Addi gave up and told him the whole story. Her boyfriend stood there shocked. “Why can’t you just them the truth?” he asked. “They’ll leave you alone then.” Addi shook her head hard. “No!” she said quickly. “Why not?” the Irish boy asked. Her girlfriend turned to him looking pale. “Who would believe me?” she asked in weak voice. Hunter lightly grabbed her free hand. “I would!” he replied. The sergeant didn’t know what to say.

By evening, the Bailey family’s problems were everywhere. There was even talk about an investigation about child abuse with them. Things weren’t looking good for Addi and Derek. “What should we do?” the sergeant asked. “We have no choice,” the lt. replied. “We have to tell the truth now!” Addi toughened up. “I’ll go first!” she replied. “Good luck!” Derek told her. “Thank you!” Addi called. Then, she headed straight down the hall to Mustang’s office. She found Mustang, French, and Hughes talking at Mustang’s about how to carry out the investigation. They looked up to see sergeant Bailey standing in the doorway. “I can tell you with Alessa has been acting the way she has.” Addi spoke up boldly. Along silence came between all four of them. “Okay,” Mustang spoke up. “Tell us what happened.” Addi kept staring at them blankly. She breathed in deep. They were pushing her to go on. Bailey felt like she had to continue. She couldn’t turn back now. So she did.

“Years ago,” Addi began. “My father was a sick monster. He molested me constantly and beat Derek senselessly. I begged him to stop, but he just kept on raping me. When, Alessa was four, that beast attacked her as well. At first, I thought had a bad dream. Then when I washed her sheets, I found a stain on them. It turns out, he tried to rape little Alessa and she got nervous and fought back. He prematurely ejaculated. I was so angry at that beast who called himself our father.  To do that to me was just wrong, but to pull that on my sister was just wrong! But, I still couldn’t do anything about it! Finally at age nineteen, I couldn’t take it anymore. I confronted him and he tried to attack me. *Trembles and tries to fight back tears* I reached for a book end and whacked him in the head. He fell face down at my feet! I was so scared of what I had done. I ran away back to my room and hid there.” Addi finally broke down in tears. “I didn’t mean to kill him!” she wailed out. The three higher officers were in pity for her. “Addi…” Hughes spoke up. The sergeant was sobbing too hard at the past to actually hear him. “I killed him!” she wailed. “Oh god! I killed him!”

“No she didn’t!” a voice spoke up. All four officers looked up to see Derek standing in the doorway staring at them. “I killed him!” he called. Addi looked pale now. “Derek, no!” she called out sickly. Her older brother stepped forward. “It’s too late now,” the lt. went on. “They have to know everything!” He straightened up and finished the tale. “I came on the night that that monster died,” he picked up. “He was already waking up from the defense hit Addi gave him on the head. I rushed to him and helped him off of the carpet. Sure, he abused me too, but I had to try to see what was wrong. He explained the whole attack. I stuck up for Addi like a normally did. That asshole wouldn’t hear it and tried to go after her. He threatened to kill her! I had to save her. So I grabbed the badly bookend and bashed him in the head until lie motionless. I looked up and saw Addi staring at me from the hall entry. She must have heard us arguing! She was scared of what I had done. But, I quieted her down and persuaded her to help me clean up the blood. Alessa saw us cleaning up the mess. I told her to go back to bed and she did. I packed up the girls and left. We left the body there to be found.”

The other three sat silent for a long while. The siblings waited. “Help me understand this,” Mustang spoke up. Derek and Addi looked. “You suffered from child abuse growing up. Why couldn’t you have just gone to the police?” the major general asked. “We were a high-respected family! No one would believe a couple of kids!” he barked. “So I had to protect my sister and *niece*!” They all looked at him. Addi went really pale at that one. “WHAT?!?” French, Hughes, and Mustang all asked in unison. “Addi was thirteen!” Derek admitted. “I gave her money for the abortion, but she wouldn’t take it!” Later, Mustang, Hughes, and French were talking to each other alone. “So what should we do?” Hughes asked. “We just got a confession of murder.” French shut the file. “Leave them!” she replied. The men looked at her shocked. “What?” Hughes asked. “But why?” Mustang asked. The brigadier general put away her work. “It was out of defense!” she replied. “If we charge them for that, then we are no more as bad as their father. Good night!” Then, she got up and left. Mustang and Hughes just sat there staring at her in shock. They couldn’t believe what had happened that night! That story was so brutal that it had to be true. So, the men just dropped the case.

Addi walked back to her apartment a new woman. She had just unloaded the hardest part of her life to the world. Now she could be free to live again and have a normal relationship. Addi walked into a new sun light.