Chapter four: "You can't judge a book by it's cover."

I went out onto the balcony and took a load of deep breaths. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. In. Out. In. Out.

I felt my heart rate go back to normal and looked at the view. Since it was dark outside, I could only see the light reflecting off what seemed to be a pool. I hate pools anything to do with water. I have aquaphobia which is basically a fear of water because of John...

FLASHBACK:

"How about we spend the day together?" John said swaying on his feet a little.

"O-ok," I said. I really wanted to say no because what if he had something planned? What if he does something to me? What if he kills me and throws me in a ditch? I wouldn’t put it past John to have something like this up his sleeve, ready to go into play.

"Go on then. Go put on your shoes." He says nicely with a slight smile which scares me a little because he's never been nice to me. Ever. Not when he's drunk, not when he's sober. Obviously, as a child, he was always kind to me but it's been years and for him to suddenly start would be unsettling.

I put on my shoes and wait for him to tell me what to do next. He just walks out the door and I follow him not saying a word. We walk to the park and I watch with jealousy as I see little kids playing and having fun with their parents. You don't know what I'd give to at least spend one day back in time to be with Mom and John back to when we were all happy.

"How about we take a dip in the lake," John said looking at me with his smile morphing into one that looked sinister. It was winter right now which meant that the water would be freezing cold.

"It's OK. I'm fine." I said declining his offer.

Any other sane person would also say no. Who in their right mind would want to take a dip in freezing cold water without a change of clothes or even a towel?

"It was an order," he said, and I could see the anger rising in him, but I really didn't want to go in the water. It might be too deep, and I might catch a bad cold if I do. I don't even have a spare change of clothes which means that if I do go in the water, I'd have to walk back home sodding wet.

"P-please I really d-don’t want to," I tell him with a pleading voice.

He suddenly pushes me into the water, and I yelp at the cold water that envelopes me. There was no one around the part of the lake we were at, so no one heard or saw. I realized I was stupid enough to believe that John would want to spend time with me like the old days.

I try moving my arms and legs to swim back up, but I can't. I look around in the dark murky water and I feel myself being pressed down deeper into the water because of the weight on my head. It's John's hands he's keeping me in the water purposely! He's trying to drown me!

I scream in the water, but it's only muffled, and I choke on the water that enters my mouth. Wildly I move about trying to get up. If I don't get out soon, I'll drown for sure!

After a couple more seconds of struggling John takes his hand off my head and I quickly rush to the surface of the water. I climb out of the lake and sit down on the floor gasping for air.

John just laughs at me then stops and glares. "Why didn't you die?! You're supposed to die! I can't wait for the day you do and rid me of your terrible presence!"

John shouts at me before storming away leaving me shaking in the cold and the fear of almost losing my life.

END OF FLASHBACK:

I was holding on tightly to the railing of the balcony thinking of the flashback that when I let go pain shoots through my hand. Since I'm already used to pain it doesn't bother me when I see that there's blood running down my hands as the safety railing was digging into my flesh.

I use my other hand to touch my hand trying to find the source of the blood and see that it's quite big and rinsing it won't do the job. The only choice I have is to go downstairs and ask for some help.

When I still lived with John I always had plasters to make sure that if he hurt me too bad I'd be able to sort it out but since I got here just earlier today I have no clue where anything is.

I take another deep breath and open the door going down the staircase. I also hide my hand behind my back just to be cautious.

When the Daly brothers see me, they look at me apologetically because they knew I heard what they were saying. Well since I ran up the stairs and closed the door rather loudly it wasn’t too hard to tell who it was.

"Avery we're sor-"

"Do you know where I can get a plaster?" I asked interrupting Damon. I brought my hand out behind my back. "I need one."

"What the hell?" Eli said loudly.

Even though he's on the other side of the room I still flinch but quickly hide the sudden action by putting on my facade again.

I look around to make sure that no one saw but unluckily for me the twins are looking at me suspiciously and I know that they saw.

"I fell." I simply said. This was one of the worst lies that I've said. Like who the hell falls and hurts their hand this badly.

"Here let me help," Will says going to take my hand but I move so that he only touches the air. He brings his hand back.

"Sorry," Will says but I just stare at him blankly.

"Mom and Dad will be back soon. You better get her cleaned up quickly before they come or Mom will die of a heart attack. You know how she is." Jesse said to Will.

This time Will asks for permission before taking my hand and I decline preferring to follow behind him instead. He brings me to another room that leads to a kitchen and turns on the tap. I don't even bat an eyelid when I put my hand under the cold water.

He gives me some tissue paper and I dry my hand. He then reaches into a cupboard and takes a disinfectant. It hurts a little but I don't say a thing. After he gets a plaster and puts it on my hand.

"Be careful next time OK?" Will said.

I nod my head and follow him out of the kitchen. Soon a door opens and in walks an elderly couple. Mr. and Ms. Daly.

"Avery! You're here!" Ms. Daly squeals excitedly. She rushes over to me and gives me a hug and I shut my eyes and take a deep breath trying not to panic.

If you haven't noticed yet again I hate when people touch me because of John. It's called haphephobia fear of physical touch. I know I have a lot of phobias but being through what I have you would too.

She let's go when she notices my discomfort. "Sorry, Avery. I'm just so happy. Finally, there'll be a girl in the house."

I just stare at her and feel bad that I don't smile. It's been a long time since I did and I feel bad that I'm probably not going to be the daughter she wishes she had. Whenever I did try to it came out as a grimace and looked less genuine which was why I resolved to small smirks.

"It's OK I know. Don't worry in your own time when you feel comfortable you'll be able to open up and I promise that we will still want you around." Ms. Daly whispers to me I look at Mr. Daly and he nods his head. Since he was close to us he heard what she said and I felt slightly better.

"I'm Mr. Daly and she's Ms. Daly but please call us Sheila and Mike. "Mike says and I nod my head again in response. "How about we all go have some dinner?"

We all go to another room which is the dining room and it looks very nice.

Will had made some pasta and it tasted heavenly. As we ate they all tried to make some small talk with me. They asked questions like do you like school and I answered no. Do I have any hobbies? I answered yes since I like writing, reading, and music. And they continued asking lots and lots of questions.

"Have you been showed around the house yet?" Sheila asked when we were done eating.

I shook my head and she scolded the boys for not showing me around and I had to hold back a smirk.

"OK, Benji and Alex go show Aves around," Sheila said. We all stared at her because of the nickname she gave me. "What? I just have a soft spot for nicknames."

They all laughed but of course, I didn't say anything. Per usual.

I got up from the place I was sitting at and followed the twins.

"OK, so this is the gym," Alex said turning a corner from the dining room. "Mostly just Damon and Eli use it."

I nodded my head and look around the gym and it was pretty good.

There was another door and it led to the sitting room. It looked pretty comfy and the TV was really big and I couldn't wait to do some all-nighters in here. That is if I stayed for long.

Across from the doors of the gym and sitting room, there was a library. There were so many books inside.

We then walked back up the hall passing the staircase and main entrance of the house and there they showed me an indoor pool.

"This is the indoor pool," Benji said. It was really big and I felt nauseated because of the memories of what John did to me. My heart started racing and I had to take a few deep breaths.

"Are you OK? "Benji asked noticing my discomfort. I nodded my head and closed my eyes trying to calm myself down.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked placing his hand on my shoulder. I jolted away from him and his eyes widened.

"Sorry. " He said.

"I-its fine. " I said taking a deep breath. I looked at the twins and saw that they were genuinely concerned.

A huge part of me felt that I could trust not just the twins but the whole family too. But there was also another small part of me that was scared that they'd betray my trust. I've lost a lot of trust in people over the time I've spent with John and I'm scared that if I take a chance and trust the Dalys I'd regret it. They might be the so-called famous Daly family but whos to say they're different from the media describes them to be. After all, you can't judge a book by its cover.

But I came to Carolina to change and start again so maybe I should take this chance before it's too late.

"Are you sure you're OK?" Alex asked again.

"I'm fine," I said.

They shared a look between them. "Ok if you say so," Benji said.

"Let's get on with the tour. " Alex smiled and I swear to God that I almost cracked a smile too.

Almost.

They led me to a series of other places around the house such as the game room, the music room, study room, the cinema room, the designing and art room and they showed me where each of their bedrooms is.

"Tomorrow Eli will bring you shopping. It's gonna be winter soon so you'll need some winter clothes. During the winter it's not too cold so it'll be grand."

"I can't I have to go somewhere tomorrow." Eli protested.

"Somewhere where?" Mike asked raising an eyebrow.

"Just somewhere," Eli said.

"Well, you can cancel your plans of going somewhere and bring your sister shopping," Mike said sternly.

"She's not my sister." Eli sent a glare in my direction before stomping off to God knows where.

I looked down at my hands my jaw clenching and unclenching. I know I'm not his sister but he didn't have to be such an ass-hole about it. But whatever it's not like I'm gonna be here for long anyway.

"Sorry about Eli. I don't think he got enough sleep today." Jesse said trying to lighten up the mood after Elis outburst.

I nodded my head. "I'm tired."

They all said a series of good nights as I went up to my room. I went into the blankets after putting the pillows I didn't need onto my mini couch.

What a long day it was I thought drifting off to sleep.