The devil behind the mask

Veronika POV

I felt calm and at peace as I sat down on the hard wooden floor under my family house porch and stared at the blue lake as the moonlight reflected on it crystal clear surface but still it wasn't enough to distract me from whatever punishment awaited me when they had made their verdict. I have been punished so many times than I could even remember most times I was just grounded. But none of the punishment ever took four hours to be decided and by my family member. I kept wondering if what had happened would be enough to warrant any extreme punishment, this thoughts drifted me back to the day before yesterday when my dad and I arrived at Russia for a family meeting that takes place every two years, were relatives from far and wide gather to discuss how the decisions and the family wealth will be managed and distributed just because we had surplus I mean they could have just discussed with their lawyers, but well my family likes to keep things under wraps.

I am not a big fan of this tradition because my cousins and I have never witnessed this meeting or even stepped a foot into my grandfather study room where the meetings are always held. But I overheard from my estranged Dad that this meeting would be different.

On arriving, I told

my father that I would meet him at the family house and that I wanted to take a quick tour around the city but as always my father didn't care or even bother to notice me leave, that was when I met her, Zara, I met her at the subway train which she boarded and sat next

to me.

She had a perfectly slim body like a model and a tanned skin I guess that she had been exposed to the sun scorching rays for too long. She wore dark heavy make-up that tried to make her seem older but I wouldn't be made a fool and her dark hair was trimmed right above her neck, she wore a black T-shirt saying 'l HEART ROCK 'N' ROLL' accompanied with a black leather jacket and black jeans. It was obvious to me that she was part of a rock band but she made the obvious more obvious by playing my favourite rock song 'A day in the life' by the Beatles through her white earphones that was when I popped up the first question to start a uneventful conversation

"Are you in a rock band" she stared at me for a second then pulled out her earphones and responded

"I'm sorry what did you say" she asked her face blank of all emotion

"I said are you part of a Rock band" I watched as her face lit up with a smug grin as lips parted revealing a set of sparkling teeths and she began to speak

"What gave me away" she crossed her hands above her chest

"Pretty much everything starting with your shirt it says I heart rock and roll" she gave out a weak chuckle as I made air quotes with my hands

"Plus, I could hear a day in the life playing from your earphones and for the record I totally love that song" she drew herself closer as she inhaled deeply in a shocked manner

"What!!! it is totally my favourite, I have listened to it like eleven times since today" we laughed and talked about how much we loved John Lennon most especially to his band mates before she stretched her hands towards me and told me her name was Zara Manning and I took her hands in mine and told her my name then she invited me to a party where her band the night bats would be playing the party was to

be held tomorrow night, yeah the same night before the family meeting. I should have known it would have only brought problems.

I told her I would be there but honestly at that time I hadn't fully made my decision then. So when the train stopped I hopped out but I could still feel Zara ember eyes gazing at me till the electronic train drove away.

I took a cab heading to our family mansion, looking at the antique building from afar It seemed scary.

It had cracked pillars, all the grasses looked grey, but for some strange reason the rosebushes weren't affected by whatever mysterious plague affecting the other plants, they were only housing some weird green and black spiders that I was warned by my Grandpa to stay away from, I can still recall the day when I wandered just close enough for the spiders to feel threatened and attack me. I was overtaken with a electrifying pain. I had a high fever, it was so bad I thought I would die. After some time my mom and dad arrived with a greenish goo instructing me to drink it. And by the way it was extremely bitter but I knew if my Mom said I should drink it, it was necessary. Now you see what I meant. Creepy.

I let these thoughts cloud my mind as I walked in. I was shocked to see my father standing next to the grandfather clock. He wore a grey suit with a white long sleeve shirt and a grey trouser. He had changed from his travelling clothes. He held a pocket watch in his left hand

"Where have you been" his brows knitted into a frown as he kept the watch back into the pocket of his coat

"Um...hi dad I..." my stuttering words were brought to a complete halt as I heard a irritatingly familiar voice coming from behind me

"What did you do now roniks" and there he was the face of my arch nemesis Samuel. He had the same smirky smile that always managed to make my skin crawl since we were little.

He walked up and stood behind my dad and leaned lazily on the wall giving me a better enough view to stare at his pale white face. Samuel had a oval face with deep brown eyes in which at times most girls get lost in its void, strands of his sandy hair fell across his face but nevertheless he still had the same smirk he had since he walked into the room. He wore a black tank top with a white short, though we were in summer but it had already began to fade away and paved way for autumn to creep in so I'm sure he wore the tank top to show of his alleged biceps. He wish.

"This is none of your business Samantha so stay out of it" I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and retorted back at him but all I managed to get from him was the same smirk as he shook his head sideways

"No! veronika not now, now isn't the time for your antics" my dad paused for a moment and rubbed his temple, letting out a heavy sigh I couldn't tell if it was out of relief or worry

"Your grandfather and your grandaunt and her family will be arriving tomorrow and I want you to be at your best behaviour, nothing must go wrong, have I made my self understood" he then gave me a stern look and then just walk past me towards the door in a split second Samuel walked up towards me

"Well someone's been a naughty girl" he said to me while pushing off his yellow brown hair that fell across his face

"Buzz off loser, I have better places to be" I replied back to him as I made it up the stairs but I could still hear him saying

"I really hope you can stay out of trouble" accompanied with a weird giggle that I chose to ignore.

As I walked into a long dimly lit corridor and stared at all the rooms and the name tags on them, then I saw my name tag second door on the right. The first door on the right was john then mine followed by Beverly then Samuel and zoey the doors on the left started with Brian then his twin sister Danielle followed by Olivia then

Celyn and Trey at the end of the corridor was Elijah's room it was bigger than ours because he was older than us.

I took some steps and entered into my room to see that nothing had actually changed the bed was still close to the window, the red dragon embroidered carpet still laid at the center of the room, my work space still looked tidy and it still had the books about psyche I often read and my rock band posters was still on the wall, everything was still the same. But it was still missing one important feature, I reached inside one my backpack and brought out a picture of her, my mother, she looked pretty in this picture he blond hair were curled and draped behind her, her aquarium blue eyes sparkled, she looked so beautiful

in this picture.

I placed the wooden frame on my desk and laid down on my bed for some minutes till I heard a knock on my door and I told whoever it was to come in, then I saw Olivia and her brother John walk into my room a smile lit up across my face, out of eleven cousins was it terrible of me to happen to only like two

"I heard you arrived, so how have you been doing" Olivia spoke to me with a smile on her face while John walked slowly around my room as though it was being inspected

"I'm fine just dad issues" I sighed deeply

"Yeah, I heard about that, he is still being very strict on you" Olivia asked while taking a seat beside me

"He has been this way since my mom died" I took a deep breath before proceeding

"And I don't know when he is going to stop"

"okay lets change the subject, what college have you applied for" Olivia's warm hands held mine

"I applied for some colleges but I haven't heard any response" I pushed my hair back

"Don't worry they will come around, well red creek in Colorado has replied me and I got in and I'm going after the meeting" we both giggled in perfect unison

"Wow, that's nice congrats"

I and Olivia chatted for a while before she left, Olivia and her brother weren't ones to talk a lot. They always spoke as if they were going to be charged for amount of words they spoke but either ways I would take them over any of my blabber mouth cousins.

After chatting with

Olivia I went down for dinner where my dad just talked and argued about politics with my uncles; Thomas, Daniel and Jordan.

Jordan is my dad immediate younger brother. While Daniel was married to my dad younger sister Josette and then Thomas the youngest of my dad siblings. The dinner was just like it used to be, the twins Danielle and Brian were bickering as always, Trey was glued staring at his cellphone. Everyone was so busy to notice me as always.

When dinner was over I went straight to my room and the only thing that I thought about was the party I got invited to by Zara.

When the next day arrived I woke up terrified because of my usual nightmare. I took a bath and went down to get something to eat. I got bread and some ingredient to make a sandwich that was when I heard a old frail voice coming from behind me

"Good morning miss Veronika, would you like me to prepare you a meal" I turned back to see my father nanny, Lydia took care of my father since he was a baby, now she and her daughter laura takes care of my grandfather

"Thanks, Mrs. Gustov I would really like that" I told Lydia with a smile then she made her way to the kitchen grabbed a pot and began cooking griddle cakes my favourite dish

"Did you zat griddle cakes vere your father favourite meal vhen he vas a little child, he vould dance and jump vhenever I prepared it" Lydia spoke with a Russian accent that in a way kind of reminded me of my mum who was half Russian

"wow, it funny because I have never seen him eating any" I responded to Lydia as I positioned myself on a high wooden chair

"yaz, but zhat vas zhi long time ago vhen he vasnt a bitter old man" I couldn't help but burst into laughter at Lydia's thought about my father but that laughter faded away when I remembered he became that way because of the death of my mother which he says I caused

"Oh, don't be sad my dear everything isn't your fault" how could Lydia know what I was thinking was she psychic like in movies, she left the gas cooker and walked over to me and pulled my head towards her chest like she did when I was little in an attempt to console me which worked by the way till I noticed Danielle watching my emotional breakdown with Lydia from up the stairs. she held her cellphone with her right hand i just hoped she hadn't taken a photo of me in my state of sadness. As she began to climb down the stairs I let go of Lydia and tried to compose myself

"Hello Veronika" she had a malicious smirk on her face

"Hello Danielle" I retorted back to her in a similar manner knowing where she was headed

"You haven't had breakfast yet" Danielle asked the smirk on her face unmoved

"Yes and you" she raised her phone up operating it nonchalantly

"Yeah I had my breakfast with the rest of my family oops" she looked at me holding her left hand up to her mouth "I said my family I meant to say our family"

ugh

I so hated Danielle, since we were little she always had a demeaning attitude that made me want to stick my nails into her brown eyes like I did when we were seven when she taunted me about killing my mom

"Yeah you are right, I think your memory has began to fail you. And I chose not to have breakfast with our family because I wasn't quite feeling like it" when I was done talking I grabbed a plate and went to stand beside Lydia to serve myself

"Yeah, good for you" Danielle said and went for the back door as she swung her pony tailed hair sideways as her short blue skirt did the same as much as I hated Danielle I had to admit she had a great sense of fashion, she wore a green T-shirt that had black stripes

she tuckened it inside her short blue skirt unlike me i wore a black leather trouser with a ash shirt which says 'keep smiling'. when I was done eating the meal prepared by Lydia I went straight to my room I had always found solace in my room ever since i was little. I still couldn't wait for nightfall to go to the party, then I heard two cold taps on my door and instantly I knew it was my dad so I told him to come in which he did and all he could tell me was that my Grandpa was arriving soon and I should be at home to welcome him and I shouldn't stir up any trouble then he left for the airport.

By evening my dad arrived with my Grandpa, my grandaunt, her daughter Jade and her granddaughter Zoe. When I knew they had arrived I went down to welcome them and I was so pleased to hear my Grandpa asking for me, when he saw me he was filled With happiness he quickly engulfed me in a warm hug, I could almost see the jealousy gushing out of Danielle and that made me feel so good but I became uncomfortable when I saw the scary look my grandaunt Evelyn passed at me, I had never understood why Evelyn never liked me.

I knew to an extent why most people in this house didn't like me but Evelyn belonged to the part that still remains a mystery. The uncomfortable glare forced me to break free from the hug. After a while my Grandpa summoned my grandaunt, dad, uncles and aunts to his study room to discuss whatever secret they held but neither did I care, all I cared about was making it to the party.

I have sneaked out to a lot of parties but this time was more harder, I haven't tried sneaking out of a house containing about twenty people in it. But I soon discovered it was a good thing no one ever noticed me, it made my escape easier. I took a cab heading to the address Zara told me.

Hundreds of cars parked in the huge driveway surrounding the huge house. I tried using the doorbell but eventually gave up when no one answered and just let myself in. When I stepped into the party, it was filled with a lot of teenagers holding plastic red cups. I saw a band performing on stage but it wasn't the night bats. I searched the party for Zara but couldn't find her but then she found me. she had worn similar clothes like she did the day we met but today her makeup was darker very dark

"Wow, you came I was starting to think you wouldn't make it" she raised her voice trying to surpass the party noise

"I'm just like that when I put my mind to something I do it" we smiled at each other for a while before she asked me if I wanted a drink which I declined all because I wanted to be sober for the meeting tomorrow. Then she took me to a room and introduced me to her band, that was when I met Oliver, Jay, and Ryan we chatted for some minutes before I began to feel dizzy, hearing a familiar ringing in my head.

My vision became blurry, as much as I tried to cling to my sanity the more I drifted over the edge to a dark void of nothingness.

When I woke up I found myself in a room restricted by bars, the ceiling glowed with luminescent light. My memory was foggy and I didn't have an idea about how I got here. My nostrils was overtaken with the smell of alcohol coming from me and the smell of urine all around the room, that was when it struck me that I was in jail. I couldn't recall anything that had happened in the party till now. I was overwhelmed with the feeling of fear and shame. I had never been locked in a cell before and wasn't looking forward to it. I couldn't stop but think about how my dad would react when he finds out.

I had been in less worse but similar problems like this but in none have I ever blacked out not remembering anything, the sound of footsteps approaching my cell jolted me out of my reverie. When the footsteps reached it's final destination I saw a man who wore a blue police uniform that tried to suppress his flabby stomach.

He told me I was free to leave but now I really didn't want to go and face whatever awaited me outside. I was handed my cellphone and I switched the pitch black screen on and my heart sank when I saw the time and date, it was the day of the meeting and the time was 2:33 pm I knew I was going to be in big trouble for either missing or disrupting the meeting. I noticed the silhouette figure of my dad waiting for me outside the police department.

He had a terrifying look on his face, when I came close within arms length he grabbed onto my arm which hurt like a bitch and whispered to my ears

"You are in a lot of trouble Veronika" then he opened the passenger seat door and shoved me in.

The drive home was long and quiet but I knew I stood a chance at convincing him of my innocence in all of this now we were alone

"Dad you have to believe me I don't know what happened. I was at a party and then..." My dad coarse voice impede my words

"I do not need your silly explanations I only asked one thing from you stay out from trouble and what did you do" his words prohibited me from uttering a single word till we arrived at our house.

We both stepped out of the car and walked into the house, I was shocked to see the living room empty, it only inhabited Brian and Danielle

"Uncle George, grandpa and the rest await you in the study room" Brian spoke with a courteous smile on his face as my dad left immediately without saying a single word

"What happened this time cousin?" he ask with a wily smile on his face

"Brian it all just happened and I don't remember" I said hoping desperately to God for someone to believe me

"Remember it or not you are in big trouble and that's all that really matters" Brian words weren't as comforting as I hoped to hear but what would I expect from the most egoistic person I knew

"Oh niks I never thought you could do such a thing to our family" I recognized the raw sarcasm in Danielle voice and it infuriated me

"You know what I don't care if anyone believes me or not so fuck you and fuck everyone" with those words I stormed our of the living room and headed to my room, I noticed Samuel coming out of Elijah's room but I quickly slipped into my room to avoid anymore confrontations. I sat on the floor resting my back against the door my auburn hair was a mess. I always hated it whenever I wasn't conscious of my actions it makes me remember the death of my mum and how I can't recall what those monsters did to her. By the time I was done taking a shower it was nightfall, the sky outside was dark and you could hear insects chirping all around our grey lawn. My dad was still inside the study with the others so I went out to sit on the wooden porch floor, just staring at the view searching for some comfort suddenly I was brought out of my long reverie when I felt someone take a seat beside me I turned see John, his trimmed black hair blended in with the night

"What are you thinking about" the extreme calmness in John's voice completely stunned me, he was younger than me but was always calm and composed

"Just about how I messed up"

"Don't think too much about it everyone makes a messed up mistake" he attempted to make me feel better

"Yeah but today was important to everyone it was important to Grandpa"

"But it isn't like you killed anyone, this can be fixed" he turned his head around and gave me a assuring look. We were interrupted by Olivia who came to tell us that they are out of the study room and grandpa requested our presence. My heart began to beat a little bit faster anticipating a terrible punishment. Everyone had Already taken their seats around the dining table. There were no utensils on the table so I had an idea we weren't here for dinner. Lydia and her daughter stood at the entrance of the kitchen just watching in silence. The solemn look on their face didn't ease my agitative state. My Grandpa sat at his usual place at the center seat, my dad was at the left while my grandaunt was at the right.

"As we all know Veronika was today the day of our family meeting, thereby causing us to cancel and postpone it to tomorrow" Grandpa stared at me deeply like his eyes would tell me something

"So as punishment for her actions she won't be part of tomorrow's meeting" the punishment was milder than I expected but I hated the idea of not partaking in the meeting. After hearing the verdict I went straight to my room not in the mood for dinner. As I laid in my bed I couldn't stop myself from wondering what I had done during Zara's party and why couldn't I remember.