Llewyns
Mordred and Vortigern stood outside the door to the apartment, faces grim. Siobhan clutched at Mordred's leg, and Mary had an inscrutable expression on her face. "Well, let's get this over with," Vortigern sighed, and he opened the door slowly. They stepped inside. Their mother was crying at the table and Roy was nowhere to be seen. "Mam?"
"Oh, I was so worried! What happened, where did you go?" She flew out of her seat and hugged them all fiercely.
"Roy hit Siobhan. We went to a safe place, a school. Guess what? We got scholarships. It's a good school," Mordred said. "And you don't havta pay anything, and the girls are welcome over anytime. It's close by, and we're allowed to have home visits."
"We came home to get our things," Vortigern added.
"I met a nice kitty lady, and Dru, she's a vampire but she won't bite, and don't kick me, Mary!" Siobhan whined.
"Don't go making things up, Siobhan. There's no such thing as vampires."
"You punched Roy, Mordred, how could you!"
"Mam! He hit Siobahn! Like I wasn't going to give th' bastard a black eye," Mordred growled. "Let's get our stuff, Vort. And if we find out he's laid a finger on either of them, we'll report him to the police for child abuse."
"We aren't kidding, Mam. We will." Vortigern and Modred salvaged the things they could from their room, where Roy had torn most of theri stuff apart. Clothes, Vortigern's art supplies, some finished works, Mordred's CDs and assorted things like that. They came back out with heavy bags on their backs and looked at their mother, with her two daughters in her lap on the couch, black hair hiding her red eyes. "We're sorry it had to be this way, Mam. We love you though. See you two later."
"Say hi to Enrique for me, and Dru!" Siobhan said. "Don't cry Mam. Please don't cry." With Siobhan's wails in their ears, the twins walked out of the apartment, out of any vestige of childhood and into a different world. Mutants, aliens, magic. It promised to at least be interesting, but their hearts ached as they were driven back to the school, both caught up in their own dark thoughts.