Zodiac- falling in love under the stars

Chapter 3- admitting the truth

Gem's POV
'Mama?' Me and mink looked at our mother. She smiled slightly then died. Our father was over her dead body with a kitchen knife, he and the knife was drenched in blood. Thick red glistening liquid. Mini's bottom lip quivered, I felt hot wet tears fall down my face. Nothing happened. Mama just committed suicide, that's the story we're going to tell, or I will kill you,'
I opened my eyes. Libra and Aquarius weren't in the room. I smiled slightly, not wanting to face them, then mini shuffled into the room. She had a red face and had tears streaked across her face. "Nightmare again?" I asked. She nodded, it was the 14th anniversary of our mother's death. We stayed in my bed, hacking into the FBI's latest top secret mission, trying to make ourselves feel better. At around 1:00pm Aquarius came in "lunch is ready, we don't want to you starve so please come down. You missed breakfast," she said softly.
"Yeah. We're just coming," mini answered.

When we got downstairs, no one was talking. "Is something wrong? Did something happen today?" I asked, looking round the table.
"Well... I don't want to talk about it. I don't trust you guys yet, no offence," Scorpio said.
"Likewise," cancer said.
A mumble of agreement went round the room. I looked down at my plate, tomato soup. But it wasn't tomato soup. It was red, rich and hot- blood. Blood over the knife. Blood over the floor. Blood drenched into our father's clothes. Blood. I screamed. I wasn't the only one. Aqua, Aries, mini and Leo were screaming too. Taurus and Virgo were mumbling 'blood', Capricorn and Scorpio were sitting, staring at the bowl, terrified. Sagittarius, cancer, Pisces and Libra were crying slightly. "We should explain what happened, to get used to it," Sagittarius mumbled.
"That's probably a good idea, as long as you don't tell anyone," Leo said warningly.
"None of us will. I suspect all our stories are brutally the same," Taurus said.
"I'll go first. If that's okay?" Virgo said.
"Ok. Go on," Scorpio nodded to her.
"Well, it started when the terrorist attacks happened, my parents weren't the nicest but I still loved them, but they were killed so I was brought up by my aunt, she uses me like a slave, and hits me, which is why I was so happy to get away from her," she said. Her lower lip wobbled. "It's okay. I'll go next," Pisces said softly. Virgo nodded. "Well, I was left in care, my parents died before I was born, my mother died in childbirth, I was left in this workhouse where we spent 24/7 untying ropes, our master beat us, and one day he killed my best friend, and I fought back and then he- he- whipped me," she said.
"I'll go next," Sagittarius grimaced. "My mum and dad used me as a slave, they used me as a target too, they shot at me, I was a mistake after all," he laughed hollowly. Leo sighed.
"I'll go then," he said. "My parents spoiled me, until one day they got a phone call then sent me to a circus. I was trained with lions, I was bait basically, I was always starved, until one day the lions rose up against he tamer and I escaped with them, then I ran away," he said. Libra fidgeted a little. "I'll go then. I was born in India, in the slums, but that didn't stop me and my family from having fun, we had love after all, until they sent me away to England where I stayed in a boarding school, it wasn't fun, I got abused and harassed because of the colour of my skin," she said softly.
"That won't happen ever again Libra. We promise," Aquarius said. "I'll go," she added. "I was born in the mountains, my aunt raised me after my mother ran away with a ski instructor and my father jumped off a cliff, she hated me. She loved her brother and blamed me for him committing suicide, so she abused me, I used football as an excuse until I couldn't take it and I ran away," she said.
"I'll go," Aries volunteered. Aqua nodded. "I had a sister. I was playing with matches. I accidentally lit the house on fire, killing my sister and mother in the process, my father was badly scarred, and he believed I should've gotten scarred so he hit me. Every single day, he was drunk as well," Aries grumbled.
"I'll go Aries," Taurus put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I was always strong. so I was used by my mother, she sold me to a circus where I was a strongman, I was only 10, and the ringmaster hit me 'to make me stronger' so one day, I broke out of my cage and ran away," he said. Cancer patted his arm. "I'll go next then," she swallowed. "My mother killed my father when I was young, she blamed me, so she hit me and threw bottles at me since then. I was four," she said.
"We'll go next," mini said. I nodded.
"Our father killed our mother, told us to tell everyone it was suicide, he threatened to kill us otherwise," I started.
"So he started hitting us. We were five when he killed our mother," mini finished.
"I'll go now," Capricorn said. We looked at him. "I was born in an orphanage, rugby was my only get away from all the teasing of the boys saying I wasn't wanted, and gradually, they were adopted, leaving me. So I started cutting myself. It was so satisfying, until one of my carers booted me out of the orphanage to come here, I've stopped but.." he finished.
"You'll be okay bud. I'll go, after all, I'm the only one left," Scorpio patted his back. "I was seen... as a freak. I was always emotionless, I didn't even cry as a child. My parents were always trying to find the number 666 on my body somewhere. I wasn't evil, I was just calm. It got really annoying after a while so I confronted them, they got angry and started hitting me," Scorpio said.