All Together as a Family

Samuel

Hope for the best
Prepare for the worst

Sam had not realised quite how much his words would open the floodgates of criticism and abuse from his family; he sat there silently through it all, watching each talk without too much sign of outward emotion: just a hand picking at the skin on his wrist, tightly pinching. Honestly though, despite this old self-punishing habit...he found himself more frustrated, angry, than upset or guilty.

Frankly, he cared far more about what Amalia and Evie had to say than Deimos; partly because he seemed less angry at the moment and partly because he was not one of Sam's sisters, people who he desperately wanted to try and be close to despite all their differences; he had made so much progress in his relationship with Evie, but now she was calling him a murderer...he didn't flinch at that, but inwardly he felt his heart sink.

When Amalia finally asked her last question, there was a long silence. Sam knew he could likely be in danger here. After all, Amalia and Deimos were wildly powerful and Evie had a ruling position in his home town. Still, he had given up on begging for people's acceptance, tossing away his dignity for nothing...the hand came away from his wrist and he laid both on the table, keeping himself still and steady.

"Nothing, Amalia, because you're already calling them sins. You don't care about my side of the story. All three have you have immediately made assumptions, called me a murderer--" He glared at Evie. "Nothing I say is going to make any difference, because you've all decided I'm what you want Ascended to be anyway. Selfish cowards, murderers, killers. It's things like this that make me think the Voice is right about everyone like you and your Old Gods. If it's not your way, if it's not traditional, then it's evil and you won't hear any different."

Wait all your life to see what you see