Velika: The story of a lover

Before there was Astoria Leontes, or even Larissa Carling, there was Larissa Weiss. Larissa Weiss, like the late Alicia Carling, was a beautiful child. She had her mother's hair, which was light brown and in natural waves, and her father's hazel-coloured eyes that were clear like water. But unlike Alicia Carling, Larissa Weiss didn't have an affluent family.

Larissa Weiss' parents were never married, but they were the nicest couple that everyone around them absolutely adored. They didn't want to have children at the first place. The only reason they kept Larissa was because her mother, as a nurse, couldn't end a life as she was trying to save as many as she could every day. Her father, Matthew Weiss, used to be a businessman, who held a great position in a large company, with the potential to get an upper position. However, not long after Larissa Weiss was born, Matthew Weiss made a faulty decision, led the company to lose a significant amount of money, and he was fired on the spot.

That was when he lost it, he started drinking excessive amount of alcohol, went out all night drinking and came home near down, threw himself in bed, and the cycle repeated. Later, he started doing drugs and soon became addictive, or more correctly termed, suffered from substance abuse. Larissa Weiss' mother planned to leave her father and take her away. When Matthew Weiss found out, he beat her mother terribly and started controlling her schedule, made sure she couldn't escape.

The beating was put to an end when Larissa Weiss' mother had a car accident when she was 4 years old and died onset. Young Larissa Weiss had nowhere to go so she had to stay with her father, who somehow convinced her grandparents that he was able to take good care of his daughter. Now, as her mother was gone and no one could protect her from her abusive father anymore, she became the subject of abuse. Matthew Weiss would beat her daughter whenever he was drunk or couldn't get drugs. They were living on the savings that her mother left behind, and soon, it was running low. With no choice left, Matthew Weiss had to get a job, and he started working in a local pub as a bartender. When he was out at work, he left Larissa Weiss alone in their apartment, who often was starved because he couldn't remember to leave her food. She wasn't allowed to go outside to play with other children, as Matthew Weiss was afraid that she would run away. She had no friends to talk to, no toys to play with. All she had was an old, dirty apartment with four empty walls.

That was when Astoria came. Astoria was smart and strong, she would comfort Larissa Weiss when she cried, telling her everything would be alright and she would be with Larissa Weiss for the eternity. Astoria protected Larissa Weiss from being beaten, she would suffer instead of seeing Larissa Weiss being hurt by her very own father. The only condition Astoria asked from Larissa Weiss was that, under no circumstances could Larissa Weiss tell her father that Astoria existed. Waiting her father to be gone in the morning was the longest wait in little Larissa Weiss' life. Because only after he was gone, she would be able to play with her one and only friend Astoria. Astoria usually sat there and watch her do things, or tell her to do things. But from times to times, Astoria would ask to take control and play in her own way. Sometimes Larissa Weiss got tired and wanted to sleep, and that was when she let Astoria took full control. She never knew what Astoria did during the time she was asleep, but she would always find herself in her bed when she woke up, and Astoria was back in her seat. So, it never crossed Larissa Weiss' mind to ask what her friend did, she just assumed that Astoria was playing her own games.

When Larissa Weiss was seven, Matthew Weiss married to a woman who he met while bartending in the pub he worked at. The woman's name was Rachael, and Larissa Weiss never knew what her last name was, and she brought her son with her. Rachael was older than Matthew Weiss, and looked like a typical hippie in the 1980s. Her son, Kurt, was 17 at the time. Larissa Weiss guessed that Rachel must had him when she was still a teenager, but she never dared to ask.

Rachael never tried to like Larissa Weiss, she called her 'the pretty little devil' and she could never remember that her name was 'Larissa', not 'Latisha'. But Rachael did feed her, made sure she wasn't starving like she used to be.

"You got to eat stuff, Latisha," Rachael said, with a cigarette in her mouth and put spaghetti on Larissa Weiss' empty plate, when she spoke, there was smoke coming out and her face was hidden, "I don't give a damn about you but I have to keep you fed so you don't go around and complain to your fellas that I'm the evil stepmother."

"My name is Larissa." Said the angry 'pretty little devil', even though Astoria told her not to argue.

"Sure, Latisha." Said the impatient stepmother, who never paid attention to her stepdaughter, then she noticed her son was sneaking out of the door, "Where the hell do you think you are going, Kurt?"

"I'm going out with the boys," Said Kurt, holding the door with one hand while looking outside, a car was parked in front out of the house and waiting for him, "I'll bring some 'good stuff' back for Landon."

Rachael mumbled something that Larissa Weiss couldn't hear and Kurt was out of the door, vanished in the sunset. When Kurt first came, he was nice to Larissa Weiss and for the moment she thought that finally, someone could protect her from her father. But she was wrong.

Kurt got Larissa Weiss' trust by pretending to care for her. He played with her, bought her dolls and told her that she was the prettiest girl that he had ever seen. Then on a Saturday, to which she still remembered decades later, after Kurt had been drinking for the whole night, he came home in the morning when Rachael and Matthew Weiss already left for their own errands, leaving Larissa Weiss at home alone. She was in her room playing with her dolls when she heard her name being called.

"Hey Lari," Yelled Kurt from downstairs as soon as he stepped into the door, he gave her the nickname without her permission, "Come downstairs!"

Larissa Weiss liked her stepbrother, she ran downstairs as fast as she could. Then she saw, Kurt, sitting in the coach, totally wasted.

"Come over here." He demanded. She wanted to turn around and go back to her room but his voice was so demanding that she had no courage to be against him. So, slowly, she went towards him and sat beside him.

Then suddenly, before she could react, he grabbed her and put her on his lap. He held her waist so tight that she felt hurt.

"My mom always calls you a 'pretty little devil'," Said Kurt, she could smell alcohol in his breath, "That old woman could never remember your name. But I do. Larissa, you are a pretty little devil indeed."

It all happened too fast. Too fast that the young, innocent brain of Larissa Weiss' couldn't comprehend. It was a nightmare, a nightmare that she could never wake up from, a nightmare that scared her for the rest of her life, and a nightmare that brought Margret to her not soon after the incident.

"This is our little secret." Said Kurt when he was zippering up his jeans, "You are not going to tell my mom, or Landon, understand?"

"Yes." Answered his obedient lamb.

"Good girl." Kurt patted her head, and she then turned around and ran upstairs to her room, locked her door behind.

She cried, but her tears dried quickly. Astoria told her that she had to be tough and she would always be there for Larissa Weiss. However, Astoria said that since she hated people, she couldn't help Larissa Weiss over this incident, unless, she wanted Kurt to be killed.

At first, it was only Kurt who consistently asked Larissa Weiss to play the 'special game' with him. Then, one day, Matthew Weiss came home early and found out their secret. That was when the third player, in this case, Matthew Weiss, Larissa Weiss' father, joined the game. Matthew Weiss and Kurt would get high together and then took turns play the 'game' with Larissa Weiss. Sometimes they would film it with an old video camera. To keep the record, that was what they told her. And of course, Rachael was no fool, she found out soon after Matthew Weiss joined the game. Usually, she would avoid. But once, she leaned against the door frame and watched them with no emotion on her face. Nothing, just blank stare.

"You sick bastards," Larissa Weiss heard Rachael mumbled when she turned around and left, "You are going to hell and burn."

Rachael never helped Larissa Weiss, she could, but she didn't. She condemned the men's behaviour like a bystander, yet she never acted or get her stepdaughter out of her misery. Larissa Weiss knew that Rachael never cared about her, all Racheal did was to keep her alive and that was pretty much it.

Shortly after Matthew Weiss joined the game, Margret showed up. When Larissa Weiss came back to her room one day after the game ended, she saw Astoria was sitting there with another girl. Astoria told Larissa Weiss that her name was Margret and she was there to help her out during those games.

"I'm good at it," Said Margret, with a seductive smile. "Next time when they ask you to play, I'll take care of it, and you can go get some sleep, my little one."

Now, Larissa Weiss felt protected. She had Astoria to take care of the rough moments when her father was abusive, and Margret helped her out during those games she hated. She never knew how they managed those situations, as they always told her to go to sleep and when she woke up, everything was fine. Larissa Weiss got to be herself at school, and all she had to deal with was Rachael, and about Rachael, the only thing annoying was that she still thought her name was 'Latisha'. It never really bothered Larissa Weiss that from times to times, she might have had several hours of memory gap as Astoria or Margret would ask to take control and asked her to get some rest.

The idea of running away started forming in young Larissa Weiss' mind soon after the secret games began. Ever since then she put lots of attention to how the people in the house behave and got to know their routines, waiting for a day that she could escape. All she knew at the moment was to leave, to get away from all the inhumane abuse she took from her own father and step-brother. She had no idea where she could go to, or where she could go to. Perhaps she could reach out to her grandparents, but she had no idea where they lived and she didn't even remember their faces.

From times to times she thought that maybe one day, her so called family would stop treating her this way so that she didn't have to plan to leave. She was wrong, all the abuses just became more and more violent and then, she made up her mind:

She would rather die in the middle of nowhere than staying in this house.

Astoria and Margaret agreed her idea, and she felt more supported than she ever had.

When she seven, or almost eight, her chance came on a windy, gloomy night with thick grey clouds covering the dim, pale moon, only able to give enough light to prove its existence. It was early November, the leaves on the tree in front of their house were already gone, leaving behind bare, grey, lifeless branches.

Rachael was out of town to visit her sister that week. Her sister had terminal lung cancer and would not be able to make it to Christmas. Rachael, who held a grudge towards her sister for more than ten years, finally decided to visit her only family member before too late.

"I would not shed a tear for that woman," Said Rachael before she left, biting her teeth, "She deserves to die alone."

Larissa Weiss never knew what made Rachael hated her own sister so deeply, and she never bothered to ask. All she knew is that, it was easy for her to get her chance to escape once Rachael was gone. Usually, Matthew Weiss and Kurt would get drunk together, and Rachael stayed sober to make sure that they didn't attempt anything ridiculous. This was the only time that Rachael would stop them from getting near Larissa Weiss and this was the only moments Larissa Weiss appreciated to have Rachael in her life.

"Leave that little creature alone, you sick bastards," Said Rachael, hid Larissa Weiss behind her back, "Why can't you devils just get hammered and keep your filthy hands off the kid?"

"Thank you." Larissa Weiss said to Rachael when the men finally gave up their attempts of getting near her.

"Don't thank me." Said Rachael rudely, "Don't even think that I have any feelings for you, little thing, I might have sympathy for you, but nothing more than that."

Part of Larissa Weiss thought that Rachael did have something for her, something more than just sympathy. Astoria told Larissa Weiss that she thought perhaps, Rachael also had a traumatizing childhood, which made her try to protect Larissa Weiss in the subtlest way.

Before Rachael went on her trip, she pulled Larissa Weiss aside and whispered:

"Listen, you pretty devil, I wish I could take you with me but your papa won't let me. So, if you want to live a normal life, you better find your own way out. I wish I would never see you again."