Solana's Trials

Solana groaned and rolled over as she glanced at the clock, the harsh red numbers displaying quarter to one in the morning. Her expression grew somber and her eyes opened wide as she realised it was finally the sixteenth of June. Father’s Day. Her heart constricted as her chest constricted, her breathing doubling in less than a second. Today was not a good day. It never had been. Her mother would be suffering. Possibly her sister too. He did whatever he wanted to them on Father’s Day. She gripped her pillow tightly and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths as she tried to calm herself down. She had to get them out of there now. She had been passive long enough. She had to act now for their safety. Solana shook her head as she let go of her pillow and stood up, flicking the light on and walking over to the closet. She pulled one of her uniforms out and changed, then pulled her hair up into her signature style. She pulled her Styler onto her arm and nodded to Mimi who quickly jumped onto her shoulder. She opened her Styler and tapped at a few buttons before a sleepy voice came over the small speaker. “Solana, it’s past midnight… What’s going on?” Jenny’s tone was none too pleased with having her beauty sleep interrupted, but it also showed that she knew something was up. “I’m going back to Sinnoh. I have to rescue my mother and sister before…” Solana trailed off as she looked away. She kept her history under tight wraps from all other Rangers. Chairperson Erma did her best to keep it under wraps as well, so nobody dare ask her about it. Some of them had seen the scars, so they knew something bad had happened to her, but she never spoke of it. “Eh? What do you need, Sol?” Jenny’s tone instantly jarred into awakeness as Solana took a shaky breath. “I need you to call the Hearthome City authorities. Tell them that I’ll be meeting them at their office. I’ll be maybe twenty minutes.” Solana fought to keep her tone even as her body sprang into panic mode. She wanted to flee and not look back, but she needed to do this. She probably should have contacted Blaze before this, but…she needed to do this on her own. She had to face her demons on her own. This was her problem and nobody else’s. “Tell the chief that…Lala’s coming back.” The nickname was known to only a few—mostly her music teachers—but the chief had been a close friend of one of them. He knew her as Lala, so that would prove her story. “Are you sure you can do this, Sol?” Jenny’s voice was tense as she was no doubt able to hear the panic in Solana’s. There was a moment of pause, but the Ranger nodded. “I can.” She had to get them out of there before he damaged them even further. —— True to her word, it took Solana only about twenty minutes to appear in the Hearthome City police department. The officers stared at the young woman before them. When she had run, she was nothing more than a scared fifteen year old. Now she stood a proud Top Ranger that had saved the Fiore region. The chief, Jason, lowered his glasses and shook his head, clearly unable to believe his eyes. “Solana, it’s been four years. What’s the meaning of this…?” The question was cut short by a fierce look from the Ranger as she removed her jacket. The room hushed instantly when the officers saw the pale scars against her deeply tanned skin. “I want to bring abuse charges against my father. From the time I was three until the time I was fifteen, I was beaten nearly everyday. From the time I was seven, I saw my nannies raped in front of me. I would have come sooner, but I was afraid of him. He held power over me, but no longer.” Solana’s tone was confident and assured, but she was screaming internally. She wanted to run and hide, to break down while the memories flashed before her. But she slammed up her barriers, keeping the angry look on her face. The anger and hatred was the only thing driving her right now. Jason nodded slowly, unable to deny the physical proof in front of him. It took only a few minutes for them to get in his car and head over to the Ambrose residence. The mansion rose high in the night sky, its limestone walls stark against the onyx cloak. Solana swallowed the lump in her throat, her heart pounding as the car pulled up to the main gate. She was hidden in the back seat so that no suspicion would be aroused. Police checks were common at her household from what she remembered and it seemed they still were as they were let in without a question. Jason opened his door and she opened hers. Her heart beat faster as she stared at the doors she had fled out for her life four years ago. The sound was deafening in her ears, but she strode forward with confidence next to the chief, a startled maid answering. “S-So—?!” A glare from the teen silenced the maid who nodded meekly and let them by. They had barely made it up the first flight of stairs when Kinsley met them. His expression went from one of confusion to pure rate when he laid his eyes on her. Her legs began to shake and her eyes widened a bit, but she quickly furrowed her eyebrows as she took a step toward him. “What do you want, you ungrateful little bitch?!” The familiar words made Solana flinch and nearly brought her to her knees, but she forced herself to remain standing. Jason quickly got behind Kinsley and started to pull the handcuffs out, but Kinsley retaliated, smacking Jason in the face. It didn’t take long for them to get into a full fist fight; the handcuffs flew out of Jason’s hands and landed next to Solana’s feet. After hesitating for a heartbeat, she grabbed them and yanked Jason away by the back of his shirt, wrestling with her father for several moments. She managed to push his face into the carpet and slap the cuffs on his wrists while he swore at the top of his lungs. Pandora came out just as Jason started walking Kinsley out of the house, her red eyes wide as they focused on Solana. The Ranger turned around and smiled to her mother, clasping her hands before her. “Solana…is that really…?” The teen nodded as she walked over to her mother, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. The older woman flinched slightly but a gentle smile formed on her lips. “I’m sorry it took me four years to finally get the courage to do this. I realised what today was and…I finally snapped. I’m sorry, Mother.” Pandora shook her head as she covered her mouth, tears running down her cheeks as she hugged her daughter. The Ranger just smiled as she stroked her mother’s dark blue hair, shushing and calming her like she had done to Solana so long ago. “The nightmare is over… He’ll never hut us again…”