The next morning, Penelope awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs being fried in the kitchen. Sitting at the table were her two step-brothers, who were fighting over a pitcher of orange juice.
"Give it here, Scott!" Greg demanded.
Scott, the littlest brat in the family stuck his tongue out at Greg as he filled his glass at a distance. Greg reached over and yanked the pitcher out of Scott's hand, knocking over his glass and spilling the juice all over the table and floor. "Hey!" Scott pouted.
Mary turned around and scolded her children. "Stop arguing!" She snapped. "Penelope, hurry up and clean that mess before it stains my carpet!"
Penelope sighed inwardly as she grabbed a towel from the kitchen and started to clean the mess. As she knelt on the floor to soak in the juice, Scott started kicking her. "Quit kicking me!" She demanded. Scott only laughed as he continued to kick her. There was an instant wet sensation as the orange juice that was still on the table was swept onto her head.
"Guess you need another shower." Greg quietly smirked before laughing. Penelope had a few select words she wished she could say to both boys. She knew, though, that retaliating in any way would just get her into trouble, so she kept quiet.
"Stupid jerks." she thought to herself. "One day, they'll get their just desserts." Penelope believed in karma. And one day, they would get everything they had ever dished out to her ten-fold. At least, that was what she hoped.
She heard the sound of plates being placed on the table for the boys. There was none for her.
"Good morning everyone!" Her father entered the dining room, ready to head out the door to work. He was a marketer, who worked at Filmore Industries. The company made all kinds of products that were sold globally. It was the company that fueled the local economy. More than half of the community worked at Filmore. Without that company, the town would not survive. Rumor had it, the CEO was getting ready to retire and hand his business down to his youngest son, who had just graduated from high school.
Penelope smiled and greeted him. "What happened here?" he asked.
"Your daughter made a mess with the orange juice." Mary said in an annoying tone. Anybody could look at the scene and tell that this statement wasn't true. But Penelope's dad was oblivious.
She finished cleaning the mess and tossed the dirty towel in the washer. Then, she grabbed a bowl of cereal from the cabinet.
"You don't want any eggs?" her father asked.
"She doesn't deserve them! You see how she acted this morning? First, she got up late and then she created a scene with the orange juice. I swear, this child is going to make me go grey soon!"
Penelope looked at her dad with sorrow in her eyes. But as usual, he did nothing to stick up for her. He had no clue how Penelope was treated by her. If she were to tell, she knew she would be punished for it when he was gone. So she stayed quiet and ate her cereal. Stupid Witch.
Once breakfast was over, Penelope sought out to complete her chores. She emptied the dishwasher from the night before, cleared the table and loaded the breakfast dishes into it. Then, she started collecting laundry from everyone's rooms. She washed laundry every day, but Scott always went through several outfits. Penelope was sure that he changed so frequently just to give her more work to do.
Then there was Greg's laundry. He was a disgusting pig. He never used the laundry basket. He'd had a football game the night before and his uniform was in a pile on the floor. She pinched everything as she picked it up, dropping it into the laundry basket. Something was missing. She flipped his sheets back and sure enough, there they were. Her now sticky, smelly undergarments from the night before. It wasn't a surprise. He was a teenage boy, after all. What else had he wanted them for? She wished that instead of throwing them in the wash, she could just throw them away.
Last was Mary's laundry. Penelope knocked lightly on the door and waited to be called inside. Once invited, she quietly opened the door. "I came for your laundry." She announced.
Mary was laying on her side in her bed watching a soap opera with a bowl of chips. She didn't even turn to look at Penelope as she addressed her. "Well hurry up and get out! And don't forget to dust and clean the bathrooms today. You'd better not slack off, either! If I find any spots you missed, you're gonna get it."
"Yes Ma'am." Penelope said, thinking "Witch" in place of "Ma'am."
"Honestly, Penelope why are you so freaking pathetic? Your presence disgusts me. Such a stupid, lazy child deserves to be punished."
But Penelope wasn't lazy. She worked hard to keep the house clean. She worked hard for the paycheck she never got to see. She worked hard to get through school. She was smarter than both her brothers. Greg barely made the grades he needed to stay on his team. And he only did well enough because he cheated by copying her homework.
Responding to her step-mother's words would just bring more. So she quickly and quietly gathered the laundry. Once collected, she took everything to the laundry room and tossed it into the wash. There were three bathrooms in the house. Each took nearly half an hour to clean. Dusting took less time. When she was done, she went to her room, where Scott was playing video games.
"I need to get changed for work."
"Sounds like a personal problem." Scott retorted.
"Get out!" Penelope snapped. "Pause your game or go downstairs and play!"
"Buzz off! I'm in a boss battle!"
Done with his crap for the day, Penelope walked over to the wall and unplugged his game console. "Get. Out."
"Are you freaking kidding me? Mom!" Scott started crying as he ran out of the room.
"Thirteen years old and still cries like a baby." Penelope mumbled angrily. She knew she was going to get it for what she'd just done. There were some days, though, where she became so fed up with everything she had to go through and this morning was one of them. She knew she had a few minutes of her brother crying in his mother's lap before she was called downstairs and made a spectacle of. So she used them to quickly get changed. Sure enough, as she was putting her socks on, she heard Mary's loud, screechy voice shouting her name.
She went downstairs to take her punishment. "Why did you do that to him?" She yelled. "Don't you know you took everything away from him when you moved into this household? You took his room. His private space! He has to sleep in the room with his brother every night because of you! It's not his fault your mother didn't want you. Hell, I don't want you either! I'd rather give you up to an orphanage but your father somehow cares about you. You are a spoiled brat! If you ruined that game console, it's coming out of your paycheck!"
What paycheck?
Penelope felt the sting of Mary's hand hit her face not once, but twice as Scott smirked in the background. She didn't ask to live there, either. Her mother, however, didn't give her up because she didn't want her.
She had sent her to love with her dad because she was too poor to take care of her. When she divorced her dad, she's been a stay at home mom and had no working skills. She couldn't keep a job and was facing being in the streets. So she had done what any mother could have done and put Penelope in a place where she thought she would be safe, sheltered and happy. They hadn't had any contact since.
Penelope had no clue why she had never heard from her mother again. Perhaps she was ashamed. Or, maybe she Really didn't want anything to do with her anymore. Regardless, it hurt Penelope to no end knowing that her mother wouldn't call or even send a birthday card.
She stood there with a blank expression as Mary continued to yell at her. Some day, she would leave this household. Some day, The Witch would get hers. Someday, she would be successful and live a life free of dysfunction. Some day, she would have a house of her own where she could keep it messy or clean it whenever she wanted. She wouldn't be forced to clean after four people who didn't care about her.
Someday, she would be with someone who loved her. Someone who treated her well. Someone who didn't put her down or hit her.
She knew she was being abused. She knew there was a potential way out. But she didn't want to betray her father. She didn't want to be in the foster care system. The thought of moving from family to family scared her. She would have no future if she wound up in foster care. So she chose to endure.
Penelope knew that most of what Mary told her was a lie. The Witch would say anything to get to her. She only wished she knew what she had done to deserve this treatment. She didn't think she had ever done anything to this woman. Whatever it was, it must have been bad for her to have earned this treatment.
Finally, Mary finished chewing her out. "Get out of my room. I don't want to see your face for the rest of the day."
Scott followed her out the door with his smug smirk plastered to his face. "Serves you right, you stupid cow! " he said, attempting to shove her to the side as he headed towards the stairs leading back to their room.
Penelope planted her own smirk and said high enough for him to hear and low enough for Mary to not hear "Have fun starting over on your boss level." Acting like she wasn't phased by getting in trouble didn't give him the added satisfaction of her being punished. She had gotten what she wanted, which was to get dressed. Now, all she needed was to get her hat for work, and fold the laundry.
Her butt chewing really didn't give her much time to finish, but she knew if she didn't, she would have a worse punishment waiting for her when she got home. She would just have to run to make it to work on time. Finishing her chores, she went back downstairs, put her shoes on and left for work.