"Good morning mom". Phoebe greeted, her on her way down the stairs when she had sighted her mother.
Hera beamed as she saw her daughter, walk down the stairs and then raised the tip of her feet to leave a kiss on her cheek. " Hope you slept well, dear?".
She saw her daughter fix an oversized screen placed on her eyes in the name of wearing glasses.
"I feel great mom". Phoebe beamed. She had forgotten about the scary creatures and the scene of yesterday. "Did you sleep well too?".
" Yes, dear. Won't you sit for breakfast?".
"Uh no. I have no appetite and I am so late for school. Just gobble it all up, mom". Phoebe said giving a little smile after her eyes scanned the little food, prepared so well by her mother. She saw her mother give a pained smile and she felt guilty. She regretted looking across the table.
" Phoebe sit_". Hera paused on her words, on seeing her daughter back away and then turn to run to the front door like a scampering little squirrel and Hera withheld the urge to giggle. Her daughter was acting so cute.
"I LOVE YOU, MOM!!". Hera heard her say aloud and then the door banged shut.
Hera exhaled a deep breath as she took a chair to sit on. She was sad that she couldn't take proper care of her only daughter. She had tried searching for jobs to earn a living but it seemed that bad luck was been inscribed on her forehead.
None had accommodated her pleas and the jobs she had tried to secure had been snatched away from her the next day and she couldn't even protest. Her perception couldn't help but point at her ex-husband and his mistress and she was a nobody to confront the influential couple, who had gradually turned her life into misery.
The only source of her income, which she had in use for putting food on the table was the insufficient money, she earned from an old woman, who lived in the far corner of the street, whom she helped in taking care of her flowers and garden and then selling some of the flowers with her permission. She paid her without deluding her and she was grateful. She was grateful that she was among the few good people on earth, who weren't like leeches to the needy.
She had vowed to herself to stay strong for her only child and she would. She would neither remarry nor would she fall into the prey of the evil men who had been inviting her over to sleep with her for a proposition of a job and money.
Drawing up the long sleeves of her top, she stroked the hidden brand on her wrist and a tear dropped down her cheek.
...
Phoebe huffed in and out as she walked through the pathway. She had to walk faster to the bus routes or she would take public transport but how could she? When she had not a single dime on her.
Taking the route that would lead to the bus route, she found other students who were moving away and she could deduce that they had all missed the bus. She was frustrated to no end. Now, what?!!.
Sighing in frustration, she looked up to the sky and then down, trying so hard to assure herself that everything would be fine. She couldn't believe that time would change so drastically for her and her mother. She had once lived like a princess. Always went to school in her father's private car and had more than enough money, stuffed into her purse.
Not trying to dwindle in the past, she kicked off a pebble on her path as she proceeded to take a shorter route to school.
Taking another turn to pass through the city's largest mall heading to her school, her wandering eyes caught people she never wanted to behold.
Her evil father; Andrew Moore with his two kids whose names she didn't care to know. She saw them step out of the shopping mall with a lot of paper bags and they were been escorted by three huge men.
Her feet paused on their own, glueing to stare at the man who had left her mother and her to suffer. He was a monster. An evil monster, who should burn in a more heated hell.
Was hell sufficient?. She assured herself that hell was the appropriate place for him to rot. Phoebe was certain that his mistress was in one of the cars, he was about to step into and she saw two more guards join them with more paper bags in their hands.
She gave a weak smile. Here he was splurging while she and her mother was been neglected and suffered and hungered. She hadn't even had a morning meal.
He had never spoken to them in a long time, asking about their welfare or congratulating her on getting a scholarship to Ethieye's most prestigious and luxurious university and her eyes stung.
She wouldn't have known how betrayed and heartbroken her mother had felt if she hadn't received also the shock of witnessing her so-called boyfriend, cheat on her. Life was unfair. The evil oppressors were getting whatever they wanted while the oppressed would struggle for a crumb of bread but still would not see any.
She felt her eyes go moister and she quickly cleaned it off with her back palm and quickly ran away from there. She didn't want to see more.
She ran and then stopped to walk and then ran off again and then stop to walk again in haste. She was saddened by the reality of life and she continued to wish the heavens would smile once on her and her mother. But no matter how much she prayed, it seemed heaven was far away from hearing her.
While Phoebe had run off, her stepmother who had been seated in the car for a long time had surprisingly sighted her and had turned alarmed. She didn't want that peasant of a girl to get near her husband and she kept her eyes wide open and vigilant on the girl.
She saw the girl's eyes blaze in hatred as she had traced the girl's sight to her exiting husband and children and she could visibly see the girl, was battling with her innermost emotions which were of no concern to her.
She saw the young girl's jaw tick in anger and her hands clenching in and out and then veering around to run off.
Her eyes turned cold as she continued to stare at the back view of the running girl.