I rubbed my pounding head as I woke up to familiar walls and sheets. Somehow, I'd ended up in my bed but I had no idea how I'd gotten there, it must've been the stranger from last night . He might not be as bad as I thought, I felt another sharp pain in my head and winced. I must've hit my head pretty hard last night.
I laid back down in bed and contemplated how I could leave without any of my family members seeing me, I eventually gave up though when I remembered my Mother was always home on Friday mornings, and if the stranger had brought me home, then he had to have encountered at least one of my family members. I pulled the covers over my head as the door to my room swung open and prayed whoever it was would leave without checking if I was awake or trying to wake me up.
But unfortunately, my prayers went unanswered because a finger was poking me continuously, I held myself extremely still and let out a sigh of relief when the finger finally stopped poking me, I peeked through one corner of the blanket and was rewarded with the cutest face ever and a wide smile that was missing 2 front teeth. It turns out the intruder was my little brother Liam.
I ruffled his mop of dark curls and laughed as he jumped on me.
"Elly, wake up, wake up, wake up" he yelled in my ears.
"I'm awake already" I laughed, he responded with a huge smile and stuck his tongue through the gap in his teeth.
" Elly, the tooth fairy came for my tooth last week and she gave me 5 dollars" he said holding up one hand.
" Is that right?" I asked
" Mhmm" he nodded " come on get up, Amanda's making pancakes for breakfast " he said then hopped off my bed.
"You little twerp, don't think you're getting away that easily after waking me up" I yelled then held him down and started tickling him as hard as I could. He laughed kicking his legs and trying his best to get away.
"Stop that disgusting behaviour this instant" a snide voice said behind me and I prepared myself for her cutting commentary.
" Good morning Mother, I do hope you had a good night's rest" I said as I stared into my mother's ice cold amber eyes.
" Yes, it was quite refreshing." She said as she stared down her nose at me " Liam, I do believe it is time for breakfast , Rachel, stay behind, you and I have things to discuss" she said when I tried leaving with Liam.
He looked between us, unsure on what to do and hesitant to leave me alone with my Mother, he knew how bad she could get.
" Now Liam" My mother said and I could tell she was getting irritated. I gave him a small smile and mouthed the words go to him, he needed to leave before she got mad. I mouthed it once more and he slowly left the room with my Mother's cutting eyes on him.
I turned to face the woman who birthed me, she'd never been a mother to me and mentally prepared myself for whatever conversation we were going to have.
" And does our discussion have anything to do with my supposed engagement to Adrian Kingsley?" I asked making a guess.
"You're aware already, that makes this conversation much easier. In exactly three months, you will walk down the isle and be wed to Adrian Kingsley. I expect you to break up with that boyfriend of yours"she wrinkled her nose in disgust" end your relationship with any unsavoury characters you call friends and prepare yourself to be the perfect wife"
"But mom," I said" that makes absolutely no sense, I'm not going to leave my boyfriend just because you tell me to and I'm not going to marry Adrian Kingsley"
" Then you leave me no choice, your father and I will stop paying your tuition, and cut you off entirely if you refuse to get married"
" Dad would never let you do that" I yelled, my fists balled at my sides
" You know as well as I do, that I make all the decisions around here, Rachel, your father can do absolutely nothing without my permission" She was right, my Dad never went against what she said no matter the situation.
" Then I'll get a job" I spat. She let out a long laugh like she was amused and I tightened my fists even further.
" And where exactly will you work? Hmm, what type of job will you do? Do tell me daughter, I'm extremely curious"
She came closer and held my chin tightly in her hands, not caring that her extremely sharp nails were digging into my skin.
" You are a spoilt, pampered brat, who has never had to work a day in her life or lift a finger because everything has been handed to you on a platter of gold. So be thankful for what you have and do as you're told". She found my face aside and I felt something dripping down my cheek, I touched it and wasn't surprised to see blood, it wasn't the first time she'd hurt me in anger.
" Now" She stood brushing non existent dirt off her gown, "I expect to see you downstairs in 5 minutes, we can't have breakfast without the whole family there, can we? Oh, and in case you thought I didn't hear, I noticed your little slip up earlier, I'll be sure to inform Amanda that you're on a diet for the next few days, so you can lose some weight for your wedding". I blanched and want through our entire conversation, she was right I'd called her mom, how could I have forgotten, I'm so stupid.
I fell to the floor begging for her forgiveness " My apologies mother, I apologise for calling you that, it was my mistake..."
" No need for all that sweetheart, we all make mistake sometimes, I forgive you for calling me that"
" Really?" I asked with hope " I'll get dressed right away, I'll be down for breakfast in 3 minutes" I hurried to my closet, picked the first clothes I saw and started getting changed immediately.
" Oh there's no need for that darling" I turned around to see my mom at the closet door with her hand on the doorknob " I've changed my mind about you coming to breakfast, I'll inform the others that you've suddenly come with a migraine and would like to be left alone for the rest of the day"
"No. Please" I whispered falling to my knees, I could already feel the tears dripping down my cheeks.
" Bye darling, I do hope you get better soon, see you tomorrow" she blew me a kiss and with a sweet smile locked the door.
All of a sudden, the lights went off and I banged on the door with all my might screaming and begging her to open it, I was scared of the dark and tight spaces. A result of my mother constantly locking me in a tiny cupboard in the basement whenever I offended her as a child. And with the lights turned off and no windows, my walk in closet had suddenly become my worst nightmare. I curled into a ball on the floor on the floor and rocked back and forth holding onto the clothes still in my hands when I heard the main door to my room shut and the clicks that indicated it had been locked. It's alright I whispered to myself, it's not the first time she's done this, you've survived it a 100 other times, you can do it one more. But no matter how much I tried to convince myself, the fear still remained, and eventually, I fell asleep with the salty taste of tears on my lips.