Lyse's heart sank as she pulled into the familiar street of her childhood home. She stopped her car about two houses away from the house in the hopes that she would be able to sneak in and not alert anyone who might be at home that she was around.
She not been back in the house since she had been sent away years ago and even after she returned she tried to distance herself from the place, the painful memories, and the people associated with it. But now, here she was, forced to return for a simple task: to pick up some documents that she had left behind.
She had already procrastinated for as long as she could but she knew that she would have to start job hunting soon and in order to do that she needed her documents which were unfortunately in that house.
James had already done enough for her but she was running out of funds and she would have to get a job soon or else she would be in serious trouble and thus she had been forced to come.
As she stepped out of the car and moved closer to the back of the house, a wave of nostalgia washed over her. The house looked smaller than she remembered, the garden overgrown with weeds. In the midst of all the well maintained mansions with their well manicured lawns, the house stuck out like a sore thumb.
She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. This was just a temporary detour, she reminded herself. She would be out of here as soon as she had what she needed and hopefully without anyone noticing.
Inside the house, the familiar scent of the her mother's scented candles filled the air. She tried to ignore it, to focus on the task at hand. Thankfully her bedroom had been a broom closet so it was away from everyone's rooms.
As soon as she opened the door of her room she was aghast at the sight before her, it looked like a tornado hit it. Every single thing was out of place and torn up or broken.
'This could have only been Brooke's doing.'
She had taken out all her anger on the room. Brooke had gotten what she wanted but was apparently not satisfied so much that she had to wreck the room.
Skirting the things that were flung haphazardly, Lyse checked her hiding place under the floor boards and found the documents she was looking and they were untouched. She quickly gathered them together however as she was about to leave, her mother appeared in the doorway.
"Lyse, dear," she said, her voice filled with a saccharine sweetness that Lyse had grown to hate. "Were you just going to leave without saying hi?"
Lyse was unable to even force a smile. "Hi, Mom," she replied. "I just came to get my documents and leave."
"I learnt that you met Brooke at your office?" She said as she followed Lyse and forced her to come to the living room and sit.
Lottie called a maid who brought tea and dropped it on the table before leaving and Lyse marveled at the fact that her parents could still afford a maid despite how obviously broke they were.
"Why won't you help just your sister? You are so wicked, I don't understand how you can be so ungrateful after everything that you have thanks to Brooke."
Lyse tightened her fists so much that she could feel her fingernails digging into her palms and hurting her. She was flooded by memories of that same exact scene happening all of her life.
All Brooke needed to do was to cry a little and point at whatever Lyse had and she would immediately hear; "why won't you just give that to your sister." "Why don't you just help your sister."
She was constantly relegated to the background while Brooke could do whatever she wanted and have whatever she wanted. Lyse had desperately complied because she hoped that in doing that she would get even a crumb of affection or approval from her mother but that never came.
She had just been dumped at the altar and had just lost a chance at growing at her dream career, a normal mother would at least offer some comfort but what her mother was interested in was Brooke, when would it end?
Lyse realized with a heavy heart that things would probably never change and her mother would most likely always side with Brooke so she straightened her back and asked the one question that had plagued her for so long.
"Why do you hate me so much mother?" Lyse asked quietly, startling Lottie who raised her eyes to look at her. "You are my mother and yet you put Brooke before me constantly even when she is wrong."
Lottie's eyes hardened and she straightened up and sneered, "so finally the snake thinks she is strong enough to strike. Don't you know what you are? You are the illegitimate child, you are a result of sin, an abomination. Brooke is better than you will ever be."
Lyse stared at her mother as tears prickled the back of her eyelids but she refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing her tears, she had already given too much of them. So she sighed sadly.
"If I am an abomination then what does that make you? The monster who made me?" Lyse asked, stunning Lottie who had never had Lyse speak back at her and in that manner too.
"What did you just say to me?" Lottie asked, sure she had been hearing things.
"You cheated an innocent woman and caused her to die of heartbreak, what does that make you? At least I only had the misfortune of being birthed by you."
"Why you little bitch!" Lottie said and raised her hand to slap Lyse.
Lyse dodged in time for Lottie to stumble and hit her side against the arm of the chair and she winced in pain while Lyse stood up and looked down at her.
Lyse was not in the least bit surprised, Lottie's answer to everything she did was physical violence and she was tired of being her punching bag.
"How is it that you find it so easy to lash out at me mother?" Lyse's voice cracked, "You never defend me what have I ever done?"
Lottie's eyes turned freezing, her gaze disgusted. "It is because my life would be better without you in it!"
Lyse stared at her mother as if seeing her for the first time.
"Since I am worthless I have no interest in having anything to do with you. I am done being used, you better focus all your energy on Brooke because she is definitely going to need it for the journey ahead."
As she turned to leave she heard a door open and Lottie yelled, "Help! Lyse is harming me."