Serena
The door closed with a slight click, and I began to tiptoe through the living room, hoping that my stepmother wouldn't see me. My heart was in my throat, and from everything that had happened, I didn't want to deal with her as well.
I had just lost my job at the club, due to the fight that happened earlier. My step mother had gotten me the job, I knew she would go ballistic if she found out I lost it.
I raised my leg and was about to softly place it on the first step of the staircase when I felt an intense prickling pain in my scalp. The witch pulled me by my hair. What the fuck!?
I lost my balance and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. My rib hit the edge of the staircase, and then I had to squint my eyes to adjust to the light that threatened to blind me when it came on.
Why was this woman after my life?
My ribs hurt like shit, and I just hoped the skin wasn't bruised, which it most likely was.
"Why are you coming now? And why didn't you pick up any of my calls?"
I scoffed internally at the nerve of the question.
"I'm sorry, Vicky," I said with sarcasm. "I was busy doing the disgraceful and undignified job you had gotten for me."
And then, like many times before this, the loud echo of her hand hitting my face sounded through the house. It's hard to imagine that this woman once took care of me, and even bought me gifts.
"You're such an ungrateful idiot." She spat, venom laced with her voice. "You have the guts to say that to me after everything I've done for you?"
Vicky grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled it again. I could only hope that she wouldn't rip the strands out of my scalp eventually.
"I took you in and fed you. You're such a useless brat. You're spoilt and will never amount to anything. It isn't my fault that your father decided to waste all his money on the life of your useless mother."
The tears rolled down my cheeks fast and hot. I hated that I was weak and that I was giving her exactly what she wanted. She needed to show me that she was above me, and there was nothing I could do about it.
"Please," I cried and choked back a sob. "Please, don't talk about my mother like that."
Her laughter filled the room, filled to the brim, and gaunt with mockery. "And what will you do if I don't?"
She hit a chord, and it angered me that I thought it was better for me to stay quiet than to fight for my mum. It made me feel pathetic. She obviously wasn't done with her insults, so she continued, her eyes narrowing to slits, and her voice dropping to a menacing low.
"Exactly. Nothing. You're just as powerless and empty as your dead mother."
"Why this there so much noise?" Eva said with a fake yawn. She was standing on the stairs, a step higher than the one I hit my rib on.
Vicky let go of her grip on my hair and rushed to her daughter's side. "Oh, baby. I'm so sorry for waking you up. I was just teaching the pig," She lazily pointed at me. "Some manners."
Eva's gaze fell on me, and her mouth formed an 'O' shape as if she didn't notice I was standing there before.
"Why are you still standing there? Get your filthy self out of my sight." Vicky yelled, and I quickly ran up the stairs.
I wished it was one of the days where I felt strong, but maybe it was because of what happened at the bar, I felt more sensitive. She didn't have to remind me of my mother. God. I missed her.
I decided to check on my father before I entered my room. I opened the door slightly and peeked in. He looked stable but he was a shadow of his former self. His face was pale, and he had very dark purple circles around his eyes.
As I watched his chest rise and fall for the next two minutes, I wondered if he regretted it and if in his vegetative state, he thought about my mother and his mistakes.
With a sigh, I closed the door after muttering, "Goodnight, Dad."
My room was like a cubicle. It was plain, and the only fancy thing in the room was the ceramic turtle my mum gave to me. Somehow, it comforted me, because she made it.
I sat by my small reading table and opened the next chapter of my textbook. I wanted to read, but my mind was heavy and occupied. The words blurred together as a tear dropped on the book, and then I zoned out.
The universe decided to turn its back on me and gave my mother leukemia. Her hair fell off strand after strand while I tried to grasp reality, but it was moving too fast for me. I faded into the background as my father tried to save her with every resource he had.
He loved her so much, and that is why I still loved him. But despite his efforts, she still left us. Despite his prayers, God still took her away.
Our house was taken away from us because he had placed it as collateral when he borrowed money. With nowhere else to go, Vicky took us in, in the guise of helping her best friend's family.
I always saw through her facade, and that was probably why she hated me. Or maybe it just gave her joy to see me in pain because she was a witch.
Sooner than later, Vicky and my father started dating, I couldn't stop them from getting married. After they did, everything changed for the worse, and I was forced to do the house chores. She would hit me multiple times if there was an oil stain on the stove in the kitchen and berate me over and over.
Her words were stuck in my head, and I hate to admit it, but I let it seep into my being and become part of me.
Eva never did anything around the house, and Vicky always babied her. Sometimes it felt like I was going to explode out of irritation. I even had to drop out of school because there was no money for school, and Vicky refused to help me. But I never stopped reading.
I thought about running far away from here so many times to start a new life, but I couldn't just yet. My father was sick, and Vicky always treated him badly, so I had to take care of him.
My whole body felt weak and heavy at the same time as I dragged myself to my bed. I needed all this to be over someday, and for that someday to come really soon.