My name is Kat Smith.
I've been living in this hellhole that I'm forced to call home for almost 3 years now.
When I was little (I'm sorry, I wanted to say younger than now), my parents died in a hiking accident. I was 9 at that moment, so they considered I was too young to go with them, and that's why I wasn't there to die with them.
Ever since that happened, my aunt offered herself to take care of me. She had a face similar to my mom's, so I felt somewhat safe while being with her.
From time to time, her face would remind me of my mom and the fact that she died, so I often avoided looking at my aunt so I wouldn't get those bad memories.
During the first year, I lived a good life with her. We went on walks and little trips together, we burnt the kitchen a few times while trying to cook a new recipe and we even planted a tree together. To be honest, even if I couldn't look at her face too much, I felt happy and safe with her during that time.
But one day, my life with my new "mother" took a sudden turn. I can't say it was good or bad at that time, all I knew is that it was a big turn.
A few weeks after my 10th birthday, "he" came. He was tall, handsome and he wore a shiny, metallic watch. The first time I watched him, I spent almost the entire time looking at that watch and the way it shone. It was almost as if I was a moth being attracted by a beautiful light.
That man crossed the door and right when he was in front of me, his hands searched quickly inside of his pockets and then brought out a little origami crane. The thing was that instead of being made out of paper, it was made out of metal.
A sparkle appeared in my eyes as I took the gift into my hands, contemplating the shine that it had (which was similar to the one of his watch).
The man smiled softly when he saw me engrossed on the metal crane and then crouched to my height. He then told me that if I liked it that much, he could get me as many cranes as I'd want. I got excited when I heard him say that, so I quickly ran to my aunt to tell her what the man told me.
I rushed to open the door of her room, seeing her get out of it with a new, fancy blue dress and a pair of new and brilliant earrings. She gave me a huge smile after I repeated the man's words, hugging me and asking me if I liked him afterwards.
My head nodded with enthusiasm and she rubbed my cheek with a smile, telling me that she was glad that I was getting along with him.
The man downstairs yelled while we were in the room, asking my aunt if she was ready to go. She gave me a final hug and then opened the door's room, telling me not to wait for her that night since she was gonna get back late.
I nodded sadly, walking to my room slowly. How could she skip our usual Friday movie night?
I heard the entrance's door being closed loudly, and that's when I knew that she was really gone. My body dropped dead on the bed, feeling down because of her absence.
A few minutes passed and out of a sudden, I heard some keys clacking on the entrance. I rushed out of my room, thinking that my aunt must've forgotten something, and when I heard her running up the stairs, I knew that my conclusion was right.
She finished going up the stairs and looked at me with a bit of sweat on her forehead. I looked at her and asked her if she forgot something in the house, and she walked up to me and nodded with a smile on her face.
My aunt kneeled in front of me and hugged me tightly, telling me that she forgot to tell me that she loved me. At those words, my reaction was crying and hugging her tightly while telling her that I also loved her.
After a few seconds, she broke the hug and wiped off the tears from my eyes. I wished her luck as I went back to my room, waving my hand at her as I saw her going down the stairs.
Unfortunately, that was the last time I heard my aunt tell me that she loved me…
The days went by and that man kept coming to my house, wearing a different outfit everyday and giving me a new metal crane each time.
My aunt also wore a new outfit every time that the man came to pick her up. Sometimes a dress and sometimes a more casual outfit, but each one of them was always a recently-bought one.
Just like when I lived alone with my aunt, the moment that man came into my life, I was confused at first. But after spending more and more time with him, I learnt to express love and gratitude towards him.
It felt like he was my new dad, and since he was dating my aunt (who I considered like my new mom), I felt like I had a normal family again…
The months passed and even though he lived in a fancier and more expensive house than ours, he ended up moving with us.
The same thing that happened with my aunt later happened with him. We went on walks, we watched some cool movies whose existence I wasn't even aware of and he taught me all I know about music.
If I had to use one word to describe how I felt at that time, I'd use the word "happy", because all I felt was pure bliss. Even at the times that they'd scold me for getting bad grades or forgetting to do my chores, I felt happy and grateful for having them.
But, for no one's surprise, this bliss wasn't eternal.
One night, I kept hearing my aunt screaming in pain from her room. Since her boyfriend was sleeping with her, I thought that it was odd that he wasn't tending to her so I walked up to her room and tried to check on her.
SMACK SMACK
I heard two loud noises coming from inside the room while my aunt apologized. I was scared to open the door and see what was inside, but I armed myself with courage and slowly opened the door, peeking through a gap between it and the doorframe.
It was a bit hard to see at first since only the moonlight was getting into my aunt's room, but once my eyes got used to the darkness, I let out a horrified gasp after seeing the scene in front of me.
My aunt's boyfriend was sitting on the bed and she was kneeled in front of him. They were both naked and for some reason, my aunt had a collar around her neck.
She was swaying her hips from side to side as he was slapping her face, which made the scene even grosser than before. At the sight of that, something that my aunt once said resonated in my mind: "Bad people kill and hurt people for their own good or pleasure."
I took a step back and tried to erase the scene from my mind, but after remembering the smirk that that man had on his face while slapping my aunt, one thing was certain: He was a bad person.
My feet moved slowly and gently to the stairs, going down carefully so I wouldn't trip. Even though it was dark, I knew my way around my house, so I quickly moved to the living floor and took the phone.
With tears in my eyes and fearing for my aunt's safety, I quickly dialed the police number and explained the whole situation…
The days passed and everything turned into complete chaos.
My aunt's boyfriend got arrested and was charged for aggression and sexual aggression (whatever that means). My aunt tried to deny it, and I don't know if she was confused or if she feared him, but she denied everything and said that it was all part of their relationship, which she said was healthy. (heh, come on, a relationship where one part hits the other one while they're both naked? What's healthy in that?)
Even if they both denied it, some people started to attack him verbally and physically, which eventually led to him taking his own life.
The shine left my aunt's eyes, and she started to lock herself up in her room. From time to time, I would try to knock on her door to check on her, but the only answer I got every time was her sobbing and crying.
After a week, she finally got out and came to meet me. I greeted her with a smile and tried to hug her, but as soon as my arms wrapped around her waist, her hand fell down on my cheek.
I got up confused, crying in pain as I saw her getting closer. She held me by the neck and started to hit me relentlessly.
Ever since then, what used to be a happy family life, turned into a living hell.
She started to beat me up with the excuse that I was at fault for her boyfriend's death, and since I did feel a bit guilty about it, I just tried to withstand it with all my might. I could've asked for help, but I loved my aunt so much that I just stood still when she came to abuse me.
Then this stupid event occured. "The fall" I think it's called.
After all of this started, my love for her quickly started to decay. The person I once cared for and loved from the bottom of my heart turned into the person I despised the most.
Her reasons to beat me up became senseless and absurd, and I couldn't even try to gaslight myself to think that I deserved that and that I should withstand it…
Anyways, I think I just talked too much. Maybe it'd be better if I started again.
My name is Kat Smith, and after 8 months of thinking about it, I've made up my mind: today I''ll escape my house and look for someone to help me kill my aunt.