Hazel

They say we chose our own fate, but they’re wrong. Our fate is engraved on our souls from the day we are born.

Everything in our lives was previously determined before we were born.

Our name was given to us the moment we came into this world by someone else.

Our appearance was already determined by our DNA, even before we came into this world

Our personality, nationality, future, and fate were all chosen by someone else.

Our Parents.

They hold the keys to our happiness or sadness.

Characters

My name is Jasmine Hazel Miller, and I am 23 years old.

I have a younger sister, Jessica. She’s 16.

Jessica is my everything, my only family; I love her more than anything, and I would do anything for her.

I will not let anyone hurt her, even if I have to give up my freedom for her.

Dad passed away when I was only nine, shortly after Heather, my biological mother, got married to Enrique Jones. This monster made our lives a living hell.

We live in Florida. Hammock Lake, to be exact.

I was born and raised in Florida. We moved from Fort Lauderdale to Hammock Lake after Heather and Enrique got married.

It's beautiful I can't deny it. A huge mansion with a huge garden. What's not to love about it, right?

This mansion is my prison; it is the prison I have been planning to escape from with Jessica ever since I was 15.

I tried running away several times before, but miserably failed. Enrique always knew about my plans ahead of time and made sure I couldn't go through with them by taking Jessica away from me for a week. I would always surrender and give in. I can't leave Jessica alone.

It’s Saturday night, and Enrique left this morning for a business trip to London. He will not be back until next Thursday. Usually, it’s a relief when he goes away for a long time because we get to relax, except when he makes me go with him; that fucker, I hate it when I am forced to do that. It’s mainly when I think of ending everything, killing him, then killing myself. I hate everything about him. He makes our lives a living hell. He says we should be grateful and happy because we get to live a wealthy life; we should thank him and worship him because he made this possible for us.

He took us from our small suburban house to a big mansion; a huge mansion, actually. It doesn’t feel like home; home is... I was in Fort Lauderdale, and I was happy there. A normal 2-story house has 3 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, a kitchen, and a pool. The pool wasn’t that big, but Jessica, my dad, and I used to have a blast every Sunday during our weekly BBQ. Dad made sure of it. I miss dad... Things were better and easier; he loved us and never hurt us.

I wish he were here; I wish it were Heather who died and not dad; he didn’t deserve to die; he was a real parent, but Heather never was. She was always distant; if I hadn’t seen videos of her while she was pregnant with me, I wouldn’t have believed that she was my biological mother.

When dad passed away, Heather married this fucker, Enrique, and that’s when things started to go bad. He always gets what he wants, and Heather made sure of that. Even if what he wanted was her daughter, she’s no mother; she’s just a worthless junkie who deserves to be hit by a bus and thrown in the river. She doesn’t even deserve to have a funeral. She’s a monster.

I have been planning this for a while now, saving money and buying fake IDs for me and Jessica. I even bought an old used car just so Eric could take Jessica and run. Jessica is only 16, and she shouldn’t be living this life. She should be happy, just like any other teenage girl. Going to high school, having friends, and sneaking out of the house to go to parties. Instead, she’s stuck here with Enrique and Heather, just like me.

Tonight is the night that we get to break free from this hell. I am finally leaving this shithole they call a beautiful mansion. Pfft, more like a prison.