Chapter 1
REAGAN
“For Heaven’s sake! Where is that wretched wench now?” My stepmother, or as I loved to call her, my step-monster, yelled from the living room.
Any other day, I would have been up at the crack of dawn and on my hands and knees, scrubbing down the entire house. My eyes naturally cracked open at the crack of dawn and I jolted awake like I did every morning–it was habit now–but I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed. Not that the pile of old blankets I slept on and the pillow I borrowed from my grandparents was much of a bed. Neither was the old broom cupboard that I slept in because my stepmother deemed it necessary for her daughters to each have their own room.
Glancing around the cupboard I always kept immaculately clean because this was the only space that I had to call my own, it really wasn’t that bad. However, I wasn’t nearly as positive when I accidentally knocked over a bucket or the broom handle landed on my face in the middle of the night.
When I awoke this morning, I couldn’t drag myself out of bed. I knew I needed to otherwise I would fall behind on my chores before I had to leave for work, but I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t drag myself out of bed.
And soon, my stepmother would make me pay for it like she made me pay for every tiny mistake I made.
I faintly heard Kira, my stepsister, say, “I haven’t seen her all morning.”
“I bet she’s still sleeping,” her twin, Kyra added.
Those two loved to stir the pot and get me in even more trouble than I was somehow always in with their mother, Karissa.
“How can she be sleeping when there’s so much work to be done?” My step-monster screeched. “She better not be sleeping if she knows what’s good for her. “Why did God stick me with a freeloader? What am I supposed to do with her?”
“You’re right, mother. She should be grateful that you allow her to live here and take care of her,” Kira said. “She should be pulling her weight to show how grateful she is for living here. Not sleeping in like some lazy slouch.”
As if I wasn’t up at the crack of dawn, cleaning and cooking their breakfast every morning. This was the first day since the last anniversary that I hadn’t woken up at the same time as the sun and scrubbed the entire house down from top to bottom, made breakfast for my step-family, cleaned up after them and then left for work, only to give nearly all of my paycheck to my step-monster.
Was I not allowed one single day to grieve?
Was that really too much to ask for?
“You should check her cupboard, mother,” Kyra said. “I bet she’s in there.”
I squeezed my eyes but that didn’t hold back the tears. Somehow, it just made them run down my face faster.
14 years ago, my life completely changed when my mother died. I was too young to fully understand what was going on, but I knew she was sick, very sick, and then one day, she didn’t open her eyes in the morning.
12 years ago, my father re-married.
My father worked as a tailor and at the end of every month, he travelled to neighbouring villages to fulfil orders and sell the garment he had worked on until then. Sometimes, he took me with him but more times than not, he left me with my grandparents. I adored my grandparents and they adored me so it worked well, but now, given the circumstances, I didn’t see them very often.
One month when he returned, he brought Karissa, Kira and Kyra with him, claiming that we would be one big happy family.
10 years ago, my life changed for the final time in the worst possible way.
Today was the 10thdeath anniversary of my father, but I was the only one who cared. The only one who remembered and was hurting.
No one else cared.
No one else even remembered.
I was only 9 at the time of my father’s sudden death, so I was left in the care of my step-monster. My grandparents wanted to take me in for themselves, but my step-monster put up a fight. She claimed she didn’t want to split the family apart, but really, she just wanted a live-in maid she could treat as horribly as she wanted.
Karissa had always been tolerable of me when Father was still alive, probably because this was his house and a big upgrade from the shack they were living in before, and he earned all the money. After his sudden passing while travelling for work, everything had gone to her. Including me.
I remembered my father every day, but especially on his death anniversary.
“Reagan. A royal name for my little princess.”
“You look so much like your mother. You’re a spitting image of her. My eyes were the only thing you got from me and if you didn’t have them, no one would believe me when I say that you’re my daughter.”
“I miss your mother every day, Reagan.
The door to my broom-cupboard-slash-bedroom flew open and I had just enough time to wipe my tears away before my step-monster dragged me out of it.
“That’s where you’ve been hiding!”
I wiped the last of my tears and moved to stand up.
“I wasn’t hiding,” I protested weakly. “I was still in bed. I’m…tired.”
Kira and Kyra crossed their arms over their chests and sneered at me from behind their mother. Not that she ever did anything when they treated me horribly in front of her. In fact, she was often the one leading that party.
“You? Tired?” My step-monster snorted and rolled her eyes. “You have no reason to be tired. It’s not like you ever help out or pull your weight around here.”
“That’s right,” Kyra snickered. “You’re always lazing around and taking advantage of Mother’s good nature.”
“You should be thanking her instead of taking advantage of her, Reagan,” the other twin sneered. “Not many would be kind enough to take in the child their husband had with another woman.”
I usually bit my tongue when the insults came flying in because it was just easier that way. It was easier to keep my mouth shut, keep my head down and just agree with whatever they wanted.
But not today
Not after that comment.
“The child he had with another woman?” I scoffed. “You mean my mother? My father’s first husband?” I couldn’t resist rolling my eyes even though I knew that was always a trigger for my step-monster. She was fine whenever her daughters did it, but whenever I couldn’t stop myself from doing the same, she seemed to lose her head.
“Don’t give me attitude, you horrid wench!” My step-monster yelled, her hazel eyes wide and fiery with range.
I would have considered her pretty with her long, wavy brunette hair she always styled fashionably to one side or in a braid. Her eyes were hazel with a hint of green in them and she had a soft, rounded face which gave her a youthful glow, making her look years younger than she was. She was more on the petite side, several inches shorter than my average height, and with curves that filled out every dress she wore.
Her twin daughters were the spitting image of her, but they had darker, muddier eyes I assumed they got from their father.
They were the opposite of my blonde hair, blue eyes and heart-shaped face, but they were much prettier. And I wasn’t just saying that because they liked to put me down for my looks and thinner body every chance they got.
However, when they were glaring daggers at me and scowling at me all the time, it was hard to think of them as anything but my horrible step-family that I couldn’t wait to get away from.
When I was finally free of them, my life would finally start, and it would be on my terms.
“I’m sorry, I slept in, okay? It was an accident. I didn’t mean to.”
“That’s not good enough,” my step-monster hissed, still glaring darkly at me.
“You were more tolerable then. You weren’t my problem. You were just some baggage that came with my husband.”
“Baggage?” I scoffed. “I was a child! My father’s child from his wife! His first wife!”
“Exactly!” She yelled. “His first wife! Who is dead! I had to take you on. I had to raise you after your father died which made you my problem. You know, you never would have treated me this way if your father was still alive.”
“And you never would have treated me this way if my father was still alive,” I yelled back. My hands were fisted so tight that my fingernails bit sharply into the palm of my hands. Any harder and I would draw blood. “You treat me like a live-in maid, but the difference is I don’t get paid, you treat me horribly even though my father has left his house to me, and you take all my money. Do you know how that makes me feel? Do you ever stop and think about how you should be grateful to me and not the other way around?” My step-sisters jaws had dropped and my step-monster looked like she was about to blow a fuse, but I wasn’t anywhere near done. “Till this day, I don’t know why my father chose to marry you. I don’t know what he saw in you, but you were always horrible to me. You were more tolerable when he was still alive, but you became a monster and treated me horribly after his death. You don’t realise just how lucky you are. If my father never took pity on you and married you, you and your horrible daughters would still be living in that broken, old run-down shack of yours after your first husband walked out on you. I don’t know why he left, but I’ve always thought he was smart for leaving. That he–”
“How dare you!” My step-monster screeched loudly and before I could utter a word more, she slapped me hard across the face.
My face burned from the sting and my head jerked to the right. I immediately cupped my cheek where my step-monster had struck me, already feeling it burn and sting from the sharp slap.
I hated myself when my eyes filled with tears, but I refused to let them fall.
I refused to give her the satisfaction of that.
“You really don’t know how good you have it, do you, Reagan?” She sneered at me with a satisfied smirk on her face, no doubt taking great joy in my face which was half red now. “If you think that your father left this house to you then you have another thing coming. You can hate it as much as you want, but the fact of the matter is that I was his wife and when he tragically died, I was made his widow. That means this house is mine. This–”
“Don’t be so confident, Karissa,” I sneered right back at me, knowing very well that she hated it when I called her by her name. “This house isn’t my father’s to give you.”
The colour slowly drained from her face. “What?”
“This house went to my mother after her father died. My father and I may have continued to live here after she died, but it was never his to give to anyone but me. This house was my mother’s and now, it is mine. You should be grateful that I’ve allowed you and your horrible daughters to stay here.” I glared at them both, taking great joy from the fact that they were too stunned to speak, especially since that was a very rare occurrence for them. “Now, I’m going to get dressed and leave for work. I’ll tend to my chores when I get back but until then, please leave me alone. Let me grieve in my own way at least one day a year.”
I didn’t stick around to hear what my horrible step-family had to say. I marched back into the broom cupboard which had been my bedroom for the past 10 years and quickly changed into the first dress I reached for. I just about had time to wash my face and rinse out my mouth before I stormed out of the house without so much as a glance back.
As long as Karissa was alive, whether I liked it or not, the house was hers for as long as she lived. After she passed, it would go to me instead of my step-sisters and I would take great joy in kicking them out on the streets. Until then, there was nothing I could do, and I was very confident of that because my grandparents checked with the local council once my father had passed and that had been their written ruling.
They knew that and I knew that, but my step-monster and her daughters didn’t. I’m sure they would enquire and find out soon, but I would be long gone by then.
There would never be any winning when it came to my step-monster and step-sisters, and it was about time I stopped trying.
Hot tears streamed down my face as I marched away from the only place I had ever called home–though it had been more Hell than home ever since my father’s passing–but I didn’t walk in the direction of the tavern.
Instead, I headed down the winding path to the forest that surrounded our little village.
I couldn’t work. I wasn’t in the right mental space for it.
I couldn’t be around anyone right now, and I couldn’t head home. Not now, and not tonight.
As far as I was concerned, until my step-monster gave in to the Angel of Death and eventually passed, the only home I had ever known would never be fully mine.
The plan had always been to save up enough money and then at 16, run away from my evil step-family to live life freely on my terms. 18 came and went, and I didn’t have nearly enough money so I had no choice but to stay. Unless I wanted to sleep on the streets which I didn’t.
20 was nearing and it still didn’t feel like I had enough money to sustain myself for at least a few months until I got my feet on the ground. 21 was my new goal, but I feared I wouldn’t be able to wait that long.
In all honesty, I feared I wouldn’t be able to wait 1 more day.
The more I thought about it, the more determined I became that tonight was the night.
Tonight would be the night I would run away from my evil step-family and finally be free.
Free of all their constant taunting and mean put-downs.
Free from all the cooking, cleaning and other mindless chores that only I had to do.
Free from my horrible step-monster and step-sisters who were collectively the worst things that had ever happened to me.
Besides, I couldn’t go home without my step-monster dishing out a grand punishment for speaking out of turn this morning. She would no doubt get her revenge and really make me pay for embarrassing her even though it was only in front of Kira and Kyra, and I wasn’t sure if I could handle that.
Not today of all days.
I slipped into the forest and hid behind the frontline, feeling more at home here than I did at my own home sometimes.
Hot tears streamed down my face, and I did nothing to stop them. I let them fall and allowed myself to feel all the pain and frustrations.
I often couldn’t but when I was here, alone and with no one to hide from, I allowed myself to feel everything I could barely acknowledge anywhere else.
And right now, all I could think about was that I didn’t think I could do this anymore.
Not for another year.
-
Layla Knight
