Chapter 1
It’s 5 a.m., and the alarm sounds around the basement, making the young woman wake up and turn the alarm off. Sitting on her bed and looking outside her small window, she sighs.
It's time to start this morning. I wish you were here, Dad. I miss you a lot, she thought to herself while holding the picture frame of her late father. She sighs again, refreshes herself fast, and starts making breakfast for her stepfamily. She wears clothes to be comfortable cleaning and cooking and packs the other dresses she will wear once she arrives at college.
When she arrived at the main floor, the place looked like a mess, which shocked her. Her step-sister had messed up the house again, which she would have to clean without eating again. She shook her head in disbelief.
After two hours, Ava finished cleaning and cooking just in time for her stepfamily to wake up and for her to leave the house for college. While waiting for the bus to arrive, Ava couldn’t stop thinking about her life without her father. Even though it has been five years since his death, she feels he died too fast and too young for his age. Ava touched the key necklace her dad gave her a week before his death and remembered his words.
Flashback: Five years ago
Ava was returning home from college when she received a phone call. Upon seeing the name of the person calling her, she smiled.
“Hi, Daddy.”
“Hi. Sweetie. Are you on the bus?” Her father asked
“I am Dad, and I’ll be home in 5 minutes.” Ava could hear her father’s strange voice that day and was worried. “Are you OK, Dad? Everything is good with Vivian?”
“Vivian is OK. She went to the mall with Stella. When you arrive, come to my office. I want to give you something.”
“OK, Dad.” Ava ended her call with her father and looked at it, hoping that her father was not sick. After a while, Ava arrived at her bus station and ran to the house.
She entered the house and went straight to her father’s office.
“I’m here, Dad.” Ava hugged her father as soon as she went to his office.
“Oh silly girl, did you run home?” her father laughed as he hugged his daughter.
“I did. You sounded strange on the phone, and you know I’m always worried about you.”
“You want something to eat first?”
“No, Dad, I’ll eat after our talk. Now, please tell me what you want to give me.” Dave sighed, guided his daughter to the couch, and sat beside her.
Dave took a small box from his pocket and gave it to Ava. “I want you to keep this key for me. Don’t let anyone see it, no matter what.” Ava looked at her father and then at the vital necklace he had given her.
“What is it, Dad? You are scaring me.”
“Don’t be scared, my child. This key is essential. Remember the secret safe that I showed you in the past?”
“I remember.”
“Inside the safe, I’ve put some documents I don’t want anyone to touch except you. I even didn’t tell Vivian about it. If something ever happens to me, you can look inside the safe and be independent. Promise me that you will keep it safe and never lose it.” Ava looked at her father with teary eyes.
“You won’t leave me, right, Dad?”
“I won’t. Just promise me that you will keep this necklace safe!”
“I would, Dad.” Ava hugged her father and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner and leave something for Vivian and Stella.
A week after that, Ava’s dad died in his sleep. She was devastated, and her stepmother started to show her true colors.
Present
Ava shook her head and saw that her bus stop was close. She took her bag and pressed the stop button. As she got off the bus, some students arrived in their cars. Ava entered the college without being spotted by others and went to the lady’s washroom to change her clothes to something normal. She managed to refresh herself and change close fast, just in time as the bell rang for the beginning of her first class.
Let’s hope today will be a typical day without any accidents. She thought to herself while walking toward her class.
Ava’s day went by fast without any incidents. She was waiting for the bus to take her to her daily job. She liked working as a waitress, even though sometimes the people there harassed her because of the uniform. Ava saw her bus and got on it. She sat down in the back seat and looked outside the window. She knows her job won’t end today after work because she has to clean the house. She hoped one day to be independent like her father wanted and work as an artist. Right now, she will focus on what she has and save money for the future. Maybe by then, everything will turn out to be the best.
