Chapter 1
- Rise and shine, Rissa!
The annoying voice shouted in my ears, yet again, but this time, it was pulling my blanket off of me as well.
- Leave me alone!
- It's ten AM, time to get up lazy ass!
- Mike! Go away!- I tried to pull my blanket back over my head.
- Na-ah! Get up!
-Ugh! Fine!- I shouted back and let go of it suddenly, causing my annoying little brother to fall back and land on his butt.
- Ouch! Rissa!
- Don't call me that! You know I hate it!
He threw my blanket back at me, with his tongue out, then ran out of my room. I knew this meant a grumpy mother will appear out of thin air at my door in about a second, so I got up, and rushed into the safety of my bathroom. Michael was the golden child, so if I ever so much as raised my voice at him, our mother went mad at me for it. He actually fell because of me this morning, so I better be hiding behind closed doors from the wrath of momma bear.
I opened the tap and was washing my face when I heard the footsteps in front of my bedroom door.
" And three, two, one..." I counted.
- Larissa Sage Westbrook! How dare you push your little brother off your bed! He could have broken his neck! You should be ashamed of your behaviour, young lady! Shouting at the poor boy is bad enough, but now, physical assault? Don't you forget you are almost eighteen, you could get into jail for hurting a minor!!!- she banged on my door at every other word for good measure.
- Mom, stop being so dramatic! I didn't do anything! That brat was pulling my blankets off me, I just let them go and he fell all on his own!
- Don't you lie to me! Mikey told me you pushed him!
- Mikey is a spoilt little liar! He gets away with everything by twisting the truth!- I opened the door, with no hope of brushing my teeth properly in peace, and faced Mrs. Anger.
- Don't you talk about your brother like that!
- No, you shouldn't shelter him like this! I'm sick of being the black sheep, while he is a little devil that you worship! I swear sometimes I feel like you are not even my mother anymore! - I shouted at her, losing my temper, and immediately regretting it.
My mother had tears filling her eyes, and without any more words she just turned to leave the room.
- Mom! Don't go. Mom! I am sorry okay?
It was no use. She slammed her bedroom door, and I was left with my bad breath and guilt. " Stupid, stupid me." I scolded myself while getting ready properly this time, and heading to the kitchen.
I felt ashamed of what I had said, and meeting my dad in the kitchen didn't help.
- Morning.
- Could you stop fighting with your mother? Please? - he looked up at me from his coffee.
- I'm sorry. It just makes me lose my shit when she is so damn unreasonable. I mean, Mike is spoilt rotten by her, and it will only ruin him in the long run, you know that!
- Don't you start it with me!- he looked at me sternly.
- Sorry.
- You know how much she wanted a child...
- Like she didn't have me already?
- Larissa! You know that I mean she wanted a boy badly after losing your brother. You better make it up to her for this.
- Fine! Fine, I will. Wild berries?
- Nice idea. She loves those. You can go to the forest after breakfast. Could get some mushrooms too?
- Who am I apologising to, you or mom? - I laughed. Dad loved wild mushrooms, but mom hated them.
- Don't you love your old man?- he hugged me, and pulled me on his lap like when I was a small girl.
- You aren't old, dad.- I kissed him on the cheek and jumped off.
- Yeah, yeah, tell that to my knees. Put a jacket on, kiddo.
I just waved at him still munching on toast while I put my shoes and jacket on. I knew I had to make peace asap, and the best way was to go and get the bloody berries for mom. Lucky the forest was just 20 minutes walk from home. I grabbed two large containers, threw them in my bag and walked out the door.
"Hell, at least it is a nice day for a walk. The sun is shining, no rain, no worries about school for a week, and I love walking in the forest especially in autumn." I thought as I wandereddown the lane towards the forest. We lived on the edge of Lagan, a small town in Ireland. We moved here right after I was born, as my parents needed a fresh start. You see, mom was expecting twins, but my brother died just a few hours after we were born. She never got over this, and although she was a good mom to me, she always wished she could get my brother back. I shouldn't be surprised by her behaviour towards Mike, I know. He was a miracle, he was my brother being sent back to her by the heavens. Or so she believed.
I never believed in such stupid things, and it made me angry to see her ruin his future by making him such an entitled brat. I couldn't help but lash out sometimes, and then she cried. And then I walked to the bloody woods collecting whatever berries still in season, to soothe her.
" Story of my freaking life..." I mumbled as I reached the edge of the woods. I took a deep breath and walked into the darkness of the trees. " Berries beware, here I come!"
