She Is Me

1

"Where's the bitch?" Kasie's unnecessarily high pitched voice asked, clearly refering to me. I was already past feeling fazed by her words, she was just a spoilt girl who was lead by her parents to act the way she did.

Gone are the days when she was nice. When I had just arrived at this hell hole, she would make an effort to come to my room in the basement every night to talk to me, bring me food and keep me company. And suddenly, it stopped. That night I waited for her to come but she didn't show up.

The next day, it was like none of it ever happened, like we were never friends, and when I asked her what happened, she said that I should never talk to her. I cried myself to sleep that night, wondering what I ever did to her, what I ever did to loose the one friend I had, till date I have no answer for that.

"Get me some food, make it snappy. I'm hungry." She demanded, not even glancing at me, her whole attention focused on the phone she held in her hands. She could've asked Pedro, the head chef, but she just loved to disturb me.

With a tight nod, I walked into the kitchen. The smell of the delicious food causing me to close my eyes momentarily and savour it. I opened my eyes again to see Pedro sprinkling spices into the pot. He stirred the food and then brought out the spoon, he tapped it on his palm and then brought his palm to his mouth to taste the content. With a satisfied smile he walked away from the pot and then to the sink to wash his hands.

"Hey Pedro." I went over to the island and with the aid of my hand, I pushed myself up to sit on it, my feet dangling casually as I observed his work area.

"Ah, Buon giorno. How are you, mi Cara?" My father figure beamed, as he continued moving from one point in the kitchen to the other, in a desperate attempt to finish up on time. Although I'm not Italian, 6 years with him has caused me to learn some basic things in Italian.

"Very well, grazie. How are you?" I came down from the island and then I handed the ginger spice over to him, knowing it was what he was looking for.

"Ah, yes. Exactly what I was looking for." He confirmed, waving his hands about as he spoke. He had worked here for over 35 years and now age was catching up to him. He usually forgot where he kept most things.

I continued to talk to him as I helped out in the kitchen. The other maids where caught up in some preparation. I overheard Kasie talking about some rich guy coming over today. I was never interested in such meetings or dinners, never will be either. Her parents were also busy, which I was thankful for. Because I haven't gotten any beatings so far.

After Kasie had gotten her meal, I grabbed my school bag from my room -still in the basement- and I started my journey to my school. As I walked, I tried really hard to admire nature, to appreciate the warm July air, that only made me even hotter than I already was, but I couldn't, I didn't have any reason to appreciate any of it.

This world had taken more from me than it gave me. Took away my parents, my peace, even my sanity. I still had to deal with hell, covering up almost every inch of my body to avoid the scars being seen by anyone. And what did it give me? A terrible man who claims to be my uncle, and his terrible family, scars, pain and suffering.

I was extremely exhausted. I didn't get any sleep last night, thanks to the nightmares I get every night. My suffering was temporarily put to an end when I saw the school in sight, thankful that I would finally get to sit and rest.

I took a deep breath and then I shook the negative thoughts out of my head, just a month more, I reminded myself. Then this would all be behind me, I could leave this place. Even though school was the only privilege I had, I still wanted to escape as soon as I could. Turn 18 and leave that house.