Evening Star Falls

𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

                    Years ago, as the sun was about to set forever

         She peered at him from the shadows.

          She glared, her irises smouldering with anger.

          His face, all grubby and sullen, caused her great anger, while his large blue eyes, to this day brimming with a never-ending torrent of tears, sent chills down her spine, as well as a fierce displeasure to her mind. How could he still be here days after his arrival, even though she had been promised he wouldn't stay long? And when was he going to make himself scarce? For lack of a proper answer, she took a step just far enough to get a better sight of the abomination in the other room, and felt her heart cracking once more, just as it had been doing since their very first meeting.

          She frowned.

          He was shy.

          And visibly weak.

          And oh, so whiny!

          Whatever did they find so interesting about that child that they had to swarm around him from dawn to dusk?

          Even though his lips, the ones scared and cracked like the ground in the midst of a prolonged dearth of rain, had for hours been ruining the peace with their cries, unleashing mayhem instead, they all lay at his hand, trying to comfort him.

          Mrs Blackwood, the family's maid and her personal carer ever since her mother's passing, today nursed his wounds and cooked him whole meals, insisting he should grow tall and mighty, like a knight in a fairy tale. The stepmother—for that was how she had introduced herself the moment she had crossed their threshold wearing a wedding dress—sat only centimetres away, her hand ever-present on the little one's shoulder, assuring him that they would finally be happy and safe. 

          And her father...

          The girl froze, bereft of thoughts and words.

          Her father sat motionless, somewhere nearby, watching the boy with a fondness that had once been hers and hers alone. His words, though not many in number, exuded warmth and understanding, and in his brown eyes, those so beautiful and gentle, she could easily glimpse, even from a distance, a feeling that should have been meant for her—love. For yes, it was only she he was supposed to love. Not that weird woman with the deceptive smile, nor her strange, annoying child. She, the one born of his blood. She, who was his daughter and was to be so for the rest of her life and beyond. She, who loved him above all things. No one else.

          "Honey!? Why are you hiding in there? Come play with your brother!"

          The word brother rumbled like thunder during a storm, and little Cecilia suddenly shuddered in realisation. That one wasn't going to leave today, tomorrow or any other day. She also knew that she would hate him for the rest of her life. Or, at least, until that day when she would certainly make sure he would disappear out of hers.