Evolve.

2 - Poison

I laid by my bedroom window with a sad realization; the one where I see that I'm an orphan. 

That one.

I remember Mom's death very vividly and its depression that it invoked. I skipped school, Dad skipped work, and the house was terrifyingly silent. I slept all day and cried all night for three days straight. I don't know where Dad went during that dark time. 

The next month, Dad had a Cinderella idea: to bring a stepmother into the picture, maybe a stepsister or two and hope for the best. I give him points for effort, but in reality, she did turn out to be the wicked stepmother that I feared. Chryssa was a complete diva.

If anything hadn't gone her way, then it was hell for anybody within a 100 mile radius. The tribute photo of my mother that hung in the main hallway had given Chryssa "nightmares", so it was sent to my room. All of my mother's sophisticated photographs was boxed up in the basement. We were banned from watching a movie with my mother's name in the credits. Anything that was not her's to begin with was ostracized.

Including me.

Whenever my dad wasn't home, which was most of the time, Chryssa was out to get my weak spots. She was always teased me about my eyes. From far away, I could blend in with the Chinese girls, but there was one thing that separated me from them and that was my eyes. They were a deep green, the color of nature, and no other pure Chinese girl had eyes like mine. But that was just a reason for Chryssa and my stepsister to attack. With a taunting cackle, Chryssa would say, "A Chinese girl with green eyes? HA! What's next? Black people with jobs?"

Crystal added to the racism, "Legal Mexicans?"

They were never racist in front of Dad; he would have immediately shamed them for their wrongful doing. I was too afraid to tell them myself, because they would just use that as an opportunity to make fun of my voice, or whatever possible topic came to their minds.

Only, the time when Dad was alive, he accepted my eyes with all the love in the world, he insisted, "Asti, don't ever let anyone make fun of your eyes. You are the beauty of China and your mother would've been so proud. Your eyes are the color of the evergreen trees; of the tropical island beaches; of the sparkling emeralds, but most of all they are the eyes of the light of my life."

I cried that night because my father had been light of my life as well, and somebody had put out at that light.

~~

"WHAT!"

Somebody was screaming. I checked my phone clock and it read four in the morning. The culprit was probably one of Chryssa's boy toys. She used to invite mysterious men into the house, anytime my father wasn't around during business trips that he had to take up for our financial security. 

Now that he was dead, the Widow was free to screw whoever she wanted. The thought of this disgusted me and I prepared a pillow to cover my ears from hearing whatever dirty deeds they were performing at this ungodly hour.

At least, I was about to until I heard this:

"NO! Marvin, I told you to hide all the evidence until after the legal system rules that Robert's stupid daughter is guilty rather us."

Evidence? Was I being framed?? Must investigate. I was determined to learn who killed my dad and make sure that justice would be served.

First, I armed myself with my trusty phone. There was a voice recorder app that I could use to document evidence if I needed to. 

Then, I got off my bed, tip toed to the door and snuck in the hallway like a ninja. Sometimes, I'm get extremely bashful of the fact that my home was so enormous in size. I lived in a mansion that was practically a maze.

Luckily, I had the motivation to be alert and smoothly navigate the various hallways that would soon lead me to the Chryssa Cave. I was able to arrive outside Chryssa's bedroom door in a record time of under five minutes.

The time was 4:26 a.m. and my phone was ready to record any foul evidence that Chryssa could provide. In reality, there had been a mocking silence from inside for five minutes and sleep was threatening to overpower my alertness. 

Then, the screaming came back to wake me: 

"YOU DID WHAT?" And I knew she was on a phone when I couldn't hear a response.

Unheard telephone voice explains.

"NO, MARVIN, I'M NOT OKAY WITH THAT!" Chryssa exclaims (in more capital letters), "YOU ARE SO LAZY. HOW COULD YOU USE MY CREDIT CARD TO BUY THE POISON? THE COPS CAN NOW TRACK DOWN ROBERT'S DEATH TO ME."

Unheard telephone voice attempts to do the impossible and calm her down.

"NO! I WILL NOT CALM DOWN." Then I could hear sobbing, "Marvie, we can't be together, spending my ex's money if I'm in jail--honey bunnie."

Unheard telephone voice is now determined to do the dirty work for Chryssa and fix the mess he made for the sake of being together with Chryssa.

As if, Chryssa will dump him the first chance he gets!

It's a a huge relief to know that Dad didn't die of food poisoning from my own cooked dinner for him. Instead...he was intentionally murdered by a snake known as my stepmother. I couldn't wait to reveal this vital piece of evidence at the court hearing that will be held for my father. Justice will be served.

However, I get greedy and remain stationary to capture more evidence; more than I already need. 

Then, "Astrid?"

..

Thanks for reading!

Please comment, vote, share, like, hug, smile, gasp or anything that can express your feelings towards EVOLVE. 

Also, wish me luck next week! I'm taking my first midterm finals & I am very scared! Yikes.

That's all, folks! (happy holidays!)

-ash(ley mei)