The Lady On Top

1

              "Get the hell out of here!" The voice boomed so loud that Emilia thought she saw a glass or two threaten to break. Even the words were slurred due to alcohol, but she heard them clearly.

There are the same words that Gerald-her stepfather-had been screaming in her face for the past week. Emilia hunched back, trying to make herself as small as possible, protecting herself from the unexpected blows that Gerald was used to throw.

"This is my mother's house, she left it to me!" 16 year old Emilia exclaimed, the words clogging her throat. "If anyone ought to leave, it's you."

Gerald gave her a sinister smile, his bloodshot eyes narrowing, "you grew some balls, did you now, Emmy?"

Emilia swallowed around the lump in her throat and shook her head, "I-I just don't have anywhere to go," she said in a small voice.

"Not my fucking problem!" Gerald clicked his tongue. "I am being generous here, letting you take whatever you want from this house before I sell it. I need the money."

"But you can't!" Emilia exclaimed, all of a sudden a large hand connected with her cheek.

"Don't you raise your voice at me! I am giving you four hours to get the hell out," Gerald growled at her, "or I am selling you along with the house!"

Beep. Beep. Beep!

Emilia sat up with sweat running down her back. Reaching to the still beeping alarm by her beside, she clicked on the off button. It always ended the same way, with Gerald threatening to sell her with the house. Always the same nightmare, and even though the frequency of it has reduced significantly. It was only during a day like today that it was triggered.

She quickly got out of the bed and walked to the adjoining room where her bathroom was. She went through the motions, not once did she give herself time to think about the nightmare that has been haunting her for the past eighteen years.

Dressing in her signature pencil skirt suit, she slipped her feet into the nude heels, collected her purse and walked out of her bedroom.

"Morning, Em!" Donna greeted her as she made her way down the stairs. "I was about to come and get you!"

Emilia smiled at the woman by the bottom of the stairs, "Hi, Donna. I overslept a bit," she explained as she accepted the brown bag that she knew held goodies for breakfast for her. "You are an angel!" Placing a kiss on the weathered cheek, she made her way out of the house, into the car and on her way to her work place. Even though the sky seemed bright, Emilia knew that was going to change later on. She always knew when the rains were about to start falling.

Emilia turned on her chair and faced the huge window. It was gloomy outside, the gray skies promising rainfall. The weather seemed to reflect her mood to the T. It has been twenty years since her mother passed, but it still felt raw to her and it being the anniversary of her death was just the icing she needed.
Her mother was a beautiful, strong woman. She raised Emilia single-handedly when her father died in a freak car accident when Emilia was just seven years old. Self sacrificing, she worked three jobs to provide Emilia with a stable environment. Her mother never complained, not once, even when Emilia's requests were ridiculous.
It was because of her sacrifices that Emilia did not voice her objections when she finally introduced Gerald Lebowski to her when she was ten years old, a man who after six months became her stepfather.
Everything was fine at the beginning. Gerald was the male figure that Emilia lacked in her life. He took her to watch baseball games, taught her to fish and was mostly there for her. It all changed after two years, when Gerald lost a great deal of money gambling, an addiction he had hidden so well from them. In just a few weeks, the loving and caring man became a wife beating drunk when things did not go his way.
The first time it happened, it shocked both Emilia and her mother. They had left that night, spending it at a cheap motel as they made plans to fly to where her mother's remaining relative lived. However, Gerald had found them and asked for forgiveness. To Emilia's disappointment, her mother took him back. That became a routine. Gerald got drunk, beat the crap out of her mother, they left but came back as soon as Gerald apologized. Emilia had lost count the number of times she begged her mother to get a divorce from Gerald.