Twisted Paradise

Chapter 1

In most fairy tales, the princess was sweet, pure and kind.

When the monsters came to take her away, she persevered through it with her compassion and goodness.

Then her magnanimous, graceful saviours came in and swept her out of those nightmares. Be it a Fairy Godmother, a charming Prince or even seven freaking dwarves, they all came to the rescue.

Heck, even monsters and beasts were after her pure, innocent soul.

They were sincere.

Their kind smile and friendly eyes were all real.

They never saved her to use her for their gain. The Princess never had to worry that she may just be escaping one monster to run into another.

Because in fairy tales, the Prince never turned out to be a monster. Because in fairy tales, the monsters turned into handsome princes for her.

Because she was kind. Because she was good.

And to Lily, among all the lies fed to children, that was the most unbearable and unforgivable one.

And so she arrived at the house she had been watching for quite some time.

The light was pouring out from the shutters of a single window while the rest of the duplex house seemed abandoned. Haunted.

Perhaps, because the owner himself was haunted?

The household staff were given an early leave. The lady of the house fell down the stairs and was severely injured, resulting in an immediate transfer to the hospital by her anxious husband. The two daughters accompanied their mother, deeply worried.

That's what people thought.

Lily stared up at the open window, striding towards the house.

No one knew that the man they praised as a loving husband beat his wife to the brink of death.

Twenty years of marriage and yet, she still hadn't managed to give him a son. The two daughters of his, he could barely bear. After all, what were they good for in his eyes except being traded away for marriage? He had no heir. That darn woman didn't manage to give him one.

Of course, that stupid man conveniently ignored how it was his fault that he never had a son. He was the one with the Y chromosome.

Funny how that worked, huh?

Her feet moved silently across the trimmed grass as well as the smooth marble floor. There were cameras installed in different places, but she knew they had stopped functioning a while back.

The place surrounded by walls was shadowy, not that it fazed her.

She was all too familiar with the darkness - the man in the room above being a contributing factor.

She swept through the large living room. Even though there were broken vases and objects thrown about in a disorganised manner, she effortlessly went past them. Legs fitted with spandex, she was quick on her feet.

She went up the stairs and let herself into that one brightly-lit room.

A balding man in his late forties was sitting at the corner of his bed. A wad of cash was scattered around; he was counting them obsessively.

Head bowed down, he was yet to notice her.

She ambled to his window and closed them with a resounding thud. The sound brought the man out of his obsessive reverie. He flinched back and looked at her, wide-eyed.