Beautiful Disaster

Chapter One

One

The girl curled herself into a ball on a mat on the floor. She was extremely tired, as she almost always was, but she was also trying to keep herself hidden. If Helen knew she was lazing about, she’d be in a mountain of trouble.

The girl opened her mouth in a huge yawn, while stretching her arms out, before rolling onto her back.

“Kat!” Helen’s voice wailed from somewhere upstairs. “Where are you wretched thing?!”

One oval eye opened, and then the other, as the small girl stretched out her entire body. A sound in the midst of a growl and a groan escaped her lips. She pulled herself lazily up the stairs and into the living room, where she knew she’d find Helen sitting on the couch watching television.

“What were you doing?!” Helen demanded of Kat the second she’d walked in the room.

“I- um,” Kat mumbled, knowing she could say nothing to calm Helen’s temper.

“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Helen laughed at her little joke.

Kat closed her eyes and looked down. Her mother always made snide remarks to her, not that she ever thought of Helen as her mother. A mother was supposed to be caring and loving. Besides that fact, the little comments Helen made were the least of Kat’s problems.

“No sense of humour, you’re such a sour puss.” Helen laughed again, then shook her head and shrugged, dismissing Kat’s sad demeanour.  “Go and bring the washing in. Fold it all perfectly and sort everything properly into my room.” Helen waved her hand in Kat’s direction without making eye contact, signalling that she should leave and get to work. It was the only reason Helen kept her around.

Kat did as she was asked and got to work.

Kat did as she was asked every time without fail. Though Helen was cruel, Kat had nowhere else to go. She had no family; her father had left her the day she was born, as Helen had reminded her on a regular basis. She had no job, no money, and no education. Helen had ensured Kat led a sheltered life, she’d never interacted with anyone in her 16 years.

Kat had barely finished putting all of Helen’s clothes away when she was once again shrieked for.

“Kat! Clean the kitchen, it is disgusting!”

Again, Kat did as she was asked, not making a sound. She didn’t flinch as she cleaned grease and food scraps from the stove and benches, as she threw out old food from the refrigerator. She barely felt anything anymore, except the constant need for sleep. She was a robot: eat, sleep, do chores. They were her only reasons for functioning.

When Helen had finally finished bossing Kat around, it was half past eight. She had been awake for just on 13 hours and she felt awful. If she’d been allowed, she probably would have slept most of the day, she was sure of it.

Kat could hardly keep her eyes open as she made her way into the basement; her room. She climbed into her small bed; with its lumpy mattress and thin blankets it shouldn’t have been as much of a relief as it was, but to Kat it was heaven.

She closed her eyes instantly, fearing the fact that in a few short hours she would be called upon again to carry on the repetitious cycle that was her life. She sighed, digging her fingers in and out of her pillow until she fell asleep.