Darling Devils

Chapter 1 ~ I Hate Surprises

[AUTHOR'S NOTE]

Hullo! Onto Chapter 1. xD This story isn't getting many reads (the prologue got like 7 reads after 12 hours) but I'll keep on writing! I give up way too easily xD, so, as usual, please vote and comment! I really do appreciate it!

This chapter is dedicated to my good friend Natalie, who has always encouraged me to never give up, urging me to keep writing! Thanks for all your support, Natalie! :D

Thanks for reading!

Lots of love,

~Linh

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CHAPTER 1 ~ I HATE SURPRISES

May 1, 2012

It's a gorgeous spring afternoon. Flowers are blooming, and the large family of squirrels that live in our backyard is prancing around in the lush grass, running from my huge, slobbery bulldog. Nothing could ruin this beautiful, late spring afternoon. Except for finding out that some demon-spawn are my soon-to-be sisters dearest.

"MOM!" I shriek in exasperation. "Those girls are DEVILS! Why don't you believe me when I tell you this?"

I've just gotten home from school, and my mom decides to JUST NOW tell me that we're adopting three children, and not just any kids---the Anderson trio. Yup, you heard me right. The "Triple Terrors", or, as I call them, the "Darling Devils". Everyone thinks that they're just the sweetest little girls, but I know who REALLY killed the Hardies, Laroques, and Montgomeries---none other than Ella, Callie, and Alice.

My mother sighs, trying her best not to yell at me. "Beatrice, those girls are angels, in need of a home, and you know how badly your father and I want more children." A lamenting look flashes across her face, highlighting her beautiful, but wrinkle-abundant, face.

Guilt cuts through my heart like the knife that stabbed the Hardies a total of twenty-nine times. My parents are kind people, but after I was born, my mother suffered two miscarriages, and the last resulted in her never being able to conceive again. I didn't blame them for wanting more children... in fact, I had begged them to just a few months ago. I want them to be happy, of course. I just didn't realize they wanted to adopt mini-murderers.

"Mom, I know you and Dad want kids, but you don't understand. Those girls---"

"Well, maybe you don't understand!" my mother cries out. "You don't understand what it's like, wanting children, the gift of giving life. You don't know what it's like, losing two before they were ever born, and then being told in a dingy doctor's office that you will never have another child." Her eyes shine with unshed tears. "You don't know the half of it."

I stand there in shock. My mom had never exploded like this before. "Mom, I'm so---"

She swallows, and sighs again. "Beatrice, please go to your room."

"But, Mom---"

"Do what I tell you to!" she snaps at me.

Swallowing at my mother's inexplicable rage, I quietly go up to my room.

I sigh and drop my schoolbag on the floor, along with many scraps of paper that I used to research my English paper. Honestly, who cares that much about Shakespeare? It's just a bunch of blood and gore, mixed in with a bunch of overrated romance.

Plopping down on my vanity, I open random drawers, trying to find something to do to distract me from my mother's anguished tears. I didn't actually need this vanity. In fact, I protested against the unnecessary table, but my mother had insisted on purchasing it for me after I had turned fifteen. Glancing up at the mirror, I see the many pictures that I taped onto the reflective surface. On the top, left-hand corner, there is a picture of my family, inclusive of my Asian mother, my Caucasian father, and me, their only daughter, a mix of their ethnicities.