A Perfect Stitch

Chapter 48 | dealing with hardships

"Let's see for how long you will keep on protecting her," he grumbled and threw the whip. "Ellis, I'm not done with you."

Dad stormed into the hallway like an earthquake and shut the door with a tyrant's mighty strength.

The earth trembled at Stephen's feet and prayed for his death.

Terrified, sore, breathless, in darkness; my heart pounded in anguish.

"Hey princess, a queen shades no tear in adversity. She braces herself and fights with all her strength till she wins the battle. I will protect you with my blood if need be."

Evelyn wrapped her hands around me and we embraced each other.

"He won't recognize your importance unless you show him your worth. Remember; Christ and the heavens will fight your battles even when I'm gone. Seek his grace and his realm, okay?"

"Sure, I will." I flared my nose and wiped my eyes. "Lyn, I can't continue like this. Dad hates me. I'm nothing but a slave to him and this family. I want to leave this house. I'm tired of constantly suffering."

"He doesn't hate you; it's just that he is disturbed. He doesn't know how to show his affection toward you. Trust me. See, let's clean your bruises, and later, we can go have dinner. I made your favorites. . ."

That night, we sat in the open air by the campfire and smiled at the stars as she told me historic stories.

That was the night Lyn inhaled her last breath and gave up her ghost.

She went to rest after three years of fighting lung cancer.

She suffocated and died in my hands.

It hurt.

Her death hurt me.

I snapped out of those memories before tears could run down my cheeks.

On a rug of obscured empathy, I swayed to the song of endless regrets and dashed into reality; my spiral of self-pity.

My parents didn't love me, but Lyn fought for me even on her deathbed.

Today was the day she died.

Shouts stretched my throat as a strained elastic band, but a broken tear closed my lips.

It handcuffed my depression and drowned the keys in the desert sand.

Yet, illicit sniffs launched a gun at me and kidnapped my self-esteem.

I couldn't sleep throughout the night.

I had lost my family.

Every second of joy that we spent together didn't matter to Stephen.

Every minute that I walked through the door in tears didn't matter to Felicia.

Every day that I took the blame and the whip didn't matter to Megan.

I cried a lot.

Why would I even matter to them?

I wasn't worth their time.

I was useless.

I was a mistake whose birth stole ecstasy from their hearts.

I was the girl they despised.

Everybody wanted something from me, but they never cared to know about how I felt daily.

I wasn't loved.

Love loathed my guts.

The cold hands of death took away the one person who cuddled me in times of hardship.