Olivia was sleeping in her room and on her bed. She stirred a little, having a vivid dream. In her dream, alone she stood, looking at her feet that were perched on a tall rock surrounded by a pit of fire. Her skin was heating up and she left like she could not breathe. When she looked up from her feet, she saw multiple rocks floating in the fire, creating a path that could lead her out of it.
Carefully stepping on a rock she checked to see if it could sustain her weight. The rock did not move, so she jumped on it, and then on another, and another. She was almost out of the dark cave filled with a pit of fire, but when she jumped on the last rock the scene changed and she now found herself in a forest filled with unnaturally twisted trees and birds that were flying high up in the sky. Looking down at herself she noticed the ropes. She was tied to the only tree that didn't have any leaves on it. She looked up at the branches of the lifeless tree and saw something falling off of it—gray-colored monsters, half-human half-beast.
A dozen of these monsters fell on the ground from the top of the tree with a spear in their hands. They stood in a circle, watching her, before murderously charging at her with the spear pointing towards her. Olivia shrieked, waking up from the dream. She was out of breath with sweat dripping down her forehead.
It had been a few days since the incident but Olivia was still reliving it in her memory. She had similar vivid dreams every night that sinfully resembled the horrifying memory of the time when she was about to be lashed.
She sat up to check her watch on the side table to see the time. 3 a.m. Giving up on sleep, she picked up a book from the shelf and read it until it was time to go to school.
***
On the next day, sitting at their usual spot at lunchtime, it was difficult for Olivia and Kaden to converse with Natalie without mentioning the incident.
"You wouldn't believe what happened next!" Natalie said, exasperated, her long red nails catching Olivia and Kaden's attention.
Kaden took a bite of food from his plate, whereas Olivia barely had an appetite.
Natalie continued. "He dumped her and now he won't even go out with me!"
"I'm sure that is a very pressing matter, Nat," Kaden said sarcastically with a poker face, but Natalie didn't seem to take the hint. "There are worse things that happen around the world."
"Not in my world. In my world this is important, and since you are my friends it is important for you too. What else could take priority right now? If I don't find the perfect guy then I'm going to die as an old cat lady. So I don't think anything could top my problems."
Olivia snickered as she said under her breath, "oh, you'd be surprised."
"What did you say?" Natalie asked.
Olivia coughed. "What's wrong with being a cat lady? I for one think it's an honor to be liked by cats."
"Then you be it," Natalie exclaimed.
"I wish I could," Olivia muttered under her breath again.
Natalie looked confusingly between Kaden and her, and then she shrugged her shoulders, deciding to ignore whatever it was that she could not comprehend, simply continuing again to talk about herself and her issues.
***
Olivia came home from school to find Jill in the house. She had wanted to be alone, wanting some peace of mind, but she sighed when she saw the man who was sitting on the couch beside Jill.
"Olivia, honey," Jill said with fake sweetness dripping from her voice as she smiled. Her bright red lips caught Olivia's eye and she internally gagged. "Thank goodness you're home. Jackson and I were in my room and he accidentally spilled a drink on my bed. It would please me so much if you cleaned it up."
She hadn't even taken two steps into the house and Jill was already ordering her around. Olivia hadn't accepted this life but she got used to it. She was merely bearing it, waiting to be an adult to get out of her stepmother's wicked shackles.
She didn't want to fight, so she said, "alright. I'll get to it."
Jill and her man, Jackson smiled at her. "Perfect," said Jill. She moved closer to him until he could feel her breath on his face, as she seductively said, "Jackson, enough with small talk. Why don't we take this upstairs? We have an empty bedroom all to ourselves."
Olivia overheard her and physically enacted the action to barf until she realized which bedroom Jill was talking about.
"No! How dare you?" She said aggressively coming back to the living room as her body heated up with anger. "You can't use that room. It is not yours!"
The room belonged to her dead parents. Neither Olivia nor Jill ever visited that room, for separate reasons, obviously.
"Olivia, go to your room," Jill said in a 'no-nonsense' voice.
"No!" She said, and then turning to Jackson, Olivia yelled, "get out! Get. The. F*ck. Out."
Jackson was visibly frightened by the scene unfolding between the two members of the house. Not wanting to be a part of the personal drama he decided to leave.
"No, Jackson," Jill said walking after him. "You don't have to leave because of this imbecile!"
Olivia wouldn't back down, so Jackson left, leaving an enraged Jill behind.
Olivia started venting as soon as he left. "I have accepted the fact that you don't respect me or even treat me like a human being, but I'm not going to let you disrespect my parents like that! You can't ever use their room for your dirty sexual innuendos!"
"You f***ing lost me a huge business deal, you foolish child! You are a nuisance, completely useless. If you can't help me then at least stay out of my business! This is my house! And I will do as I please."
"This is not your house! It's mine. It belongs to me. What did I ever do to you! I'm sure you weren't always such a monster because I have seen you being nice to others, so why are you so cruel towards me? You treat me like your personal servant and I have never complained! But I can't keep letting you cross the lines time and time again!"
Jill stood quietly, trying to contain the boiling lava that was rising inside of her, but the volcano erupted. "You want to know why I am cruel towards you; it is because you are a walking reminder of my deceased baby." She spat. "I loved your father but your father could never love me. He didn't even try! He only married me because I got pregnant by him, and when the baby died before I could even hold her in my arms, I was completely shattered, but your father, your father didn't seem to care all that much. I was the only one suffering from the loss while he was busy, happily spending time with his precious daughter." Her words held so much venom that Olivia could feel the negativity in the air.
Olivia was taken aback, shocked to hear about her past and the way Jill had painted her father to be the villain.
"It isn't my fault. It was never my fault and I did not do anything wrong but you take it all out on me!" Olivia shouted as the tears trickled her eyes.
Jill sighed, and then continued in a dangerously calm voice, "I am going to convince Jackson to come back here, and when he does you are going to apologize to him. You will beg for forgiveness. We will do our business as we please and you are not to say a word. Do you understand? Be in your room or go out, I don't care, just don't appear in front of our sight after you have apologized."
Jill grabbed her phone and walked out of the house.
Olivia stood frozen on the spot, but the loud band of the door being shut brought her out of her current state. She sat down on the couch, contemplating what to do. She had no intention of apologizing to anyone. She was still surging with anger.
The moment she had always been waiting for had marched on her doorstep earlier than expected, but she would not let it go.
She scoffed, getting up from the couch to go to her room. She took a suitcase out to pack her things. She had plenty of friends who would take her in, she thought, plenty of friends who would understand her predicament.
She packed all the essentials and left the house through the backdoor, not taking the risk of being seen by Jill, or anyone else. As she dragged the wheels of the bag on the dirt, she thought about what Jill said about her baby. There was a teeny tiny part of Olivia that sympathized with her, but the sympathy lasted only for a mere moment. She thought it wasn't okay for Jill to use her baby as an excuse for her bad behavior towards her. Nothing could excuse the torment that Jill had been imposing on her for years.
Lost in her thoughts, Olivia didn't realize when she had reached her destination. She stood in front of the massive house and knocked on the giant door. No one answered. She bit her lip and tapped her foot nervously. Looking around, she saw a bell hanging close to the door that she hadn't noticed before. She continuously rang the bell, and a few minutes later, Ethan answered the door. He yawned while rubbing his sleepy eyes but he was wide awake after seeing her on his doorstep.
Surprised and confused, he asked, "what are you doing here?"
She shrugged him aside, and with her suitcase, stepped into the house while declaring, "I'm moving in."
___
Don't forget to
Thank you.