Demi crawled into the hole she calls her room, in tears. She couldn't believe Racquel, her step mother didn't allow her to go to her own father's final burial.

She got up from the floor after drying her tears. Staring into the large old mirror_ the second thing her mother left for her, except a dress which is now destroyed and an old picture of when her mother was pregnant with her. She looked at herself, she was already so beautiful, looking almost exactly as her mother at the age of 19.

Demi had never seen her mother, except for the picture in her room. All she knew was that her mother died while giving birth to her.

Her father, Cole Silver took it upon him to take care of her until she turned seven when he started having different businesses all over the world. A widowed man with a child, had no choice but to marry a woman from his own status. A woman whose name was Racquel who was widowed like him. He believed she'll understand better than anyone how it is to lose a life partner.

Racquel Darren, a high class lady from one of the richest French families, remarried Cole Silver after her first husband died, leaving her with two daughters. Her main aim of getting remarried was to help her family regain their power as they were already bankrupt and also give her daughters the rich lifestyle they deserve. She gave birth to a boy eight years after she got married to Cole.

After several years of living in peace with her father, step mother and step sisters, Demi thought that life was really good to her until her stepmother's behaviour changed towards her one day. Before she could understand whatever happened, her father was dead, in his room.

Make sure you scrub all the tiles before we get back, stupid...

Her stepmother's order rang in her head.

With a wicked glint in her eye, Demi decided not to do anything. She laid on her bed, crying her eyes out, mourning the loss of her father.

In a few minutes, sleep came.

"Demi!" Racquel's loud voice woke Demi from her deep slumber.

"What is it Racquel?" She yawned and went downstairs to meet the shouting woman.

"I thought I told you to do some things before we got back? Why is the house still like this?" Racquel glared daggers at Demi who looked unshaken at her stepmother's outburst.

"I don't know if I can do any of those, my dad died, I wasn't allowed to go to his burial, all you want me to do is to scrub the already cleaned tiles. Can't your daughters-"

The words were not even complete before a slap landed on her face. With a sting like injection, Demi held her cheeks and stared agape at Racquel.

"You slapped me?" She asked, unable to hide her disbelief.

"And, I'll slap it all over again if you don't get to what I asked you to do!" Racquel hissed at her then she went into the room where her children were.

Without waiting for any one's advice, Demi rushed into the store to take a bucket and some sponge to scrub whatever her stepmother had asked her to do.

She had always imagined how Cinderella's life was when she lived with her stepmother, now she really understood.

In a few minute less than an hour, she was done with the scrubbing even if Jas, the stubborn cat of Anna, the eldest twin, keeps giving her more to scrub.

She was about to knock on the door of the room when she heard a hushed voice of Racquel, speaking in French.

"Le vieil homme est enfin mort." She laughed evily. "Le reste est de sortir la fille de la photo."

Demi stood shocked. She knew who the girl was, it was her. They killed her father, now they want to kill her.
She couldn't believe her ears. Racquel and her daughters killed her father.

With an overwhelming anger, she left the door and rushed to the kitchen. Racquel and her daughters were all going to die also.

"Demi." The heard the voice of Reece, the only male child of her father.

She smiled first but the smile later faded when her brain reminded her that he was also Racquel's blood, he had the evil woman blood in his vein.

But he is still your brother, the Silver blood runs in his vein also.

Something in her head reminded and she hated it. She hated the fact that she had a soft spot for Reece even if his own mother killed their father.

"You're still my brother, no matter what." She said as she snuggled the boy to her chest. "But the rest of your family are going to pay for killing our father."

She gave the boy the last bowl of spaghetti kept aside for him then focused on making dinner. "The last meal they'll eat." She commented after she brought out the ingredients to cook.

From an old box in the kitchen, she took a brown plastic bag which contained food poison, she had kept it there for mice that disturbed the house. Now she's planning to use it on human mice disturbing her life.

To Demi, all she wanted to do was to revenge for her father's death.

As soon as the food was ready, she served it at the dinning table then she went to call Racquel and the two little brats. Older than she was but evil as hell. Now she was going to be like them not regretting any single thing.

"First time using her brain." Racquel commented. "I think that slap woke her up."

"Definitely." Ella, the younger twin laughed, followed by Anna.

"I'll leave now." Demi said and turned to leave.

"Wait." Racquel said.

Demi stopped immediately, she knew Racquel would never detect anything but who knows, probably the witch is an expert at knowing poisons.

"Where is Reece?"

As if controlled, the boy came out. He went to sit beside his mother and Demi went out of the house.

She went to the next street to meet Royce, her boyfriend who was planning to leave for the city the next day.

Her boyfriend, surprised at seeing her at his door urged her to come in.

"Racquel allowed you to come?" He asked amusingly, he knew everything about them.

"No, I want to say something else. I'm coming with you."

Shocked, Royce rubbed his eyes to be sure he wasn't dreaming. "Are you serious? Why?"

"I won't be able to explain, I'm going with you and I'm not going back to that house."

"Okay, okay." Royce surrendered, then wrapped me in a hug.

Her eyes closed briefly as she snuggled up against him. She remember what had happened in the few minutes she decided to leave.

Only Racquel and Anna's food were poisoned, Ella's food was not because she needed her to take care of Reece.

She called the family lawyer to tell him that she had transferred all the properties to Reece's name and told him all necessary details to follow especially not telling the family until he turned 19, She mailed a copy to him and told him she was leaving home for a very personal reason.

She wondered how she was going to cope with nothing except her boyfriend who is also struggling to make ends meet and has no idea what kind of problem she had caused before leaving. But she's determined to make it, without her father's money.

°°°
Your thoughts??

-Gamma.