LOVE BEYOND REALMS

A DREADFUL MORNING

Chapter 1

Twenty-one-year-old Alexa angrily slapped the little alarm clock that sat comfortably on her bedside table as it rang out early in the morning, indicating that her time of sleep had actually come to an end. The loud ringing pierced through her eardrums, making her head throb with a dull ache. She had barely gotten four hours of sleep, and the exhaustion was evident on her face. Upon getting a more comfortable position to catch some more sleep, the alarm went off again. Having no other choice and knowing fully well that she was going to be late for classes again if she didn't get up, she struggled out of bed, drew the curtains in her room to let in the early morning sunshine.

Gazing out of the window, Alexa wondered what the day held in store for her, as her last days—over five years, since the passing of her mum—had been nothing but terrible, the pain of her loss still lingered, a constant ache in her heart. She remembered the way her mother used to smile, the way she used to laugh, and the way she used to make her feel loved. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about how much she missed her mother. Pulling out of her thoughts, Alexa rushed into the bathroom and quickly freshened up, She splashed some cold water on her face, trying to shake off the fatigue. Her mind filled with dread about how terrible her day would be. She simply prayed and asked for a miracle, wondering if miracles truly existed.

Alexa thought out loud while running down the stairs, "I hope I don't come across that little witch that calls herself my step-sister." Having barely completed her heartfelt prayer, her step-sister, Mirabel, came out of the kitchen holding a cup of hot coffee, humming a song, and smiling happily. Alexa halted her steps on the stairs, with her heart beating wildly in anticipation of Mirabel's ridicule, insults, and bullying. She had grown accustomed to Mirabel's cruel behavior, but it still hurt every time.

Mirabel caught sight of Alexa from the corner of her eye, and the bright smile on her face vanished immediately. She weighed Alexa from head to toe and mumbled under her breath, "What an eyesore! A very terrible way to start my day—it just so happened that the first person my eyes see this morning is none other than the loser of the Anderson family." Staring at Alexa with so much hatred and disgust, she hissed and decided to make her way to the dining table.

Alexa took in a deep breath and chose to ignore Mirabel's sarcastic remarks about her, she had learned that reacting to Mirabel's jabs only made things worse.

Mirabel, on realizing that Alexa didn't respond to her, became really upset, as she thought of ways to make the breakfast session really terrible for Alexa. Quickly getting an idea, Mirabel smirked evilly and said to herself, "I'll see how she'll be silent about what I'm about to do next."

She rushed off to the dining area, pulled out her special chair—as each person in the mansion had a chair designed for them in the dining area—turned to Alexa, and smiled evilly. She emptied the whole cup of coffee right onto the surface of her very own chair, then turned and looked at Alexa, who had just arrived at the dining section, and yelled at the top of her voice, "Sister, why are you doing this to me? How can you deliberately pour your cup of coffee on my chair just to get back at me for mistakenly stepping on your shoes? I won't take this from you; I won't at all!" While yelling at the top of her voice, she managed to squeeze out of her eyes some drops of tears.

Alexa froze on the spot, knowing that she was in big trouble. Her heart sank, and her mind racing with thoughts of how she would defend herself against Mirabel's false accusations. Little did she know that this was only the beginning of a terrible day!