DOVE

Prologue

Dove's POV

“Get out!”

Those were the words of my father to me. My dad, who taught me to ride a bike, taught me how to be independent. He kicked me out without a second thought. Over a false accusation laid by my stepmother, Celeste, her preposterous son, Dylan, and her evil daughter, Sloane.

“Dad, they’re lying! I didn’t do that! Why would I seduce my stepbrother? He came on to me! Why don’t you want to-“

SLAP!

My stepmother whacks me across the face with her ugly hands and sneers at me.

“Why would Dyllie lie against you? You’re his sister for crying out loud! Why would you try to sleep with him? Your mother would be rolling in her grave with this knowledge!”

"Please," Sloane snorts from behind Celeste. "Like anyone would want to touch you. Look at you, Ugly Bird. There is no reason for Dyl to lie against you, shameless slut!”

I turn to my father, my pleas for him to believe me falling on deaf ears.

“Lilian would be ashamed of the person you’ve become! Celeste kept telling me about your behavior and how we should put you out the moment you turned eighteen, and I ignored her. Now, my eyes have been opened. Now leave and don’t come back!”

At that moment, I accepted my fate. My father chose his wife and stepchildren’s lies over his own daughter's truth. In that instant, I missed my mother. Lilian Hamilton would not accept her daughter suffering in the hands of others. She left me at ten years old, due to the cold hands of cancer.

For four years, it was just me and my dad. We cried together, burned spaghetti and laughed about it together, watched movies, had daddy-daughter times until Celeste married him and came into the picture with her children. She, Dylan and Sloane tormented me, made fun of my hair and eyes- a trait I got from my mother- and bullied me to no end. She made my father oblivious to my pain and suffering and turned it into me being rebellious.

Sloane, being my age and in my grade, was my biggest bully in high school. She’d ruin my day with her minions aka friends and made sure nobody wanted to be friends with me. She coined the name “Ugly Bird” to body shame me. I became an outcast in my own family. And today, I have accepted it.

I walk to the door, with my life’s worth, reminiscing about the memories I had with my parents, then the ones I had with my father before Celeste came in to the picture. I turn around and try to plead with my dad once again. But he pushes me out the door and slams it right in my face.

It’s official. I, Dove Alaire Hamilton, was kicked out by my father in the dead of night at twenty years old because of a false accusation laid against me by Dylan.

I take my phone which is in my pocket to look at the time.

11:43 pm.

I walk around the neighborhood to find a place I could at least rest my head for the night. Luckily, I find a bench close to the neighborhood park. I sit and begin thinking about how I was going to go from here. No house, no money. Nothing. What do I do? I start to feel my cheeks getting wet, and then I realize I am crying. I wipe my tears and say to myself:

Don’t cry, Dovey. Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.

I look to my left and find a newspaper dated for today. Maybe someone left it when they were here. I pick it up to read, and something catches my eye.

FATHER SEARCHING FOR NANNY FOR HIS FOUR YEAR OLD DAUGHTER. CALL 555-012-766 FOR INQUIRIES.

Hmm. Maybe the universe is watching over me after all. I put in the call and hope for the best.