The Tale of Two Sisters

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Two minutes,

No.

Twenty minutes,

No.

It felt like it was two hours since Lisa fainted. 

She then finally have the strength to open up her eyes. 

Everything was pitch black, but strangely, she did not fear it.

Instead, she felt calm.

Though she had the full control of her body, she felt too weak to move any of her nerves. She tried to move any of her fingers, but all she can sense is numbness.

Lisa looked around to see if her eyes can adapt to the dark, but it was fruitless.

The dark right now is purely a void.

Nothing inside and nothing around.

Nothing else,

except her.

"Hello?"

Lisa tried to ask if anyone around, softly with her voice, but somehow her voice echoed back to her. She could not do anything with her current state, so she just rested herself.

Slowly, she felt calmed and relaxed.

All of her body started to feel at ease.

However, it did not last.

Suddenly, Lisa's head felt heavy as something painful just entered her mind and wrecked it. 

"Ugh!"

She remembered what had happened before she was suddenly in this dark space. 

Her memory of her loss.

"Mom...Dad..."

Her parent's face was showing up in her mind. Lisa suddenly cried in pain as her head could not bear any more painful memories that overflooded in her mind. Feeling painful, Lisa cried with tears falling from her eyes.

"Stop...I'm sorry..."

The memory after her parent burial kept coming into her mind.

How her uncles and aunties neglected her and Penelope and took all the inheritance from both of them.

The memories when her cousins beat her up while she and Penelope had to stay with their ignorant uncle, kept reappearing into her mind. 

She then felt the same pain that her cousins inflected to her at the exact same spot.

"No! Stop! Please...it hurts."

Lisa tried to wipe the memories away, but it hard to tell whether it was memories or the real pain that she felt right now.

However, the pain did not stop there.

It kept ongoing.

The memories when her aunty kept pouring hot water on her left arm replaced the previous one. The feeling of having her skin got burned returned back to her mind.

Lisa whined in pain, but when she tried to cover the area where she used to get that burn, she did not see anything that caused it. 

She only felt the pain, but she cannot do anything to stop it.

"Stop! It hurts!"

Though how loud Lisa screamed, the pain did not go away.

She had to endure it.

Lisa then did not have any strength to yell or struggle with what just happened to her. Her past memories kept haunting her, and the pain she felt kept coming, as she remembered it vividly. 

Lisa just lied down there, feeling hopeless, wanting for it to stop, but none of it happened.

The moments when she had been bullied during her high school's years were still fresh in her mind.

Being thrown with trash and wet tissues, 

being mocked by her peers as she lived in the attic with her sister, 

being called parentless,

all of that happened to her, all of because of her cousin.

Though it did not harm her physically, it did cause trauma for her, as she had to endure it for her own mental health. She had to do it, for the sake of her sister, and herself. 

Lisa remembered when all of the girls locked her in the changing room at their school during P.E class, and then they called out all the boys just to watch her being half-n***d.

Though she was covered, her pride was hurt on that day.

After several years of torturing when she lived with her aunty, she thought that it was only the dark chapter in her life, that she will never have to see it again.

But, as always, Lisa is wrong.

When she started her first day on her work, she thought that everyone there was friendly. Some of the girls that worked there always greeted her and helped her around. 

One of them is Quinn.

At first, Quinn was a sweet angel that always helped Lisa around, or as Lisa thought she was.

But day after day, Lisa noticed that Quinn was only used her to do her supposed job, and Lisa was the one who had to carry out all of her works.

At first, Lisa did not complain as she thought for herself that it was only the only for her to repay all of the kindness that Quinn showed to her. 

Yet, eventually, all the jobs that Lisa had to do become even more difficult. Her workloads suddenly became more complex, and she started to notice that a few girls that close to Quinn did not execute any of their works.

Lisa could not help, but she had to ask Quinn.

"Um, Quinn. I think the works that you gave me are too much. Maybe you can distribute some of them with your friends?"

Quinn looked at Lisa and then turned to her friends, as they were slacking too much during their shift. After that, Quinn turned to Lisa back and smiled.

"Oh, of course. Forgive me, Lisa, if the jobs I gave troubled you."

Lisa smiled when she heard Quinn said that. Her thought of Quinn just used her suddenly gone away. Quinn walked away and went behind the counter. She grabbed the paper cup and filled it with some carbonated drinks. After that, she went back to Lisa while still smiling.

"Here, Lisa. You must be pretty tired with all of those works, right?"

Quinn handed the cup to Lisa. Lisa looked happy as she thought that Quinn cared for her and treated her like she was her close friends.

As Lisa was about to take the cup from Quinn's hand, Quinn then raised the cup on top of Lisa's head and spilt it. 

Though it happened spontaneously, Lisa froze. She did not believe in what just happened, or rather, she did not want to accept it.

Quinn then smirked and then she laughed. All of the friends behind her joined her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lisa! I thought your mouth was up there, as you didn't think before you speak."

Quinn threw the paper cup at Lisa's feet and closed her face to Lisa's. She talked in the most cunning voice that Lisa had ever heard.

"Listen. I will never think you as a friend, preferably, you're just a mere tool in here. So, for your behalf, act like one, okay?"

Quinn turned her heels and walked away, leaving behind Lisa, which still in shock. 

She thought that she had finally the curse of being treated like a piece of trash, but sadly, the curse can never be lifted from her.

Those painful memories kept overflooding in Lisa's head, and she could not take it anymore. Yet, she could not do anything to stop it from replaying inside her head.

Do you just want to let it be?

Suddenly, a voice that rang inside Lisa's ear made her awake from her memories. She tried to look around to see if there is anyone there, but her eyes failed to find any.

Do you want power?

The voice kept ringing inside her head, but she was too dizzy to think about it.

The memories of her painful days kept torturing her, making her vulnerable while she whined in pain. 

Both physically and mentally.

Do you wish to change it all?

The words from the voice suddenly made Lisa's mind straight again. 

She slowly started to be sane again, and the memories began to disappear, one by one.

Do you want the power to change it?

Lisa then slowly has the strength to answer it.

"Yes...yes."

Her dried lips began to move around gradually. She can slowly move her limps, as something inside her began to rose.

Are you willing to sacrifice for power?

Lisa started to stand up slowly, though her knees were pretty weak. She was shaking, but it did not stop her from standing. She finally got control of her hands as she moved her fingers freely.

Are you really want this?

Lisa forced herself to stand straight though she fell quite often. She tried to stand up whenever she fell down. Her will grew more potent than the pain that she felt.

"Yes. Give it to me."

Lisa eventually lost some of her sanity, as her mind now focused on one thing.

Revenge.

She could not think about anything else. All that she can think of now is payback time.

When she can finally stand up straight, her fists began to stiff, as she was picturing herself punishing those who used to a***e her.

Prove it.

As Lisa heard the final call from the voice, she swung her hands, focusing on to summon something. The ground below her suddenly shook vigorously, as she kept focusing.

"I'm tired."

"Why they treated me like that?"

"What did I do wrong?"

"Why?"

"Why?"

"Why?"

"WHY?!"

As her emotion began to explode inside, Lisa finally summoned the black spikes under her, causing the ground to c***k and destroyed.

Lisa was no longer standing on the ground, as now, she was standing on the black spikes, controlling them around. 

Every bad memory of her began to appear in front of her.

Lisa then swung her arm, trying to destroy every piece of memories. She cracked the walls that displayed the memories and eventually, the dark space that contained her in, wrecked.

Lisa finally free.

Finally, she was able to let go of the memories, and be born as someone new.

Someone who decided who she was.

Someone who only take orders, none others but herself.

Someone who is deciding, just for herself.

Lisa was no longer struggling with her past self, where she only had just to listen and endure.

Right now, she is the new Lisa, the one who decides for herself, and no one can tell her otherwise.

"I will not listen to others anymore."

With her final strike, Lisa destroyed the space that she was being held in.

And finally, the darkness engulfed her, completely.

Lisa can no longer see anything around her, so she decided to close her eyes and rest.

Rest well, Black Queen.

We will meet again soon.

And with that, Lisa returned to her own reality.

The choice which changes yourself,

Are you willing to take the risk?