TWO WORLDS APART

CHAPTER 3

The reception was indeed warm as she arrived at the balcony. Ann and the kids were blocking the path. Oh, look a line up in descending order of how stupid these people are, and Emily is the first, she said to herself as she dragged her bag to the door.

They all seemed so happy as they smiled as they welcomed Uncle Jordan. They were now all inside the house. Uncle Jordan had gone up the stairs to have a good sleep. She sat in the sitting room and studied this new world she found herself in.

There was an old oak wood table that sat at the center of the room, one of the legs was broken so a pile of old books were used for support. There was a mold on the cover of the book and its pages had turned yellow. The carpet was dusty but had good quality, she could tell it was bent to feel the quality of the material. She may be from a lower-class family but she knew quality when she saw it. She stood up and adjusted her hair from her line of vision. The wallpaper was peeling and had been amended severely.

A family photo hung on the wall. They look stupid except Emily, she looks helpless, she said to herself. "Please don't move too close to the vase. It's e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e! I'm sure you learnt the meaning of that word from that hole you crawled out from" said a voice that seemed to be coming from the only person that decided to inherit her father's genes including his petite structure, Emily. Yep, she's helpless, she said as she rolled her eyes and reached to grab her bags. Emily wasn't going to take the 'best treatment for a fool was silence' treatment. "How is your mother? Last I heard she was seeing a doctor or you guys couldn't afford to get one? " said Emily as a smirk spread across her face. That was a hard blow. Amelia bit her lips to hold back the tears that were now building up. Not in front of her, please.

She tried to make her way through the door but Emily wasn't willing to move. "Emily, for your information and safety stay out of my hair and I'll stay out of yours. My bad, you don't have any" said Amelia as she shoved her aside. She knew that was Emily's insecurity and the sound of her screaming, confirmed it all.

In the little attic, she had begun unpacking and cleaning up the place; from down below she could hear Emily telling her sisters and mother what she had said. It didn't take long until she heard the door knob begin to twitch.

She stood up to open the door when the door already gave in to the constant turning of the door knob. The door opened up and hit the perpetrator on the head. "Ouch," cried the voice. It was a female but whom? Considering that there was one man and five females in this house.

Ann came into the room rubbing her forehead. She had a red bump on it. Her long brown hair was wrapped neatly in a scarf. She wore a pair of jeans and a nice crop top that allowed her to show off her navel and was adorned with a gold-coloured ring-like structure with a cross pendant. The little moonlight that escaped through the window made her look inhuman.

She glared hard at Amelia and placed her hand on her waist. "Is there something you want, Ann? I see you bumped your head on the door, sorry about that" said Amelia. Ann walked closer and slapped her. "Don't you forget that it is you who needs something? You are in my house so you're going to play by my rules. I really shouldn't have let Jordan bring you home. You cause only trouble" said Ann angrily. Her chest was rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath.

"You just slapped me? What did I do ? ” cried Amelia as she rubbed her cheek. Hot tears stung her eyes. This was her reality. "If you ask me any more silly questions again I'll have Jordan kick you out. I heard you don't even have a home now" said Ann as she walked around the little room. She made her way to the little bed which was the only furniture in the room, and sat down. "Look darling, let's make things easier for the both of us. If my daughter says do this, say yes! Nothing more and never complain" said Ann. She stood up and shut the door.

I'm finally alone. The tears were already out. They were salty and had a bitter feeling with them. Her heart ached. Her soul watched as her whole body broke down in pieces.

Later that night, Jordan had come up to instruct her to do the laundry to please his wife. She had barely eaten and the attic was so cold.

When she had finished, she walked into the kitchen to grab something to eat. Suddenly, the lights were turned on and cries of "Help! A thief is in the house" woke everyone up. "My bad, I thought you were a thief. It's way past dinner time so why are you still here" said Emily with an ugly smirk across her face. Everyone seemed to support Emily's excuse and glared at her like eating was a crime.

Whosoever created breakfast time, lunch time and dinner time must have been jobless, she mumbled as she returned the food items.

"Honey, she interrupted my beauty sleep and only brought trouble "cried Ann as she pouted to look cute to her husband. "I know hun, that's why her father left her. Now that's none of our business. Everyone to bed, including you, and tomorrow missy we would make arrangements on how to come about my payments" said Uncle Jordan as he pointed at her and muttered some curses.

"What could tomorrow possibly do for me?" said Amelia as she climbed onto the rickety old bed. The sheets were clean and soft. It didn't take long until her teary eyes finally closed to sleep.