The Hidden

Another Day

Dyann rolled over and groaned as she slapped at the alarm which was screaming way too early. It had been a late night of cooking and cleaning and being yelled at and slapped. She had no reason to believe today would be any better. She made her way to the bathroom and checked her face. Not so bad, just a faint handprint today. She threw her too long hair in a pony tail and rushed downstairs to get breakfast ready. She made a mental list of everything on the docket today: breakfast, clean up from breakfast, shower, dress, get to work. She’ll have to do the grocery shopping during her lunch break and use the office fridge to store things. She has an important dinner to make tonight. She has to fix Meagan’s dress. Wow. Will it ever stop?  Considering her grandparents are healthy and youthful for grandparents, her uncle and his wife are the same, and of course Meagan is only 19 and strong - there was no reason for all of the work to fall on Dyann. At 26, she felt like an old woman. She always felt weak and tired. Maybe it was her sickness. Her grandparents had cautioned her for years not to forget her daily medicines. She was required to take it in front of them and if she forgot the reaction was violent. They never gave her details, never took her to a doctor, and they controlled the medicine so she could not even research the type of medicine and dig  into her “condition” on her own.  

As she was thinking and resenting, she completed her prep for breakfast. She raced upstairs using a minimal amount of time to get ready for her day. Her morning routine was simple since she had simple hand me down clothes, no makeup, and was not allowed to cut or style her hair. She mentally shrugged, “ at least it streamlines the morning to be poor and plain”.  Se was both.  She had always had pale skin that looked yellowish and sickly, her hair was dull, there was no shine to her at all. Dull. She was dull all over. Her features were pleasant and her figure was good, but no one looked past her sickly color and baggy clothes to see the potential that she wanted to believe was there. 

As her grumbling family made their way to the dining room table, she set out the dishes she had carefully prepared to their liking. She had even snuck a few bites herself. It felt so good to eat and it was usually a once a day occurrence. She typically only ate lunch because her co workers took pity on her and purchased it. As Meagan made her way to the dining room, Dyann announced she needed to be at work early just so she could get the hell out of there. 

Her grandfather roughly grabbed her arm and jerked her back into the room. “Medicine” he growled. 

She reluctantly took the pills he had laid out on the table and swallowed them. 

“And don’t forget your uncle will drive you home from work so dinner can be ready exactly at 7:30. This house will be clean and you will not be seen or heard.”

She nodded a response and grabbed her bag as she headed for the door.