Beating.
1091 Words
"I'm coming Danielle!" Mila answered back as she wondered what her stepmother wanted this time, probably to smack her for the simplest things.
Hurriedly wearing her bathrobe, she ran out of the bathroom while hoping she wouldn't be subjected to beatings of any kind because with how weak her muscles felt, she'd probably die this time.
She reached her room door and took a deep breath before unlocking it with the key. However, before she could twist the doorknob to open the door, Danielle already beat her to it and she forcefully pushed the door, resulting in it pushing Mila that she fell on her butt due to the force at which Danielle pushed the door.
But Danielle didn't care about that, she stared down at Mila with her left hand on her waist and her right hand holding a whip.
"How dare you lock this door? Do you think you have such rights or freedom to do so in my house? And why are you back from work by this time of the day?" Danielle asked with her smoky voice piercing the whole house as her wrinkly face wrinkled even more with the scowl on her face.
She wore a long satin dress that had probably been in existence for years because it looked old, her grey hair was kept in a low messy bun and the heavy makeup on her face only made a look vile, an appearance befitting for an evil stepmother from the Disney fairytale, exactly what she was.
"Don't tell me you've lost your job, you've really lost your job. How are we going to survive in this house then?" Danielle questioned as she pointed at Mila with the whip in her hand.
"No, I've not lost my job," Mila replied as she shook her profusely. The moment her eyes fell on the whip on Danielle's hand, her breath hitched with fear as she didn't want to be whipped again, not today at least.
"Shut up your mouth!" Danielle shrieked as she raised her hand that held the whip and they landed heavily on Mila's arm, causing her to flinch and wince in pain at the impact of the whip on her skin.
"How dare you speak back at me? Speak only when I ask you to." She warned and took a step forward and came to stand close to Mila and she grabbed Mila by her jade dark hair, "Now come with me," she said as she dragged Mila out of the bedroom.
Mila whose body was already in pain closed her eyes tightly as she was pulled by the hair and dragged around. She placed her hands on Danielle's hand which grabbed her hair to stop the pain but was whipped on her hands by Danielle.
The pain that coarse through her body caused Mila to cry out with her eyes filled with tears and her face red like a ripe tomato as she could no longer hold in the pain.
She wanted it to be over but deep down, she knew this was only the beginning.
After being dragged like an animal by Danielle, getting to the living room, Danielle finally let go of Mila's hair, this caused relief to wash down her body as she finally let out the breath she had been holding in.
"Now, do you care to explain what that is?" Danielle asked with her hands pointing at the dining table that looked like a big mess with plates and food crumbs and stains all around.
Mila who had no idea why the table looked like that shook her head, but that was a bad decision because right after, another stroke of the whip landed squarely on her body, causing her to shriek in pain.
"Speak up," Danielle commanded and Mila flinched as a chill filled her whole body.
"I...I have...no idea," she responded with shaky breath as she tried to hold the tears in.
"What do you mean, you rat? Did you fly all the way into your bedroom? Didn't you see the state of that table when you walked in?" Danielle asked, her frown deepening as she slashed another stroke of the whip on Mila.
Mila who was now in so much pain whimpered as she tried stopping herself from crying out loud. This was her life in the house almost every day ever since her father left this world and left her in the hands of her evil stepmother and stepbrother.
She wished to get out of this situation but had nowhere to go. She was too poor to even rent herself a cheap apartment because her monthly earnings always went to her stepmother's bank account.
Danielle had made Mila use her bank details to receive her monthly salary from the bar which was why she couldn't even save up for anything.
"It wasn't me who caused the mess," Mila responded, trying to save herself. She knew exactly who did that dirty mess on that table, it was John, her stepbrother.
That lazy dog never does anything right, he was lazy and jobless and apart from doing all the cleaning and house chores, Mila as well was made to clean up John's bedroom, wash his clothes, and clean up every single mess after him.
He couldn't even serve his own dish, Mila had to do that. He had no job and wasn't even schooling because Danielle could not afford his school fees, the little money Mila earned from the bar was not enough money to send John to a good school.
Hence, he stayed at home and lazed around. All he did was sleep all day or go out with friends then return home to eat and mess up the place.
He was a nineteen-year-old boy but behaved like a three-year-old child because of how spoiled and pampered he was by his mother.
"You wretch, you better do yourself good and clean this up before I return here again!" Danielle spat and walked out of the place, leaving Mila in pain.
Knowing she had no choice, Mila stood up despite feeling sore all over and she quickly cleaned up the table and left for her bedroom.
She took a hot shower and took the painkiller medicine she had managed to buy for herself and just lay on the bed till she slept off.
She didn't even bother herself with food because she knew the kitchen would be empty, Danielle and John would have eaten everything an
d anything edible in that kitchen, leaving nothing for her.
- Writer
