TRIANA

Thunder clapped loudly causing the whole house to vibrate, lighting flashed in occasionally through the window of my room, as the rain continued to pour heavily on our roof making loud sounds like a thousand pebbles. Not wanting to wake anyone which can trauncate my escape plan, I silently crept out of bed to gather my few belongings in a backpack; my school bag containing just a few clothes and a cardigan bought by my late mother, I picked up my favorite rubber sandals and put them on as silently as possible, I have been waiting for days for the opportunity to leave this hell hole, tonight's rain was just for me; the perfect cover to finally leave unnoticed. Everyone at home should have gone to sleep by now, I murmured to myself glancing at the wall clock; its few minutes past twelve a:m, I quitely tip toed to the door and opened it silently, hoping not to make a sound, I stood still in front of my room and look towards the stairs case to be sure nobody is awake, when I was sure I have successfully left my room. I moved towards the kitchen door, I had left it open for this special occasion, I grabbed a big bottle of water and took the few food items I have gathered last night and stuffed it in my small bag and zipped it tight, and slunged it is to my back making sure my foot made no sound, I moved towards the main entrance, trying hard not to stumble on anything in the living room; now this is the last huddle to cross, I looked around and turned the door knob quitely and sneaked out. I took a deep breath once I got outside and the rain started beating my skin violently, I am very sure it's the rain that made my sneaking out successful because my father was home and he is not a deep sleeper, I just hope am long gone before he discovers. .......Five years ago.... My father, Mr Williams changed completely since the arrival of my little brother Ken, five years ago, he focused all his attention on Ken neglecting his first child, courtesy of my step mom. I was told my mom died of a sudden illness, eight years ago, the doctor gave it a big name according to what my father said, I was so young then, barely 3yrs old that I can't quite remember what exactly happened to my mother, he said he tried as much as possible to save her but to no avail, but I can't even question that, no one have given me a really satisfying answer to the cause of her death, funny enough I don't even where she was buried, She just cruelly left me alone in this wicked world, or so I thought. At first my father was devastated and we tried hard to console each other,he loved my mother no doubt, but as time goes on he became happy again but I was far from been happy, I felt all alone despite having two maids and a nanny in the house, I wasn't very close to my father, he doesn't stay home that much either and he didn't really make efforts to draw closer to his daughter,He once said that I reminded him too much of my late mom because I was a carbon copy of her, with almond colored smooth skin,oval shaped face clear water-like blue eyes, with long eyelashes, wavy, long cherry plum colored hair with shots of gold strands, making me draw attention even when I didn't want to, I have a thin natural pink lips, and a slender body that looks very delicate at first glance, my mom was a natural beauty in every sense of the word and I inherited her looks and added more, the gold hair strands is probably from my father because he has blonde honey like colored hair, all in all I was a beauty to behold.He said he wants to get over her death and continue with his life, so now I am left in the care of the nanny who came to take care of me, I wasn't close to her either because I sense she doesn't feel comfortable in our house for reasons best known to her, She rarely talks to me, sometimes I do think maybe she is a robot that doesn't have emotions, same goes with the maids they only clean the house and feed me when I was younger, none of them deem it fit to discuss anything with me. Little did I know that the nanny was just been sober as I later got to know that she knows so much about my mother. Unknown to me, my father was already having an affair with his secretary, Susan, well she later became my step mother, She could earn a degree with honors if there is a course called maltreatment. She immediately fired all my father's maid and nanny claiming she is capable of taken care of me and the house all by herself. The first three years she got married to my father she treated me as her own, I was relieved those few years that I now at least have a mother and someone to talk to, little did I know that once her own child arrives, all that care or rather pretense will come to an end and her true colors will be out in the open, I literally became an insignificant maid in my own father's house. As young as I was, I did any chore available, both the neccesary and the unnecessary, from washing all dirty and clean clothes, to cleaning the whole house a storey building with six rooms, to mopping, to cooking, every single day.There was no rest for me, any house job one can think of, I practically do everything in the house while my step mother just sit in front of the TV eating snacks and sending me all sorts of errands from morning till dusk, sitting down to read or resting is a taboo for me I sleep only when everyone have slept and must wake up before anyone to continue my never ending house chores.Leaving the house would not have occurred to me if not for the constant flogging and beating I receive for making slight mistakes, my father never believed me each time I managed to report my step mom to him which made matters worse, most times he didn't even bother to listen to whatever I have to say, I would say in my own case been a maid would have been better, life would have been easier if I was an house help in another person's house compared to what I faced in my so called father's house. She wouldn't flog me if my father was around, but immediately he steps out of the house am in deep soup for even trying to report what she did to my father, she calls me all sorts of names like 'little witch', that's just one of the numerous ones I bear once my father is away. I think that's her favorite one, She left her job after the birth of her son for no specific reason, just to make my life more miserable I guess, my father accepted without any questions. I had to endure the suffering for five whole years so that I can graduate from high school, I will be sixteen in the next five months and I managed to finish my final high school exams few weeks ago and since then I have been planning my escape.