Married Off To The Impoverished Son

Ava’s POV I always considered myself a responsible killer. It was a strange title to give myself despite the situation I was in, but I claimed it. Some would hear about my situation and they would claim that I wasn’t a killer, that it wasn’t my fault that life took an unexpected turn around me. I doubt it though. At some point, I started to ask questions about my life. I would put those questions on Quora. A lot of people did this. I was ten when I first signed up and asked my first question. ‘What do you do when life turns its back on you?’ I asked when my mother died. It was a very painful time for me, yet, I had no one to cry to. My father was too busy bustling around to care about my lonely feelings. I wondered why life was so cruel. Why had death decided to claim my mother’s life? It didn’t make sense to me. Two months later, I found myself asking another question on Quora. Despite the first not being responded to, my momentum didn’t diminish. ‘What do you do when your mother dies and your father remarries?’ I asked next. Another time in my life I was genuinely confused. It had just been a few weeks since my mother had died, so why was my father suddenly able to move on and bring in another woman? I even asked him this, but all I got from him was an excuse of it being an adult thing and I wouldn’t be able to understand it even if he told me. I begged to differ. My stepmother had a female child my age. Mia was her name. She looked a lot like her mother, yet, for some reason, she looked similar to my father in a way. I found it strange but my small mind could not easily understand why it was strange. My stepmother, Evelyn, and Mia did not like me. I didn’t have to go to Quora to ask why. It seemed obvious. I watched Cinderella. Although Evelyn did not make me clean or anything, she definitely wasn’t nice. She seemed very enthusiastic when it came to ignoring me. Mia, on the other hand, did not ignore me. Later on, I deeply wished that she would. Mia always said that I stole her father from her, even though I had never met her father. She would hurt insults at me whenever she had the chance. She relished my weak demeanor. I wondered what part of it made her happy. At some point, Mia started to say that I was the one who had killed my mother. She told me that she had overheard the adults talking about it. I didn’t believe her. How could I when I knew the reason why? But for some reason, the more she said it, the more I slowly started to accept her words. Later on, I learned that apparently after my mother had birthed me, her psyche was weak. She did not have much life in her after that. It was the truth I couldn’t avoid. I had killed my mother. A year later, my father drunkenly admitted that he had cheated on my lovely mother while she was still alive. While she was holding me in her stomach, he had grown impatient and met with his mistress, whom he eventually brought into our house as my mother. Knowing that Mia was my biological sister left me unsettled. Years went by and I made a friend. More years went by and that friend left me. But she didn’t leave me alone. I would sometimes like to believe what she left me with was a farewell gift. Perhaps it was. How could Euclid be anything but? “Ava, I’m hungry.” A small boyish boy woke me up from my sleep. My eyes slowly cracked open, completely unfazed by the figure of a small boy before me. Over the years, he had become a sort of alarm clock. I loved him. He was exactly like his mother, a surprisingly earlier riser. His biological clock was amazing to me. “Give me a minute, Euclid,” I said with a nasal tone. It was expected since I had just woken up. Euclid nodded his small head and scampered away. I heard him close the door before I shut my eyes and sighed. I would have loved to stay in bed but I had no choice but to get up. I had to make breakfast for a picky seven-year-old. “You should eat your vegetables, Euclid, you won’t grow taller if you don’t.” I teased Euclid as I poured him a glass of milk. I had gotten ready for work and was currently watching Euclid eat his breakfast while I slaved away with coffee. With the amount of coffee that went down my throat daily, my blood was probably made of it by now. “I’m trying. It’s icky..” Euclid pouted as he stared at the carrots on his plate as if it were his enemy. I giggled at his reaction. He was always like this. He would always have trouble eating his vegetables. But then again, which child didn’t? But I still hoped he would eat more. He was too small for his age. It made me feel like I wasn’t taking care of him enough. “Come on. Just try to finish it up, okay.” I gently coaxed while glancing at the clock on the wall. “We have to get you to school in a bit, and I have a long shift at the café today,” I told him as I gathered my stuff from the living room. We lived in a small but comfortable apartment. It was good enough for both of us. It was also the only thing my father was willing to give me. If people knew who my father was, they would be shocked that I worked such a menial job. My father would rather sell his kidney than let me without a university certificate work for him. What a wonderful father he was. I watched Euclid struggle to eat his food until he finally cleared his plate. While he drank his milk, I went to grab my car keys. On my way, I saw a photo frame. It always seemed to catch my eye. It was a picture of Euclid’s mother. I was a momentum to remember her by. Seeing her made a hollow feeling resonate in my chest. “What a responsible killer I am,” I mumbled to myself as I grabbed my keys and went to the door. Why would I call myself that? Because I believed I was one. A murderer who had enough responsibility to keep her alive and out of jail. Although my only responsibility was Euclid, I wondered what would happen if he wasn’t there. I would probably end my life. Shaking the thought out of my head, I called out for Euclid. “Come on, we have to go!” I said, wearing my shoes. There was silence. “Euclid?” I called out again. Yet again, no response. Fear gripped me as I ran back into the kitchen. The sight of Euclid’s limp body on the kitchen floor made my heart tremble. I ran forward and gathered him into my arms. “Euclid, baby?! What’s wrong?!” I panicked as I asked. I could feel my world crashing down. A familiar scene flashed in my mind. Panic and fear gripped my mind as a foreboding thought swirled in it. ‘I had killed someone again.”