STUCK WITH MY STEP DEVIL

I'M HOME

“Put on your clothes,mum can't see us like this”James' voice came like a whisper.I wish I could erase all the memories,sigh! he never even reached out,not even once.I really hope he's dead,cause I never want to see him again.

“James”even thinking his name still felt like touching fire with bare hands or perhaps I'm just exaggerating.I stared out of the airplane window as the clouds parted beneath us, my reflection faint in the glass. Older now,sharper around the edges. The girl who left this country years ago had been softer,naive enough to think I mattered to my family as a complete human,with no special abilities,naive enough to believe time could erase him.I hope it did.

My phone vibrated in my palm. Instinctively, I unlocked it before I could stop myself.Instagram, his page loaded almost immediately, like it had been waiting for me.James Owen…A new post,of course.He stood shirtless this time, muscles defined like they’d been sculpted instead of grown. Blue eyes, cold, arrogant, staring straight into the camera as if daring the world to challenge him.A girl clung to his side,beautiful, blonde, smiling too wide. She looked proud,like she’d won something.My chest tightened.

Every day there was someone new.As if I hadn’t been his first kiss,as if my lips hadn’t been the first ones he learned on,as if the way his hands once trembled against my waist meant nothing.

I locked my phone and swallowed the ache burning my throat.I was going home even though the word felt wrong,heavy,like a lie I kept telling myself because I didn’t have a better one.Home wasn’t home for me,home wasn’t warm.Home was a house filled with people born powerful,while I was born nothing.Everyone in my family had something,fire,ice,mind control,time manipulation. Things whispered about in fear and awe. Everyone was taught early what kind of god they’d grow into,everyone except me.I was completely human,completely ordinary,completely broken.They never said it out loud, but I felt it in the silences in the way conversations paused when I entered a room. In the looks that lingered too long, measuring what I lacked.I was the mistake that proved powers weren’t guaranteed.And then there was James,my all stupid stepbrother.I hated that word “brother” ,I hated that it followed his name everywhere, like a leash meant to remind us both of the line we were never supposed to cross.We weren’t always like this

Once, we were inseparable.So close the whole school forgot we were siblings at all. They whispered when we passed,watched when we laughed. Invented stories when they got bored.

The rumor about the pool spread faster than wildfire.They said James had pinned me against the tiles,that his hands had wandered and my mouth had been on his,oh well,it wasn't entirely fake.But why would they care?

The day my parents heard, everything shattered.

They said it was for my protection,”he's dangerous”They’ll always whisper, and James,he never tried to make me stay,he let me take all the blame.They said I didn’t understand what he was becoming.They sent me away,to another country, another life,before I could argue,before I could beg,before James could even look at me and ask why.They told me the truth only once.

James had killed his biological mother,they didn’t explain how or why,just that it had happened, and that his powers were still growing ,unstable, uncontrolled,deadly.

“He wouldn’t mean to,” my stepmother had whispered, hands shaking. “But one day… he might.”

And apparently, I was the thing that could push him over the edge,so they sent me away.I learned how to live without magic.How to survive without family,how to pretend my heart didn’t still belong to a boy who could destroy worlds.

College passed in a blur of exams, fake connections, fake smiles, and nights where sleep refused to come. I dated,I laughed,I tried. But every time someone touched me, it felt wrong,like they were standing in someone else’s place.

James moved on.I watched him do it, one post at a time.Every girl he touched felt like betrayal. Every smile he gave someone else felt personal. I told myself I hated him for it. That it was easier than admitting I was jealous.The plane jerked slightly as we descended,my stomach twisted.

I didn’t want to see him,I didn’t want to remember the way he used to look at me like I was the only thing in the room. Like I mattered more than his powers, more than his pride.

I wanted to step into the house, grab my things, and pretend he didn’t exist and I'll be doing just that .The airport smelled the same.The drive home felt longer than it should have,the gate to the estate loomed ahead, black iron,moving up as I approached, hmm new development I guess

As the car rolled through,I could see new faces everywhere, I'm sure they changed all the maids to cause “the devil”can't close his zips.

Savire strolled towards me. Oh great someone I recognize.Every other person kept giving me stares, wondering who I was maybe .

“Welcome back Stella,you were missed”

I smiled “you weren't hehe”

I took my tot bag and headed straight inside.

They’ve been a few changes here and there ,the door opened on its own,I moved in slowly…pictures everywhere and his picture,I looked away almost immediately,ran upstairs cause I can't wait to see my dad!!!!

I knocked but the door opened revealing a curvy lady.

“And who are you?” I strolled past her , I'm so sure she wasn't talking to me like that.I came in to the last person I wanted to see standing there half naked.For a moment, neither of us moved.

“In my dad's room,are you crazy”

his lips curved,not into a smile, but something colder.

“You’re back,” he said.

I straightened my spine, lifting my chin.

“Unfortunately.”

His gaze dragged over me slowly, deliberately, like he was memorizing every change. Like I hadn’t haunted him the same way he haunted me.Hatred burned in my chest.I turned away before he could see anything else.

I didn’t know yet that leaving him had been the easy part.

Staying?

Oh it's about to be hell