Marigold

"You wretch!" yelled Leo Robert. "See the b*cth you've raised" he yelled again facing Daphne Robert his wife. "how dare you talk back at me" Leo yelled at Clara Robert, his second daughter. Clara stood frozen against the kitchen counter, her nails bitting into her palms hard enough to form a crescent. Her mother Daphne didn't flinch as she was already used to her father's constant abuse and insults. Her elder sister Hyacinth stood close to the door crying, while Clara's brother, Edward was in the sitting room listening to their conversation. "I only asked why you have to marry off Hyacinth to one of your friends, she is just 23 and Mr Joe is old enough to be her grandfather" Clara replied to her father. " Are you questioning my authority" Leo spoke with great anger that his body started shaking with anger. "I can't continue feeding your sister in my house and we are running low on money now, she should be happy Mr Joe wants her and he is willing to invest in my company if I hand over hyacinth to him, after all she is of no use to me" Leo said. "maybe if you had stopped your gambling and drinking we would be living fine" Clara retorted. "you b*tch" Leo roared in anger, he took a glass cup for the counter and hailed it straight to Clara. whoosh! the cup brush passed Clara and hit the wall but that didn't prevent the shards of the cup from cutting her as she was close to the wall. The sharp crunch of shattered glass echoed off the kitchen tiles. Clara gasped as a stray shard grazed her cheek, leaving a thin, stinging line of crimson that trickled down toward her jaw. ​Her mother, Daphne, finally stirred, her eyes widening in quiet terror as she reached out a trembling hand to touch Clara’s face, though she didn’t dare speak a word against her husband. ​In the doorway, Hyacinth stopped crying, her breath hitching as she looked at the blood on her sister's cheek. She was being traded like livestock to save a dying company and a gambling debt, and the realization hung suffocatingly heavy in the cramped kitchen. ​"Get out," Leo snarled, pointing a shaking finger toward the front door, his chest heaving. "If you have so little respect for the roof over your head, walk out that door right now and never expect a single cent from me again." ​Clara didn’t flinch away this time. She wiped the blood from her cheek with the back of her hand, smearing a red streak across her skin, and stared straight into her father’s eyes. The fear that had kept her small for years burned away, replaced by a cold, hardened resolve. ​"Gladly," Clara whispered. ​ She turned and pushed past Hyacinth, giving her elder sister's hand a tight, reassuring squeeze. Edward stood frozen in the sitting room doorway, eyes wide, watching her pack what little she owned into a faded bag without a backward glance. ​ Stepping out of the house into the cool night air, Clara felt the sting of her cut and the weight of her empty pockets. But as she looked back one last time at the dark, oppressive house she was leaving behind, she knew one thing for certain: she would rather starve on the streets than ever let a man like her father dictate her worth.