Everglades

Prologue

    The sound of a hand hitting flesh resonates through the dark, quiet house of the Everglades. Next comes a loud bang as the fragile girl's body drops to the floor as her breath heaves in and out. Tears sting the back of her eyes, but she refuses to let them fall. To let them fall would be showing weakness and her dad despises any sign of weakness. She already has learned crying and begging just makes the hits harder and it is when the name calling will start. At the fragile age of ten she has already learned her place. Shes learned she is suppose to sit still and look pretty. Shes learned she must always hold her head up and to never let a single tear stream down her face. Shes learned to stand up every time she falls or she will be beaten until she blacks out or manages to pull her tiny body off the marble floor. So thats what she does. She ignores the stinging in her cheek and the protest of her ribs as she lifts her self off the floor. Once up she straightens her shoulders and holds her head up high making sure to blink away the tears and to stop the quivering of her lower lip. 

    Her father nods in approval before slowly circling around his daughter like a lion intimidating its pray. His hands are clapsed behind his back as he surveys his daughter. Her hair a fiery red lays straight down her back, the natural curl forced out of it to make her more 'presentable.' Her eyes- much like his own- the color of black coffe, but unlike his eyes her eyes still has a slight sparkle to them. A sparkle he hopes to break. He takes in the freckles that splatter across her nose and cheeks. He examines and critiques her. He wished her button down turned nose was upturned. He wished her bow shaped lips were bigger. He wished her oval eyes turned more up. He wished her pale skin held more pigment. He wished his daughter was perfect. He wanted her to be worth more then !!!$100,000, but at this rate he doesnt think she will be. To him the only good quality she held was the bright red pigment of her hair that stood out amongst the sea of girls with blonde, brown and black hair. Red hair is a rare hair color and her mom named her Ariel for a reason. 

    If I didn't sleep with that filthy low life w***e then maybe my daughter wouldn't look like a spitting image of her. What the hell was I thinking? Thankfully I have the money to change her features once she reaches of age so I can find her a husband that is willing to buy her for more then what shes worth. 

    Those thoughts run through her fathers mind before he shakes his head and looks Ariel straight in her eyes. 

"Make yourself useful and help Susanna prepare dinner. After that you will help Aurora wash the dishes." Her father says reffering to her step mom and her half sister. 

    Ariel nods her head in understanding. She curtsey to the man who she refferes to as her father and says "as you wish" before gliding off to help the woman who wishes her dead. Ariels father committed infidelity. While he was married to Susanna he sleeped with Ariels mom and it almost ruined their marriage. Every time Susanna looks at Ariel all she feels is hatred and she's glad her husband has agreed to right his wrongs once Ariel hits puberty. She'll be someone elses problem then. 

     "Hello Mrs. Susanna, father told me to ask what you need help preparing." Ariel says with her head held high and a her lips set in a straight line. Susanna can't help but sneer at the girl before barking orders at her. Through out their time cooking Susanna makes multiple attempts to burn Ariel, even going as far as to touch her with a pan just coming off the burner just because Ariel dropped an egg on the floor. As the heat of the pan scolds Ariels arm she bites down on her lips so she doesnt let out a cry of pain. If she did her dad would hear her and it would be much worse than this. Ariel trys to jerk away, but Susanna is quick to grab her by her thick red hair and wrapping her hand multiple times around it just to hold her in place. She holds the side of the pan to Ariels upper arm for about fifteen seconds before pulling away to reveal a red blister already starting to form on Ariels pale skin. Tears well into Ariels eyes, but she refuses to allow a single one to fall as she cleans up the broken egg that lays on their marble kitchen floor. Soon enough dinner is ready and they sit around the long dark wooden table. 

   No one bothers to ask Ariel about her arm and they make sure that her plate has small portions so she doesn't become an undesirable weight. She must be a perfect wife one day. This is why no one bothers to ask her about how her home schooling is coming along or how she got hurt. As long as the marks don't turn into scars and she knows how to cook nothing else about her matters.

    Instead they ask tweleve year old Aurora how private school is going and how her theatre, ballet and musical training is coming along. They ask the blonde beauty about how she got scratches on her arm and they make a big deal when she says its from her friends cat. They give her all their love and undevoted attention as they ignore Ariels existence like always. 

    After dinner Ariel follows Aurora into the kitchen with plates in hand ready to wash them. Like always Ariel rinses them as Aurora places the dishes into the dish washer. 

    "Are you okay?" Aurora whispers to Ariel as her wide blue eyes peer into Ariels brown ones. 

    "Yes. Thank you." Ariel says, her face never wavering even though pain still wracks her burnt arm and bruised body. 

    Aurora stays quiet as she survey's Ariel, pain evident in Aurora's eyes. 

    "I'm so sorry sister. You don't deserve this." Aurora says as her sad blue eyes fill with unshed tears. Everytime Aurora gets like this it slightly freaks Ariel out. Aurora- much like Ariel- looks just like her mom. She has the same straight up turned button nose, the same pouty pink lips, the same oval shaped face and the same bright round slightly up turned crystal blue eyes. Their only differnce is Auroras mom has black hair. Auroras blonde hair is the only feature she received from their dad. 

    "Its alright. I pay for my mothers sins." Ariel says with a shrug as she finishes rinsing the last few dishes while handing them to Aurora. 

     "But th-" Aurora is cut off by Ariel who quickly tells her good night before making her way out the kitchen and up the double marbled stair case that has a black intricately designed swirled railing. She holds on to the railing as she glides up the steps and to her room which is the smallest room in the house. She opens the door to her plain white room that only holds her twin sized bed, one black dresser, a small closet, and a small black desk for her to do her homeschool work on. Looking around she can't help but think she wishes her mom would of won the custody battle when she was only a few months old. Her mom lost due to being a stripper who lives in 'the ghetto' while her dad bathes in money. Ariel doesn't care what her mom does or where her mom lives, she just wants to be loved and she knows her mom is the only one who could provide that.