Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Rhea's Pov

“And I gave you silence. I endured your indifference, your scorn, your favoritism. I kept my mouth shut through every slap, every cold shoulder, every ‘why can’t you be more like Ginny?’ And for what? So I could be accused of humiliating her for asking for my own things back?”

Jason stepped forward again, his hand twitching at his side, but this time I didn’t flinch.

“Try it.” I said softly, daring him, “Put your hands on me again and I swear, this time I won’t just stand there and take it. I’m not the same girl who let you all treat her like dirt.”

“You’re delusional.” Jason spat, “You’ve gone completely mad.”

I chuckled, taking a step back, brushing my fingers across the cheek he’d slapped earlier, “Mad? Maybe. But I’d rather be mad and free than sane and chained to this pathetic excuse of a family.”

My mother looked like she might faint from the sheer audacity of my words. Ginny had gone pale, her act failing to hold up under the weight of truth. For once, the golden girl didn’t have a prepared script to play victim.

“Where are you going?” My mother demanded as I turned away and walked toward the stairs.

“My room… Or no, the storage room which you made me move to so that Ginny could take my room but no worries, it's just a matter of time before I leave this place. After today, don't bother me for anything ever again and Ginny, you can go to Kevin for all I care, date him, sleep with him, if you aren't doing that already-”

Ginny's face flushed at this but I continued either way.

“-Just don't concern yourselves with me any longer, if you do, you wouldn't like what I'd do to you.”

I didn’t wait for their reactions. Their stunned faces and gaping mouths were all the satisfaction I needed. My heels echoed sharply on the stairs as I climbed to the storage room, my room now.

But it was fine. This was temporary.

I opened the door, dragging all the designer bags I had brought to put all the clothes I bought earlier behind me. The scent of dust and forgotten things lingered, but I didn’t flinch. I shut the door, locked it, then slid the latch for good measure.

From the bottom of my box, I retrieved a worn black notebook wrapped in a silk cloth, something I had hidden for years. It was my diary, the one I had used to express myself throughout the years of being ignored and disliked. I opened it slowly, going through everything I had written.

July 19 2016

It's my birthday today, but daddy adopted a girl to be my sister. They didn't remember to celebrate my birthday but I'm not angry, after all, I have a new sister and mommy said I should treat her nicely because her father helped daddy. And I like her! She's so cute!

I turned the page again.

July 19 2019

They forgot my birthday again, it's been 3 years since nobody bothered to remember my birthday or even wish me a happy birthday. All they remember is Ginny's birthday. What did I do wrong?

I turned and turned and turned the pages until I got to the end of the written parts of the diary, and by the time I did, I was breathing heavily. Now that I had re-read everything in here, the hatred came back at full force. How could I have tried to throw back what they did to me to the back of my mind so I could live in harmony with them all? How?

“Crazy. This is crazy.” I muttered under my breath.

My hands trembled as I clutched the diary. My vision blurred, not with tears, but with fury, thick and hot, rushing up from the pit of my stomach like poison. I looked at the words, the carefully written entries from the child I used to be. The girl who kept hoping. Who kept forgiving. Who kept waiting for someone to see her.

And no one ever did.

A scream built in my throat, but I bit it back. Instead, I gritted my teeth and ripped the page in my hand clean out. Then another. And another. Until the paper fluttered like broken wings to the floor. I tore every memory out with no hesitation, no mercy. Every word that little girl had written until she became a teenager, begging for love, yearning for attention, trying to be enough, I ripped them to shreds.

By the time I was done, I was surrounded by pieces of my past, scattered like confetti at the funeral of my innocence.

And then, I looked down at the empty shell of the diary. The worn leather cover, once a treasure I had hidden from everyone. My father gave it to me before he adopted Ginny and this was also the last gift he gave to me. It was worn out, but I chose to keep holding on to it.

Pathetic.

I clenched the diary in both hands and, without another thought, marched to the small trash bin in the corner of the room. I threw it in, breathing hard. The finality of the act sent a chill up my spine.

That was it. I had no more space in my life for memories that only bruised me. No more room for longing. I was done mourning the girl who lived in hope.

I wiped my hands on my jeans, but then a knock came from the door.

Knock. Knock.

The sound startled me. I stiffened, eyes darting toward the door. I didn’t say anything.

“Rhea?” That voice. Sugar and spice and everything fake.

Ginny.

I inhaled sharply, forcing down the urge to scream.

“What?” I snapped, not bothering to soften the edge in my tone.

“I have a plan.” She said quickly, as though afraid I’d shut her out before she could finish, “A plan for Kevin to like you. Completely.”