All a Plan

“How could you be so dense? You probably brought this on yourself. All you had to do was remain silent, be a faithful wife, and be obedient. Would it have killed you to not have signed those damn papers?” Charles Parish shouted at Ava, his eyes almost bulging out of his skull.

His face was squeezed in anger, his brows drawn together as he stared at his firstborn daughter, wondering how he had gone wrong with her.

“Is that all you have to say to me?” Ava replied, her eyes filled with tears.

She had walked through the rain, hoping she would at least find some solace with the man she called father.

“What were you expecting, a hug? After the shame you have brought on this family? How could you get yourself divorced from him?” Amelia Parish, Ava’s stepmother, said, trying to look dissatisfied with the outcome of her stepdaughter’s marriage.

“Oh, I don’t expect that from you, seeing as you pretty much did exactly what she did to me with my father,” Ava said, her voice dropping a notch as she stared at her stepmother.

“How dare you compare me to that!” Amelia shouted, her eyes round as she glared at Ava.

“You really should watch that mouth of yours; probably why he divorced you,” Emily said from her position beside her mother.

“I do not blame you; I blame my father for bringing you into our life,” Ava spat angrily.

“You really should worry about yourself; you don’t really have anything to fall back on right now if you ask me, so maybe try keeping that anger of yours in check,” Emily said, grinning.

"Ava, you have no place with us any longer; you should have thought about that when you decided to sign the stupid divorce papers,” Charles told her, shaking his head.

“Can you even hear yourself? I said his ex-girlfriend is pregnant and he doesn’t want me anymore; you of all should understand seeing as you brought her in as soon as mom died,” Ava shouted.

Her father had cheated on her mother, leading to the birth of Emily, and as soon as her mom had died, they had moved in with them.

The ringing sound that echoed through the room vibrated off Ava’s cheeks, the pain piercing through her as she held her cheek.

“Don’t you ever speak about your stepmother that way again,” Charles shouted at Ava.

“The past three years have been the worst part of my life; living with a man who didn’t’ love me was worse than hell, and now I tell you his ex-girlfriend is pregnant for him, and I left the house, but you have not for once asked me how I am,” Ava said, the fight leaving her as her shoulders slumped in pain.

“Why should he? Nobody forced you to marry him; you gladly did; in fact, you thought yourself in love with him at some point. If you want to blame someone, blame your mother; she was the one who agreed to allow you to marry him before she died, a decision you gladly agreed to,” Amelia said with scorn.

"Well, if I were you, I would find a way to stick to that family, seeing as you’ve got nothing. You could have at least gotten yourself pregnant by him; at least that would give you a hold on him. Why would you even leave simply because he asked you to? What about his grandfather? I thought you were a favorite of his.” Emily said with a wicked smile.

“You should go back, Ava; you have no place here anymore,” her father said, turning his back away from her and heading out of the room.

“You can leave after the rain; that’s the best I can do for you,” Amelia said before going after her husband.

Ava felt her heart break the second time as her father turned his back to her. Tears fell down her checks as she pulled her box and turned towards the door.

“How does it feel to lose everything, including the company?” Emily said behind her.

Ava’s hand froze on the knob as she turned to look back at Emily. “What do you mean by that?” she asked.

“Well, let’s just say your marriage paved a way to get us the company; you, my dear sister, signed it away in the prenuptial,” Emily said with a grin as she stood up and walked over to Ava.

Ava felt the rush of blood to her head as her eyes became blurry. She staggered a bit before placing a hand on the door to support herself.

“You see, Father had this all planned; he knew well that was the only way to get that company away from you, and girl, it’s so satisfying to see the look on your face right now.” Emily said, looking more satisfied at Ava’s pain.

“You are..ee.. ly..ing” Ava stammered.

Emily laughed, her eyes twinkling with mischief, happy at Ava’s misery as she turned and walked away.

“I don’t believe you,” Ava said, her voice dropping down a notch as more tears streamed down her face.

As soon as Emily was out of earshot, Rosa walked over to Ava and took her hands and said, “Ava, you can’t go into that rain.”

Ava looked at Rosa, the sympathy in the woman's eyes pulling the last shred of her strength away as the tears came down more.

“I should go,” Ava muttered.

“No, Ava, please; you have to wait out the rain; it’s not safe on the road right now,” Rosa insisted.

“Thank you, Rosa, but I have to go,” Ava said, hugging the woman who had practically raised her after her mother died before walking out the door.

She walked for thirty minutes, muttering the same thing in daze to herself. Her eyes were empty, almost like she had lost her mind.

“It was all a plan.”

Ava felt pain on her lower back as she stood still on the side of the road. She had no idea where she was going and, most especially, what she was going to do with her life.

“Dumb me, I don’t even get any settlement,” Ava murmured, adding, “it was all a plan.”

As she turned, the next thing she saw was the piercing light of a truck coming towards her with full speed, and at that moment, she thought, “Maybe this is the end after all.”

The next thing she saw was the piercing light of a hospital as she opened her eyes.

“She is regaining consciousness,” someone shouted.

Ava felt aches all over her body, but among all was the piercing pain that came from her stomach, and instantly her hand went to it as she whispered weakly, “My baby.”

“I think she is with a child; we need to get her to the theater now!” Ava heard another person say just as she succumbed to the darkness that called once again.