Brynlee’s POV

I sat there in the dark, shivering non-stop. The only source of light was the dim rays from the cracked window sill. I knew she would do something drastic. My gaze remained fixed, scanning the area while my hands gripped the edge of my skirt.

Why does she hate me so much? My mother. Her hatred towards me is palpable, evident in her words and actions. Why on earth was she trying to marry me off to that stinking bastard?

“Why are you hiding, bitch?! If I lay my hands on you, I will chop you into tiny bits of smithereens! You dare disgrace me?” Amidst the gloomy atmosphere of that dark room, her voice penetrated through and provided me with a brief moment of relief from her anger.

Funny, right? A mother calling her daughter a bitch? Trust me; I have had it worse than you think. Bitch? That was just the tip of the iceberg. Despite my earnest prayers that she wouldn’t find me, it seems the heavens have always been and will continue to be against me.

Although it was dark, the ominous sound of her approaching footsteps made my heart race uncontrollably. Should I hold my breath?

And then I felt it; the pain brought my wandering mind back to the present. The slash on my body and the angry eyes staring at me in the dark ceased my tears for a second.

“Ouch! Mother! Please, it hurts!” I cried out after that one second of trying to process the fucking pain in my guts.

And it wasn’t enough because the pain won’t stop as my mother continued hitting me and slashing my body with the whip kept specifically for me. I screamed, wailed, begged, and even tried to stop the pain, but she kept doing what she knew how to do best.

“How dare you run away from the wedding? That man is willing to pay $100,000 to marry you!” I heard her say.

Yes, that old hag, old enough to be my ancestor, would pay that enormous amount of money to get married to a virgin who was old enough to be his great-granddaughter!

But then I have no one to blame. After all, my mother was happy to sell me off.

“Mom, I’m not even eighteen yet, I’m still studying, and I’m not even of legal marriage age. Why do you want me to get married?” I came up with the perfect reason, hoping she would calm down. How wrong I was.

I saw her scoff at my words as her eyes glared at me distastefully. What kind of mother would harbor such hatred for her daughter? If I wasn’t already heartbroken, her next statements utterly crushed me.

“It’s lucky you have someone willing to marry you with dollars. I can buy a suit with that money!” She said, spitting on the floor.

What? Was my worth just some fucking suit? Was she hellbent on selling me just to buy one? My chest heaved in anger, and I clenched the hem of my skirt even tighter.

“Regina is eighteen years old and a year older than me. Why don’t you let her marry someone?” I asked angrily.

I have had enough! She was my mother, for crying out loud. Why was she different since the death of my father? Although she hadn’t been the best of mothers, she wouldn’t exchange me for a suit or beat me for every little fault she seemed to see every time. I looked up at her, trying to see whether there was even the slightest sign of concern on her face, but I saw a sneer and the words I had come to get used to.

“How can you compete with her? Regina is my daughter, and she is beautiful and smarter than you. Compared to you, filthy thing, she is the best!”

I felt hurt like always; my chest squeezed at the thought of being compared to filth. I wanted to retort badly, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was a question.

“Why? I’m your daughter too!” I yelled, tears welling up in my eyes.

I watched my mother throw me a disgusted look, and just as I was about to hear her reply, my ever-precious sister, Regina, came over and pulled her mother away.

“Mom, don’t be angry with this trash. Please go have a rest.”

What do I expect? Solace? Consolation? From the one who wished I was never in their lives? I wonder if she didn’t want a sibling. That could explain her blatant hatred for me.

I heard her scoff as she approached me in the darkroom, representing all the darkness in my life. Although I couldn’t see her too well, I could see every step she took toward me, and I could picture her radiating her forced beauty as she flaunted it.

That’s Regin—the peacock of the family. She had just turned eighteen, and boys were already lining up as suitors, not because she was beautiful but because she knew how to become beautiful. Please don’t ask me how.

“Do you know why mom hates you so much? Let me tell you a secret.” She said, bending to my ears to whisper.

I strained my ears and eagerly awaited the answer to the question that had been eating me up—why my mother hated me.

“That’s because you are not her child! Hahahaha! You are the child of dad and another woman; that’s why mom hates you so much.”

My world stayed still for a moment. It was like I was floating in my world of uncertainty. I was the child of another woman?

I was shocked. No wonder my mother looked so plain, like Regina, but I looked very different. I also don’t look like my dad except for the hazel eyes and golden hair.

I lost all hope in myself. The hope that someday my mother would love me. That hope just got shattered, knowing my mother must have been the other woman since Regina was older than me.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I recalled everything I had gone through. Dropping out of school, despite being the top student and being treated like trash since my father’s death, explains everything.

I have a feeling that this is only the start and that I will soon be sold out. I need to run away from home.

****

As soon as the mother and daughter duo left, I took my little savings and sneaked out of the house. Still filled with sadness and anger, I kept walking in no direction.

Our house was situated on the city’s outskirts and was surrounded by trees and rocks. I kicked the rocks and stared at the ground with my thoughts scattered.

I wished my father hadn’t died; maybe I might know a little about my biological mother. As I walked deeper into the forest that leads to another little town, my body suddenly tensed up.

I felt a strong wind blow past me. It wasn’t just an ordinary wind; it was like the feeling of something rushing past you. The force was so huge and violent that it knocked my whole body out of the way! I fell to the ground.

“Ouch!” I cried, holding my butt.

I got up from the grass to check who hit me and was surprised it was a huge but injured dog. What would a dog be doing here? As I approached it, I furrowed my brows upon realizing its true nature.

“A wolf?”

I shivered in fear. Was this how I was going to die?