I - Belladonna

Third Person’s POV

A new pleasant morning came.

“Belladonna, wake up, dear.” Her aunt, Melinda, called her loudly while making breakfast.

The girl jadedly went down to the living room and stared at her aunt, slicing hotdogs and portions of bacon.

“Come here, dear.” The aunt called Belladonna and showed her how she slices those types of meat.

“This is how you cut meat.” She said while gently fondling the knife.

“Want to give it a try?”

The aunt pointed the knife at the kid with a smug look on her face. The little girl grabbed the knife and started slicing the bacon that was left.

“You’re fast.”

“I’m just used to it. Mom has been in an unstable condition, and I need to survive.”

“Well, anyways. I’ll continue cooking, and you may look around this mansion.”

Belladonna started to roam around the expansive, red mansion where she used to live before. She buried all the memories she had. She believes that the past will only destroy her, so she lives like yesterday never existed.

She headed to the room in the basement where she used to play before. The room was completely different from what it used to be. Back, it was full of her books and toys. However, right now, it’s composed of shelves with different bottles of liquids in them. She gazed through those liquids and was about to grab a bottle with a violet liquid labeled ‘Belladonna’ until her aunt barged into that room and startled the girl.

“What are you doing here?” Her aunt asked with a sense of nervousness in her voice.

“You said I could roam around.” The kid replied.

“Right. But never enter this room again. Okay?”

“Mmkay.”

The little girl went back to the living room while her aunt stayed in that room and took the bottle labeled ‘Belladonna,’ placed it inside a box then locked it.

As they were having their breakfast, they heard only the clinking of the utensils and the chewing of their mouths.

Then Belladonna decided to break the deafening silence.

“What’s your job?” She asked her aunt.

“I am a pharmaceutical scientist. Your mom didn’t tell you? Oh, why would she even tell that to you.” Her aunt responded.

“Why is this house so valuable to you? You were not even the inheritor of this property.”

“Haha! You’re such a ridiculous kid. Of course, this house is valuable because it’s where I lived before with-,” She stopped for a second with a glimpse of sadness in her eyes.

 “My family.”

“But it doesn’t matter now. I want this mansion to be mine. My sister didn’t even give importance to this house.”

“She did,” Belladonna said.

“Dad forced my mom to sell this house for the both of us to have a living somehow before they got divorced. He never wanted to support this family in the first place, leaving my mom with no choice but to sell this mansion.” With a cold face, she continued.

Nobody spoke for a minute or two.

“Do you know what kind of person your mom is?” Aunt Melinda asked her niece out of nowhere.

“Your mom is a sociopath.” She whispered to the girl’s ear.

“I loved my sister so much, but she just used me for her good. I trusted her, but she betrayed me to lift herself.” Tears formed in Melinda’s eyes.

“I should be the heir of the family’s business, but she killed our parents to own everything! This mansion, our business, our wealth, she got everything that is for me!” Melinda screamed in pain as tears started to flow from her eyes.

“Until she met your dad and started to change. Her ability to feel emotions improved and she apologized to me. But I will never forgive her. I will never forgive your family.”

“I never did anything to you. Are you also mad at me?” The kid questioned her aunt fuming in rage.

“I’ll think about it.” Her aunt retorted and stood up. “Save your questions about your family for later.” She extended and left her meal, and Belladonna eating.

That day ended with no significant happening.

The next day, Belladonna woke up spotting her aunt in her room, staring intently at her.

“What are you doing here?” The little girl asked.

“To answer your questions.”

“Hmm. How did my mom kill my grandparents?”

That question is something Melinda isn’t prepared to answer, causing her to be shocked. The pain she experienced years ago is coming back.

“She placed poison in our meal. Good thing I survived, but my parents sadly didn’t make it. When my parents choked and their bodies turned pale, I couldn’t do anything and just froze. I couldn’t believe my sister would go that far. I hate your mom so much. I don’t know if she ever felt guilty of what she did.” Melinda explained scornfully.

“Why didn’t you exposed her to the authorities or anyone?”

“Because I never had evidence. My sister is so intelligent that I never knew what kind of poison she used to murder us. But now, I figured it out.”

“Is that why you wanted to be a pharmaceutical scientist?”

“Precisely. I wanted to discover what kind of poison was that and expose her to the police. My job got easier thanks to you. Now your mom would rot and die in jail. Are you sad about it? Don’t be; she deserves to suffer all the consequences of her sins.”

“I’m not sad about mom going to jail; I’m not happy either. She doesn’t have anything to do in my life anyway, so I don’t need her anymore.”

That reply of Belladonna made Melinda nervous and scared.

“Don’t tell me -”

“No, I’m not the same as my mom. So you don’t have to worry about me. I’m just a harmless, weak little kid.”

Belladonna replied with a small smile on her face. It was the first time she smiled in her six years of life.