Chapter 2

Annabel’s Pov.

''ANNABEL!! GET OVER HERE THIS INSTANT!'' Miss Agatha yelled in her usual bossy voice.

 'Yes Ma'am'

I answered, running as fast as my legs could go. I wasn't ready to be in her bad books twice in a day, that came with a whole lot of pain. As I ran, I tried to recall if I had done something wrong again but nothing was coming to me. I had made sure to finish all my chores before I went in to attend to the feeding of the family’s pets, so why was she yelling my name this much?

Normally she was always a stuck-up bitch who wouldn’t give me the time of day, always out for my life. But this tone of hers felt a lot different from how she normally would yell my name.

Shivers ran down my spine as I wasn't ready for another dose of slaps, kicks, whips! Name them, I've had them all. My body hurt as hell from the kicks I received this morning and I was pretty sure my body would collapse if I had another set of beatings again.

I rushed to the kitchen to meet the perfect dish of chicken soup I prepared this morning down the drain, she looked at me with disdain in her eyes, grabbed my ears tightly, and squeezed them unfeelingly.

“Look at this rubbish and tell me what you did wrong!” she ordered angrily, pointing into the kitchen sink where part of the soup was resting.

“I…I don’t see anything wrong with it Ma.” She squeezed my ears even more and landed a heavy knock on my head, I immediately regretted engaging in any kind of conversation with her. She would never change, I wonder why I keep hoping for her too.

“So you’re calling me a blind woman now, right? A blind and lying woman who says what she knows nothing about, right?” She slapped me hard across the face, while still squeezing my ears. Doubling my pain to a whole new level.

“I would never Ma’am Agnes, I see my fault now and I am deeply sorry about it.” I pleaded, but that was none of her business. Her mind was set on teaching me a lesson so just like always, what I said never mattered.

“I’ll have to teach you respect because you seem to have lost it.” She announced with a resounding slap across my face that made me fall helplessly on the ground. But I quickly managed to brace myself by blocking some vital areas in my body before she got ready to pounce on me.

Rather than the usual kicks to the ribs which was her signature beating style, the demon in her had other painful plans for me. She hit me hard with the glass cup on the counter, making sure to hit it in a way that would leave marks on my head.

The glass shattered on my already injured head and I screamed in pain but my screams of pain did nothing to deter her from pining me to the ground and using her sharp end boots to stomp on every part of my body until I passed out.

I woke up later, probably after a whopping five to six hours to see my dried blood and the shattered glass around me, she didn’t even bother to clean her mess. “I curse you, witch Agnes!” I mutter in my heart as I drag my exhaustedly hungry body up from the ground.

She had successfully given me a fresh nasty cut on my head that just like the other’s will take ages to heal completely, my clothes were more torn than before and I felt more worthless than I already was.

Still dragging my exhausted body to my sorry excuse of a room, I prayed in my heart that I had a little more time to rest before the maniac came yelling for me again.

Because she usually didn’t care what time it was or what state I was in, as long as there was a chore to do, she would gladly drag me out by my hair even if I had the highest sickness on earth.

As you already know, my name is Annabel. I am an orphan, grew up with my aunt who treated me like trash and was a greedy wrench. According to her, my parents died in a car accident when I was two and I was placed under her care as my legal guardian because she was the only relative my parents had. But being the greedy ass woman she was, she sold me off to the Wesley family to work as a maid whilst they paid her for my services.

I wouldn't say Mr. Wesley and his wife Victoria treated me very horribly, it was more like I was invisible to them and they ignored me most of the time, and only passed information to me through their spokesperson, Agnes.  

They also never questioned the things did to me or the reason why I always looked tattered and unkempt, unlike their perfect sons. To them, I was just an abandoned maid whose family and the government did not care a shit about, so there was no use bothering about me.

They had the perfect-looking sons though; hot, sexy, and snobbish. Ben was the youngest and the cutest, he had a round baby-like face and perfectly wavy hair that always got him the attention he wanted from the ladies, Jeffrey was more of a handsome nerd who loved covering his perfect-looking body.

But Elijah? Now Elijah was a man! Tall and huge, sexy as hell, ripped with abs, almost a replica of one of the Greek gods! Because damn! He was fu*king gorgeous and handsome at the same time! He was one guy who knew he was sexy and flaunted his sexy body everywhere and anywhere he could, except on me though unfortunately.

"Damn Anna, get your head out of the gutter, you know he'll never look at you that way, plus, he’s a total jerk." My mind yelled at me.

While Ben and Jeffrey totally ignored me and didn't give me much trouble, Elijah was totally different! He would find little or no reason to insult and make fun of me in front of his friends, he'd hit me for making the littlest of mistakes and was irritated by even the presence of my shadow.

Thank God he left for college two years ago because I was almost going insane from his bullying. I was always scared and shivery around him, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder if I shivered only from fear or from the lust I felt when he was close to me.

~

Finally lying on my tiny bed, I can't help but feel sorry for myself, I let the tears roll uncontrollably down my face, the frustration, pain, and anger feel like its building in the gut of my throat with no way to come out. I want to scream out from the pain and sadness eating me up, I wish I died in that car crash with my parents, at least I wouldn't have to suffer this much.

I hate when I feel sorry for myself, and that’s why I never let the Wesley brothers and Agatha see me beg or cry in front of them. But this night I just feel tired of it all, I can't wait to get to eighteen and run away from everything! I covered my mouth to muffle the sounds of my sobs, all I feel now is an overwhelming feeling of sadness and loneliness and I just want all of it to go away.

I suddenly feel like someone is watching and I adjust my eyes to the darkness to see who's there but I can't see a thing because of how dark the room is. My once cold skin suddenly feels warm and I automatically stop crying and embrace this new feeling of comfort which feels very foreign to me.

It's refreshing, comforting, and delicious and it somehow feels like mine…My eyes pick up a mysterious figure by my window but my senses can’t make anything of it because of how tired I am.

“Hopefully, whoever it is will take me out of this godforsaken life.” the words are all that revolves in my mind before my mind drifts quickly into nothingness.