chapter 2

Chapter 2

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      “Lydia!! Get down, now!!” yelled the voice “We have prepared you and your animals a feast. So, have a breakfast and eat together with your type.”

  Just as the same nuisance as every day. Lydia went downwards the stairs, as she could see her stepmother’s silhouette in the corridor with two maids, placing her arms at her hips with a mockery look on her face.

  The two maids were holding some leftovers of the morning breakfast, which were packed poorly, as if they did not consider Lydia a human being or a part of the family.

      “Get your trash out and eat with your animals.” Mocked the stepmother.

  Lydia held her so-called feast, as none of the food was edible for people to eat, and stepped out of the villa. Her sister Sofia watched the scene from across the living room, as she smirked at her without a single pity on her face.

  Lydia was used to such scenarios whenever her father would leave her with her stepmother and stepsister for a business trip. Sofia was the daughter of the second woman, whom her father had married after her mother’s death, so she was treated as a princess by the orders of her mother. While Lydia was treated like nothing but an animal.

  Lydia found her way out to the forest. It was the wisest action by her father to wall the forest around the villa, since she could make friends of the animal and feel much safer.

  Lydia was welcomed by her little friends, which were waiting for her to bring them the food. She sat at the ground and placed the food beside the animals to have their breakfast.

  Just as every day, she could hear a maid calling her from behind, holding some delicious-looking food.

      “Lady Lydia!!” gasped the maid “Uh-huh… I… I stole these from the kitchen for you…”

      “Thank you, my friend…” murmured Lydia as she emitted a shiny smile.

      “I know that you can not eat such food. Madam is being harsh on you! I can not believe her inhumane actions!! That is so cruel thing to do!”

      “It is alright. I am used to this.”

      “None other your mother was the one who truly loved you…”

      “…”

      “Uh! I am sorry!! What am I saying?! I did not mean to make you sad!!”

      “It’s ok…”

      “I… I will excuse myself…”

  What the maid said was true. After that night with them, none could offer Lydia love, care, respect or any other emotions. She was caged in the walls of her villa and in the life with her stepfamily.

      “Useless brat! It would have been better if you just died!”

      “I do not care what happens to you. You are a sick girl.”

      “You should have never existed!”

      “You will have no food today.”

  Those were the statements she had often heard from her stepmother, and they kept replaying in her head. Although her words stung, however there was nothing she could do about it. That was her reality and her daily life. That was how cruel world had been treating her ever since they snatched her mother away.

  Maybe she should have died with her mother at that night. Maybe she should have never existed. After all, she was nothing but an antisocial girl, who locked herself in her father’s forest and ignored all of human beings. She was nothing like Sofia.

  As she dazed off while remembering that unfortunate occurrence, she could hear rattling coming out of the small cabin in their forest.

  Thinking that it was a scared animal, she tried to approach the cabin slowly and carefully. The door of the cabin was barely opened, so she thought that it might be nothing but a small one.

  She looked around her and thought about how she could pull the animal out of its hideout. As she found out that the animals had already consumed all of the leftover foods, she decided to offer her new friend her own food.

  So, she placed the plate, spoon and fork in front of the door and called: “Come out, little child. This is Lydia. Come out of your shelter. Here comes the boy! Come out! I am waiting for you! There is no food if you do not get out!”

  The little animal did not respond to her in any way, but kept hiding and uttering no voice. Lydia decided to leave the food in front of the cabin and get far from it, where the animal would not sense her and eat comfortably. So, she left to the villa as she said: “I think you are a very shy one, yet I will get you out soon. I promise!”

  At afternoon, Lydia decided to check on her new little animal. So, she left her villa out to the forest again. She was sure that time she would get it out.

  Lydia was glad to have a new friend around, especially that her animals were friendly around the cabin. Which meant that it was a small and gentle animal, since they did not sense any danger from it.

  After locking herself into the villa, Lydia could not meet any human beings but her family, her father’s colleagues, the delivery men, and some friends of her stepsister. She realized that humans did not amuse her after her mother had left the world, so she stayed in.

  Lydia stepped towards the cabin again, however her body went frozen as her eyes bulged out wildly when she witnessed that scene.

  She stared at it from a distance as she felt her hands trembling and her heart beating loudly. She did not know what she could do next. Should she freeze in her place and wait for the next move? Should she run away? Should she tell her father and the guards? Or should she act on her own and keep it as a secret?

  Lydia hurried into her father’s room, she knew that he would be hiding a pistol for emergencies.