The Night Her World Ends

Liora’s POV

The last time I saw him, he was sitting in that cursed wheelchair, staring at me with blank eyes that I wasn’t even sure he could recognize me somewhere in his mind.

I had said goodbye, shedding tears on his stiff but alive body.

Now I looked at my father, his eyes closed, not a single life within. Or without.

Everything was gone; my father’s company, my father, my entire life as it seemed. I had let them take it all from me, without lifting a finger to stop them.

I watched as the nurses performed post-mortem care for him, covering him up with the sheets; my stepmother’s voice wailed at the other side of the room.

‘He was a good man, he was a good man,’ she cried out, the tears pouring from her eyes.

But I knew those tears and I didn’t budge; they were fake, just like the times she had cried when she accused me of stealing from her or trying to murder her daughter in her sleep.

Camille sat beside her, offering support to her mother, but her face spoke volumes that she would rather be anywhere else but here.

They never loved my father; not Camille, not Helena, none of them. I was sure that in a few days, they’d dry their crocodile tears and begin lavishing whatever money he had left on them.

Helena would get a new husband and move on; Camille had already moved on. It seemed the universe had a way of removing the people I loved.

First Sebastian with the accusations, now my father and his death. Who was next? My stuffed rabbit?

I let out a short bitter laugh, the rage rising within me. That sound drew the attention of Helena and Camille.

‘Are you laughing, Liora?’ Helena turned to me, her eyes red from crying.

I ignored her, because I didn’t know what hurtful words my anger would prompt me to say.

‘Of course she is,’ Camille said. ‘Father left most of the company shares to her, remember? Who knows what else she must benefit from him after his death?’

That made me snap.

‘Don’t pretend you cared,’ the words spilled out of my mouth before I could stop them. ‘You never loved him. You only loved what he could give you. And as he stopped being useful, you watched him rot in bed while your mother spent his money. At least I loved him, but you…you were just waiting for him to die. So don’t talk to me about inheritance, Camille. The only thing you ever inherited was your mother’s cruelty.’

The whole place went silent. I could feel the tension charged between us like electric waves. Camille looked like she had seen a ghost, her expression stuck somewhere between shock and pain.

‘Liora,’ Helena whispered, already rising as if to hit me.

Camille dashed out of the room, her sobs following her. Helena became confused between going after her daughter or hitting me. She later settled on going after her daughter, leaving me alone with my father’s corpse.

‘We’d want to wheel him to the morgue now,’ the nurse said to me in a calm tone.

‘Can you…’ I took a deep breath. ‘Can you please give me a minute?’

She nodded and went out of the room. Once she was out, I let the pain wash over me, making my knees buckle under me. I didn’t say anything to him, because he couldn’t hear me anymore.

I spent the rest of the minute crying uncontrollably, only stopping when I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. The hospital aides took my father’s body away, and I followed them, only stopping when I wasn’t granted access.

I ambled outside and was sitting on a bench, when I heard my name.

‘Liora.’

I didn’t turn. I already knew it was Camille.

She stood beside me for a long moment before sitting down, leaving a careful distance between us.

Her voice was rough when she spoke. ‘What you said earlier, it hurt.’

‘It was meant to,’ I swallowed.

For a while, neither of us spoke.

‘I didn’t know how to be his daughter,’ she said. ‘Every time I tried, it felt like I was betraying my mother. And every time I chose her over him…I hated myself.’

I finally looked at her. Her eyes were red and tired, like she’d been crying for a long time.

‘You think I didn’t love him,’ she continued. ‘I did. I just didn’t… I didn’t know how to love him without being punished for it.’

‘He used to wait up for you,’ I said quietly. ‘Every night. Even when you didn’t come back home.’

‘I know,’ she whispered. Silence settled between us again.

‘Then why-‘

‘Because I couldn’t afford to lose,’ she answered too quickly, her eyes sharp as she looked at me. ‘You don’t lose, Liora. Things just get taken away from you. But you’ve always been the favorite daughter. The heiress.’

The words stung me more than they should have.

Camille smiled, smoothing her expression again.

‘I’m not asking you to forgive me,’ she said, standing up. ‘I just need you to understand that I did what I had to do.’

She walked away before I could respond, leaving me with a strange uneasy feeling in my chest.

After a while, I got up and went home. I didn’t know what else to do but I’d figure something out.

As I got closer to the house, I noticed my suitcases were outside. My heart pounding, I began to head into the living room but Helena stopped me at the entrance, a dark expression on her face.

‘This house isn’t yours,’ she sneered. ‘It never was.’

I blinked as if to clear my thoughts. ‘What?’

‘Your father is dead,’ she said in a calm tone. ‘And you are no longer useful to me.’

The words hit me harder than a slap. ‘Useful? I’m his daughter.’

‘You may be a biological accident, but that doesn’t mean I can’t decide your relevance to me.’

‘He just died,’ my voice was barely above a whisper. ‘And you’re throwing me out?’

‘No,’ she stepped closer, ‘I’m closing your chapter.’

Her eyes burned with a kind of hate I hadn’t seen from her before. ‘I don’t want you coming back here and dragging my family into further embarrassment. Just because you couldn’t keep a home and tried to murder your husband, doesn’t mean my family should stand by you and suffer alongside.’

Embarrassment? That’s what my grief was to her?

‘Camille-‘ I started.

‘My daughter has suffered enough because of you!’ She interrupted.

‘You taught her to hate me,’ I said. ‘You made me look like the enemy.’

‘No Liora. I taught her to survive,’ her expression hardened. ‘That’s something you never learned.’

Her eyes flicked to me, then suitcases.

‘Forget you ever had a family here.’

She turned and left, slamming the door in my face.

And just like that, I was homeless again.