DARE TO LIVE: The Moment I Chose Myself

Serena's POV

“You have six months to live.”

The words had replayed countless times in my head since the moment the doctor said them to me.

Staring at my reflection in the mirror, I saw nothing but misery.

My hair was packed in a messy bun, my eyes swollen from the silent tears I cried throughout last night.

My reflection was a huge mess.

A stray tear rolled down my cheek as I continued to stare. I didn't wipe it off.

The sound of the birds singing their beautiful songs could be heard right outside my window, but nothing, absolutely nothing about my life was beautiful.

The banging from behind my door immediately forced me back to the reality of my environment.

“Serena!” Came the unmistakable voice of Amanda Vale.

My mother-in-law.

“Get your lazy ass out here right now!”

I closed my eyes and let out a heavy sigh.

It was nothing new.

Every morning I would wake up as early as four in the morning. Prepare breakfast and prepare Lucy for school. I did this day in and day out, but no one ever commended me for it, or even make me feel seen. But the day I mistakenly overslept or wasn't feeling well, I suddenly became impossible to ignore.

You know what's funny?

Instead of banging at my door and causing a scene, she could have had the maids prepare breakfast and get Lucy ready.

But of course, Amanda would always choose the option that had to do with humiliating me.

I stepped out to the red-faced woman. Looking so furious, like something bad had suddenly happened because I hadn't woken early to do my chores.

“You!” She snapped the moment she set eyes on me.

“Who is supposed to…”

“I'll get dressed and come do the chores; there's absolutely no need to yell about it,” I said, cutting her off.

Her eyes widened like I had done something so despicable, something that couldn't be forgiven.

Before I could say another word, her hands went crashing across my face.

“Don't you for once forget your place in this house!” She sneered. “If Marcus had not picked you up from that slump of an orphanage, you wouldn't even be worthy to stand before me, let alone speak to me.”

I held my cheeks; the tears that had been waiting to fall suddenly began to make their way out of my eyes.

I wasn't even done recovering from that when she pulled me out of the room.

She pulled me downstairs with her.

By the time we got downstairs, I noticed that breakfast had been served, and not only that, Lucy was already dressed in her uniform. Plus, Marcus and Lucy were already halfway through their meals.

She threw me right at Marcus' feet.

“Apologise for delaying everyone's meal! For making us eat an hour later.” Amanda continued.

I pressed my lips together, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall.

When I raised my head, my eyes met Marcus's.

There was something disdainful about the way he looked at me. It was like seeing an eyesore, something you didn't want to glance at more than once.

Then his eyes went back to his mom. “Breakfast is getting cold.” He said, looking back at his plate and the beef he was dicing.

That was it.

And that was always it.

six years of marriage, and Marcus never defended me.

It was easier for him to ignore the situation and act like it was just another insignificant part of his day.

A thought suddenly brushed through my mind.

Will Marcus treat me any better if he found out I was dying?

“I'm not even hungry anymore.” Amanda snapped. “She already ruined my morning.”

Then, just before she walked away, she turned to me. “You should be thankful that my son cares about you, you would have been out of this house a long time ago,” Amanda said finally before storming off.

A laugh almost tore through me.

Marcus cares about me?

Wow.

How did I not realise that?

The next moment, Marcus stood up as well. Like I had ruined breakfast for him as well, cause obviously he didn't finish his meal.

“Marcus?” I called, but he didn't pause.

I had been trying to talk to him since I returned from the hospital yesterday, but it almost felt like an impossible mission.

Last night he returned very late. And now, before I could even get a chance to talk to him, he picked up his bag and headed out of the house.

I wiped my tears, turning my eyes to Lucy, my daughter.

“Wait for me; I'll go get dressed and take you to school.”

“Mom Alicia will take me!” She said, her voice sounding so innocent and brutal all at once.

“Mom Alicia?” I said, thinking I had not heard right.

Lucy nodded. “Alicia said I can call her mom. Even my classmates think Alicia is my mummy.”

“And you didn't correct them?”

A small, playful laugh escaped her lips. “Why would I? After all, she's the cool mom.”

Just then, I began to hear the sound of heels echoing behind me.

I turned, my eyes meeting with that of a woman dressed in an elegant-looking two-piece.

Her light blue eyes sparkled with that fake sweetness she always carried around. Her blonde hair style in effortlessly beautiful loose curls.

Alicia Reed.

“Mom Alicia!”

Lucy's frowned face immediately turned into a wide smile as she jumped off the dining table and hurried towards Alicia.

With a matching smile, Alicia pulled Lucy into a hug.

“My girl!”

I couldn't help but stand there and watch them with clenched fists.

“Alicia!” I snapped. “Why are you trying so hard to tear my family apart?” I didn't know what had gotten into me at that moment, but I knew it had made me furious enough to spit out words before even thinking properly about them.

“Serena, please. Let's not do this in front of the little girl.”

A pained laugh escaped my lips.

“But you have no problem seducing my husband right in front of her? You have no problem with asking another woman's daughter to call you mummy? Don't you have any shame?”

“It's not Mom Alicia's fault. I was the one who asked her if I could call her mummy.”

Lucy's words left me swallowing hard.

I didn't even know what else to respond; my eyes just remained fixed on the triumphant look on Alicia's face.

“Next time, before you accuse anyone, learn to keep your family together first,” Alicia said again, her expression annoyingly calm.

Right from the moment they stepped out of the door, I couldn't help the heaviness that sat in my chest.

I refreshed myself, trying to put the chaotic morning behind me as I drove down to Westhaven’s care home, a home where the city had gathered oldies and disabled people who needed to be cared for.

No matter how I tried to ignore everything that had happened, I still found myself sobbing through my drive.

I sighted the building of the Care Home, but what caught my attention was a banner just by the side. A banner I knew so well.

It read:

DARE  TO LIVE.  

My brand.

I swallowed hard, tears freely rolling down my eyes.

My phone suddenly buzzed with a message, causing me to wipe my eyes so quickly.

It was like the message had brought me to the realisation that I was crying in my car, in the middle of the road.

Marcus Vale.

That was the sender.

For some stupid reason, I found myself hoping that he was going to apologise to me for how badly his mother treated me this morning.

Or at least comfort me.

Just anything to make me believe that I had not wasted six years of my life loving an asshole.

My stomach clenched the moment I opened the message.

​