Get rid of her

Chapter 4: Avalyn's POV

"Avalyn, have you checked on the cake?" My stepmother called from the living room.

I looked between my hands and the food still cooking. There was no way I could finish all of these and still have enough time to get to town and get the cake from the bakery before they closed.

"Avalyn... I am still waiting for a response! Or do you need me to get in there!?"  She hissed and I squeezed my eyes shut, groaning silently.

I reduced the level of the gas and peeled off the apron from my chest before wiping my hand on my ragged blue dress. Then I went to join her in the living room.

"I'll go pick it up right now..." I said and made to move but she stopped with a loud shriek.

"You haven't gone to get the cake! Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind!?" She got up from the couch she had been occupying and approached me with fire in her eyes.

I cowered away from her but she stopped and motioned at me to get close.

Tears pricked at my eyes as my legs started shaking. "Mom, I am sorry, I was so busy in the kitchen... I thought you would go pick it up yourself..." I stuttered.

Her face brightened and the next thing I heard was the guttural sound coming from her as she erupted into a burst of bitter laughter.

"You thought I would go get it?! You ungrateful little whore!"

"I am sorry mom, it won't happen again—" I started to say but a felt a stinging slap across my face and it took me a few seconds for the pain to register.

I held my cheek and took a cautious step away from me. 

"Now, before I scream at the top of my lungs. I want you to go out there and make sure you get that cake before showing your face again!" She screeched out launching the television remote at me.

I docked and ran outside. I wiped the tears from my face and tried to pull up a fake smile as I made my way to the bakery shop which wasn't so far away from my house.

She could have gotten it herself but my stepmother would rather die than do anything that was also going to benefit me.

As I walked, I heard the whispers and murmurs as they pointed fingers at my battered dress but I paid no attention to all of that. I was pretty much used to it by now. The entire town hated me. Everyone considered me a bad omen.

They said I killed my mother and placed a curse on my father.

When I was younger, I use to cry about my misfortune but as I grew older, I learned to swallow my pain and keep it within me.

In the world we lived in, everyone fought one sort of pain or the other. We were ruled by creatures of the night —werewolves. They called the shots and allocated everything to us.

We lived peacefully at the moment because our current chief regularly sent gifts of humans to the werewolf king —a man everyone considered to be a monster. 

He was a merciless ruler and never took no for an answer. When he requested something, our chief had no choice but to oblige.

The people lived in fear and pain, yet they found fun in mocking me. It felt like I was their entertainment at a time when they only knew pain.

I was that one person, they could mess with without fear of getting punished.

"Look who stepped out to place a curse on the streets!" Someone said and I heard them laugh.

But I didn't as much as turn to even look at them. It was pointless.

I hastened my feet to the bakery shop and stepped. I walked to the counter and gave the man a small bow.

"Hello sir, I am here to pick up the cake my mother ordered," I said timidly.

The man raised his eyes to observe me. His eyes moved from my toes and slowly made their way to the strand of hair flying on my face.

"Step out, you are too dirty to be in here. Didn't anyone teach you how to take a shower?!" He growled with a thin voice.

My heart squeezed but I didn't let the pain get to me. I swallowed it down and slowly stepped back to the door.

"Good. Now, you say your mother sent you. Did you whore of a mother come back to life and request a cake?"

I raised my head and watched the scrawny man from under my lashes. His wife had been snatched by the chief. He was depressed and sad. So I didn't hate him for the cruel words he said to me.

I understood him.

"I am sorry, my stepmother. Catherine Howard," I said.

"Oh, Catherine..." He dragged the name over his tongue as he searched the cupboards like my stepmother's name was the beacon he needed to find the cake faster. "Aahh!" He exclaimed.

He straightened with the cake in his hand and walked up to me. He stretched it toward me and I quickly took it fearing that he might drop it.

"Thank you," I said with a bow before turning around to leave.

I heard him mumble something behind me but I couldn't hear him. Now that I had picked the cake, my mind was only focused on getting home before my father.

Besides, it was starting to get dark and that was the worst time to be found outside in my town. The werewolves had given us a time frame and anyone caught outside when it was dark, was going to be punished.

As I reached the last bend to approach my house, I felt eyes on me. It wasn't dark yet but the sun was low over the horizon. Chills ran up my spine and I made the mistake of turning only for me to catch red eyes between the trees.

My heart skipped and I picked up my pace at once. I started running, fearing that whoever was in the trees could come to get me.

I was running so fast that I no longer cared about the condition of the cake. My life was more important than a mere cake.

I got to the house and burst through the doors with such force, the sound made my stepmother shriek.

"Avalyn!" My father thundered and I stopped on my track.

His eyes were sparkling with anger and I wondered what had gotten him so worked up —well aside from the way I had entered the house.

"Where are you coming from?" He growled.

My hands started trembling as I knew exactly what he would do to me whenever he got this way.

"I— I went to get your birthday cake... From the —the bakery..." I stuttered.

My stepmother scoffed and walked to where I stood. She took the cake from my hands and walked back to the couch.

"George I have told you, this daughter of yours is completely useless. Look at the way she lies so effortlessly!" She hissed and my heart skipped another beat.

I looked between her and my father trying to understand what was going on.

"Avalyn, don't make me ask you for a second time..." My father warned and I felt dread clutch at my chest.

My eyes watered as I struggled to understand what he was actually asking me. I had told him where I was coming from, why would he think I hadn't responded yet 

"Father, I am not lying. I went to the baker—" the sentence didn't completely leave my lips as a heavy blow landed on my face breaking the corner of my mouth in the process.

I fell to the floor and held my face in my hands as tears flowed freely down my cheeks.

"You want to burn my house! You leave your mother sleeping and you go out there to play with men?!" He thundered.

"What?" I gasped despite my pain. "Mother sent me father, I am not lying..." I cried but he descended on me with even more blows.

"Oh, George please don't kill the girl. There are a hundred and one things we could do with her. Please, honey, let her be..." She sneered and then everything made sense to me.

She set me up.

She hated me without a reason despite the love I showered on her. She was always looking for ways to make my father hit me or starve me.

My father continued hitting me and I tried my best to protect my face which was the only part of my body that had little bruises. The rest was in a terrible state.

"The werewolves would be coming to the market in a few days, you can make some good money with her... You don't have to kill her..." She drawled pulling him away.

My father gave me one final kick before moving along with her. I remained there on the floor curled up, waiting for them to leave. In my eighteen years in life, I learned that the worst way to anger my father and his wife was to get up right after they had finished beating me up.

"She can't be married off because she is obviously not a virgin. The only thing we can do is exploit her other more useful parts," my stepmother said as they got to the staircase that led to the bedrooms.

I waited till I could no longer hear their voices. When I was certain that they were gone, I unwrapped my arms around myself and sat up to access my injuries that were when I noticed that the front door had been opened all along. I never closed it when I got in.

It was completely dark outside and the cold air that seeped in wasn't the only thing that made me shudder.

I got the same dreadful feeling I had back on the road. Someone was watching me. I could have sworn I saw those red burning eyes again but as I blinked, they were gone.

I quickly got up and banged the door close at once.