Rollercoaster

Jasmine's POV

“Where in heaven's name is this good for nothing tramp!” Lila screeched at the top of her voice.

Here we go again.

Mornings like these were the worst, days when Lila, my stepmother, woke up on the right side of her bed, yes when she was extremely happy and ready to torment my sad life.

Trust me, you don't want to know what happens when she's in a bad mood.

My door slammed open.

“Still in bed, jasmine?!” She stood hands on her waist.

I checked my clock and it read 4:20, usually I got up as early as 4:00 but thanks to all the dishes I had to do last night after my stepsister's had a party, I went to bed really late.

I bolted up from my bed, still sleepy and tired.

“Get that lazy ass off your bed and start doing your chores and while you're at it make sure you feed the cat, water the garden, deliver the dresses to the old lady at Winston…..”

On and on she went listing out the trail of chores I had to do in one day.

I got up from my bed, ready for the worst.

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Yes, ma'am I am” I answered grudgingly.

“Oh my, what's that tone, your father has to hear this.”

“No, please, I'm sorry.”

“Save it.” She snarled storming out of my room and I could hear her complaining and making a big deal out of my “crime” to my dad.

You'd expect my dad to defend me knowing how hard I worked, but nope, he couldn't because of the love or rather fear of his wife? The only person that loved and appreciated me was my boyfriend Jemah, he was everything and I was kind of starting to consider his idea of eloping with him or something.

“Jasmine…!” My dad called out, jerking me back from my thoughts.

I strolled to his room where he sat half awake.

“Why do you always have to be such a stubborn and rude brat all the time?”

“But Dad, you haven't even asked my own side of the story.”

Lila scoffed.

“So you'd feed me with lies as usual? How many times do I have to tell you to accord your mother some respect!”

“She's not my mom.” I said in a whisper, well, can't exactly call it a whisper cause they heard.

“What? You ingrate, you should be ashamed of yourself for behaving this way, Lila with no hidden intent accepted to raise you even when I wanted to shove you to your grandparents!”

“Would have appreciated that.”

“You…” He stood up in anger but Lila ran to his side, begging him not to hit me and feigning concern towards me.

“You're evil… I should have sent you a way all these years, you caused your mother's death, you evil child.”

Tears ran down my cheeks as my dad reminded me of.my dead mother once again and blamed me for her death.

“What's with the noise?” Margaret asked as she and her twin came downstairs grumpily, half awake.

I shoved past them back to my room.

“ This is all you know best to do, cause chaos in this peaceful home!” Lila shouted after me.

I ran to my room, shutting myself in.

My body ached all over as I quivered in rears, never in my entire existence did u ever think I'd become the enemy in my own father's house, never had I dreamed I'd become a slave. Everyone saw me as a witch, a killer, the cruel demon that ended her own mother's life.

I broke into uncontrollable tears as I took a trip down memory lane, two years ago.

Everything was perfect until that fateful day, when we got an emergency call that mom was involved in an accident, that very cursed day!

She had lost a lot of blood and was severely injured. I cried my eyes out seeing her in such a state. I had to stay in the hospital morning and night just to take care of her, stopped school and even missed my 18th birthday celebration due to her illness and atlas, it seemed like my prayers had been answered because a few weeks later, she had recovered halfway, just the constant body pains which persisted.

On that fateful day, I came to the hospital earlier than usual and seeing me the nurse on duty was excited and had left her morning drugs in my care.

“When she wakes up, give her 2 tablets of Opioids.” She pointed out, signalling where she had kept it, next to mom's bed before leaving.

I patiently waited for her to wake up to take her morning drugs and when she did, I immediately administered the drug as the nurse had stated earlier alongside food and after that she went back to sleep and I decided to take a walk outside to receive some fresh air. I despised the pungent smell that came with staying in a hospital space and prayed that soon enough mom would recover fully and I would have my normal life back.

After what seemed like an hour, I decided to go back to mum's room but when I did, I met my father and some doctors talking. The expression on his face got me terrified and I wondered what could have gone wrong.

As I approached closer, all eyes fell on me and I couldn't tell what exactly was happening.

“There she is.” The nurse who had given me the drug earlier pointed it out.

I'm still confused when a doctor drew closer to me and asked, “how many tablets of opioids had you given your mum dear?” I blinked, trying to recall. “Two tablets.” I retorted.

“I told her to give the woman just one tablet.” The nurse snapped.

I creased my brows, what the hell was she saying? I frowned.

“No ma'am, you said two tablets.” I said calmly, but my father rushed towards me as though he was about to pounce and tear my flesh. “Are you trying to say the nurse is lying? You murderer! Bastard.” He yelled on top of his voice.

I was taken aback by what he said” murderer? I'm not a murderer. What is he talking about?” I muttered to myself.

“I'm not lying dad, she's not telling the truth.” I said, I was still confused. Amidst the whole saga one of the senior doctors came out of mum's room, he shook his head, hesitated before he decided to speak. “Mr Smith, I'm sorry but we couldn't save her.”

That was the day my life turned into a rollercoaster.