I grew up, matured, and six years later, my sister started school too. The queen bee who won every pageant in the country, the little girl who everyone loved, the sister of a hated demon… And oh how I longed for a better word to use to describe myself.
“Honey, have you ever wanted to be a part of something important? You’re destined to make a difference, I can see it in your eyes,” My father leant across the counter.
“What brought this on?” I dug my spoon into the rapidly melting tub of ice cream.
“Honey… Have you ever wondered where I disappear to all the time?”
“Yeah but…”
“I’m a part of something big, something that will change this world. We fight for the abused, the neglected, and the unfortunate… We’ve saved so many girls just like you, we’ve given them good homes, loving families.”
“Why haven’t you helped me?”
“I’m here aren’t I?” He raised an eyebrow.
“I mean why do I still have to deal with my mother and sister? Why can’t I escape too?”
“Sometimes, to be great, you have to make a few sacrifices. When you get older, I want you to join us, I want you to be a part of what we do.”
They really wanted me?
“But I’m so… Useless…”
He tapped my forehead gently, “Never say that Belle, you’ll realise what I’m talking about one day little dove.”
“But when? I’ve already waited so long…”
“Patience beauty.”
I started my final year of high school after that summer, and I’d matured into, what my father described as a ‘beautiful young woman’.
We were going to a pageant, six states away and my mother had been insistent on driving. She didn’t want ‘clumsy airport staff’ to handle her perfect daughter’s makeup and costumes. She was petrified at the thought of them breaking anything of Bella’s.
Perfect… Stuck in a hot van with my mother and sister for days… Fun.
“Belle, what are you waiting for you lazy little insect? Start taking Bella’s makeup down, and if you break anything I will box your ears for you, got it?”
“Yes mom…” I sighed, dragging myself upstairs to the beautiful room that I’d only ever been able to catch glimpses of over the years.
I stepped inside, amazed by the heavy pink drapes that blew freely in the final warm breeze of this beautiful summer. It had been the hottest summer on record, and how I prayed it would never end… But it was almost Autumn, this Summer was coming to a depressing end.
My little sisters grand, ornate bed made with a copious amount of scatter cushions and pretty pink linen, the sheer curtains hanging from each of the four posts. My mother was kneeling in front of her mahogany dresser, carefully setting her jewellery into little boxes.
Bella had beautiful paintings hanging on her walls, expensive china dolls and Faberge eggs, grand toys, nothing was too good for little Bella…
“Hurry up!” She shrieked, waiting until I was close enough before standing and slapping the back of my head, “Jealousy is not attractive! And the way things turned out for you, you can’t afford to be any less attractive.”
My typical, sensitive mother.
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