HER

𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝟷𝟹

♪ᴋɪʟʟᴇʀ ʙʏ ᴇᴍɪɴᴇᴍ♪

Rᴏxʏ

"Give me a twirl." I requested.

Lucy twirled, giggling happily.

I gasped and smile.

"What's long?" She questioned with a frown.

"Nothing's wrong. You just look so beautiful, like a princess." I complimented her.

"You really think so?" She asked, doubting herself.

Lucy was really beautiful. She was sweet and kind. She was precious. She barely frowned or spoke rudely. She was an absolute Angel. Everyone loved her. How could she possibly doubt herself?

"I know so." I assured her confidently.

I watched as she fidgeted with her fingers, looking down at her shiny blue school shoes.

"Do you think the other kids will think so too?" She asked, doubting herself again.

I bent down so that she could look me in the eyes when I spoke to her. What I was about to say to her, was something that every little girl and boy should be told.

"Listen Lu, whether the other kids think that you look beautiful or not. It doesn't matter, what matters is that you believe that you do. You are beautiful. You are a princess. You just have to believe in yourself." I explained to her.

She gleamed and nodded in agreement. "Yeah you're light."

"I'm always right." I joked and she joined in by laughing.

Mom walked in and smiled admirably at us. She was dressed up too, like she had an job interview or maybe another coffee date at Starbucks.

"Lucy it's time to leave, go wait in the car for me." Mom commanded. Lucy nodded then gave me a tight hug and waved me goodbye before walking out the room.

I stood up from my knees, not making eye contact with mom.

"Would you like a lift to school?" Mom asked but I didn't reply. I had nothing to say to her. All she had done was hurt me, not just once or twice but over and over and over again.

Besides I doubted she knew where my school was.

She sighed before talking again. "I just wanted you to know that I'm trying Ro. I hope you can see that."

She waited for me to say something but I didn't, so she walked out of the room, and then the front door closed. Shortly after that the car roared onto the street and Mom and Lucy were gone.

I walked into my empty room, unlike Lucy's, it was dark, dull and bare. The one place in the world where I once felt safe was now strange and all the hope and happiness that remained in the drawings on my walls that Lucy and I drew were gone. It felt like a prison, cold and miserable.

I walked out of the room and into the bathroom. I needed to clean my cuts. My face wasn't as swollen as yesterday but it still hurt. I washed my face with warm water, my knuckles stinging and my face burning. I dried my face with a towel before staring at my reflection in the mirror. I found it strange how I could tell my little sister that she shouldn't care about other people's opinions of her, that she should trust her instincts and that she should believe in herself meanwhile I couldn't do anything with that information.

As cold as I pretended to be at school, sometimes I still wished I didn't have to feel so ashamed in my own skin but I did. I wasn't exactly a fan of myself, maybe because..

"Hey kiddo, you're gonna be late. School starts in twenty minutes." Jake informed me, peeking his head into the bathroom.

Wow. Privacy seemed to no longer be a thing in this house. Probably never was. I ignored him and continued plastering my cuts. When I'm done I untie my bun and let my hair down. Luckily for me I had long hair so they'd help hide my face, they always have. Many times I showed up at school with injuries and cuts and bruises but that never stopped the gossiping and the stares.