❝ I'm not scared of you .❞
❝ You should be.❞
Malaina Hill was done playing by the rules. Forced to behave like the perfect daughter by her upper class parents, she's sick and tired of being told what to do. Her mother's words haunt her, making her...
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Mateo "MATEO, MATEO, WAKE up, it's Christmas! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" I heard a high-pitched voice squeal with delight, waking me up from my deep sleep. The worst part about getting up in the morning was knowing you would lose the comfort that the bed gave you, and you longed for it all day long.
I'll get in the Christmas spirit later, I told myself. I refused to open my eyes, turning myself over in bed and hugging the bedsheets closer to my body. I groaned as I felt the bed bounce up and down, the motion feeling like an earthquake. Suddenly something catapulted onto my back, slamming into me with a loud thud.
"OW!" I yelped, my hand immediately flying to the sore area on my back where a tremendous amount of force had been inflicted. My eyes snapped open, the enthusiastic expression of my little sister Ellie, who was giving me the cutest toothy grin.
She was dressed in her favourite bright red glittery pyjamas, the ones that were slightly too small for her since she had grown last year. She had refused to buy other pyjamas since she had gotten these at Christmas last year. I sat up, blinking a couple of times as if this would make me feel more awake.
"Merry Christmas, Ellie," I said, my voice still deep with sleep and exhaustion. I ruffled her hair, messing up her brown locks a little, and she giggled.
Ellie reached out to hold my hand, and I immediately pulled back when I felt something sticky. The blood instantly drained from my face as I looked down to see a foreign brown substance staining the palm of my hand.
"Ellie," I said rather slowly. This better not be what I think it was. "What is this?" I asked, motioning to the brown goop that was still on my hands.
"I'm sorry, Mateo. I know the cookies were for Santa, but they looked sooo yummy," she apologized, licking off some of the melted chocolate from her hands and off her lips. I sighed with sweet relief, shaking my head as I smiled.
"It's okay, Ellie. Let's go get you cleaned up, and then we can open presents, all right?" My sister nodded happily, and I got out, took a much-needed stretch before scooping her up into my arms and carrying her downstairs. As we walked down the winding staircase, I watched as the snowflakes fell from the sky, some landing on the large windows and others being carried away in the wind.
I could hear the crackle of the already burning fireplace and smell the faint aroma of hot chocolate and marshmallows being prepared by the maids. It would be my first Christmas without my brother Luca, and I wasn't quite sure how I was going to cope with the feeling of heaviness that my heart carried.
It felt like I was at a table with a feast full of the best food I could ever taste, but I was too sick to eat anything. I should have been excited for Christmas, but I almost felt bad for spending it without Luca. If it weren't for my stupid decisions, being the drunk fucking mess I had always have been, he could have been alive by now. Maybe our family wouldn't be so broken, the man that I couldn't even bear to call my father could be more present, and Mom wouldn't be crying all the time.
