Finding myself

Chapter 8

My eyes immediately snapped to the floor. Damn...

"Well, well, well. I am sure that would have been a wonderful surprise!" My aunt's melodious voice slither through the walls, making me shiver. I could feel Mindy's glare burning holes in my back.

"It was! We were all surprised how beautiful this ugly duckling turned out to be. " He explained, tweaking my nose, oblivious to the tension in the room.

My aunt raised her eyebrows and slid a sly look at me.

"I'm sure!" she said

"You should have seen the whole scene. Everyone was shocked. Now, she is the talk of the school." He laughed. By now, I am sure I am gonna be served as dinner for the pack tonight. Mindy must be already planning the ingredients.

"Zara? I am sure you were needed by mother Jane." My aunt's voice broke through as I imagined the creative ways of my death. She was careful to not slip by that I might be working there. She subtly nodded at Mindy. I am sure something passed between the both of them. I began to follow her.

"I am sure that was a wonderful sight, Jake. Tell me more." My aunt smirked looking at me. I froze mid-step. What? She was gonna take every detail from him so that she can plan exactly how painful my death is going to me. Exactly how much she will torture me.

Mindy's cold palm wrapped around my wrist to pull me along. Jake looked at me weirdly until I moved out of sight.

God! I am scared. I could feel my whole body shaking. I don't know why I let them have so much power over me. Mindy smirked at my petrified self.

"Yeah, you better be scared." she sneered.

"I am sure Anastasia has something exciting planned for you."

We entered the kitchen to be greeted to be by mother Jane's voluptuous figure running around the kitchen doing multiple tasks at once. Even when there were 13 of us to help, she would prefer to do most of it. Now that is someone who loved their job.

I smiled watching her huge body slide smoothly between the counters to get to the different food items that were being cooked.

Suddenly, her eyes landed on me. I have always been her favorite. No, unlike others here, mother Jane is completely oblivious to what is going on in my life. Only 7 of the maids knew, including Mindy.

As soon as she sees me she comes running to me. Her emerald eyes sparkle and her flushed, sweaty face flush even more. She has smooth skin. I am sure she was a beauty in her time with that gorgeous black hair she shared with Mindy. Even though she is horizontally endowed. She immediately comes running to me and I am engulfed in a hug. I chuckle, forgetting the things that happened a moment before and hugging her back.

It feels like hugging a cloud! It is always like this. I snuggled deeper before pulling away.

She has always been a motherly figure to me. And there were times I was ready to open up to her. But I always pulled back, because one, Mindy is her daughter. I don't want to cause any rifts between the two. Two, Mindy is her daughter, she may obviously choose to believe her instead of me. Then I will get the last and only title I haven't conquered yet- lunatic, from of the few who loves me here. And three, Mindy is her daughter and she is practically an angel in front of everyone. And besides, I don't want to break her heart with the truth.

She thinks she has birthed the most wonderful daughter anyone could ask for. I don't want to ruin it by introducing her to the horrific things Mindy does. I doubt mother Jane even knows about her sleeping with boys.

But in all due honesty, how mother Jane spawned such a frozen piece of work is beyond me.

"Look at you! Your cheeks are sunken in and you have bags under your eyes. I see you haven't been eating properly lately young lady." She scolded as I smiled at her sheepishly. Over the years, I had grown to love her.

"I am gonna fatten you up" she declared with her chest puffing out and her hands on her hips.

"Oh, that won't be necessary," I started.

"If you think that studying excuse is going to work. Think again sweetheart."

Damn! That was the excuse I gave last time. I said I was tensed amount my exams so I didn't feel like eating anything and that I might I might puke. She left it that. When we all know the truth is different.

Mindy smirked from behind her mother as she saw me stumbling to find a new excuse. She took sadistic pleasure from seeing me lie like this. She knew how I hated it.

"Um, my P.E coach said I was a bit overweight so he said I needed to diet." The lie slipped out of my tongue and I mentally patted myself on the back as it sounded so believable.

For the first time, I was also thankful for my oversized outfit.

"I don't believe you." Mother Jane said, narrowing her eyes. I trembled slightly under her scrutinizing gaze. Some other maids who knew the truth snickered with Mindy.

Just then her eyes flickered to a cooking pot to my side.

She rushed over to it. I rolled my eyes. I swear, sometimes she has the attention span of an ant. It is one of the reasons she hasn't developed the slightest suspicion yet.

"Here, can you wash this darling?" Mindy's sickly sweet voice said as she handed me a huge, dirty pot to wash and an apron. How thoughtful of her! Lunch must have been cooked in it. I am sure she saved it for me. She looked so sweet right now. With that smile on her face.

"Sure," I said with the same smile on my face.

I walked over to the sink to start my work.

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It has been hours. My hands numb from the force I exerted to clean the pot. It usually takes at least five people to do it. We have such a large pot for the pack after all.

I saw mother Jane standing across from the back door talking about something to Linda, one of the 'oblivious' maids. Her blonde head was bobbing animatedly as she listened to what mother Mindy had to say.

Just as I was making my way over, the door opened and in stumbled a conveniently dirty couple. Their clothes and hair were awash with mud. The girl slipped and landed on the floor next to my feet as the boy landed on top of her.

"Gotcha!" he said

Nostalgia sprung in my chest as I watched the scene, remembering my father.

But wait, that voice...

Jem lifted her head to look at me. So did Blaze. His ocean blue eyes met mine as a fresh dose of pain zinged through my body. He looked at me with hatred and disgust, immediately looked away.

That was when I remembered I am wearing an apron. And I am in the kitchen. Even a fool can figure out what I was doing here.

And that's when I realized that Jem was staring at my apron.

Hi, there lovelies! I want to make faster updates for you, but my exams are really near. So forgive me if I am tardy! Meanwhile, enjoyed this chapter? Please vote and comment to let me know what you think. And don't forget to recommend it to your friends.