Burn Those Who Burned Me novel Chapter 51

SLAPI

That was the first time my father had ever hit me. Though he’d never been the most affectionate, he never faid his hands on me. As my cheek throbbed from the sting causing me to feel slightly lightheaded; I could hear my father yelling.

“What the hell is wrong with you! Why would you hit your sister! Haven’t I given you everything!”

Through sobs, Sophie began to protest.

“Please don’t be mad at her daddy, I should have never taken the necklace.”

My father looked down at the necklace on the ground.

“Is that what this is about! Some stupid necklace!”

The words burned like coal in my chest, how could he say such a thing.

“Dad, that was mom’s-”

“I don’t give a shit! Your mother is dead! What difference does it make if Sophie wears some stupid necklace!”

With that, he stomped on my mother’s necklace causing the causing the heart to shatter. After helping his new wife and daughter stand up, he sent me to my room to stay while the three of them went out to eat that night. It was at that moment I realized I was completely alone in that house. My only refuge was Jason.

Jason Sterling was my childhood friend. Our parents were in business together for many years and he was my first love. He would always tell me how he would marry me one day and we would live happily ever after. All of that changed, however, when he started hanging around Sophie. Suddenly I became the big bad stepsister picking on poor Sophie.

“Honestly Clara, when did you get so petty.”

He’d said to me one afternoon when Sophie began crying because I wouldn’t give her the ring he brought me after my mom died. The ring represented loss for a loved one. I remember him telling me as long as I wore that ring, my mother would always be with me. So, from that day on, I never took it off.

“It’s just a stupid ring. You act like I can’t buy you another one. Sophie doesn’t have anyone to buy her things.”

So, from that point on, I kept my distance. I put all of my energy into my schooling. I was already the top student at Grayson middle school which earned me a spot at Bartrum Private Academy, one the city’s most elite schools. That day, I couldn’t wait to get home and show my father. Even if he didn’t care for me as a daughter, I figured he’d be thrilled as an academic. Instead, I was accused of being a “show off trying to humiliate Sophie.”

“What do you think you’re doing! You know Sophie has been struggling and you come in here bragging! If you go to this school I won’t spend a dime of my money!”

True to his words, my father refused to pay for my schooling. What he didn’t know was that my mother had set money aside for me in case something ever happened. I used that money to pay for my tuition as well as my uniforms and took a part time job at a café to throw my father off. Because so many people praised him for my getting into Bartrum, he never forced me to leave. Instead, he chose to stay distant, never attending an award show, or parent teacher, never showing any type of devotion. Instead, I would watch him praise the gods for Sophie getting participation awards. It didn’t matter however, I loved my school, I had friends, my teachers loved me, and it was the one place I didn’t have to share with Sophie.