CHAPTER TWO
"Elise ! Elise! Get up right now," mom's voice snapped. I blinked ,my heart pounding, sheets drenched in sweat. Another nightmare. They were happening more often now. As though echoes from a past I couldn't remember.
Mom burst in before I could even sit up. "Do I need to drag you out of that bed again?" she barked ,arms crossed, lips curled like I'd done something evil in my sleep." No ma_am ," I mumbled, throwing off the covers.
She always found a reason to hate me.
"You better not be sulking. You have chores to do,"she said voice dripping venom. Then walked off muttering, "Ungrateful brat." The door slammed.
I sat still for a second,the air thick with cigarette smoke and a tension that never really left this house.
I forced myself out of bed and headed to the bathroom. The cold water hit my skin. I needed it to wake up, to feel something else.
I stood in front of the cracked mirror,steam curling behind me. My cold hazel eyes stared back, tired. My dark brown hair was a knotted mess, so I yanked a comb though it until it went up into a bun. I tugged a few strands loose to soften the sharpness of my face.
" Damn I'm fine," I muttered under my breath. It was a lie. One I told myself every day to keep me going. Deep down, I was crumbling. But if I don't say it , I might completely fall apart.
When I walked into the kitchen,Dad didn't look up from his newspaper. He never did.
He sat in his usual spot by the window, legs crossed, one slipper barely hanging onto his foot. The ashtray on the table was already full, cigarette butts stacked like spent memories. A fresh one dangled from his lips, smoke curling up into the ceiling fan that didn't work.
He took a drag, slow and steady, like it was the only thing keeping him alive. The ember at the tip pulsed, glowing briefly in the dim light. The smoke trailed out of his mouth and nose like a sigh he never spoke. He turned a page, his fingers stained yellow, movements mechanical.
"Morning ," I said voice small hoping maybe today would be different.
He grunted. Didn't even glance up. Just flickered the ash off the end of his cigarette, let it fall where it always did.
His face was all hard lines and stubble, eyes sunken like he hadn't slept in years. Maybe he hadn't. Or maybe he was just tired of pretending to be someone who cared.
I glanced down at the burnt toast on the counter, mine.
My mom's eyes fell on me. Cold. Calculating." Took your sweet time," she spat. " Scrub the floors and don't forget the toilets. Do that before school. No excuses,"
I looked up at the clock on the wall. I'm already late. " Yes, mom," I said again. Like always.
The walk to school was the only time I felt halfway human. Even with the grey clouds above the air was freer than the suffocating walls of that house. I walked off today without adding to my collection of bruises.
But school,it was its own nightmare.
Summer found me before I reached my locker. " Well if it isn't little miss nobody," she sneered ,her clique laughing behind her like trained seals.
Summer was everything I wasn't - gorgeous, popular,loud. And she made it her mission to remind me everyday that I didn't belong. She bumped my books from my hands on purpose then looked back as if it were an accident. "Oops," I didn't respond.
I learned that silence was safer . I knelt down, picking up my notes. One page was smeared with mud." You should be more careful, Elise," she said in mock sweetness, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she walked away.
I looked around tracing my best friend Sage. Her raven black hair with blue highlights came to view. "There you are," she sighed after sighting me." The mean queen already stricked, didn't she?" I nodded slowly taking out my math book. " I figured, I hate her, someday I'm gonna beat her up," she balled her hands into fists.
" You will do no such thing, it would only land us in trouble," I tried to speak sense to her.Sage rolled her eyes. "Whatever. One day, though. One day." She looked at me, expression softening. "You good though? For real?"
I hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah. Just tired."
She didn't push. Sage never pushed—she knew how to read silence.
The bell rang and the day dragged. Math bled into History, History into Biology. I drifted through it all like a ghost. Sage stuck by me where she could, shooting daggers at Summer from across the classroom. But even Sage couldn't be everywhere.
By lunch, the rain had started, soft but steady. I sat under the awning near the back of the cafeteria, tracing circles on the table.
That's when I heard Summer laughing again. Loud. Sharp. Cutting.
I didn't even look up—until she said it.
"Still dreaming you're special, Elise?"
Sage stood up from the other end of the bench. "Back off, Summer. Don't you have a mirror to worship?"
Summer's lip curled. "Always playing the hero, Sage. Wonder what she'd think if she knew the truth."
Sage took a step forward, and I had to reach out to hold her back. "It's not worth it," I whispered.
Summer stared at me a moment longer, then smirked and strutted off.
But the way she said "the truth" stuck in my head like a splinter.
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Later, after classes...
I stayed behind to organize the music sheets in the band room. It was the only place I felt safe, playing the harp tucked away in the corner, its strings like threads holding me together.
The halls were quiet by the time I left. Too quiet.
That's when I saw them.
Summer and her gang were waiting at the back gate.
My stomach dropped.
"Leaving so soon?" Summer said sweetly, stepping out from behind the lockers like a serpent uncoiling.
My heart sank. The hallway was almost empty—just the late echo of footsteps and the hum of the old lights above. Her clique trailed behind her, amusement dancing on their perfectly glossed lips.
"What do you want?" I asked, voice flat but bracing.
Summer smirked. "Just thought I'd remind you who you are before you forget again."
I turned to walk away. A mistake.
"Still pretending you didn't notice Kai staring at you in Chem contest?" she said, voice tightening.
I froze.
"Yeah. He used to wait for me after class, you know. Until you and your pathetic little pencil drop happened. So original, Elise."
"I didn't drop it on purpose," I said quietly. "He just asked to borrow it."
"Oh, please." Summer stepped closer, her heels clicking like warning shots. "You think you're subtle? Just standing there with your sad little eyes and your mystery act? It's exhausting."
"I didn't ask him to talk to me."
"But he did." Her voice dropped. "Just like they always do."
My eyes met hers—and for a second, I saw it. A flicker of something old. Something broken.
"You always take what's mine," she whispered.
The words hit harder than any shove could.
"You don't even try," she continued, her voice sharp with grief. "You just walk in with your silence and your scars, and suddenly everyone thinks you're some tragic little princess."
"I never wanted to be that," I said, voice cracking.
"No," she sneered. "But you always are. Since we were kids, Elise. You always find a way to come out shining while I'm left—"
She stopped herself. Blinked like she'd said too much.I stared at her. "What happened to us?"
Something burned in her eyes—almost pain. Then, just as fast, it vanished.
"I got smart," she spat. "And I realized you're poison."
Her fist came fast. I barely dodged it, but her second one connected with my shoulder, and I stumbled back.
"Summer, stop—"
But she didn't.
Jade kicked my shin, hard. Kyla shoved me from behind. My head hit the locker. Stars burst in my vision. I felt the ground beneath me, the thud of knees slamming concrete, fists yanking my hair.
"Think you're better than me?" Summer shouted, voice shaking now—not from rage but from something deeper.
"I didn't do anything to you," I cried, curling inward, trying to protect my ribs.
"That's the problem!" she screamed. "You never do anything. You just exist and people still choose you."
I could barely breathe, the world spinning in noise and pain—until I heard it:
"Get OFF her!"
Sage's voice.