Who are you?
Vera lay still on the thin, torn blanket that barely kept the cold away, her eyes wide open as she thought about the voices she had been hearing.
She didn't know where they came from, or why they always seemed to hear it when she was at her lowest.
They never frightened her. They comforted her. She remembered the voice from days ago. No one in this house would ever say something so kind.
"You are more," it had whispered, just as she'd cried herself to sleep, her body aching from the heavy chores she did.
More of what? More than this? More than a servant in her own family?
Her thoughts swirled as she stared up at the wooden beams filled with cobwebs and dust. She couldn't sleep. the sounds of scurrying rats and cockroaches echoed in her ears. She tried to force herself to sleep, but no way. She growled, and her thoughts moved to the many questions on her mind. Who was this Oracle? Why did that name keep slipping into her thoughts like a ghost? Was she going crazy? With that thought in her mind, she dozed off.
The Next Morning...…
The attic creaked as a gust of morning sun shone against the frail window and landed on Vera's face.
She stirred from her restless slumber, with a heavy sigh, she rose from her makeshift bed, blinking away the remnants of sleep as she prepared to face another day in the Fitzgerald household.
Downstairs, Victoria slept in a well-furnished room with a comfortable mattress. Victoria, wearing pink pajamas and surrounded by an array of expensive trinkets and baubles, moved with a sense of purpose as she prepared for the day ahead.
Her laughter sounded through the halls as she chatted animatedly with her friends as they ate a nice breakfast.
But in the attic, where Vera stayed in solitude, there was no laughter, no warmth, only the cold, empty silence of her lonely existence.
As she made her way to the kitchen to begin her daily chores, her heart was heavy with the weight of her burdens, she could hear her mother's voice drifting up from below.
"Vera, get up from your lazy ass! It's 6 am, go start with breakfast. Your sister is preparing for school," Samantha's sharp voice cut through the stillness of the morning, clearly sounding impatience.
"Yes, Mommy, I'm coming," Vera replied meekly, in a low tone as she hurriedly left her room and made her way downstairs.
In the kitchen, Vera set to work. preparing breakfast, although she was slow, trying not to make any mistakes as she pushed aside the sadness that threatened to overwhelm her. Despite the dreary conditions of her surroundings, she did her best to put on a brave face, hoping to find some show of happiness amidst the chaos of her life.
As she cracked eggs into a sizzling pan, her mind wandered to the daunting assignment that took like forever to finish.
Suddenly, Victoria appeared in the kitchen, in a commanding and imposing way, standing over her sister. "I hope you finished my assignment, because it's not going to be good for you if you didn't," she warned, behaving like it was her right.
With a worn-out and defeated look, Vera nodded silently. "Yes, I did," she replied, her voice barely audible above the crackling of the flames.
"Why are you standing there looking like me? Now go get it," Victoria ordered, almost yelling.
"Please, the eggs are still on fire," Vera pleaded, torn between obeying Victoria or letting the eggs burn which would get her in more trouble. But before she could finish her sentence, Victoria's hand came crashing down on her cheek, the force of the blow sending shockwaves of pain coursing through her body. Tears welled up in Vera's eyes as she recoiled from the impact, her cheek sting with the sting of her sister's betrayal.
"That sounds like your problem, and this is the last time you talk back to me. I let it go yesterday with my friends, but it seems like you hell bent on defying me," Victoria spat, flashing her eyes in anger as she turned to leave the kitchen.
Just then, Samantha entered the room. narrowing her eyes in anger as she watched Vera sob in the corner of the kitchen. But instead of asking her what happened, she made fun of her.
"Oh my god, you are such a baby," she spat, and glared at her.
She quickly began to dry her tears, stained face, and eyes. The mockery from her mom was enough to make her stop crying.
"And oh, look at the eggs! They're burning! Why can't you do anything right, you foolish child?" Samantha continued, her anger simmering beneath the face as she pointed to the charred remains of breakfast.
But before Vera could defend herself, Victoria interjected, her voice filled with self-righteous indignation. "I asked her to get my assignment, and she blatantly refused, Mom," she declared, flashing her eyes with malice as she turned to her mother for support.
Samantha's brow furrowed with confusion as she glanced between her two daughters, trying to make sense of the situation. "No, she did not," she retorted, her voice tinged with disbelief. "First, you couldn't even make breakfast, and now you can't even do just a little task for your sister?"
Vera's heart sank at her mother's words; her cheeks burned with shame as she struggled to find the courage to speak up in her own defense. "Mom, I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice barely above a whisper as she met her mother's gaze with tear-filled eyes.
But before she could utter another word, Samantha's hand came crashing down on her cheek once more, the force of the blow sending shockwaves of pain coursing through her body. Vera flinched from the effect, her heart began to beat fast as she tried to hold back her tears.
"Did I say you could talk?" Samantha spat, her voice laced with venom as she glared at her daughter with undisguised contempt. "You know what? For this, you're not going to eat before school, and no allowance money for today. Now get out of here."
Vera's heart sank as she tried to process her mother's words, her chest tightened with a sense of sadness as she realized the extent of her punishment. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she turned to leave the kitchen, Her spirit was broken and her sense of worth shattered.
However, just as she reached the door, Samantha's voice called out to her, stopping her in her tracks. "Eh heh, the assignment. Go bring it for your sister," she ordered, her tone cold and unforgiving as she watched Vera's retreating body with a sense of satisfaction.
Vera's heart sank even further at her mother's words. She ran fast to her room to get the assignment even though she hadn't read it to correct some errors in it.
As she handed it to her sister, she felt downcast and her spirit broken.
**********************************
As Victoria's car pulled out of the driveway, Vera stood by the window, finally having a moment to prepare for school. She heard the girls talking outside, loud and carefree.
"What up, bitch?" Jordan shouted.
"You're the bitch, hoe," Victoria shot back with a laugh.
"Come on, we're gonna be late," Francesca added.
Their laughter echoed down the street, it was so full of life. She felt a pang of jealousy. She longed to be part of that world, to have friends who cared, to have a family that didn't treat her like a burden. But as the car zoomed off, she knew the truth too well. She wasn't one of them. She never had been. Her place was on the sidelines, watching a life she could never touch.
With a heavy sigh, Vera turned away from the window and made her way to the bathroom to start her morning routine. She washed her face and brushed her teeth, trying to push aside the nagging sense of sadness that threatened to overwhelm her. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake off the feeling of loneliness that clung to her like a shadow.
Finally, she was ready for school, Vera hurriedly gathered her things and rushed out of the house. She glanced at the clock and realized she was running late for the school bus. With a sinking feeling in her chest, she broke into a run, hoping against hope that she could catch the bus before it left without her.
But as she rounded the corner, her heart sank as she saw the familiar yellow bus pulling away from the curb. She had missed it by mere seconds. Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched the bus disappear down the street, leaving her alone on the sidewalk.
With a heavy heart, Vera resigned herself to walking to school. She trudged along the usual road. As she walked, her thoughts drifted to her life and the unfairness of it all.
If she weren't a twin to her sister, she would have sworn that she didn't belong to this family at all. Her parents' cruelty and her sister's indifference had left her feeling like an outsider in her own home, she was a mere shadow of the person she longed to be.
But despite the pain and the loneliness, Vera refused to give up hope. Deep down, she knew that she was worthy of love and acceptance, that she deserved better than the life she had been given. And as she walked, she muttered. "They will regret how they treated me."