Chapter 4 I'm Leaving

• (Sienna)
• I fight a snort.
• I knew she'd come, that mask she had put on out there had fallen.
• Now, the real Elaine laid bare.
• “You prayed?” I all but purred, arms crossed, a smug smile playing at the corner of my lips. “Well, too bad I'm not fighting to fit in, to keep a title, unlike someone I know…,”
• She close the distance between us until her face is inches from mine, she balled her fist, teeth gritting. “You're a bitch who's so eager to reap where she didn't sow, no one wants you,”
• I almost laugh.
• But l don't.
• She must've hurt her back stretching this hard.
• If it was back then, I'd have run into my room, curled up and cried my eyes out.
• But now it only amuses me.
• I feel nothing.
• “You really should save your breath, Elaine. You'd be needing all of that energy for your next scheme,”
• She's breathing faster now, chest rising and falling beneath her blouse. Her eyes don't waver from mine. I stare right back.
• Her jaw tightens. “I'll see that you're out of their lives for good,” she spit out, voice laced thick with venom. “You won't be able to escape what's to come, that's a promise.”
• I have a smug grin on. “I'd like to see you try sister,”
• She opens her mouth to say something but swallows it back, then she turns and stormed out.
• Her loud steps echoes on the empty hallway. I bet she never thought I'd get out.
• I make my way to what used to be my room.
• A place as icy as a cold room, broken windows, sagged curtains, never offered warmth a room should.
• I remember waking up cold in the night, shivering that I fell sick. I begged the next morning, not for a change of room, but for the curtain to be patched up, for the windows to be fix.
• But they regarded it with contempt, waving it off like it didn't matter. “Why do you always complain, Sienna?” Shawn had blurted out, eyes blazing fire.
• “Have you ever had a room as good as this one?” Mason quipped, looking as angry as ever.
• “I know what this is about, you want Elaine's room, don't you?” Lucas had surmised. “Don't be selfish,”
• “Learn to be content,” Leona had said.
• They always manages to trail back all my complaints to Elaine. It was always about her.
• I creak the door open, dust and rusty smell streams into my lungs.
• I coughed into my palms and stepped in still.
• Of course they knew I'd be released today but didn't even lift a finger to have my room cleaned.
• Nothing ever changes here.
• I walk past the old rickety bed, stopping right at the broken mirror on the wall, then I stared at my pale frame.
• My eyes spotted my scars, a constant reminder of the anguish I've endured– the endless torture, the grievances, all of it.
• Staying here will bring me more misery– it'll be like walking on the edge of a blade. I've seen the ugliness of this family and I know what it's like to live under their roof.
• I fight that urge, that loud terrifying urge pulling me to gather my things, pick up my pieces and leave.
• I can't.
• Not without Claire.
• I shut my eyes and open them, managing to put the thought out of my head.
• I'll stay, for my little sister.
• My fingers trail down my scar, as if taking it in but then I heard it.
• A knock at the door.
• I don't move.
• I have no interest in speaking to either of them.
• The knock doesn't stop.
• “Ms Sienna, it's me, Elizabeth. Are you in there?” My heart almost flew to my stomach when I heard that name.
• Elizabeth, the middle aged woman who's nothing like them. In the entire Miller family, only Elizabeth had ever treated me as the true Ms. Miller.
• She saw through my pains, always willing to lend me a shoulder to lean on, to cry on.
• During the time when I was locked out to sleep in the cold because Elaine framed me for breaking a vase, it was Elizabeth who had offered me blanket.
• During the time when I had to go to bed without food or water, it was Elizabeth who spared me her meals.
• During the time when I come home with my perfect grades, as a top student in school, but force to hide it so I don't upset Elaine. It was Elizabeth who secretly celebrated it with me, cheering me on.
• See? She's everything my own mother couldn't be.
• And that's all the more reason why I'm lingering at the door, hesitating to pull it open, to face her.
• My chest constricted, a complicated mix of emotions overwhelming me. It's not that I don't want to open the door, I– I just didn't know how to face her, not after everything.
• What if she hates me now believing I'd tried to kill Brittany?
• Exhaling, I pull the door open, and stilled.
• There she was, looking exactly as I remembered her, she hadn't even aged a bit.
• But contrary to what I had expected, her face breaks into a big, bright smile, eyes filled with warmth as she pulls me into a bone crushing hug.
• I was caught off guard at first, mainly because I wasn't so sure but then my heart bloomed, for a second I shut my eyes, burying my face in the crook of her neck.
• This is it?
• A motherly hug, that's all it took to calm this raging storm.
• I never knew I needed a hug as much as I do now.
• I want so much to cry but I don't. I've learned that tears is a form of weakness. So I just don't anymore.
• “I didn't push Brittany, I swear.” I blurt out, wanting to clear the air as soon as we broke apart.
• She gives me a knowing look, much to my surprise. “I know you didn't,” she says and I froze.
• I blink. “You do?” the words slips out, eyes wide in disbelief.
• She nods. “I knew the whole time, I saw it happen, I just turned in the glass of juice Ms Elaine had requested for, you were out in the patio at the time,”
• Thinking of this, my eyes mist slowly, a wave of relief washing over me.
• She knows. She always had.
• And— she doesn't hate me, that's a relief.
• “I'm —,” she stutters. “I'm so sorry you had to take the fall for it.” she blurt out, emotions reeling.
• I take her hand, shook my head, and stared into her eyes. “You don't have to apologize, you did nothing, it was my fault, I— I consented to it,”
• I see the question lined up in her eyes, she opens her mouth and clamps it shut. I could feel the rage in her eyes, but as a mere servant who had served this family for ages, she had no such power to go against the Miller family.
• And then I ask, mainly because she's the only person I trust around here. “Have you heard anything about Brittany?” I pin my eyes on her.
• She swallowed. “I haven't heard anything, the Ravenford family has been tight-lipped about her recovery, no one knows but your— the Miller family has been put under the radar after that incident.”
• I worry about this, what if she dies?
• Will the furious Ravenford heir throw me in prison forever?
• My jaw clenched, my hand fisting at the mere thought of that.
• I shake my head, I can't stay here, I can't go back to prison, I need to get hold of Claire, even if it means going to my foster home to look for her, a place I had vowed never to step foot into.
• I need to see my little sister.
• And after that, I'd have to think of a way to get us a place far away as possible, work several jobs to put food on our table if I have to, live a much simpler life.
• I'd do literally anything but not stay where I'm unwanted, unloved, by my own family.
• “I'm leaving,” I blurt out to Elizabeth.