THE BEAST IN ME

1. The shift

                         Hera  P.o.v

"Quit sighing," Ava said seriously. " Yeah right," I muttered under my breath then sighed again.

She glanced in the rearview mirror with a glare then focused on the road. 

"You should make sure you don't bring that rotten attitude to our new house." She said between gritted teeth.

I glanced at her for a second then chuckled softly. Was she trying to be a comedian?. Because her s**t wasn't any funny.

"And whose fault is it that we are traveling far away ?" I asked in a whisper.

"What?" She asked loudly while glancing at the rearview mirror again.

"Nothing, did you hear something?" I asked trying so hard to play dumb.

"I don't care what you think of me Hera. All I know is that I'm still your f*****g mother who gave birth to you. So always show some respect and keep your asshole side in check." She warned.

I swallowed hard then bite my lower lip. 

"Keep your peace Hera. Keep calm." I said to myself silently over and over again.

I wasn't going to fire back, nor spit at her for being such a horrible mother in my f*****g life!. She was the reason why I had no place I could call home!.

My grudge with her started way back when my father was still alive. 

My father was a very kind, humble, devoted man, who came from a respectable home and background. While on the other my mother was a nagging, ungrateful, selfish lady who came from a very wealthy family.

You might wonder how such a lady would end up with such a man. It's simple. Her screw-up life was all that went wrong. 

My mother was what we called a player. She was never faithful to one man nor interested in dating them seriously. She had her share of fun and nights out, until one day she got badly drunk and was dared to f**k my dad who was the virgin loser in most eyes.

She being the queen of the show chose to go on with the entertainment. She talked my Dad into sleeping with her. And like a f*****g horrible fairytale, my Dad who was already crushing on her stupidly gave in.

That one-night stand was suppose to end that same night. But s**t turned messy when my darling mother discovered that she was pregnant with me. She was so scared of her family finding out, and what they would do to her. And so she pinned her rotten sins on a millionaire Playboy. 

The millionaire Playboy first rejected her strongly. But a few threats from my so-called mother had him agreeing.

Ava felt like she was on top of the world. Her every will and order was going as planned and nothing seemed to stand in her way. Well, the dumb b***h was dead wrong because the night that she gave birth to me made the millionaire playboy realize something. How could his dear lovely Ava give birth to a healthy baby girl, who wasn't even premature when she had told him she was only five months pregnant!.

The man was furious, he wasted no time in rejecting her openly and shaming my poor grandparents. 

As for my grandparents, they renounced my mother as their daughter and kicked her out.

Ava had nowhere to go and no roof on her head. I had no idea if that's where her hatred towards me began or later on. But she was angry and felt like her life was at the end of the road. Luckily she still had one card to use on her sleeve and that was my father.

Being the genius that she thought she was. She easily figured out who the owner of her child was and where he lived. ( That was my father ).

She approached my father and explained everything to him in tears. My father who was already in love with her, accepted her without a second thought or any reason of doubt. He welcomed her in his humble home and vowed to protect the two of us.

As years went on, my father worked very hard and soon his status picked up in our society. Our lives turned in just a quick moment, we moved from being poor, unnoticed, irrelevant people. To respected and most loved family. 

Ava was so happy that she was living her dream once again. She began to squander our money carelessly. 

She had a lot of cars just for show. Beautiful expensive jewelry pieces that only a few women in our country could afford. She drunk a lot too and threw parties every chance that she got. Whenever my father tried to talk her out of her spending habits she became furious and violent. Throwing things at him and calling him horrible names. 

My father would take in the abuse without any fight or say. He waited for her to calm down then apologized for s**t he hadn't even done.

Years went on and everything was still the same. The only difference was that I was a grown-up teen, my mother was a drunk and my father had more grey hair than those older than him, he was thin and rapidly losing weight but kept it himself all the time.

Whenever I had time from school, I did my best to cheer him up and make him smile. He always held my hands and told me how lucky he was. But what made me feel confused were his last words he used to say in each conversation. "Never leave your mother. Always love and take care of her." I never asked why he was saying such words, all I did was nod and smile happily to cheer him on.

Then one-day tragedy struck. It was the worst memory and experience of my life that I would never forget.

It was a usual day and I had just come back from school. I stood in my room debating on what to wear when I heard a very loud, terrifying scream come from Ava.

I quickly rushed out of the room and went downstairs and into the living room where her voice had come from.

She was on the ground weeping with her cellphone in her hand.

"Mother what happened!. What's wrong?" I asked on top of my voice in fear.

She couldn't look at me nor answer me as she kept on weeping.

I could only think of one thing to do if I was to get answers.

I quickly grabbed her phone and looked at it.

Someone was still online calling out her name.

I carefully put the phone against my ear and answered.

"Hello." 

The man sighed In relief then continued.

"Ma'am, can you please come down to the hospital and help us identify the dead body?. We want to make sure if it's really your husband or not." 

Those words instantly shattered me. My whole world dimmed and it went cold. There was nothing I could hear nor see for a few minutes. 

"She killed him." That was the only thing that rang in my head.

Even when it was confirmed that it really was my father. The words repeatedly rang in my head.

He had an accident on the highway, but no matter what, it really looked like it was suicide. The breaks were okay and there was no trace of another car hitting into him. He wasn't even drunk that night, sadly he ended up driving to the side of the road and down the heel crushing into a tree.

The man that did his best to protect and love me was now dead and it was all Ava's fault. I cried my eyes out and passed out once. I was still in shock to process it all that I was rushed to the hospital and admitted.

On the day of the burial, I was discharged. I stood with no tears in my eyes watching Ava from the crowd as she cried and called out his name. While everyone felt sad for her, I felt nothing. Because I could see clearly past her acting. There was never a day that she was good to my father. She called him ugly names and told him to go die and set her free. 

I guess what she thought was that she would get to inherit everything that my father had. Boy was she wrong. It turned out that my father had no will left at all, and he left everything in the trust of my grandparents, his parents. They took almost everything from us. But luckily left us a house, a few cars and a cheque. 

They emphasized that they were doing this much because of how much my father loved me. And that it was up to them. They would have never left us a dine nor a house. 

They then cut ties with us and we never heard of them since then.

Back at school, I was the talk of every person. My so-called trusted friends instantly turned their backs on me and began mocking me. While Some took it upon themselves to laugh in my face. But what was worse was the bullying I started going through and experiencing.

I went back home in bruises and at times a closed eye. My mother who was going way out of her mind paid no attention to me. All she did was drink and smoke her troubles away.

School that was once my favorite place, became my feared hell. I began skipping classes and usually kept to myself. Yes, I missed how I was and longed to have a friend that would accept me for me, but who was I joking?. I was the rotten piece of trash that didn't fit in, in the perfectly clean environment. 

My mother's drinking became an addiction and she joined gambling. As if it wasn't enough, slow by slow she started selling things off. At first, it was her few cars. Then her clothes, Jewelry, paintings. Accessories and Furniture.

Our life changed for the worst and we began to struggle with everything. Food, clothes, clean water, and bills to fix broken pipes and our bathrooms in the house. 

I had to do something, I had to find a way. And so I went to search for a part-time job. Many people were harsh on me and wanted nothing to do with me. Some gave me some lame excuse of me being too young to work.  While some wanted to f**k me in exchange for hiring me.

I wanted to quit, but my will to survive everything was way stronger. I kept on searching and searching for a few years but no luck was in my way. Only after I graduated from high school was when I found a job, as a cleaner. 

I was so happy and tears filled my eyes. It was like a breakthrough I had longed for and wanted so bad.

I worked so hard for a few months and things began looking up, I even bought a car and managed to get Ava and me some food and new nice clothes.

But the ungrateful b***h had to screw me over. She lost a gambling bet that was way beyond what we could even afford. And what made matters worse! from wanted, well-known feared criminals. 

Everyone in town knew how they ruled the cops and did whatever they wanted. We were in deep s**t and our lives were in danger. 

I grabbed a few things that I needed and drove away to another town. I was dying to leave her ass for those criminals, but then I couldn't forget my father's words. It was his wish that I was to take care of her and that was exactly what I was going to do.

The new town we went to wasn't so bad. And the people were also friendly. 

I got a job there and made sure that my mother was under control. 

Shockingly she torned down on drinking and stopped gambling. We didn't talk much but tried to communicate with each other. She too looked for a job and began working in a cafe.

We later got an apartment and stayed there for a year and some months.

Then from nowhere, she announced that we were going to travel to another country. She went on to say that she did her research well, the place we were to live in was a nice place near a beautiful river and the people there were friendly but mostly minded their own business. My college fees were already paid and covered for. 

I was in shock over her sudden change of character and words but chose not to show it. 

And now here we were. Traveling to our so-called new house. The plane ride was pretty annoying but despite that. I was happy to finally go to college and start my life anew. Maybe, just maybe, I would once more make friends who would embrace me and laugh with me.