In-between; Who Is My Destined Mate?

Chapter 7. ★ During break ★

That person was no other person than Abigail’s new friend, Mrs Elizabeth who was on her way back home after a long run in Waza Park. She recognized the young girl laying on the grass in the middle of the night and that called for her attention so she moved close to the fence and saw through, confirming her thoughts.

She was brokenhearted as the young girl was shivering with nothing to protect her from the cold. She thought of jumping through the fence to carry the girl in her arms and rush her to her house. Yet, she didn't want to disturb or make her feel uncomfortable with her presence.

Not forgetting that Mrs Elisabeth had once found Abigail sitting on the street lonely on the 25th of December and invited her to her house thinking that she was a homeless kid in need of shelter. So that day she offered both food and shelter to the young girl but surprisingly the young girl only took the food and rejected the shelter by lying that she had a home in the neighbourhood. Little did Elizabeth know that that home was on the street, she thought to herself.

Anguished, she followed her second intuition and that was to leave. So she left with a lot of questions roaming her mind. She knew it, — she knew that Young Abigail was a homeless child from day one because no female child, especially from that kind of good neighbourhood would have looked so hungry and unkept on the 25th of December as Abigail did.

According to Elisabeth’s analysis, she wasn't dirty and neither was she smelling too bad, still, her clothes looked old and so faded and her hair was strewed unlike that of all the young girls in the neighbourhood with well-treated hair. Elizabeth re-thought to herself as there seemed to be more to it than she first thought because ‘If she’s homeless, why is she sticking around this neighbourhood like an evil spirit? Why are her faded clothes clean, how does she wash them or take a bath so she doesn't smell?” she was still thinking as she moved home.

When she reached her house, the food which she had cooked and served on the dining table for her son was still intact. He hadn't touched it and this made her so furious that she started scolding him but he was already locked in his room with his headset on as usual so he couldn't get anything.

“While some have food and they don't want to eat, some want to eat but they don't even have the food, — ungrateful kid!” she grumbled while cleaning up.

~~~~

★ Next day ★

The sky was dark blue and still very cold when Dianna came out of the house and poured a bucket of ice water on the shivering girl. A loud scream immediately followed as Abigail shuddered out of her sleep in shock and shivering even more. The young miserable girl thought she was going to die of cold.

“It’s already 5 am and you’re still sleeping, lazy girl, — who will clean the house for you?” Dianne scolded. Meanwhile, Abigail was so pissed off that she even wanted to curse her stepmother, Mrs Dianna at the top of her voice but then she kept it to herself. Her eyes were crammed with tears as she was biting her lower lips to hold back the tears. She didn't want to cry very early in the morning. Unfortunately, the pain in her heart had overloaded as it overcame her reasoning and tears helplessly erupted from her innocent alluring eyes.

‘Moongod, goddess or what you call yourself, I want to know what I have done to deserve this?’ She cried deep down while her evil glance was glued on Dianna. She tried to kill her but unfortunately, she was very weak for that. Dianna was stronger and even had a strong wolf than her.

“Why are you still sitting and waiting? Get up!” Dianna yelled while pouring the remaining ice water on her. Frozen chills moved down Abigail’s spine as the cold went right into her bones and her innermost being. It was so cold that she thought that she was going to freeze and die on the spot.

“I want the whole house clean before my husband and daughter get up!” She said while moving into the house. Then the shivering young girl followed her in but immediately went to her room down in the basement to change before beginning work. She was freezing.

Her room was more of a cellar where old and unused things were kept. The basement was about thirty meters square but only ten meters square was free and occupied by her. It was the angle at the entrance of the cellar where Abigail’s bed and the cupboards were. The room was filled with rats. So once, Abigail begged to transfer to the empty rooms of the house but Dianna refused, saying that the empty room was reserved for her guests and there was nothing she could do than to accept.

Abigail reached down to the basement, surprisingly her room was locked. That came as a big shock since she didn't lock her room yesterday. She couldn't even have the time, they drove her out like a thief. Confused, she stood there for a few minutes shivering and thinking with water dripping from her body and clothes to the ground. Deep within her, she knew who had done that. So she rushed back upstairs searching for Dianna shivering. She felt very cold that her body had turned whitish like that of a cadaver as if blood had stopped circulating in her body. The only difference was the effortless twitch of her lips as she shivered even more. More to that her stomach was aching with hunger.

When she reached the living room, she found Dianna moving upstairs so she rushed after her, crying with her trembling lips “Please, I need the keys to my room, I will fall sick or even die if I don't change” she begged. “Hahaha… do I look like I care? Your dead will be a relief to me. You will only get your keys once you are done working” With that said she walked away without any second thought.

Abigail stood there sick and frustrated. But after secondary thought, she rushed to the laundry room where she found some of her dirty clothes. She picked up a top and trousers and put them on, although they were dirty.

Immediately she was done, she began to work. Her empty stomach started gurgling even more. After she was done cleaning everything, Dianna came out of her room and started preparing breakfast. The aroma was going to murder Abigail, as she was salivating. Luckily, after an hour of work, Dianna had given her keys to her room so she hid there, preparing while waiting for the time to leave for school.

When Dianna was done cooking, she called Lily and her husband to come downstairs to eat and that was about 7 am so two hours after Abigail had gotten up. After her family was done eating, she locked everything with keys, the fridge and all the cupboards. Everybody had access to it except for Abigail.

After breakfast, Mr Peter left for work. He was seated in his car with Lily waiting for Abigail. He even yelled her name like he did everything morning and when she finally hurried upstairs dressed and ready for school, Dianna stopped her and said “Where do you think you are going to?” She stood in front of Abigail obstructing her path as she halted her from moving further. “You clean the dishes in the kitchen before you leave!” She ruled ruthlessly. Abigail clenched her fists furiously yet she had to compress her feelings before voicing her pleas; “Please, Mum, I can't! I’m already running late for school and Daddy is waiting for me in the car. Those are only a few dishes I will clean once I get back from school…” she whimpered.

Sadly, a huge slap landed on her face and she immediately shut up her mouth. Her eyes were crammed with tears. “How dare you dispute my orders? Put that bag down and start cleaning!” She scolded and immediately Abigail dropped her bag and began cleaning the dining tables.

While Dianna moved to the entrance of the house faking a smile and said “You should go without her. She’s still having her bath” she lied and tears rushed down Abigail’s eyes when she heard her from the kitchen.

“Damn, girl!” Peter exclaimed as he hit the driver's wheel of his car and drove off. While Dianna immediately moved back to the kitchen to face the young girl with a very cruel look. The young girl was hiding her face from Dianna as she was crying and cleaning dishes with her school uniform on. Nonetheless, she immediately wiped her tears when she heard Dianna’s footsteps approaching.

When she finally arrived at school that day, she was almost two hours late and she was scared as she moved into the school gate. The compound was empty and luckily for her, no one saw her. Anyway, that was what she thought. She was so late that when she finally reached her class, the teacher had consumed his first two periods and was walking out of the class while she was moving to wait for the next teacher.

Normally, she would have loved to stay home since she was already that late to avoid humiliation at school. Yet, the humiliations at school were nothing compared to what Dianna could do to her at home.

Unfortunately, little did she know what was awaiting her at school that day…

….

★ During break ★

Abigail was so eager to hear the lunch bell ring. So when it finally came, she hurried out of the class and went to the school refectory to have lunch which was given by the school and served by the cooks of the school. She was so hungry that her stomach was hurting very badly.

On her way to the refectory, she was smiling like a fool just at the thought of seeing food. However, she got distracted when she saw a crowd, — mostly girls surrounding something and that called for her attention but she was too hungry to stop by to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Yet, curiosity had her, as her footstep decreased as she continued looking. The moment she saw what the crowd was all about, she lost interest and ran away.

It was the twins. Brian looked so disconnected and bored while Benjamin on the contrary seemed to enjoy his popularity.

Immediately, she saw them, she lost interest and ran to the canteen without wasting any time. She didn’t want them to spot her not only because she was hungry but also because her uniform was twisted since she had no time to iron them and it was kind of dirty and all that was because of Dianna.

Moved into the canteen and stood in line waiting for her turn to come and that seemed like an eternity. She was praying not to faint from hunger before her turn. And thank god for her turn finally came and she was still able to move.

She stretched her tray forward and it was filled with some pudding, an apple, a banana and a plastic cup of orange juice. Just at the sight of her tray, she was already salivating. She couldn’t wait to finally get a seat and devour the food. So she was moving to a nearby seat with her eyes glued to her tray as if taking her eyes off the tray was going to make the food disappear. It was so hilarious, — for Abigail anyway.

Unexpectedly, she mistakenly hit her leg on a step that made her stumble, — almost falling with all the content of her tray flying up into the air. Abigail did all the gymnastics she had learned just to stabilize herself and position her tray in such a way that all the content flying into the air would land back inside the tray as if nothing had ever happened.

Her head was lifted to the ceiling and her heart was pounding with fear….