Mel
I sighed and lay down on my bed, listening to Lisa, my stepmother, rant on the other side of my door.
"And when you're done, you need to wash the dishes !"she yelled.
"I did them LAST night!" I groaned.
"Yes, and you'll do them every night until I say otherwise, Melanie!"
"ugh, Don't call me that!!" I screeched.
I hated that name. She knew that I did, and she knew I hated her.
" I'll call you whatever I want, you ungrateful brat! And I don't want to hear any sas from you about it!"
I put my pillow over my head to try and block out the sound of her voice, but it was no use. My life sucked.
Let me back up a little. My name's Melanie, as you might have gathered, but no one call's me that. They're too scared of what I might do to them. I go by Mel. I'm fourteen, and my mom died six years ago from cancer. Four years ago, dad got a new wife. Then he enlisted in the army and left me to deal with her. I don't see him very much, but when I do, I spend nearly the entire time trying to convince him of the truth about Lisa. You see, he thinks she's an absolute angel. Not that I can really blame him, she acts like one around him. Anyway, she hates me but just adores my seventeen year-old sister, Jenna. But I deal with it. I've been trying to bide my time 'till I'm old enough to get a job. Plus, if I leave, I won't get to see dad at all. Not that he ever comes around anyway. Still, though… If I could get out of here…
"You get out here right now, young lady!"
The sudden command jerked me out of my thoughts.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," I grumbled as I pulled the pillow off my head and sat up. I stalked to the door and jerked it open. My fake blonde stepmother stood there, fuming.
"When I tell you to do something, you do it THEN", she barked.
"Yeah, yeah" I grumbled, slipping past her and into the kitchen.
"Yes, ma'am," she corrected. "Oh, no need to call me ma'am" I smarted back, picking up a rag and a plate. Her face became an interesting shade of red, and I had to bite my lip to stop a giggle.
I finished with the dishes, and about 100 other chores, while Jenna watched TV and mocked me. I finally escaped to my room and hid there until 11:30, when I was sure everyone was asleep. Then, I hopped out of bed, clothes still on, and snatched up my backpack. I threw some clothes, my flashlight, my wallet, and a couple of paperback books into it. There, I thought, just a little food and I'll be good to go. Slowly, I crept into the kitchen. I was good at sneaking around, something that had become a necessity when Lisa took to depriving me of food as punishment for being rude to her( which was pretty often.) I stepped silently to the pantry and… OW!! My foot slipped on the slick tile and I smashed to the ground, my nose making a sickening cracking noise as it came up against the solid tile. Oh, wow, that hurt. I lay there, listening for any sign that someone had heard me.