Tell Me Why

Part 2

"Ma, I'm sorry for what I said. He just...destroyed me." Nick mumbled as he walked into the room where his mom was sitting, looking through her old cookbooks.

"I know, Nicholas. But, don't think of your father in that way. He is a great man." She tried to smile for him, but it was just impossible.

"Ma? Remember what I told you before?" He sat next to her and hugged her tight.

"Sorry. I meant Nick. The only son I love." She gently kissed his cheek and walked off into the kitchen. She loved to cook. To waste her time.

"Ma, what are you making tonight just out of curiosity?" Nick fumbled onto the floor as he fell backwards on his rocking chair. Again.

She popped her head out of the kitchen. "Eggplant Surprise. Sounds yummy, huh?" She saw Nick on the floor. "Are you alright, Nicholas?"

"Mom, I do this everyday. You know me and rocking chairs." She helped him up as they both laughed.

"Oh man. I'm gonna be late. Again." He ran to his room looking for a decent shirt to wear for work. What now? He tried to come up with a decent excuse. He was always late. But his boss, Mr. Gosselear, promised if there was another lateness, he would be fired.

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"How are my shoes coming, Hope?" Maria pranced upstairs to find her stepsister scrubbing her favorite pair of alligator boots too hard.

"Hope! Be careful! Those are the best shoes I ever bought from Boston! Don't you dare ruin them!" She tried to pry them out of Hope's hands, but she had too much of a tight grip on them.

"Let go!" Maria screamed. And just as her grip got tighter, Hope let go. Sending Maria flying into the wall across her room. "How dare you, you little beast! I can't wait to call mum today."

Mum. Mum. Mum is all Hope heard day and night coming out of her beloved stepsister's piehole. She couldn't do anything for herself. So she asked her pitiful mother which my dad wouldn't believe was an evil, old woman. She was twice her father's age, but she somehow managed to allure Hope's desperate father into love. Thus, making Hope's miserable life, even more miserable.

"Mum, it's Maria." She sniffled to get Hope punished. As if Hope's life wasn't a punishment, already. Hope stared at her as Maria mumbled on about what she did to her. She even added that she locked her in a closet with a bag of snakes. Where would I possibly find a bag of snakes in Paris? Hope thought to herself.

Maria held the phone out in Hope's direction. Maria walked off and took a seat, watching to see if Hope would cry.

She took a deep breath. "Hello, mom."

"You little rascal. How dare you hurt my Maria and almost kill her!" She took out all her anger on poor Hope. "You are to listen to every one of Maria's orders and do anything she tells you. Understand?"

Hope sighed. Her father loved the woman. She could do nothing. "Yes, mom. I understand. Where's papa?"

"On a business trip not wanting to see your face." She added and laughed at the pain Hope felt rush through her.

"That's not true. He loves me just as much as he loves you. "

"Whatever, peasant. And don't call me mom. Call me Beth. You don't deserve to call me anything else."

Hope slammed the phone down onto the receiver and gave Maria a death stare before getting back to shoe shining.

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"Nick, hurry up!" His mother called out.

He slid down the banister. "Ma, help me with this stupid tie." He ended up getting it in some confusing knot.

His mom quickly adjusted the tie. "Nick, you forgot something."

"What?" He glanced down to where his mom was looking. "My pants! No wonder I was feeling a draft in the wrong place. Thanks, Ma." He pecked her cheek, grabbed some pants, and ran out.

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How can she treat me this way? And how could my father not believe me? Hope thought as she scrubbed the tiles in the kitchen with her own bare hands.

"Hope! I'm going to go get my nails done. I'll be back in an hour, tops." Maria smiled as she saw her younger sister suffer.

"Fine. What should I tell mum if she calls?"

"Tell her I'm with Michael." Ah. The boyfriend of the evil one. Hope never knew what Michael saw in that thing.

"Fine." All Hope could do was chores. And mope.

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Nick's boss was fuming in anger. He glanced at his watch. "Late again, Mr. Nick."

Nicholas laughed nervously and was afraid to make eye contact. "Sorry, I had to go see my mother in the hospital."

"Really, what happened to her?"

"Oh, she slipped and displaced her elbow." Nick crossed his fingers behind his back hoping his boss would fall for it.

"Really? Since when?"

"Yesterday afternoon." he mumbled.

"Really? But she seemed perfectly comfortable at home this morning when I called her." he crossed his arms.

Nicholas thought his life was living hell. If only he had seen his beloved Hope.

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Hope held the bottle of anesthetics with a tight grip. She thought to herself how no one would care if she did anything hurtful to herself.

She unscrewed the cap and stared at the odd colored liquid in the bottle.

She was on her bed, looking around for the last time.

But her heart started skipping beats as the picture flew from the windowsill into her lap.

Nicholas, she thought. And she dropped the bottle, tears flew out of her eyes. The liquid now seeped through the white carpet only leaving a stain behind.

She hurried back to her shoebox, looking though momentos of Nicholas. Then the wilted rose laid gently at the side of the box.

She smelled it. The memories were flowing back, as if they had only occurred yesterday.

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