Ms.Bully

23

"This place is huge," I say as I follow behind Athena. "Yep pretty cool. "What do you do?" I ask as I look at the walls filled with family paintings. They all shared her light brown skin and curly dark brown hair. "I'm mainly a voice actress but I dabble in the arts," she said as I close the distance between us. "You got all this with voice acting?" I questioned not convinced. She did have an amazing voice but I know the average voice actor couldn't afford this. "Oh, this?! This is old money," she said waving her hands around. "Yeah, decades... Probably centuries ago...I don't know they are extremely old. My family had moved from Kota, India to Multan, Pakistan. I don't know what they were thinking but there was a lot of religious conflict in Pakistan against Hindus and they fled to America." she said as we walked into the kitchen she continued "They had owned a few buildings back when they were in India and saved the money they made when they moved to America. They said America was so different and the people here spoke weirdly but eventually, they got accustomed to it and started investing in tons of Real estate, company stocks, and other stuff I barely understand. Then...Bam! Old money." She said pulling out a chair for me. I take the seat and thank her. She walks around to the other side of the table and sits in front of me.

"So how do you keep it all?" I ask still bewildered. "It mostly pays for itself. But my brothers do most of the business stuff. I just show up to the board meetings because I'm also a Kavarai." She says signaling the chief to make some food. Well, it was nice to learn about her family history.
"Please hurry I don't want to reschedule," she says to the chief who nods his head and continues cooking. When the food is done cooking he sets the plates in front of us. There was a sunny side egg on top of rice and other vegetables. It looked and smelled delicious. I couldn't help but feel a ping of anxiety when I remembered what happened the last time I tried to eat. " Please eat. Your bones hurt last night," she said before taking a bite.  I could feel my face burning in embarrassment at the mention of last night. I shook as picked up the spoon and scooped out the rice and vegetables. "Damn ricetables you look kinda good," I murmured as I raised it to my mouth. "Ricetables? That's cute." Athena chuckled picking up some of the egg with her spoon.  I take a bite chewing and enjoying every flavor until I try to swallow. There was a quick flashback that made me retch.

* "Drink it!" Annabella yelled as she poured a huge jug of water down my throat nearly drowning me. I forced myself to swallow as the cold water fell all over me and the chair I was tied to. My stomach feeling beyond full with all the water I had consumed. I felt dizzy as I look at the water jugs lined up against the wall. "Santi..." she called and I hear a few steps in front of me before a fist launches into my stomach causing me to throw up all the water I had drunk. I cough violently gasping for air. I raise my head and looked at her to find a smirk plastered on her face. "Next jug." I hear Annabella order Santi.*

I retch dropping the spoon on the table to cover my mouth. "Leon?!" Athena said rushing out of her chair to my side of the table. She grabs my shoulder. "What's wrong," she asked grabbing a napkin for me. I take the napkin and put the discarded food into it. "I'm so hungry," I said looking down at my thin wrist. "But every time I try to eat I get flashbacks and I throw it all up," I explain sadly. She pulled a chair next to me. "It's all in your head. You got this. Try again." she said I pick up the spoon again and scoop out some rice and put it into my mouth. Right, when I could feel myself trying to throw up I felt Athena's hand comb through my hair making me relax. I swallow the rice. I couldn't help but smile when I turn to look at her. She wore a warm smile. "Keep going." she urged as she continued to glide her fingers through my curls. I took another bite and another each time it was becoming less of a struggle until the plate was empty. I knew I was hungry, I hadn't eaten in days. I was still hungry.
"You can eat my share," she said as she got up. And retrieved it for me. " Lee baby, you did well," she said softly while setting down her plate in front of me. "But you need to eat too." I did not want to take anything from her. "I'll get something on my way to work," she said before kissing my forehead and rushing out of the kitchen. I just continued to eat slowly still afraid I might go back to throwing up without Athena here. But I didn't. I kept chewing and shoveling more food into my mouth. I get up and grab the plates trying to find a sink. "Oh, no child put those down. You're taking my job." I hear a voice say, the voice had belonged to a tall woman in an apron she had her hair tied into a tight bun. "Oh, I'm sorry," I said as she takes the plates from my hands. "Don't be. Go ahead and look around." She said walking away. I slowly wander around what couldn't only call a mansion. Everything looked bright and clean. As I was going room to room Every once in a while I would see someone cleaning. Most of them weren't aware of my presence.
I liked it here, the rooms are big and have an airy feeling to them. It was bright, warm. Inviting. I wasn't that curious so I walked back to where I remembered the bedroom is. I guess I remembered wrong because I ended up back in the kitchen. "How did I get lost?" I murmur to myself. I walk up to the island and sit on the stool. Ever so often I would see the help walk past. You could never really hear them working but sometimes you could catch a glimpse of them quickly walking past. So efficient. I sat there scrolling through my new messages. ["I just saw your dad he looked a little banged up. Do you know what happened?"] Raul texted 
It had been a few hours since I had read the text and at this point, I just didn't want to talk about it. I slap the phone face down onto the marble island. I jump when the phone starts ringing. I flip it over. "Damn it!" I say to myself. It's Raul. I answer it. "Hello?"
"Where are you?"
"Out. Why?" I respond
"What do you mean 'out'?" he questioned
"How's my dad?" I say not bothering to answer a question I don't have an answer to.
"He looks like he was on something and someone socked him in his jaw," Raul reported
"Yeah, I hit him," I confess blankly
"You hit him?" Raul sounded confused. " Look, I don't know what type of drug he was on but whatever it was caused me more damage than him." I sighed
I didn't want to hit him but I did. When I think about it now, there was probably another way to handle that. "Wait...what?" Raul said I could hear shuffling in the background. "He attacked me. The drug...it made him crazy." I told him.
"Do you think it's out of his system by now? He seems fine now. He's here sleeping." He said "As long as he doesn't wake up trying to kill you I think it's out of his system. I say
I hear him snicker "Ok...I gotta go." He hangs up.
I let out a sigh of relief.
All of a sudden I hear loud footsteps echoing down the hall. They get closer then they stop.

"Who are you?" I hear a voice demand I turn towards its direction. "Why are you in my sister's house?" The man asked
He wore a dark grey suit with a black tie and his hair was short and curly. He resembled Athena in some ways. His thick sharp eyebrows furrowed behind his thin-framed glasses as he walked around the island towards one of the maids who was walking by. "Who is that?" He asked the Lady who looked at me. "That is the mistress's guess." She said looking at him wearily. "Where is she?" He asked he looked angry for some reason. "She said she went to the studio," I said the words feeling weird as they came out of my mouth. "What are you? Another druggy?" He asked dismissively
"Wh-"I start surprised by his words
"She's always trying to play Captain save a hoe." He said straightening his tie.
He shook his head to himself.
"I'm not a druggy," I announced causing him to raise an eyebrow. He turned and looked at me. "How old are you, again ?" he asked before telling the maid to fetch him some water. I sigh and set my phone down. "How old do I look?" I said glaring at him. He pushed up his glasses. "Too young to be here or to be taking drugs." he retorted
"I just told you I'm not a druggy," I said squinting hoping that I could see what he wasn't understanding.
"Is she trying to get arrested, not that would be much of an issue," he said to himself as the maid passed him a cup of water. She offered one to me too and I took it. "Thank you," I say to her, she nods her head and quickly retreats.
"I advise you to leave," he said his gaze fueled with disgust. "She told me to stay." I retort taking a sip of water. I hear him huff and walk away. What is wrong with him?