After being disowned by her family, Paris and her daughter Luna moved across the country to start a new life for themselves with the help of Paris' older brother Dallas. Six years later, she returns home after recieving an invite to an old friend's...
"Not a chance in hell." I know both Dallas and Luna are shocked by both the words leaving my mouth as well as the way in which I say them. I can't stop myself though, my parents always favoured Adelaide - no matter what they said - and this just proves it even more in my mind.
"What's wrong mommy?" Luna sounds nervous as she leans forward to speak to me with Dallas watching on curiously as his niece speaks.
"Nothing Luna, you and Bean stay here while me and Uncle Dallas go and talk to these people for a bit." I do my best to reassure my six-year-old daughter as both Dallas and I unbuckle our seatbelts in preparation for what I'm about to do as soon as I leave the safe haven that is my brother's car. "We'll be back in a minute." I lean between the seats and plant my lips against my daughter's forehead as I hold her in my arms which seems to calm my rising anger, even if the effects are only slight.
"Are you sure about this Paris?" Dallas sounds genuinely concerned for me as he speaks, obviously remembering the outcome of situations like this in our past, as we leave the car and come face to face with our sister and my ex-girlfriend. "You were never the best at dealing with confrontation when we were younger you know." I freeze in my spot as my brother's words send me back in time to when I was nineteen and terrified of everything around me, until Meghan managed to help Dallas to get me out of that situation when I found out I was pregnant with Luna. It was only seven years ago but it feels as though it has been a lifetime since then - I was a completely different person back then.
"That was then, this is now and I've had to deal with way too much crap since then." I smile sadly at my brother as the both of us share an understanding, knowing exactly what the crap that I'm talking about refers to. "And I'm tired of people like them using me. I made a promise to myself a long time ago that I would never let myself or anyone else that I care about go through anything like what I did back then. No one deserves that kind of an experience."
Dallas smiles at me encouragingly as he places a comforting hand on my shoulder. I relax into his touch as my mind floods with the pain and anger that I've felt over the years, most of it caused by the two women in front of me.
"Dallas!" Adelaide yells out and comes running over to us after letting go of her apparent fiancée's hand, pushing me out of the way so that she can reach our brother. As I stumble and almost fall to the ground I realise that my little sister has truly become a carbon copy of our mother - right down to the hatred of myself.
"Adelaide." Dallas pulls away from the younger girl's embrace almost immediately and she appears to be almost offended until our older brother nods in my direction with a harsh look on his face, out of place compared to his normally kind features. Adelaide turns to face me with a shocked expression on her face which transforms into a smug smirk when we make eye contact for the first time in six years.
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