Heidi glared. "Stop crying! I know you can lift it!" She reached down and picked up the overstuffed laundry basket. "I can lift it!" Her point proven, she chucked the basket, its loaded plastic bottom making a loud Thunk! as it landed on the floor.
Curly haired Agatha looked up at her stepmother, tears streaming down her face as she knelt by the basket. "It's too heavy! I can't!"
Heidi reached down and snatched the girl by the arm, yanking her forcefully to her feet. "Eight years old! And you can't lift that basket! What good are you then?"
Agatha's only response was to cry more tears.
Still grasping Agatha by the arm, Heidi began to march her down the hall and up the stairs to the second floor. "You're hurting me!"
"Well it hurts me when you act lazy! What about my feelings!" Heidi snapped. "It's high time you started pulling your weight around here!" With her free hand, she twisted the knob to Agatha's bedroom door and thrust the tiny girl inside. "No food until you learn your place! Children are supposed to listen to their parents!"
"But I tried!" said Agatha. "It was too heavy!"
"Stop making excuses! I don't want to hear you talk anymore!" And with that, Heidi slammed the door.
Nathan was charming and educated, with thick copper colored hair and a dazzling smile. Best of all, he was perfectly willing to overlook the fact that, when he and Heidi had first started dating, she was still Alistair's wife. But first marriages can be rectified and in no time, Alistair was nothing more than a bitter ex-husband claiming he never saw it coming.
Yes, life with Nathan and his six-figure salary would have been perfect except for one small, annoying piece of baggage: his daughter. Why did Nathan have to have children with his late wife, Barbara? Heidi had known Barbara before her car accident, a petite brunette who loved mystery novels. But Barbara was gone. Mostly. Agatha resembled her very closely, which just irritated Heidi all the more. Hadn't she gone through all the trouble of redecorating the house as soon as she moved in? Hadn't she revamped and refurbished, throwing out all of the stupid Miss Marple books and replacing the worn country style furniture with new modern chic? By the time Heidi was done, not even a framed photo of Barbara remained. Why then did she have to see Barbara every time she looked at Agatha's grubby little face?
Heidi was back on the first floor, standing once again in front of the laundry basket. With a dramatic sigh, she lifted the basket to her hip and, grunting under its weight, made her way to the basement. Little brat, thought Heidi. Why should I have to do all this work?
Opening the door, she began the decline down the railing-less stairs. They groaned with every step. I'll tell her father when he gets home, Heidi thought. Tell him all about her tantrum. How I asked so kindly for help and she refused. How lazy she is. He'll believe me–
Suddenly she was plunging. She could see the wooden steps coming closer and SLAM! She smashed forehead first. Then she began to slide. Down the stairs to the cement, like tumbling snow in an avalanche, and then it was over.
She could feel hot blood running down her face. Her hip had wrenched itself in the fall and now it screamed. Was it broken? She couldn't move, couldn't get up. The pain in her side had rooted her to the basement floor.
Someone had pushed her. There was no mistake. She had felt the strong palms on the back of her dress. Agatha! Had she gone insane? Well she was not going to get away with this! Heidi pulled herself up as best she could, painfully, slowly rotating her aching body northward, ancient dust coating her dress dingy and gray. The pain was excruciating, but finally she was facing toward the door. She grasped the stairs above her head, using them as leverage as she attempted to wriggle her way upward. If that demon child thought she was in trouble before–
Heidi froze cold. Silhouetted against the opening of the basement door, she could see the shape of someone who was not a child. A dark, featureless void staring down at her.
"Barbara?"
Then it was gone.
