Lacey

Chapter 1 - Lacey

I was thirteen years old when my parents split. I was also thirteen years old when I learned the harsh reality of life. Not everyone was going to love you. No, some people only existed to use and abuse you. My stepfather being the latter unfortunately. Something I would sadly learn very quickly. After my parents split it didn't take long for them to re-marry. My mother stayed put in the one-horse town that I had grown up in and my father moved to the city where his business flourished, marrying into a wealthy family. I didn't know much, if anything, about his new family as I had chosen to stay with my mother. I did know however, that I now had a stepbrother who was the same age as me. Which was kind of weird. I also had two new stepsisters from my mother's recent marriage, they were both younger than me. They were twins whose mother had sadly passed away twelve months ago, cancer from what I could gather from the small snippets of conversation I had caught between my mother and stepfather. Both girls were small for their age, and they didn't really talk much, I didn't blame them really after what they had gone through. Their father was an alcoholic and my mother was currently unemployed so even though I was not much older than them I tried my hardest to help make sure that they were at least fed and clothed. Sometimes our parents forgot to make dinner, like a lot, or wash our school uniforms, so I learnt from a young age to be self sufficient and to help those less fortunate. Like my new step siblings. Not one to complain though, I made do with the hand that I was dealt and made sure I did everything in my power to help and protect the twins.

By the time I was sixteen I pleaded desperately with my absent father to let me live with him. Even though I had not seen him since my parent's divorce, I would take a new stepbrother over my stepfather any day. If I had to live in this house a minute longer, I didn't think I would survive. At this point in my life I wasn't even living, I was barely surviving. In fear. Fear for my safety and sanity. There was no way I could stand another day living with the nightly, drunken visits of my stepfather or his buddy Jase. My incessant, desperate pleading is how I came to live with my father, his new family and become the new student starting at a fancy high school halfway through the year. My new stepbrother had thankfully been staying at his friends place the weekend I had arrived, so I had had ample time to process and settle into living in a mansion on the outskirts of the city. A far cry from the two-bedroom shit hole my mother called home. The place was like a freaking palace. No joke, it was set on several landscaped acres with a long, winding driveway lined with the most stunning flowering trees I had ever seen. My father had certainly done well for himself in the years since I had seen him last. It kind of stung that my step-brother lived here with my father, happy, safe and wanting for nothing in life while I had been through hell and back, living in absolute poverty. I desperately wanted to hate my father. Hate his new family. But I couldn't. The decision had been mine to stay with my mother and shame had eaten away at me after the first time my new daddy dearest had put his hands on me. I felt dirty and ashamed for the obvious mistake I had made. The thought of my stepfather made my stomach lurch with disgust, the horrible memories trying to consume me. Eat me alive. Scolding myself for getting stuck in my own head I squared my shoulders as I stepped out of the limo that had been sent to collect me from the airport. My stepmother, Megan, was supposed to pick me up but apparently had a last-minute engagement that she could not miss. What a shame. Not the sarcasm. I was relieved once more to be let down. The chance to explore my fathers fancy new life alone seemed the best option available to me. Feeling like trailer trash already, I didn't need an audience when I knew my jaw was going to be embarrassingly on the floor as I took in the opulence of their home. I would need time to put my mask of indifference on before meeting my new stepfamily.

Not going to lie, it still hurt that both my father and Megan were apparently far too busy to bother collecting me from the airport. Despite the initial letdown, I tried not to dwell on it as I was grateful that they had even agreed for me to come and live with them at all. Reluctantly leaving the relative safety of the limo I cautiously wandered up to the front steps of the grand house, marveling at its sheer size when suddenly the door opened, startling me and a well-dressed, elderly male stepped out. "Good afternoon, Miss Silverton" he said politely while motioning for me to come inside. Hastily taking my shoes off I replied "Please, call me Lacey". "As you wish Miss Lacey. Mr and Mrs Silverton are still out on business and Master Fairchild isn't due home until tomorrow. Afternoon tea is waiting for you in the kitchen and then I have been instructed to show you to your room so that you may unpack your belongings" At that he eyed the small backpack that I had slung over my shoulders with an arched eyebrow. "Umm, this is all I brought with me" I reply, a blush creeping over my face as I realise just how utterly pathetic my life must seem to others. I didn't really have much in the way of possessions, I was not someone who needed to possess things to feel happy. Besides, there wasn't much in my life to be happy about I thought sadly as I subtly check out my surroundings.