Sparkle Like a Superstar

Chapter 78

Sitting on the bed in the office, Saphira cried and cried so many tears. She not only was she physically hurt, but her heart ached painfully. The horrid memories of her childhood and early teen years filled her mind, and it felt as though some of them replayed right in front of her. She remembered very clearly how it began...

Flashback Twelve Years Earlier...

Saphira sat in the tiny, cold room fixing up her hair after having a cold shower. Her room was a small space underneath the staircase with a window that was barely large enough for even a toddler to crawl through. The bed she had was old and creaks whenever there is movement, the mattress was stiff and her back often ached when she woke up from her sleep.

It was four, and Saphira had to start dinner soon. She had finished most of her other chores at this time, and her parents were not yet home. However, her siblings were. She could hear them upstairs, but they ignored her and she ignored them, unless they wanted something. She left her small room to the kitchen to cook dinner. She already prepared some of it earlier, and now she simply had to cook it. Potato and leek soup, marinated beef with black beans, rice and vegetables, and a simple rhubarb, cheesecake desert, that was the requested menu for tonight. Saphira, of course, would not get to taste any of it. She would only get a slice of bread, with luck she might get butter on it.

As she made her way into the kitchen, she heard the terrible sound of something shattering upstairs. Saphira was startled, but she heard her sisters arguing with each other and she realized they broke her mother's favorite vase. Well, a family heirloom vase. Saphira did not bother going upstairs, she had to start dinner. She started by cooking garlic and onions in the fry pan to get started on the soup, she already had the potatoes diced and leeks thinly sliced, so she only had to cook and blend them to cook in the slow cooker.

When the soup was cooking, she cleaned up when she didn't need and put on the rice, and began cooking the beef and vegetables. At this time, her parents had arrived home, they do not acknowledge her at all as they head straight upstairs. She heard her mother screaming about the vase, Saphira did not know what was being said as she focused on the cooking. She had turned down the heat on the stove and was checking the soup when she was grabbed by the shoulders and shoved into the counter.

"You little brat! How dare you break the family vase!" Her mother shrieked at her with a fierce expression.

Saphira shuddered in fear, looking back at her mother. "W-W-What? I-I-I w-w-was st-s-starting d-d-dinner w-w-when I heard it s-s-sh-shatter."

Her mother scoffed at her with a roll of her eyes. "Oh really? Well, Lisa saw you nudge the stand it was on and didn't even try to catch it when it fell. Jessie said the same thing. And you expect me to believe you over two people?"

Saphira whimpered at her mother's words. "But...I-I-I a-a-a-am n-n-not a-a-allowed upstairs...a-a-after th-th-three..."

"I am not interested in your excuses!" Her mother snapped at her and glanced at the food that was being cooked. "And for that, you do not get your bread tonight! Make sure the food is cooked well!"

Her mother grabbed her hand and placed it directly on the hot stove. Saphira yelped and struggled as her mother held her hand for several seconds and lets her go, the damage to her hand had already been done. She held her hand as tears stream down her face and watched her mother walk away without even looking back. Saphira never understood why her mother hated her...and why she didn't believe her. But she got onto the task without any argument and managed to tend to her injury before cleaning up and going to bed without food...

Present...

Saphira continued to cry. Part of her still longed for Freddy, another hated the idea. It felt like they picked Vanessa over her and that shattered her heart. It might be childish, but Saphira has been through so much. Perhaps the therapy she has been through has come undone, and the damage will take a long time to repair. She did not know, of course.