The Broken Doll

Chapter twelve

Third person pov (Twenty years ago)

Emma Marie Peterson was born to Alfred and Lucille Peterson, the youngest of four. Emma's older siblings, Abigail, Ryan, and Samuel were the spitting image of their parents. Alfred has brown hair and brown eyes and Lucille both with blonde hair and blue eyes, Abigail, the perfect twin to Lucille, Ryan was the twin to Alfred, and Samuel was the perfect mix of both parents. Emma was born with blonde hair and blue eyes but her hair started to darken over time. Emma became a kind of negative image next to her three perfect siblings. In addition to that, Abigail, Ryan, and Samuel were obedient children who did everything their parents said.

Abigail or Abby was the oldest and at sixteen, she was on the honor roll, had a solid 4.0 gpa, the captain of the soccer team, president of the student council, dating the quarterback of the football team and was bound for Harvard with dreams of being a lawyer. Abby was popular and she had many friends, her weekends were fully booked with shopping with her friends, going to the pool or the skating rink, spent summers on the lake with her friends, sleepovers, and birthday parties.

Ryan was the second oldest and at fourteen, he was the star basketball player, got good grades, on the National Junior Honor Society, on the debate team, and loved science. Ryan was also very popular and always had somewhere to go. Ryan just as social, outgoing, and perfect as Abby and he had dreams of being a doctor one day. 

Samuel was the second youngest and at twelve was captain of the Junior Varsity football team and he was on his way to having a perfect gpa. Samuel or Sam was the star on the cross country track team and the vice president of the student council. Sam is also very popular and although he doesn't know where he'll go to college, he knows he wants to do something with math or engineering. 

Emma was the youngest and at ten, she was already so different from her siblings and parents. Emma struggled in math and science in school, she loved art, english, and history. Emma wasn't athletic, she was actually very clumsy and didn't have any interest in sports. Emma preferred book club and art club. Emma seemed to chafe against her parents rules and so she was always in trouble, especially at the dinner table every night.

"Emma, sit up straight," Lucille said,

"Sorry," Emma said,

"How was the math test, Emma?" Alfred asked, 

"It was really hard," Emma replied,

"If that test comes home with less than an A, you're going to be grounded," Lucille said, 

"I think she'll be grounded. Again," Abby laughed,

"Yeah, you're so stupid, Emma," Sam said, 

"Are you sure you didn't find her on the side of the road somewhere because no one this stupid could really be part of this family," Ryan said, 

"Math is just hard for me," Emma said defensively,

"Your brothers and sister manage to get straight A's. Why can't you be like them?" Alfred said, 

"I-

"No, I don't want to hear another word out of you. Abby, how's soccer," Lucille said, 

The family ignored Emma for the rest of the night and only focused on themselves. Emma slipped away after dinner and spent the rest of the night alone in her room. She worked on another painting for her art club. The idea was to paint the image of pain. Emma hadn't been sure what to paint so she just started painting abstract shapes on her canvas. Now, she was working on the color. She thought red was obvious so she used it in most of the painting but she was also adding black and blue. The result looked like a blobs of anger and sadness. That's what pain looked like to Emma. The constant berating and bullying from her family, hurt more than any comment from someone at school. Emma longed to feel accepted and loved for who she was but she didn't think she'd ever find anyone.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Emma's pov (Present day)

It was days like this that always made me think about my family. The sunny, summer days I spent laying out in the sun. I was my most reflective here and it always brought me back to my childhood. My parents were the kind of strict, live the American dream types. The good jobs, my father was a doctor and my mother was a lawyer, live in the nice house in the nice neighborhood in the nice suburb of a city, kids, golden retriever, and the perfect life. The white picket fence perfect life. While the outside looked perfect, the inside wasn't so perfect. 

My parents chased the unattainable perfect lives and they wanted my siblings and I to be just as "perfect" as they were. I'm the youngest of four, I have an older sister, Abby and two older brothers, Ryan and Sam. Abby, Ryan, and Sam had no problems being my parents' ideas of perfect. They fit the mold perfectly and my parents were happy, I was just a disappointment from day one.

Abby's the oldest and she was the golden girl when we were kids, pretty, intelligent, and popular. Abby was also the perfect twin to my mother with her facial features and body type. Both my mom and my sister have blonde hair, blue eyes, small noses, plump lips, small, thin bodies and a slime build. Abby was an athlete just like our parents, my mom lettered in track and field and my dad was the quarterback on the football team. Abby was the captain of  the girls soccer team, had straight A's, honor roll, bound for Harvard, and president of the student council. Abby was everything I could never be and my parents adored her. 

Today, Abby graduated from Harvard Law School and she's the top lawyer at her firm, she hardly loses cases. Abby married her high school sweetheart, Derek. They live a few houses down from my parents. Derek is an accountant and they have two kids together, a boy and a girl. Evan is nine now and Amelia is six. I wasn't invited to their wedding nor did I ever meet my niece and nephew. Abby and I don't talk anymore, she's still the toxic bully that she always was when we were growing up. I blame my parents for that and for the fact that my sister can't see that what she did and continued to do was wrong.

Ryan, the second oldest was the perfect twin to my dad, they both have brown hair and brown eyes, the quarterback body build and muscle. Ryan was smart, athletic and popular just like my parents and they loved him. Ryan was star basketball player and dated the captain of the cheer team, 4.0 gpa and honor roll student. Today, Ryan graduated from med school and he's a doctor just like Dad. Ryan married his college sweetheart, Taylor, the live in a nice house and they have one son, Tyler who is four. 

Samuel or Sam, the second youngest, was the perfect mix of both of my parents. Sam has Mom's blonde hair, Dad's brown eyes, and Dad's build. Sam was just like Abby and Ryan, athletic, smart, and popular. Sam became an engineer and married a girl named Lola and they have one daughter, Vera who is two. 

I was the opposite, I got my Dad's brown hair and my Mom's blue eyes. But, I'm not smart like them or athletic or popular. I had a hard time in subjects like math and science what I liked was english and art. I was reading rather than playing sports, I was painting rather than socializing and I had only two friends and everyone else bullied me because they idolized my brothers and sister. I went to school for english and art now I'm an author and an artist. I make enough to take care of myself and I even have a boyfriend. But, my family wouldn't know anything about that. I didn't tell them I was going to art school until the day I left. I cut all contact with them and I haven't seen them since that day. I don't regret it, they were awful to me and I don't want or need their toxic energy in my life. All I need is the people who care about me. My phone rang, interrupting my thoughts.

"Hey, Chance," I said.

================================================================================Author's note:

Thanks for reading! See you in the next chapter!!

Lots of love, Starfire