Trapped in Blood: A Childhood Beyond Betrayal!

INNER TORMENT!

MORNING- DAVIS HOUSE- KITCHEN- DAY

The family was already sitting at the breakfast table when Hope arrived. Grace was dishing food for everyone, and Merida walked in with Pete in tow. He sat opposite to Grace, who frowned her face at him.

"Good morning". Pete said
"Oh you're still here? Opps, I didn't count you".
"It's just food Grace. Why didn't you make some for him?". Merida said

The exchange between Grace and Merida grew more and more heated as they threw snarky comments at one another.

"Oh, don't give me that chance. I was tempted, I would poison your brother in a heartbeat," Grace said with a smirk, clearly trying to instigate a response from Merida.
"So should he make his own breakfast?" Merida asked, visibly irritated.
"No, I don't trust him in the kitchen. Well you can share your breakfast with him, you've shared everything and you're sharing worse, it's just food," Grace replied bitterly.

As Grace spoke, Merida's face instantly shifted, as if she was haunted by what she'd heard. Hope saw the sudden change in Merida's expression and tried to read it, but she was unable to discern the exact reason for the shift. Hope was intrigued but somewhat perplexed, and she wondered what had triggered such a visceral reaction in Merida.

"It's okay sister, I'm leaving anyway. You were also planning on returning early so can we go?". Pete said.
"I don't trust you around me neither. See yourself out".

Grace replied with a harsh tone, making it clear that the relationship between the two was strained, to say the least.

Her eyes narrowed and she raised her eyebrows at him. Hope continued to eat her food in peace, knowing that Grace got her back. Merida didn't even touch her food. She let out a sigh and seemed to be feeling out of place and uneasy in the conversation.

GYM - LATER THAT DAY-

Tasha had just rolled into the gym with a bottle of water, ready to start her workout. She spotted Lisa in the middle of an exercise. She decided to go to a machine a fair distance away from Lisa to avoid her. But Lisa immediately stopped her treadmill and walked over to Tasha..

"Hey, how is your hand? You also got burnt right?".
"Yeah right after I burnt you. I warned you to be careful as the pot was hot. You didn't listen and everything ended up as my fault. You didn't even defend me once".
"I was in pain Tasha".

Tasha chuckled and said,

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot I'm Iron Lady. The amnesia gets the better of me at times, so was I Lisa!" She shouted.
"You're exaggerating, Tasha". She replied with a roll of the eyes
"Am I? We both got burnt, she dressed your wound, while in pain I still had to apologize to you".

Tasha countered, making it clear that she felt deeply wronged.

"Okay, I apologise Natasha, it was wrong of Hope to do that". She said, offering a sort of half-hearted apology.
"You just don't get it do you? I'm talking about you. Hope's reaction were per your actions. Neither did you care about my wound, you just put the blame on me".

She responded with palpable frustration and annoyance.

"I said I'm sorry Natasha, get over it!". Lisa said, dismissively.
"I didn't know you craved attention so badly that you would do that to me. This is what I meant when I said your actions always cast me as a bad friend. (CHUCKLES) And I thought I was a sucker for attention".

Tasha was expressing a mix of anger and disappointment towards Lisa. She is angry at Lisa's dismissive attitude and disappointed that she isn't recognizing the deeper issues between them and is instead trying to brush the situation off.