The Masks of Amelia

It's DAD

I got back to the house and had parked in the garage before she came. The girls weren't due to be done until five. I'd figured she'd be out on some sort of personal errand, like seeing her Pilates, yoga, or personal health trainer. Seeing too much of them, more like. I'd reasoned maybe I could get some dusting done with no one around.

But alas, today was a DAD, or Death Avoidance Day.

I recognized the glint in her eye as she came out to greet me. I didn't know what I'd done to trigger her this time. I was so careful to be as meek and unworthy of her intentions as possible. But I always wore shoes I could run in.

I was already out of the car, and Lillian could melt me before I could get in and drive off. The garage door was down. That left the side door into the greenhouse. I bolted through it, dashing into the foliage before exiting out of the back and running around the side of the house. Lillian stalked around the corner, panting, with a wild look in her eyes.

"You'll never be one of them!" she screamed. Ah. So it was my lack of powers this time. I was basically a disgrace to the family because I didn't have any. My father was an Earth manipulator, my mother had been an air manipulator. Lillian and both her daughters had fire at their fingertips. I, seemingly, had nothing. Granted, I had never really tried to have any. If I took after my mother, my situation would only get worse.

At least, that's what I had gleaned from previous outbursts.

I kept running around the house until I came to the odd roof steps in the back of the house. They were four feet high each, and topside on every step were shingles. On the inside of the house, it was just a slanted storage space. I didn't understand why they existed, but I was hoping if I got to the third or fourth one before she came around the corner, Lillian wouldn't see me and maybe give up.

I only got on top of the second one before she arrived. I squeezed myself in the corner and tried to be as flat as possible, but she must have seen me, because I heard the scrape of her ridiculous sandals against the siding. I jumped to the next step and kept going until I had reached the top of the roof.

As I briefly looked around at the landscape around me, I understood the purpose of the stairs. There was a secret patio up here, tucked into the far corner. I'd have to keep that in mind next time I needed to hide.

Wanting to divert Lillian's attention from my new favorite place, I scrambled to the other side of the roof. I'd hoped maybe there'd be a bush I could jump into, but to no avail.

Lillian's scraping breath reached my ears as she scaled the last step. She was really determined this month. Time for reasoning, then. She could never rebut my arguments quite effectively. 

As she stalked forward, right hand flickering with flames, I thought out which line to pull this time.

"Listen!" I yelled. "What good will this do you?"

"It will rid me of you! Your worthless presence and the stain you leave in this world!" Typical. Her reasons were always so selfish. Which was why I generally appealed to her through them.

"But who will be your housemaid? Would you force Ava to work? Olivia? I'm not sure they'd accept their responsibilities very well. Hiring a maid is too much effort, you'd have to pay them. And what about Father? If he dies of heart failure, who will you live off of? Your therapist?" The only part of our relationship that resembled a mother-daughter bond was that we had no secrets from each other. Well, she didn't have any from me. She didn't care enough learn mine.

"Maybe I will live off of my therapist! Therapists are very well paid, especially in this gods-forsaken country! Or," and at this her face brightened, "Ava will marry the prince, and we'll be royal. And you! You can work as a scullery maid!"

Though I was pretty sure that scullery maids weren't really a thing anymore, Lillian seemed set on this new idea of Ava marrying into royalty. As though Ava herself hadn't been thinking that since she was thirteen.

"But then you wouldn't need to kill me! The work would! Why do it now when you could watch me slowly waste away as a scullery maid?" It sounded twisted, bribing her with my own, more painful death, but she was twisted, and I was buying time.

Her face turned thoughtful, and her hand glowed more quietly. I glanced behind me at the three-story drop. This would be a good time to find out if I took after my mother. I took a tentative step back.

Lillian noticed, and the fire came back, brighter than before. "You're stalling!" she exclaimed.

I nodded grimly. "Forever and always. But don't you want to watch me wither rather than burn? If I'm burnt to a crisp, authorities will immediately investigate you and your daughters. And if Ava is under arrest, how will she become royalty?" I didn't mention that if she tried hard enough, there would only be a small pile of ashes where I was currently standing.

It was a stretch, I knew, but she was right. I was stalling for as long as I could. I had been since she first tried to kill me herself. So far, however, it had worked out alright. I was still alive, wasn't I?

Lillian narrowed her eyes at me, unsure if waiting to watch me die slowly was worth it. What she probably wasn't considering was the fact that if I did indeed become a maid, she'd most likely never see me again. I, however, thought that was a plus. Maybe Ava marrying the prince was the best, more permanent, solution out of this.

It was time to make a deal.

"Lillian, let me go to the ball," her face twisted with outrage at the mere suggestion I go. "Hear me out! If I go, I can sing Ava's praises to the prince if she can't. You know how she is around boys," She was a gigantic flirt, but her mother thought she was practically a mute around them.

As my stepmother was weighing the pros and cons of this deal, I knew the main con for her would be the fact that I would be at the ball. On the other hand, if I could land her daughter a princess, she'd be set for life, and honorary royalty. I was hoping she wouldn't consider Olivia for the job of wing-woman. Olivia would be trying for the prince herself.

A cruel smile snaked across her face, and I knew I wouldn't be going to the ball easily, if at all.

"If you can clean up everything that happens in the next 24 hours, you may go to the ball." Dread coiled in my stomach. What would she do? What would she tell the girls to do? Would they throw a huge party? Would they simply burn everything in their path? I had one week to clean whatever happened today.

Apparently satisfied with my horrified face, Lillian turned and descended the rooftop steps.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Bonjour mes cheries!

Please tell me what you think of the characters, plot, everything and anything! School is happening again soon; whoop-de-doo, and I mean that with as much sarcasm as you can muster. So good luck to all of you, good luck to me, and good luck to Amelia.

Anyhitherwho!

~KK