The sun was shining in the blue sky when she looked up outside the kitchen window. Jean Alves smiled, entranced by its beauty. She continued staring at it while washing the dishes in the sink. She was startled when she heard a shriek from behind. She looked back and saw her older sister dart back and forth. Jean giggled when she saw the scurrying rat. It was panicking because of her sister's movements.
"Jean! Kill it!" Serena shouted before grabbing a broom and started hitting the rat. She tried to kill it but she failed miserably.
While Serena was determined to kill the frightened rat, her other sister was quietly eating her sandwich on the table. Samantha wasn't deterred. Her face was expressionless while chewing her food. Jean tried to ignore what's happening and continued washing the piled up dishes. She sighed and thought how interesting yet boring her life is. Her body tensed when she heard her mother's voice.
"What on earth is happening here?" Her mother scanned the surroundings. Josephine gazed at Sam who was staring at space while chewing and she turned to look at Serena who continued hitting the floor beside the countertops. She grabbed the broom her daughter was holding.
"Have you lost your mind, Serena? Why are you destroying our broom?" Josephine walked towards the wall and left the broom to lean on it. She went back to face her tear-stricken daughter.
"There was a huge rat!" Serena sniffled.
Jean focused on her task and pretended to be deaf. She never once looked over their direction. She waited for she knew what was about to come. Serena huffed before indignantly pointing towards the other side of the room where Jean is now wiping the countertops. Her whole face is red with anger.
"She ignored me! She was so busy pretending nothing is happening!" She proceeded to tell her mother how Jean's indifference led to her almost getting bitten by the rat.
Jean listened to her sister's incessant ramblings that continued on for several minutes. She didn't do anything to defend herself since it will be useless anyway. It always fell on deaf ears. She stopped caring for her mother and step sisters years ago. She had long ago accepted that being an illegitimate child will bring you suffering through out your whole life. She winced when she felt the sharp pain on her scalp. She didn't yelp because she was used to her hair suddenly being pulled back. She blocked out every word and every insult her mother said.
She never blamed herself for her current situation. It was her mother's fault why she and her step sisters don't have any father anymore and why they all don't get along. When Josephine admitted that Jean was the neighbor's daughter, her stepfather went to confront the other man. He ended up killing him out of extreme anger. He was arrested and brought to jail. Up until this day, her stepfather is still locked up in prison. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that her beloved mother blamed her. Every mistake results in pain and bruises. It came to the point that she became numb and she accepted that it will happen regularly.
***
Jean stared at the fishes lined up on the front of a stall. Her mother wanted her to fry tilapia for dinner and that led her to this place. She's currently in the wet market. She didn't like the smell of the surroundings before but she has gotten quite used to it. After buying a couple of fish and oil she proceeded towards home. She turned to a street where old tenements are built. She looked up and saw numerous clothes hanging from different ropes coming from several windows to another.
