The Twist In Life

Chapter 15_ I love/hate her more

After what seemed like hours of walking, we heard a car behind us. I quickly turned to see who it was. The man in the car saw us, but ignored our signals to stop.

"What a jerk!" I exclaimed.

"Did you note his number plate?" asked Jamie.

"No. Why?" I asked, surprised.

"There was a dead body on the back seat," he rolled his eyes. "Do you have any common sense? Of course to sue him in court for not stopping to give the great Mary a lift," he replied.

I gave him a disgusting look and quickened my pace.

After a few moments of silence, I asked Harvey, "why do you have a house in the wilderness?"

"It's not wilderness in the summer. At the back, there is a very beautiful lake. Me and my cousins come here to spend a fortnight or so. It's a very secluded and peaceful place. We swim, play games, go out in boats and make barbecue. It's a change from the boring life at home. No elders to stop us from stupid stunts. There's only a nanny, whom no one listens to. And a maid for cooking and cleaning, but we prefer to make our meals by ourselves," explained Harvey.

"Like camping," added in Jamie.

"Yeah, pretty much," said Harvey.

I felt a pang in my chest. 'Boating. Barbecue. Camping. I have never done these things. Just because I am an orphan.'

'Stop thinking like that Mary,' I scolded myself.

I distinctly remember boating with my uncle and aunt, along with Simon, Lily and Margaret. But it was a one time thing because we were all very little to enjoy these types of things.

I couldn't really blame my aunt for not being lucky enough to experience these things. My cousins didn't get to have any more fun than I did. After uncle's death, aunt had tried her hardest to take care of his business, but was faced with a lot of difficulties. She had to get a huge loan, on profit, to stabilise it. After three years of hard work, she finally achieved her goal. But she owed a lot of money to the bank. Last year, she paid back all the loan and debts, and after a few months bought Simon a car, so that Simon, Lily and Margaret wouldn't need to take the bus. Even now there wasn't a lot of money rolling in, but it was enough for us.

When times were difficult, aunt worked hard herself. She never forced me or anyone of her kids to get a job. The principal of my school gave me a scholarship because I was an orphan, and my aunt was going through rough times.

As much as aunt made me feel horrible by saying that I was a burden, I couldn't really hate her for it. Her words did hurt me, but in a sense she was right. She had seven kids to take care of, and I was a bonus. The thing that hurt me was that she could have considered me like her own child. What if she had eight instead of seven? But the fact remains that as soon as the business stabilised, my aunt started paying my fees herself, because she knew I hated being the charity girl. I will forever be grateful to her for that. And I will try to repay her.

'As if you aren't repaying enough by doing chores all day long.'

'No Mary, don't forget she let's you live under her roof, feeds you, and pays your fees.'

'It's her duty by law.'

'But she can still force you to get a job. Don't be thankless if you can't be thankful.'

'Okay okay. I get it,' my bad side agreed to my good side whenever I thought about how bad my life was.

'Times are getting better. Maybe we could go on a vacation this summer. I should ask aunt as soon as I reach home. I'll find a job to pay for myself if she doesn't agree. She also needs a vacation. She's getting too cranky,' I thought, on hearing about Harvey's beautiful summer time.