Fall

Hell wasn’t even the right word to explain Rosa’s palace, when Ariana was little the salon had been called Favourite moments by her mother, but when her Father remarried Rosa and her cruel daughters took other the place and made Ariana’s life as difficult as possible. Dark hair fell over her face and she pulled the wild curls back with one hand letting them gather in the middle of her spine. She loved these few moments of peace that she rarely managed to get, they meant that she could curl up in one of the chairs and read her favourite book, Romeo & Juliet.

“ARIANA, ARIANA” Bellowed her step sister Kate.

Ariana sighed, carefully placed her book on the counter and walked upstairs to find Kate and Marie watching TV upstairs.

“What do you want Kate?” Ariana mumbled.

“Trash needs taking out” Kate sneered.

“But I’ve been here since six and neither of you have even done any work today, why can’t you two do it?”  She replied.

“Oh stop moaning, all you’ve been doing is reading that garbage!” Kate cackled making her heavy hoops, which were pulled fatly through her ear lobe, swing and twist into her long black hair.

“There’s jobs gotta be done around here so quit making excuses!” Marie exclaimed.

“I’m not making excuses! I haven’t been off my feet all day…” Ariana knew she wouldn’t win and if she didn’t they would run off and tattle on her to Rosaline which would put even more stress on her father.

“Well if you don’t do it, Mama and John may end up finding out about that little punk boyfriend of yours and you wouldn’t want that would you?” Marie laughed along with Kate’s threat.

She sighed and walked back downstairs into the Rosa’s palace lobby, she gazed around and felt her heart drop as she noticed the peeling paint on the walls, the torn leather seats and the harsh smell of ammonia, burning through her nose. Every second she spent in this hell made her hate the place a tiny bit more.

Ever since her mother died six years ago life had been tough. Her father, John, remarried shortly after her death and that was when she first met Kate and Marie. They envied Ariana because of how beautiful she was, so that day they decided that they would make her life a misery and make her feel worthless. Her step mother, Rosaline, always treated her as if she was a second class citizen and made out that she wasn’t welcome in her own home. The family slowly started to get into debt so Ariana gave up on her hopes and dreams to help out at her mother’s old salon.

Rosaline worked her from the early hours of the morning to the late hours of the afternoon, till her bones ached and her feet blistered. To begin with it was her sisters attitudes that had driven clients away but as the salon fell into disrepair fewer and fewer people bothered to come in. The days were long at the salon and the pay was virtually non-existent, she always made sure she put some of her pay back into the business so nothing bad would happen to it, where as her sisters would spend it on cigarettes, alcohol and men.

Ariana knew that arguing with her sisters would get her nowhere, once upon a time she would of stood up for herself but the reality was that she was majorly out numbered. Even her father, John, didn’t defend her anymore, these days he seemed as if he had given up on life, maybe it was due to the endless loans and threats from the banks and demands for payment that had finally defeated him. He had let Rosaline walk all over him and take over with her harsh and punishing schedules. No, she was by herself and that was never going to change.

She looked up at the clock ‘3:45pm’ her only appointment should be here soon. Just as she got up to go sit behind the desk the door flew open and a mean faced teenager wandered in and slumped down into the slightly torn salon chair.

“I want hair like hers” the girl declared, pointing to Ariana.

Ariana began mopping the floor as Kate leaned over the counter and lazily examined her nails.

“Y’know, you’re lucky to have a job here, if it were up to us you would have been fired years ago” Kate announced.

“You forget that my family started this place, so you’re the lucky ones” Ariana fired.

That didn’t go down too well with Kate, she slumped back into her chair and muttered about Ariana under her breath. Ariana’s parents had been hard-working people and had barely a penny to their name. They had taken out a loan and purchased one of a chain of beat up buildings in a down-and-out part of London and over the years it had grown into something which they could be proud of.

Her mother’s death happened too suddenly, too quick and too horribly. John’s grief had allowed him to be comforted by the first person who claimed that they cared. It still made Ariana sick to think of the way Rosaline just pounced onto a vulnerable man. In the few weeks that followed Favourite moments and been renamed Rosa’s palace and that’s when its decent began. Ariana had tried many ways to keep the salon from going into debt but none of them never seemed to work but still she worked endlessly to try and keep the business going but after a while hundreds turned to tens and then tens turned  into one person visiting every so often.

Ariana didn’t want to believe that this was her future, she always had a light glimmering inside of her and on some days she thought that it was her mother’s spirit pushing her  and making her carry on.

“I’m done” she said shoving the mop into the corner, Marie’s horrified expression appeared in one of the salon mirrors.

“What are you doing, don’t you even think about leaving!” Marie crowed

“Oh I’m not thinking about it” Ariana grabbed her bag and slipped on her black converses “I’m doing it”

“ARIANA GET BACK HERE, YOU CAN’T LEAVE” Kate screamed.

“YOU BETTER NOT BE MEETING ZAYN OR MAMA WILL FIND OUT!” Marie screeched.

As Ariana ran down the street she held her copy of Romeo & Juliet tight to her chest. If only her life was like one of the stories she had read, she would never have to see Rosaline, Marie and Kate again, she could help get her father out of debt and she could openly be in a relationship with Zayn.

One day I’ll be free Ariana vowed I will get out of here and start a life somewhere else.