The Kitchen

Chapter 1

    On the outside my house looks like normal enough with its charcoal grey color and light blue shutters. But on the inside is where my family like many others hide their demons.
   
      I live in a family with two siblings both older twin brothers named Cole and Ryan. Along with my parents from the outside looking in we look like your perfect little family kind, caring, and loving. All of us kids get good grades and my brothers play football.
      However if you were to go inside my house nothing would seem off at first just your general family home with stairs off the living room. It's when you get to the kitchen however things change. In a little room of the side of the kitchen you'll see boxes of what you'll assume to be knicknacks we've grown out of and regular storage stuff however if you look closely the things in the boxes are my clothes and belongings. And behind that lies the pellet on the floor I call my bed. For this is no little storage room it's my room. My name is Tessa and this time there is no magical school of witchcraft and wizardry to save me.
                                    -
        Today starts just like any other I wake up at 4 am to my alarm, I gather my clothes and quietly creep up the stairs so as not to wake anybody because I know it will only be worse then. Once in the bathroom I do my morning routine and then quietly creep back down the stairs to scrub the already spotless floors and counters.
      When I'm done it's 6:30 so I wash my hands and begin preparing breakfast. I take out the stuff to make waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and mini fruit tarts. I make the pancake and waffle batter first then heat up the griddle and waffle iron. While that's heating I pull out the tart shells I had made the night before and begin filling them with fruits I had also chopped and prepped last night. When that's done I fill the iron and set pancakes on half of the griddle and bacon on the other. I repeat this until completely finished and then I move on to the sausage patties and eggs finishing those quickly. Once completely done I clean my self up then go and set the table making sure to pull out the syrup, hot sauce, orange juice, and milk. I lay everything out buffet style and then begin brewing the coffee.
    The time is now 7:30 and the first people down the stairs are my brothers. Cole gives me a good morning punch in the face while Ryan looks apologetic and quietly thanks me for the food before anyone notices. Ryan was always the kind one he didn't like what the rest of the family did to me but had no choice but to keep quiet. I nod in response and turn to bring the coffee pot to the table.
      The next down the stairs is my step mother cigarette in hand she burns me on the way to the table and sneers at me as she sits down. I bite my lip to hold on the cries because I know I will only get worse then. "Good morning my darling sons." she says while smiling down at them lovingly. She then looks to me and that smile fades. "Tessa have you been eating our food you look positively huge. You little whore how dare you after everything we do for you, you steal our food which we have you make for us. You fat pig." she yells. I just look down not saying anything she knows I haven't eaten in the 3 weeks since she last allowed me to eat a tiny amount like always. She just wants an excuse a way to justify my "punishment." I busy myself cleaning the dishes and the counters from cooking breakfast. When I look back I see them all enjoying the food I have laid out and it makes me happy to know that even thought they'll never admit it I'm an amazing cook.
    The last person down the stairs is my father and he doesn't even acknowledge me as he walks to the table. "What did it do this time." he asks in reference to me and why my step mother was yelling at me. " Tessa has been eating our food like a fat little pig devouring the nourishment you and my growing boys need to be strong handsome men. And eating it to her waste of space self." My father knows this isn't true upon looking at my frail form, but gets up anyways and punches me to the ground. He doesn't stop there he proceeds to bang my head aginst the kitchen floor and then strangle me. When he's finally done he gets up and sits back down piling food on his plate like nothing happened. My step mom looks at me with a smirk, Cole with a gleam in his eyes that says he wishes it was him who beat me, and Ryan looks at me with so much regret in his eyes. I look away pulling myself up I leave to my room and gather my things for school preparing to catch the bus seeing as no one would drive me even though they all had cars.