All She Had Left

Chapter 1: A Whole New Life

Mia's POV

"Mia! Mia!" I heard someone knocking loudly on my bedroom door. I slowly opened my eyes only to be hit with the sun's rays. I squinted and rubbed my eyes as I slowly got off my bed.

"Hang on!" I said as I approached my door only to be greeted with Kennedy, my cousin who is 3 years older than me. Before I could even say anything else, she grabbed my hair harshly, causing me to wince. I tried to push myself away from her, but that only caused her to pull my hair even more.

"Kennedy, please, it hurts." I winced, fighting back the tears that's about to fall. She laughed upon seeing me in pain and yanked my hair off her strong grip. I stumbled and fell on the floor with a loud thud.

"Do you think you're a princess? What else are you waiting for? Get up and do your work!" She screamed at me and walked off.

I slowly got up, and carefully headed to shower, trying to ignore the pain that I can feel on my scalp due to Kennedy's strong grip.

When I got out of the shower, my body jolted and I let out a shriek when I saw Kyle, my other cousin, who is also Kennedy's older brother, sitting at the side of my bed. He too, was surprised to see my sudden presence and quickly got off my bed upon seeing me. Luckily, I had my clothes on or it would've been awkward, and embarrassing.

"Kyle, what are you doing here in my room?" I said as I slowly approached him. Though Kyle had never once laid his finger on me, and had always been the nice one in this house, unlike how both Kennedy, and Aunt Gianna always do, a part of me was still afraid that he would try to hurt me too.

"Hey," he gave me a small smile. "I um...I just wanted to check if you're okay. I heard Kennedy screaming at you earlier on." A worried look was plastered on his face.

"Thank you for being concern over me but I'm okay." I gave him a reassuring smile in return. He nodded and I guess he too felt the sudden awkward tension because as soon as I replied, he walked towards the door.

"Alright, that's good to hear. Come down in a bit, Mum is looking for you. You know how she is. She hates when people waste her time." and with that, he closed the door carefully, giving me time to properly groom myself before heading down.

I carefully brushed my hair and tied it up loosely in a low ponytail as my scalp is still hurting from what happened earlier on. After tidying up my bed, I quickly headed down not wanting Aunt Gianna to wait any longer.

"What took you so long young lady?! What time is it already? What about our breakfast?! I'm hungry, and my kids are too. Are you not gonna bother to feed us?!" She screamed at my face and I could see veins that looks like it's about to pop off soon all around her forehead.

Well you see, after my parents passing, I was left with no choice but to live with Aunt Gianna, together with her kids, who were also my cousins, Kyle and Kennedy.

Over the past one year of having to live with them, all I had received was mistreatment, being abused, both physically, emotionally, and verbally by both Aunt Gianna and Kennedy.

Kyle was the only one who had always looked out for me, in which I was grateful for whenever he is around because that was the only time that Aunt Gianna and Kennedy would not dare to lay their hands on me.

Technically, Aunt Gianna and her kids were the ones who moved into this house that belongs to my parents. I've always knew that Aunt Gianna had always been after my parents' money. The only reason why she had decided to take care of me was because she wanted to live the wealthy life, she wanted all of the money and nothing else.

I've always wondered what did I ever do wrong to have been deserved the constant abuse that I have been receiving over the past year from both Aunt Gianna and Kennedy. I've always wondered why do they hate me so much?

I didn't realised that I was deep into my thoughts when Aunt Gianna used her finger to harshly push my forehead. "Are you deaf?!" I blinked before realising that I had been staring blankly into space all the while when she was screaming at my face.

"I'm....I'm sorry Aunt Gianna..I'll make breakfast now." I hurried into the kitchen and started preparing breakfast as fast as I could, not wanting to make Aunt Gianna even more angry than she had already been.