He flipped Lake off. “And I heard what you did to Ashley at school, so once my house is clean, write her English paper.”
Lake swallowed the little bit of pride she had left. “Yes, John.”
Chapter Nine
The Evil Stepsister and the Revolting Old Man
Lake grabbed the bags off the living room couch, holding tightly to the clothes her mother had bought her. She was dripping in sweat, and her body was going to give out at any second. The hardest part of the gruesome day hadn’t been cleaning the huge five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. No, it had been holding her tears in. If John or Ashley saw them, they would call her a ‘fucking baby’ and add more work. However, the real reason she refused to let them see her crying was because she was sure they got off on it, and Lake wasn’t going to let them win that one.
She started going up the huge staircase then down the hall to the right. At first, she thought she wasn’t going to make it past all the doors to the end but when she did, she almost burst into tears.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going with those?” Ashley came up behind her and snatched the bags out of her hand so hard Lake ended up falling on her hands and knees.
Don’t cry. Don’t you cry.
“Trashy girls don’t get to wear pretty dresses. You know that.” Ashley began to walk away, cackling. “And don’t forget my paper, bitch.”
Lake watched Ashley disappear down the hall, her eyes finally beginning to water. She looked up at the ceiling through the wetness to see the white string hanging. It appeared to be a million miles away. It might as well have been on the moon, though, because Lake had no strength left.
A tear rolled down her cheek. Get up. She used the back of her hand to wipe the tear off her face. Get up. Now.
Lake used every bit of strength she had left in her body to push off the floor. That time, when she looked up at the string dangling from the ceiling, it no longer rested on the moon, but the Earth. She knew she had only one shot to jump up and grab it; otherwise, the string would become a pendulum, and she wasn’t going to be able to stand up long enough for it to stop.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she jumped up and grabbed the string with a tight grip, opening the hole in the ceiling. She continued to pull the string until the folded, wooden stairs appeared. Then she quickly unfolded them.
Lake stared up at the steep stairs. She was so close.
As soon as she climbed the first step, her eyes welled up again. Climb! More tears fell with each step she took. Climb! Climb! Climb!
Before she knew it, she had reached the attic floor. Her tears kept flowing as she crawled toward the simple mattress on the ground.
The moment her body hit the bed, she was out cold…
Lake piled noodles on the two plates then added marinara sauce on top. Picking up the plates, she headed toward the table and set them down in front of John and Ashley.
“About fucking time. I thought it would just take five seconds to cook for trailer trash. Isn’t that all you people can afford?” John said.
Knowing it was a rhetorical question Lake kept her mouth shut, no matter how much she wanted to open it. Then she started to head off to finish her chores, even though her stomach was growling. She was only allowed to eat what John and Ashley couldn’t consume.
When she got close to the doorway, her mother walked in with a big bag of to-go food.
Her mom walked over to the table and set down the bag. “John, I called and told you an hour ago I was bringing home dinner.”
He put on a smile. “Ashley didn’t know and decided to cook dinner. I didn’t want to upset her, but you know I can definitely eat both.”
“Aww, Ashley, that is so sweet of you! And you had time to clean the house, too. Thank you.”
Ashley’s smile widened. “You’re welcome.”
“Honey, are you going to come sit down?” Her mom waved toward her.
Lake walked toward the table and took a seat. She watched John and Ashley push their hardly touched plates of spaghetti away as they grabbed the to-go bag.
“Tr—” John coughed, restarting and pointing toward Lake. “She has something she wanted to talk to you about. I didn’t agree at first, but she talked me into it.”
“What is it, honey?” Her mother turned to look at her.
Lake’s eyes went to John’s mad-looking face.
“Go on, tell your mother.” His voice didn’t match the way his face looked, but that was for her mother’s benefit.
“Well, I was wondering if it would be okay if I could move my room to the attic.”
“Why would you want to do that?” Her mother looked confused.
Lake shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought it would be pretty cool.”
“How would you even get any furniture up there?”
“I’ll give the gardener a hundred bucks to take care of it. She only needs a mattress and desk up there. Think about it. We could turn her room into a gym, and I know you’ve been wanting me to get back in shape,” John said while he hit his gut.