Spoiled to Death
By Sophia ConsidineOnce upon a time, I was lathered in luxury. Food and games and dresses and friends. My life was one big festival celebrating me. Then my mom had to go and get cut off from the family. No more money. No more worshippers. No more Me Festival. They bought us one-way tickets to Australia, where a man was waiting to marry my mom. He’s some sort of labor worker with a decent amount of money. He worked for us for a while and apparently made a good impression on my grandparents, but I think they just wanted someone to take us away Ridiculous
To make matters worse, when we arrived, I saw he had a daughter. She was pretty too pretty. She was nice too nice. She was loved by everyone. I hated her. When her father died three months after the wedding, I was overjoyed! No one could order me to be nice and friendly to the wench anymore.
Pretty soon, Mom and I had the wench doing everything under the sun while we lounged and partied. Just as we deserve. She deserved to do the chores, slave under the sun, and earn all the money for us to spend.
“Mother and I know you ’ re descended from dirty prisoners!” I’d yell at her to remind her of her place. (I overheard Mom mention it on a phone call).
Sometimes I would sleep in, but sometimes I would wake up early enough to taunt the wench. I’d pull her hair and choke her till she almost passed out as an incentive to get to work.
Sometimes I would go out to the city for a gathering, and sometimes I would spend time in my room fixing myself in front of the mirror I’d admire my face and my hair and my clothes, and I’d feel on top of the world until the little wench would walk past my door. Suddenly, I wouldn’t feel so pretty anymore.
Sometimes I’d have the wench dress me up. I’d poke her with needles hard enough to draw blood just because she was helping doesn’t mean she couldn’t bleed.
Sometimes I’d slap her so hard she’d be dizzy just for fun because at least her skin wouldn’t look so pretty.
Usually, I let the wench get the mail every morning, but one day I happened to see a fancy envelope on the top of the pile. Picking it up, I took the letter opener and carefully slit the top open. When I read the letter, I began pacing the kitchen in excitement.
“An invitation! And to the three-day opera, no less,” I said to Mom. She snatched the letter from my fingers and read it over.
“Let’s hope you win the heart of the opera singer Then we shall be rich and admired ” I smiled.
I ran to my room to find a proper dress, but that stupid koala was on my windowsill again. I grabbed a fold-out chair and raised it above my head, ready to strike. “Get out! Get out!”
The wench rushed in and led the creature into a tree before I could kill the thing. “You too,” I commanded, looking at the wench “Get out ” And she did
All of my dresses were so beautiful. I didn’t know how to choose. There’s a red dress with ruffles, a silver dress with sequins, a green dress with glitter, a blue dress with a bronze corset, and a purple dress with a pleated skirt. I decided to make a statement tomorrow the red dress with ruffles. Excitement and nerves running through my veins, I opened my window to let in some air. I thought I saw a gray animal, but it was too dark to tell. I took a deep breath to calm myself. I needed to get plenty of beauty sleep.
I awoke feeling cranky, gross, groggy and foggy, but at least I had the opera to look forward to I sat up, but was startled to see it still dark outside I thought I saw that stupid koala in my window, but it was too dark to tell. What time was it?
It’s midnight?!
I heard the front door open and shut. Yes, that is the wench coming back from one of her many jobs.
I made my way to the kitchen, saying, “Hey, wench! Make me food I’m starving ” I delicately sat myself down at the dining table, but no one answered. Looking around, I noticed she wasn’t even there. I scoffed and went back to my room hungry. “That petty wench.”
Fed up with her, but not with food, I laid in bed. I smelled the fresh air and felt a slight breeze over the blanket. Perfect. I need to sleep well to be in my best condition for the second night of the opera.
I awoke feeling groggy and foggy, but at least I didn’t feel cranky and gross. I looked out the window and the sun was setting. I definitely saw that stupid koala, but he was gone now. What time was it?
It’s 9 o ’ clock in the evening?!
I rushed out of bed and called out to Mom for her to hurry. Apparently, we both suddenly have narcolepsy I wore the red dress I planned to wear yesterday, and Mom and I made it to the opera ’ s afterparty. Talking and flirting was my element. I thought it was going well, but then I saw one girl in an emerald green dress. She was the picture of sophistication, and here I was in ruffles. Idiot.
That night, bugs tried to fight their way into my room, so I slammed my window shut. “No more of that ”
I awoke the next day to the sun shining straight through my window, but the house was quiet. What time was it?
It’s 5:30 in the evening!
I flipped through my dresses and wore the blue one with a bronze corset, and I made it to the opera. When everyone gathered at the afterparty, I saw a girl in a golden dress. As I looked closer, I noticed it was the wench! I stalked toward her with purpose, but she was quickly taken away by the opera singer, Zachary Harris. What does he want with her? I followed them down a hallway, up two flights of a hidden stairway, and just outside the door to a balcony
“Please, don’t run away again,” Zachary said. I eavesdropped through the doorway. “I think I really like ”
“You!” Mom burst through the door and yelled at the wench. She must have followed behind me. “You should be at home!” She turned to Zachary and said, “Please forgive me, but I need to take her away ”
She grabbed the wench’s arm, and yanked her through the doorway, past me, and down the stairwell.
“Stepmother ” The wench cried so pitifully to Mom.
“You shall not speak another word to me, girl, or I’ll cut out your tongue.”
I smirked. Then, the nerves hit me and I hesitated, stepping onto the balcony. “Good evening. My name is Irene. You are?” I swished my dress around my feet and tried to look innocent.
Zachary rubbed his hand on his neck and then turned to face me. “Yes, good evening, miss.”
I took a step closer “You have a beautiful voice ”
“Oh, well, thank you ”
“I’d love to hear it every night.” Another step closer. “Personally.” Another step. “Just us. ” I can have whatever I want.
He took two steps away from me, and held his hands up as if in defense. “I am flattered, but please leave me be I have someone I want to love for the rest of my life ” He side-stepped around me, and my heart tightened, causing an uncomfortable feeling in my chest. This isn’t right! It’s not how this was supposed to go. He was supposed to see me and fall for me, not that wench. He was supposed to take me up on my offer. He was supposed to be mine! Not hers!
I stormed into the house in a flurry of rage. “Where is she?!” I saw Mom casually pointing to the broom closet, so I grabbed scissors off the table, ripped the door open, and slammed it behind me. Zachary’s face and words sparked in my memory and my rational mind fled. I scratched at the wench’s face, dug my nails into her skin to draw blood, and cut at her golden dress with scissors “Let’s see who’s beautiful now!”
With that, I left the closet and locked the door behind me.
Two days later, a letter came in the mail detailing that a lady lost a shoe at the final show of the Opera. Zachary asked for anyone who lost a shoe to stop at the Opera House tomorrow night at 6 o ’ clock if we ’ ve lost a shoe.
I knew someone who lost a shoe
That wench and I had a similar shoe size, so I could trick him. Mom and I dressed our best and left for the Opera House an hour earlier than requested.
When we arrived, there was a long line of people all the way down the main staircase. Zachary stood at the top, looking handsome and perfect. I could feel myself falling for him. He’ll be mine.
As I took a step forward in line, the doors of the opera house creaked open and the wench rushed through. Everyone stopped and stared. Here she was, still in her golden gown cut from scissors with scratches on her arms and dried blood lines on her face. I wanted nothing more than to reopen those wounds.
Zachary immediately dashed down the stairs and past all the women, even me. He reached the wench just as her legs gave out He should have let her hit her head and pass out
“Are you okay? What happened? What’s wrong?” Zachary’s concerned voice dug into me. How could he of all people feel pity for this wench?
“I was bleeding for one day and haven’t had food in two. My body can’t keep up. ” Ugh, look at her complaining. She knows she deserves it.
“I’ll take care of you ” He should be taking care of me “Now, what is your name?”
“Robyn.”
Scooping her up in his arms, Zachary leaned in close to her and asked, “Then, Robyn, will you make me the happiest person alive and agree to support our passions? To care for ours and our dear animals’ sicknesses? To make pumpkin soup together? Will you marry me?”
My heart and control shattered. I only held back my scream when mom covered my mouth. I could have yelled from the rooftops for the whole continent to hear, but I held it back.
“Don’t make a scene. I have a plan,” Mom whispered. In response, I stopped fighting her and only glared at them, fuming silently
Robyn said, “Yes,” with a smile on her scarred face.
Three months later, our plan had come to fruition. That wench was meant to marry him in the next ten minutes, but I was prepared. I sat in a secluded room, wearing her same dress, holding the same flowers, and wearing a veil over my face. Nothing would stop me from marrying him
“It is time.” Mom reached out and gestured for me to begin the walk down the aisle. With a confident smile, I stood and began walking. The wedding march played, the guests rose from their seats, and I smirked beneath my veil.
I was only three yards from my husband-to-be when the wench burst into the room.
“I object!”
I gasped in shock and anger, fuming underneath my veil. Zachary looked upon me in confusion instead of love, and then at the wench. I took a deep breath and clenched the bouquet tighter.
“What in the world is going on?” he asked, fearfully.
“Take off her veil,” Robyn requested.
Zachary slowly reached out to me, so I tried to lean back, but he snatched the veil off my head, pulling out my hair with it. He and all the company in the audience gasped loud enough to fill the room and cover my cry from the pain of ripping the veil off of my head. He threw down my veil and ran down the aisle toward the wench.
They met in the middle, where Zachary took her in his arms and twirled them around before saying, “Do you promise to always love and cherish me always?”
“I do. You promise to always love and cherish me always?”
“I do.” And with that, I was out the door.
Mom and I made our way home after the wedding, only to find the house a mess and those six animals who were only alive because of the wench. I was exhausted and humiliated, finally feeling the tears of sadness and frustration surface. Before I could process my emotions and the messiness of the house, an emu dragged us out the door by the skirt of our dresses. It seemed like we were dragged across the hot, dry ground for millions of kilometers. It’s hot and dry and my skin is burning By the time we stopped, we laid on the ground, bruised and bloodied with the sun burning my face. A kangaroo kicked me in the stomach, and I felt like I would throw up. I couldn’t breathe. A spider the size of my torso climbed up my body towards my face, pricking my skin with its legs. It towered above me, its long legs creeping up and onto my face. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t find my voice. The dizziness set in and I couldn’t move my limbs The spider reached down and dug its fangs into my eyes Terror like no other filled my brain and my body and my voice and a blood-curdling scream left my body. I wanted to die. Please kill me, I wanted to say. But all I could do was scream.