Chapter 2 BROKEN

Ava's POV:

"What do you expect to eat when you return today?" She added.

"I've fed you for some time now, shouldn't you at least be grateful for that?" She spat on my face and dragged my cross bag, opening it and taking all the money she found.

My transport fare was gone, and I was almost late for work.

She pushed me away from her, and I fell to the floor with a thud.

"Foolish girl."

"That's why your parents left you." She said to me and walked away.

I watched her leave with the only money I had at the moment. My eyes were filled with tears, I let out all the pain I had endured the whole morning.

I was thinking of how to deal with the insults she reigned on me, but saying something so insensitive about my dead parents broke me completely.

"Ava, are you alright?" I heard Lydia's voice, and I turned to face her, while still sitting on the floor.

"Ava, are you alright?" She asked again as she ran down the stairs to come and help me up from the floor.

"I'll be fine," I didn't know if her mother was somewhere watching us, I also didn't know if she saw what transpired between me and her mother.

"Did my mom do this to you?" She asked as she helped me get up from the ground.

I was quiet for a moment. I didn't know how to report a mother to her daughter.

"What? What happened to your head?" She asked as she touched a part of my forehead.

I hissed at the pain, I hadn't put any ointment on top and it was hurting bad.

"You're hurt, did you fall or something?" She asked with concern.

"Your mum... she threw a teacup at me, but it's just a small wound," I said to her and she scoffed.

"But why? What did you do?"

"This is big and swollen. It must be hurting so bad."

"Come, let's go put some ointment on it." She said to me and I nodded and sniffed.

Tears dripped down my face uncontrollably.

We walked upstairs to her room and she sat me down by her dressing table and went to bring a first aid box.

I used that moment to look around her room and I couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of Lydia.

Her room was a contrast to mine, it reminded me of my room in my father's house. It was beautifully decorated to my taste.

I felt like going to work that morning and never returning, but where could I run to?

Eleanor had shown me her other side, I didn't need anyone to tell me she didn't like me. Maybe I had become too much of a burden to her, or it was the frustration from not having her husband around, or she was scammed and lost a huge sum of money. I thought of several possible reasons to justify her bad attitude towards me.

I wasn't naïve, I knew I could stand up for myself, but I was scared of ending up on the streets. I didn't have anyone I could move in with. My boyfriend wasn't an option. I was against cohabiting before marriage.

I sighed heavily as I imagined how helpless I was.

Lydia walked in with the first aid box.

She cleaned the wound, applied some ointments, and used a plaster to cover it up.

"You're good to go now." She said to me with a wide smile and I had to force a smile back.

"Thank you," I said, and she giggled.

"It's nothing to thank me for, we're sisters you know," she said and I nodded.

"Here, keep this, apply it later." She handed me the little bottle of ointment.

"No, I can't," I said to her with uncertainty. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to have that.

"Yes, you can." She placed it in my palm.

"Aren't you running late?"

I was supposed to be at work in fifteen minutes.

"I need to go now," I got up from the chair where I was seated.

"Ava, wait." I stood by the door, waiting to hear what she had to say.

"Here you go. You're late, you should take a cab." She handed me some money.

I couldn't reject it because I needed it.

I thanked her and ran down the stairs.

I got to the bus station and thankfully, the last bus going to town was about to leave.

I got in, paid my fare, and took a seat.

I sighed subcautiously, grateful that Lydia intervened.

Soon, I arrived at work and quickly changed into my work clothes. I was a few minutes late and hoped my supervisor would not notice.

My job was to stay at the counter and attend to customers. Thankfully there was no cue yet.

After attending to some walk-in customers and taking inventory of baked goods loaded in the delivery truck, I had some free time.

While I sat at the front desk looking at the wound on my face with a small mirror, my mind drifted to Mr James, Eleanor's husband. I wondered how he was faring. I remembered how one morning after preparing for work I opened the front door of the living room to see him standing with some police officers. I was worried and wondered what they wanted, but he asked me to go to work and that everything was fine. I got home that day waiting for him to return home from work but he never did. It was Lydia who told me he got arrested for fraud allegations.

I saw him as a good man and didn't believe he did what he was accused of, but I couldn't help him. I only hoped that the authorities would do their job and he would be released soon.

If he was at home, Eleanor wouldn't have treated me the way she did. He would have stood up for me. I hissed as I arranged my hair to cover the wound on my forehead again, I didn't want anyone seeing it and asking me what happened.

Time passed quickly. Before I knew it, four o'clock in the evening had arrived-my shift was over.

I was to resume at the library by 5 p.m., so I thought it would be nice to drop by quickly at my boyfriend's place. I wanted to surprise him with some freshly baked goods, he usually enjoyed them. I also wanted to tell him all that happened at Eleanor's place.

I boarded a bus to his place.

He lived in a small apartment, not very far from the library where I also worked.

I rang the doorbell but no one answered. I expected him to be home since he worked remotely at the moment.

I entered the PIN code because I knew it. Jackson and I were planning to live together after our wedding. We were planning to get married before I lost my parents, who had promised to support us, but we decided to wait for a little and both find better jobs before proceeding with the wedding plan.

I assumed he stepped out to get something and wasn't back yet so I put the pastries on the kitchen counter.

I was about to leave when I heard a sound coming from his room.

Out of curiosity, I walked towards the room. I was scared that it might be a rat or something even worse.

But when I opened the door, I was shocked by what I saw.