My Fake Sister Took Everything; Now It's My Turn

"How could you do this to me?" I whispered, my voice barely audible over the roar of the stormy rain outside. The cold, metallic taste of betrayal placed at the tip of my tongue. My words felt hollow, swallowed by the endless void of silence that hung between us. I searched his eyes, hoping for a glimpse of the man I once knew, but all I found was emptiness.

"WHY???" This time I scream at the top of my lungs, my heart beating frantically against my ribcage. His silence was infuriating me. "Answer me, Nate," I demanded, my voice cracking under the weight of my anguish. I could feel the desperation clawing at my throat, threatening to choke me if he didn't speak.

He clutches the champagne flute in his right hand, swirling it lazily as he takes sips without a care in the world. The arrogance in his posture made my skin crawl. Meanwhile, I'm left ranting like a madwoman. But indeed, I am mad... I am a woman in love, madly in love, and it's driving me to the edge.

"Say something!" I plead, taking a shaky step toward him. My voice is barely above a whisper, but it carries the weight of my shattered heart. "Nate, please... say something."

His lips curl into a smirk, as if my suffering was a source of entertainment for him. "And what exactly do you want me to say?" he finally speaks, his tone dripping with disdain. "That I'm sorry? That I made a mistake?"

"You bitch!" I charge towards Claire, my fury urging me forward, but that's when I finally gain a reaction from him. He stands up abruptly, grabbing my hand in a vice-like grip.

He twists it painfully and hisses, "Don't you dare." His voice is low, almost a growl, sending chills down my spine.

"Oh, Wow!" I scoff in disbelief. "Don't I dare what, Nathaniel?" I sneer back, my voice laced with bitterness. "Protect myself? Fight for what's mine?" I try to pull my hand free, but his grip tightens, sending a sharp pain up my arm.

"Is this what you wanted?" He sneers, eyes cold and unforgiving. It was as if I was looking into the eyes of a stranger. He looks down on me due to his tall statue. "To be the 'pathetic' whiny burden you have always been?"

I flinch at his words. No, this cannot be, this cannot be happening. This is not my Nate, my Nathaniel. I struggle to maintain my composure. My breath came in shallow, ragged gasps, each one a painful reminder of the betrayal that had brought me to this breaking point.

Beside him, Claire's laughter was a harsh, mocking sound that cut through the room like shards of glass. "Oh, look at you still playing the victim. You were always so weak, so useless."

With my mouth agape, I couldn't believe what was unfolding right before my eyes. My Nate doing nothing to defend me, the woman he claims he loves. Am I in a simulation, or was this a sick prank?

"I always knew something was off," I choke, my voice trembling. "The way you stopped asking about my day, the way you stopped looking at me like I was the only girl that mattered in the world, The way you snapped at me for the smallest things. I thought... I thought it was stress."

I inhaled as much as I could. "...The day I stopped feeling loved by you. I should've known. I thought maybe I was being too sensitive. But never, never did I imagine... I would live to see the day you would stop loving me."

Claire narrows her eyes at me. "You were always an outsider, pretending to be something you're not. We never wanted you here, don't you get it through your thick, shallow skull? YOU ARE NOTHING." Her words were like venom, seeping into my veins, poisoning every memory I had of the life I thought we shared.

I laughed out loud like a maniac, "Can you listen to her, Nate? Where are the cameras?... , yeah you got me, cut!!" I am delusional enough to believe this was a prank. I scan the room desperately, searching for any sign of this being a joke, but there's nothing. Just their cold, unsympathetic stares.

Instead, he steps closer, his breath warm against my face. "You were a burden from the start. Annoying, whiny, and always in the way. You think you're special, but you are just a poor imitation of what I truly wanted."

I always had a gut feeling that something was wrong. The way he grew distant, barely acknowledging my presence. The coldness in his eyes whenever I tried to reach out, the annoyance in his voice when I spoke. I had suspected an affair, but never in my darkest fears had I imagined it would be my own sister. They say, never undermine a woman's intuitions, and that is exactly what I did. I doubted myself.

And now that I was faced with the truth of their deception, it felt like a suffocating blanket thrown over me. I was nothing more than a pawn in their twisted game, discarded when I no longer served a purpose.

"Get out!" Claire spits, her voice dripping with hatred. "You're nothing, Just a shadow that doesn't belong here."

.

"Don't listen to her, Nate, don't be gullible and fall for her words. She wants what I have, she wants to be more. Just because I am pregnant, she's lying through her teeth. Don't forget she is barren."

I flinch at her words, unable to believe what is unfolding before my very eyes. Ever Since I was 20, I was constantly told that I was barren from specialized doctors, that I was unable to conceive. I raved up and down like a psychopath looking for ways..., for solutions... even though, then, it seemed impossible. It was one of the darkest moments in my life, and I was in a very bad state.

But at the time, that didn't stop Nate. He loved me with his entire being and didn't think that was an issue at all, he always assured me and told me that it didn't matter to him, it was not supposed to be a barrier between two lovers. He accepted me for who I was. He promised we'd get through it side by side, even if we had to adopt children of our own. We were actually planning on doing that few months back, before I started noticing the visible changes in his actions towards me. I should've known because they say..... Action speaks louder than words.

"I'm not lying, Nate, please believe me," I plead, my voice barely a whisper as I try to reach him, to remind him of the love we once shared. "I'm carrying your child, our child. This is our second chance."

But he doesn't respond, his eyes shifting to Claire as if seeking her approval. "So this is what it has come to huh?"

I looked into his eyes expecting even the slightest flicker of remorse but all I saw was irritation and annoyance in them.

"Wow, no really, Wow.. Clap for yourself Nathaniel Pierce, Your betrayal really surpassed my thinking. I thought you said we could adopt, that it didn't matter. But because this....." I turn to claire with disgust in my eyes, "this low life wh*re is carrying that... that bastard"

He quickly interjected in anger cutting me off "Don't you fuck*ng dare point your dirty accusatory fingers at my child. You insulting me is one thing and wouldn't really affect me, most especially coming from an unwanted loser like you, but you, trying to degrade MY CHILD and the Womb that is carrying my child. I'm warning you Daphne Sinclair i won't take it lightly with you. I will show you my worst side."

"Show me, I said, show me.. What is left huh? There is nothing so show me once and for all. What haven't i seen do your worse"

"You are so damn irritating, just get the hell out of here. I do not wish to see you or anything that has to do with you. You will always remain the last option in everyone's life, i didn't get it at first... but now i do. The problem isn't from anyone, it is from YOU. You are unloveable. Grow the f*ck up!!!"

I was frozen in place, unable to react or say anything to him. That was very low coming from him, I thought he would understand me, even if no one else did. I thought he would forever have my back. He was the first person that read and understood me without me having to translate it for him. Even with everything being said, that one question lingered in my mind.... Am I actually the problem?

Claire stepped forward, her face a mask of cold satisfaction. "Trust me, I know exactly how to handle her."

I couldn't move, I couldn't blink, every tic, every toc of the clock was painfully loud and slow. Claire won and I'm not talking of just this time... she's always won. She grabbed my arm with a ruthless grip and began dragging me towards the darkened hallway. I couldn't even protest or fight back because I was too paralyzed. He didn't believe me, he denied my child. I would never forgive him for that.

"You don't get to choose your fate," she says with a cruel smile and that's when I took in our surroundings. She literally dragged me across the mansion and to a closed dark cell like room that was meant for dogs. It hasn't been active since forever so it was in a very terrible state.

'You've always been a fraud, and now it is time you faced the consequences."

I was heaving, almost at the peak of throwing up. She throws open the heavy door to the cell, the harsh metal was a chilling reminder of my past, of my life.

I stumbled inside, falling to the cold, unforgiving floor as the door slammed shut behind me. The darkness enveloped me, contrasting to the warmth of love I had once known.

I was pregnant, alone and abandoned by the very people I had trusted with my life. The pain was overwhelming. I clutch my stomach knowing now I have to be strong for my child.

Because...just like he left me, so did the light in my eyes.

The cold felt like a living thing, wrapping itself around me tightly like a merciless predator. Sinking its icy claws into my flesh, clawing at my bones. I won't be shocked if I get hypertonia by the end of the day.

I had always thought I knew what cold was... growing up in a world that had never been kind to me or offered any warmth. But this.. this was something different. Something alive, something malevolent. It was all time consuming.

I huddled in a corner, my arms wrapped around my knees, trying to preserve what little body heat I had left. The darkness was oppressive, broken only by the faintest sliver of light that managed to seep in through the cracks in the heavy door.

It made me question myself, what if they are right? What if I am useless? I can't even protect myself not to talk about my unborn child.

My breath came in short and unstable. It was the only sound in the walls I was confined in, a cellar I would prefer to call it. Apart from the faint drip of water as it fell from the ceiling, dispersing as it hit the ground. The world outside felt like a distant memory, something that had once existed but was now far beyond my reach.

I try to focus on something, anything to keep my mind from spiraling into the abyss. But there was no escape from the memories that were adamant on ruining my life, of reminding me of what I tried my hardest to not confront, no way to block the pain and trauma that had become as much a part of me as the air I breathed.

It all started when I was five years old. Five, a time when most children were just beginning to discover the world when the future should have stretched out before me like an endless summer day. But for me, It was the beginning of the end.

I could still vividly remember that night as if it were happening all over again. The night not just my childhood but my world and identity were stolen from me, ripped away in the dead of night.

I had been sleeping, safe and warm in my bed, dreaming of the dolls I would play with the next morning, of the songs my mother would sing to me as she braided my hair. But all of that changed in an instant.

I woke up to the sound of voices, hushed and urgent. At first, I thought I was still dreaming, that the shadows moving in the corners of my room were just figments of my imagination because even then, I wasn't a child that was scared of monsters.

But suddenly, the door creaked open, and the shadows became solid, real.

Two figures loomed over my head, their faces unidentifiable by darkness. My fragile heart pounded in my chest, and I wanted to scream out for my daddy, to call out to my mother, but my voice was frozen in my throat, just like my body was now frozen in this icy tomb.

The hands that reached out for me were strong and cold. They yanked me from my bed, pulling me into the shadows with them. I struggled, kicked, and tried to break free, but I was too small..., ..too weak.

The world around me became a blur as they carried me away, away from the only home I had ever known. The night air bit at my skin as they threw me into the back of a van, slamming the door shut behind them.

I don't remember much of what happened after that-just flashes of light and dark, of the van rattling over rough roads, the smell of damp earth and gasoline.

I cried until I had no tears left, but no one came to comfort me, to tell me that everything would be okay. Because it wouldn't be. Not anymore.

The years that followed were a nightmare I couldn't wake from. I was passed from one pair of hands to another, always in the dark, always afraid.

The people who took me didn't care that I was just a child. To them, I was nothing more than a commodity, something to be used, traded, and discarded when I no longer served their purposes.

They broke me down piece by piece, stripping away the innocence, the joy, the hope that had once filled my life. I was no longer a little girl with dreams of dolls and songs; I was something else entirely-a shadow of the person I had once been, lost in the cold, cruel world that had swallowed me whole.

And now, after all these years, after everything I had endured, I found myself here, in this frozen hell. Not taken by strangers this time, but by the very person who had taken everything from me-my sister. The one who had taken my place, stolen my life, while I had been left to rot in the shadows.

The door to the cellar creaked open, and a gust of freezing air rushed in, stinging my already numb skin. I didn't need to look up to know who it was.

I could feel her presence, a dark, wicked force that seemed to suck the warmth out of the room just as the cold did.