Annabel’s Pov.

''ANNABEL!! GET OVER HERE THIS INSTANT!'' Miss Agatha yelled, I always found her name funny and quite ridiculous. It beats me how a parent could name their child 'Agatha'. Like, what happened to all the good names, maybe it resonated with her very wicked personality.

'Yes Ma'am'

I answered, running as fast as my legs could go. I wasn't ready to be in her bad books twice in a day, that came with a whole lot of pain. As I ran, I tried to recall if I had done something wrong again but nothing was coming to me. I had made sure to finish all my chores before I went in to attend to the feeding of the family’s pets, so why was she yelling my name this much?

Normally she was always a stuck-up bitch who wouldn’t give me the time of day, always out for my life. But this tone of hers felt a lot different from how she normally would yell my name. Shivers ran down my spine as I wasn't ready for another dose of slaps, kicks, whips! Name them, I've had them all. My body hurt as hell from the kicks I received this morning and I was pretty sure my body would collapse if I had another set of beatings again.

I rushed to the kitchen to meet the perfect dish of chicken soup I prepared this morning down the drain, she looked at me with disdain in her eyes, grabbed my ears tightly, yelling about my uselessness and inability to get anything done right, she pushed me to the ground and I braced myself for the inevitable beatings that awaited me.

Rather than the usual kicks to the ribs which was her signature beating style, the demon in her had other painful plans for me. She hit me hard with the glass cup on the counter, making sure to hit it in a way that would leave marks on my head. The glass shattered on my already injured head and I screamed in pain but my screams of pain did nothing to deter her from pushing me to the ground and using her sharp end boots to stomp on every part of my body until I passed out.

I woke up later to see my dried blood and the shattered glass around me, she had successfully given me a fresh nasty wound on my head that would take ages to heal, my clothes were more torn than before and I felt more worthless than I already was. I dragged my exhausted body to my sorry excuse for a room and prayed I had a little more time to rest before the maniac came yelling for me again.

As you already know, my name is Annabel. I am an orphan, grew up with my aunt who treated me like trash and was a greedy wrench. According to her, my parents died in a car accident when I was two and I was placed under her care as my legal guardian because she was the only relative my parents had. But being the greedy ass woman she was, she sold me off to the Wesley family to work as a maid whilst they paid her for my services.

I wouldn't say Mr. Wesley and his wife Victoria treated me horribly, it was more like I was invisible to them and they ignored me most of the time, they hardly ever spoke to me and were always uncomfortable whenever I was around them like I was a disease. They never questioned the things Agatha did to me or the reason why I always looked tattered and unkempt. To them, I was just an abandoned maid whose family did not want to, so there was no use bothering about me.

They had the perfect-looking sons though; hot, sexy, and snobbish. Ben was the youngest and the cutest, he had a round baby-like face and perfectly wavy hair that always got him the attention he wanted from the ladies, Jeffrey was more of a handsome nerd who loved covering his perfect-looking body.

But Elijah? Now Elijah was a man! Tall and huge, sexy as hell, ripped with abs, almost a replica of one of the Greek gods! Because damn! He was fu*king gorgeous and handsome at the same time! He was one guy who knew he was sexy and flaunted his sexy body everywhere and anywhere he could, except on me though unfortunately.

If he wasn't such a total bastard to me I'd have been thinking of crazy things I'd love for him to do to me with that body of his.

"Damn Anna, get your head out of the gutter, you know he'll never look at you that way, plus, he’s a total jerk." My mind yelled at me.

While Ben and Jeffrey totally ignored me and didn't give me much trouble, Elijah was totally different! He would find little or no reason to insult and make fun of me in front of his friends, he'd hit me for making the littlest of mistakes and was irritated by even the presence of my shadow.

Thank God he left for college two years ago because I was almost going insane from his bullying. I was always scared and shivery around him, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder if I shivered only from fear or from the lust I felt when he was close to me.

~

Lying on my bed, I can't help but feel sorry for myself, I let the tears roll uncontrollably down my face, the frustration, pain, and anger feels like its building in the gut of my throat with no way to come out. I want to scream out from the pain and sadness eating me up, I wish I died in that car crash with my parents, at least I wouldn't have to suffer this much.

I hate when I feel sorry for myself, and that’s why I never let the Wesley brothers or Agatha see me beg or cry in front of them. But this night I just feel tired of it all, I can't wait to get to eighteen and run away from everything! I covered my mouth to muffle the sounds of my sobs, all I feel now is an overwhelming feeling of sadness and loneliness and I just want all of it to go away.

I suddenly feel like someone is watching and I adjust my eyes to the darkness to see who's there but I can't see a thing because of how dark the room is. My once cold skin suddenly feels warm and I automatically stop crying and embrace this new feeling of comfort which feels very foreign to me. It's refreshing, comforting, and delicious and it somehow feels like mine…I can’t explain it though but I clutch hard on it and drift slowly to sleep.