Chapter 1
DEMI
"Demi! Demi!! Demi!!!"
The shrill sound of my aunt's voice cuts through my foggy brain and stirs me awake from a deep sleep. My eyes still closed, I hear her swing my door open and barge into my room with her daughter in tow. It's usually bad when they enter the small boxy room that is my escape hatch from their hateful glares and harsh words.
I have been living with my aunt ever since my parents died five years ago. They were unfortunately inside a faulty elevator in a mall that fell from the nineteenth floor and crashed. Aunt wasn't pleased to have an extra mouth to feed by accommodating me. She hated her sister, my mother. Jealous is more like the word. They had both wanted my father and my father chose my mum over my aunt. Long story. My aunt and her daughter, Kira, have been making my life a miserable one ever since I moved in with them.
"You're still in bed by ten in the morning, huh girl? Did you forget you're an orphan and a freeloader in my house? An adult who is yet to start contributing substantially to the expenses in this house?" My aunt snarls.
I sit up on my bed thinking how I have been submitting my pay checks from working at a book store to my aunt at the end of every month, for the last two years now. The light from the window is harsh so I squint my eyes. My head aches badly and my aunt's voice is only making it want to fall off my neck. Why do I feel this way?
"Where were you last night? Kira heard you come in by two this morning. Where the hell were you?"
"I told you she has started prostituting herself." Kira draws close and sniffs me.
"Eww. She reeks of alcohol and her breath stinks mum. She's clearly drunk."