Chapter 1: A Cage Called Home
Mimi's house was quiet, but never peaceful. The kind of silence that carried tension in its walls — sharp, heavy, suffocating.
She moved through her home like a shadow, careful not to make noise, not to breathe too loudly, not to exist too much.
Her mother's voice could cut through bone when she was angry — and she was always angry.
"Mimi! Clean the damn dishes!"
"Mimi! Why are you just sitting like a useless thing?"
"Mimi! Look at your brothers — why can't you be like them?!"
It was always Mimi. Always the punching bag.
Her brothers were praised, spoiled, treated like royalty while she was treated like a maid. She could scrub the floors raw and still be told she was lazy. She could bring home good grades and still be a disappointment. And if she ever talked back? If she ever dared to flinch or cry or stand up?
Slaps. Screaming. Guilt-tripping. Silent treatment for days. Sometimes worse.
She wasn't living. She was surviving.
But she had nowhere else to go.
No relatives. No friends close enough. No one who would believe her if she spoke up. She learned to bottle it up — tape a smile on her face at school and pretend she wasn't crumbling inside.
And then, like every tragedy, came the boy.
To be continued....