"Open this door, you unfortunate child!!"
After the aggressive knocking on the door, Prim Rose who was lying on the bed in pain, heard the persistent voice of her wicked mother.
She had been in tears for thirty minutes, but no one could hear her pain because nobody cared.
'For once, please, let me breathe,' PrimRose pleaded from within as she heard her mother order one of the maids to get the spare key to her room.
PrimRose stood up abruptly and ran to the bathroom. In serious pain, causing her to groan, she vomited the third time that day. She hadn't eaten anything that day, not even the night before.
When she returned to her room, she saw her mother standing somewhere around the room.
'She is my mother, she gave birth to me, and she wouldn't wish that I died because of this sickness. She'd help me. She was once my friend, she should still love me a little,' thought Prim Rose as she stared at her mother with hope.
"You were in here all along, you fat cow and you seriously made me scream that much!" Her mother found her.
Those body shaming words didn't hurt PrimRose anymore. It was more of her name than a nickname. Sometimes, she even felt weird whenever she was called her real name.
Seeing that her stepsister wasn't in the room yet, she ran to her mother and went on her knees. "Please, mother, save me. I'm sick. I'm your only daughter, don't let me die, I'm begging you," with that discomforting excruciating pain lingering in her stomach and the urge to vomit again, she begged her mother with tears streaming from her eyes.
She looked up at her mother, Evelyn. Shivering as if the room was cold, she begged once more. "Please mother. I know you still love me, even if it's just a little."
But there was no remorse in her mother's eyes for her. They were looking down at her as if she was a rug that needed to be thrown away.
It was at that moment PrimRose knew that there was no hope for her. She couldn't kneel anymore, so she ended up sitting on the floor, enduring the pain.
"How can a strong child like you die?" Evelyn chuckled.
PrimRose could only listen to her mother because she was feeling too sick to look up. She was feverish and her organs felt useless as if she had lost a lot of blood.
"I've always wanted to get rid of you since you were in my womb but that didn't happen. Your father left me on the street because he couldn't accept you. Now, you tell me you are losing your life? Who loses their life because of a mere menstrual pain?" That's what her mother thought the pain was all about.
For years, PrimRose had always been blamed for hiding in her mother's belly for six months as her mother never knew that she was pregnant because she still had her monthly flow that year.
When she learned about her pregnancy, it was too late to get an abortion. She did everything in her power to cause a miscarriage or to cause the death of the child, but she failed and ended up birthing the child.
The feeling of seeing a new human made her emotional after birth so she was a good mother for the first two years of her child's life.
However, when PrimRose's appearance began to disappoint her especially when she received comments from people about her daughter's figure, she began to curse the day she birthed PrimRose.
Things got even worse when her daughter started to grow fat and even uglier to society.
When she became a teenager, her breasts were the same size as her mother's, her backside was large, her stomach was heavy and had other unique parts of her that no one considered beautiful.
The beauty standard was a slim girl with what they considered moderate body features. Therefore, most of the clothes designed for females were fitting to slim girls only.
Finding her size was as difficult as digging the ground to find crude oil and when eventually found, it had to undergo some process to become handy. Therefore, she styled her clothes herself.
PrimRose stood up again and rushed to the bathroom to vomit. She still couldn't tell what she was vomiting as she hadn't eaten anything but as the doctor said, without treatment, she would have to face all these issues.
That was why she was begging her mother to help her as she had no health insurance that she could rely on for treatment. Hence, she needed money.
"Are you pregnant?" When Prim Rose returned to the room, swallowing her saliva, trying to stop herself from feeling the urge to vomit, her stepsister questioned her.
"Which man in his right mind would fuck a woman like this ugly duckling?" Evelyn wondered loudly.
PrimRose couldn't say anything because she was too weak to even speak or defend herself. She rested on the wall close to the bathroom so she would be able to run back when she wanted to vomit again.
"if she's pregnant, who is going to get married to Salvatore?" Hillary, PrimRose's step sister, questioned Evelyn.
Marriage?
She groaned but none of the two cared.
When Prim Rose turned fifteen, she moved with her mother to a big mansion, learning that her mother married a billionaire, but she was never known as Evelyn's daughter but as her niece.
This billionaire's daughter, Hillary made PrimRose her personal maid, not just at home but also at school.
She had been traumatized by how she had been treated in school, in college and even at her workplace where she worked as janitor in the company assigned to Hillary.
Life had been hell there because of Hillary. Sometimes, she would seize Prim Rose's salary because of a little mistake, causing the girl to drown in debt.
When has life been easy for her?
Now she was hearing something about marriage.
She was dying but no one was listening to her plea.
Recently, she was diagnosed with appendicitis which was caused by an infection and with the pain and discomfort coming with the sickness, a surgery was needed but she had no health insurance, and her mother wasn't willing to help.
"I'm not pregnant," she finally spoke. "It's not menstrual pain, mother. I'm sick and I need to be treated or else things would get more complicated. Please help me," she tried her luck one more time.
Evelyn and Hillary glanced at each other and laughed.
"We know you are in debt. You don't need to lie to us. Ugly people like you have nine lives so how can you be dying?" Hillary uttered as she knew how many times she had tried to get rid of PrimRose, but she always failed as Prim Rose had a very strong immune system.
This time, unfortunately, the infection prevailed, and the only way out was through the surgical process.
She cried even more, shaking her head to defend herself but it was pointless.
"Girl, my father has spent too much money on you but got nothing in return. However, if you sign this document, I might consider helping you," Hillary smirked. Then she faced Evelyn, "She is going to fall for it like every other time," she whispered and walked up to PrimRose.
"Why am I signing? What..." Hillary interrupted her.
"You dare question your helper? Are you sure you want my help? You know very well that you are of no use to anyone, why then are you eager to live?"
That question went deeper than it should, shattering her already damaged heart.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. She was desperate. Hence, she was willing to do anything.
"So much for a hippo," Hillary sneered. "Will you sign this document or pass?"
"I... I have to."
"Pathetic," Hillary murmured and squeezed a pen in Prim Rose's hand. She felt her burning body but ignored it without any thought of wanting to save her.
PrimRose scribbled her signature on the places she was told to sign.
"Thank you. You have finally paid my father for all he has been doing for you. You are such a good girl," Hillary pinched Prim Rose's cheek and walked away but the next thing that happened was PrimRose losing her consciousness and falling helplessly on the floor as if finally lifeless.