150 Cursed life (1/2)
”Big sis!!! Let's play!!!” screamed a young girl towards her older sister who in turn just rolled her eyes after hearing that scream.
”Not now Mia, I'm busy...” answered a slightly older girl with a tired expression.
”But you're always busy!! Come on!! Just for a bit!! Pleeeease!!” begged the little girl down on her knees with her hands united.
They were inside a large house walking down the hallways. The younger girl was pulling her sister's dress so she would give her attention while the sister was carrying a basket full of seeds towards the kitchen.
Both had skin in the tone of chocolate and hair as black as the night itself. They were wearing very expensive dresses that their father carefully picked up for them so he could show off how expensive his daughter's clothes were to his coworkers. The younger sister was twelve years old while the older one was fourteenn.
”Come on Ria!! There is no one else!!! Nobody wants to play with me anymore!!”
”Oh, gee... I wonder why...”
”I'm serious!! Bia said she needed to take the dog for a walk, which is weird because I'm pretty sure we don't have a dog...”
”A fair point, I'll admit...”
”Gia said she needed to wash her hair, like, for the fifth time today!!”
”Gia does like to make herself look good for the boys... Nothing surprising there...”
”And Lia just shut herself in her room to read her dumb books again...”
”Yeah... She hasn't been the same ever since she found out about romance novels between monsters and humans...” Ria commented after finally reaching her destination and placing her basket on the table.
”So can you please play with me?? Just for a few minutes?” Mia tried to beg again.
”I told you I'm busy, Mia... Everyone keeps running away from their work so mom and dad keep pushing it all on me just because I'm older!” Ria explained as she started to pick the bad seeds from the basket.
”But... But...” Mia mumbled as she grabbed her single ponytail and used it to wrap her face, her usual behavior for when she didn't know what to say.
”Besides, you're already twelve... Can't you play by yourself or something? Where are your friends?”
”I... I don't... Have any...”
Ria stopped picking her seeds for a while and stared at Mia after noticing her distress, ”Sigh... Ok... Fine... I'll play with you once I'm done here...”
”Ahh!! Promise!!!??” Mia asked, jumping with joy.
”Sure, sure... Now go away... I need to focus...” Ria told while waving her hand.
”Thanks, big sis!! I love you!!!” Mia gave Ria a big hug and a kiss on her cheek to express her gratitude.
Mia entered the room and approached the cradle while trying not to make any sound. She felt like a burglar while moving with so much discretion.
As she approached the bed, she saw him, her barely-a-few-months old brother, Kio. The only son her father had.
Mia looked carefully at him, an adorable little angel snoring peacefully without a care in the world. He had the same skin tone as her, same hair color, same lips, same eyes, he truly was her brother. At least from her father's side, that is.
Mia's father had this really strange desire of trying to show he was better than everyone around him.
He needed to have the best clothes, the best house, the best servants, and most of all the best wives, six wives in fact.
He managed to have a kid with every single one of them, and as always, he needed to make sure he had the best kids.
While Mia adored the idea of having a big family, she could fell an air of hostility in the atmosphere every now and then. She could feel that some of the wives did not like each other much, always trying to fight to find out which one her father liked the most.
The man had affirmed many times that he had no desire on picking favorites, but they never truly bought that.
And just like the six women tried to compete with each other, her sisters would often try battle for their father's attention as well, trying to see who was the best daughter.
All except for Ria, who at times seemed like she couldn't care less about her family and just wanted to get away at the first chance she had. Mia hoped that such a day would never come to pass. She had no idea of what she would do if her sister disappeared from her life.
As Mia kept staring at her beautiful little brother, wondering if one day she would need to compete with him as well, she decided to try and give him a light touch just to feel his soft-looking skin.
But the moment she did so, the toddle started to burst into a loud cry that alerted the whole house.
”I'm sorry, I'm sorry!! Please stop!!” Mia begged, trying to calm him down as she could hear the footsteps of her entire family approaching.
”What are you doing to him??” asked a female voice belonging to an older woman. It was Kio's mother, her father's fourth wife. A lady that had similar features to Mia's own mother for a very specific reason but looking much angrier.
”Aunt Tula!! I'm sorry!! I just wanted to...” Mia tried to explain herself as her mother's sister pushed her away from her son.
”Stay away from him you brat!!” the woman shouted with a very heavy tone.
Mia looked at the door of the bedroom and realized that her whole family was staring at her. Her father and mother in particular were very confused about the situation.
”Mia? Tula? What happened?” asked her mother. Just like her aunt, she also had a chocolate skin and black hair, but unlike her aunt whose hair reached all the way to her waist, hers only went as far as her shoulders. Both, as always, were wearing very expensive-looking dresses.
”I just wanted to caress Kio a bit!!”
”And why is that?? What were you planning to do to him??” her aunt questioned.
Mia stared at her family, hoping that someone would be by her side, to try to defend her, to give her some aid. But all she saw was the sight of the rest of the wives snickering as if enjoying their competitor's children causing discord.
As always, none of her sisters were present, always trying to avoid each other's presence and their family's drama.
The only one who came to check the chaos was the older daughter, Ria, who was looking at Mia while trying to make sense of the situation.
Ria tried to reach for her sister in distress to calm her down but her father grabbed her shoulder and stopped her.
”Ria... Have you finished the task I gave you?” he asked.
”What? No! I came here to see what was going on!”
”Well, now you have! Go back to work!”
”But...”
”Ria!!” her father said while raising his voice.