Page 39 of Eyes Like Angel

“I didn’t know what to do,” I explained as quietly as I could, clutching my hands together, my head lowered. “I was trying to find a way to calm her down.”

Sister Joanne approached me too closely. “Just fucking stop! I don’t want to hear shit from you! Honor thy mother and father! Maybe if you know how to read and how to be a perfect servant or daughter or whatever you are, you would know. I think you should learn more on how to be a respectful member of the family, witch! Everything that you do and say is a sin! There’s no coming back to this.”

Sister Joanne stepped aside as Father Divine stood and gathered his whiplash in his drawer before snapped the whip on my flesh. My teeth bit on my tongue, did the best of my ability to not scream out loud with tears coming out. In a flash, he kicked me onto the floor several times until I coughed up blood.

Sister Joanne was satisfied. But Father Divine wasn’t.

“Get out of my sight before I drown you again,” he told me. “Go back to your attic, pack your things, and go to the estate, and don’t come back here again.”

“What estate, dear?” Sister Joanne asked. “What do you mean, ‘pack up’?”

Father Divine called on his cell, not cooperating with her question.

But I couldn’t, I was writhing in pain, but kept myself motionless. Blood streaks pooled on their new-tiled floor.

Father Divine shook his head and decided to walk off and had a phone on his hand, calling someone on the phone as Sister Joanne veered at me with a sinister sweet smile I always knew.

“Oh look at her. She’s so helpless,” she taunted, standing over my helpless form. “Helpless and sickly! Looks like you’re not getting any food. I feel like we should make you skinnier and prettier. Should we feed her, Father Divine?”

Heaving, I released a bloody cough faintly, my finger was twitching as I lay still, my eyesight became blurry and the sounds became distant, echoing.

Dad, why are you so cruel to me?

My heart winced as Father Divine’s phone rang, he replied with, “If Abraham or Moses can survive days without eating, so can she.”

12

Adrian

Mom stormed in as we had an early breakfast, with her pink, fluffy slippers padded across the tiles, her hands clasped altogether as she announced—and giddied—to her upcoming announcement.

Dad narrowed his eyes in suspicion at her strangely happy behavior. Mom hasn’t been joyous since the day where he got her a giant carat, a blue diamond ring on her 36thbirthday. Or a Faberge crystallized egg she received on a 40thbirthday as Dad was claiming about he’s ‘over the moon’ for her with her stylized bob haircut.

“What is it this time, Linda? Did you get a new Chanel purse after getting a lightest, non-existent scratch for the fifth time?” Dad articulated in a profound distant tone as he channeled his eyes roaming over the new articles, bold letters flashed and plastered on a fresh cut paper and flicked the page.

Bjorn drank a batch of hot black coffee on his white china mug, not wanting any noises in his peaceful routine. Today was Bjorn’s day off, and it was a personal hassle for mental peace.

“I’m not going to be cleaning the house anymore,” she erupted.

She was bouncing in joy with her ridiculously pointed heels—sorry her new Jordan’s.

Safe to assume we’ll be accepting her word. Based on how she won’t be cleaning the entire household anymore, it irked to the two men on the dining table. To Dad’s view, it’s lazy and stupid. For Bjorn, he was…typically careless for Mom’s words and antics.

Not acquired to bring words upfront, not wishing to waste their breaths.

Moments later, Dad begrudgingly slammed the newspapers down on a dining table, made from a rare woodwork of mahogany.

Mom’s shoulders flinched.

“What?” Dad uttered in disbelief.

“I’m not going to be cleaning the house anymore,” she parroted.

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Dad vented, hands slammed the newspaper on his lap.

“I’m not going to waste my time on cleaning tedious tasks,” her voice chirped.

“Shit, you can’t be serious, Linda. Cleaning is the simplest thing anyone could do. Even toddlers can do it. Why the fuck would you announce that? Are you too proud to call yourself lazy, or you planning to become lazier as time goes by?”