She nodded obediently. “I’ll come back as soon as I can, Aunt.” Privately, though, Ever believed her aunt could miss a dinner or two for her own good. For as long as Ever could remember, Arisa had been complaining of mysterious aches and illnesses while stubbornly ignoring her doctor’s advice about leaving the bed more often and eating less.
Arisa tried to hide her irritation from Ever. Hateful child, she thought furiously. The girl just didn’t stop smiling, no matter what Arisa said or do, and it was positively grating on her. Every day of her life, she found herself hating Ever more and more, with the way the girl reminded Arisa of how she had also been young and pretty once, and most of all, without these pounds of extra flesh that she had to carry like baggage.
The changes in her physical appearance was something Arisa couldn’t make herself accept, and it had turned her into a recluse in the past decade, with only the pastor and librarian allowed inside her home.
“May I go now, Aunt?”
Arisa glared at her niece. “You can’t wait to leave, can you?” And no wonder, Arisa thought nastily. Outside, Ever would be able to bask in the men’s attention, whose gazes would all be glued to her niece’s pert breasts and swaying hips.
It was not fair, Arisa thought bitterly, that she had been once just like Ever – and now she was like this.
She saw Ever staring at her, and Arisa burst out, “You think I’m nothing but an old, disgusting, fat bitch, don’t you?”
Ever blinked at the sudden vicious change in Arisa’s words. “Aunt—-”
“Even after all these years,” Arisa snarled, “you only see me as someone paying for the bills and nothing else.” Her voice turned into a shriek. “Don’t think I’m not aware you’d like me to die!”
Ever shook her head, horrified at her aunt’s insinuation. “I would never—-”
“If you think you’re getting a penny out of me on my death, you’re wrong!” Arisa laughed wildly. “When I die, all my wealth will go to Pastor Nolan’s church, just as it should be. The nerve of you, to think you could inherit my fortune even when you still owe me money—-”
Ever’s temper began to strain, which was rare since poverty tended to effectively beat pride out of one’s system.
“You’re just like your worthless mother, scheming to get money you haven’t worked hard—-”
Ever’s temper snapped. “Don’t talk about my mother like that!”
Rage turned Arisa’s cheeks a deep shade of red. “How dare you raise your voice at me?”
Her aunt raised her hand, and the next thing Ever knew, a stinging slap landed on her face, the blow forceful enough to turn her head to the side.
Arisa clenched her fist, telling herself that she had done what was right. She had disciplined her niece, which was her duty. To spare the rod was to spoil the child, she told herself determinedly. The Bible was on her side on this.
When Ever raised eyes filled with pained shock to her aunt, Arisa pushed the guilt away and snapped, “You deserve that for showing such disrespect. You came to me when you were seventeen. Don’t you forget about that, you ungrateful brat. You came to me and asked for my help to pay for your father’s coffin—-”
“He was your brother,” Ever cried out.
“He ceased being my brother,” Arisa said harshly, “the moment he chose that woman over his own flesh and blood.” Even now, she could vividly remember the humiliating silence as the town’s wealthiest family turned its back on Arisa and her parents, the consequence of her brother jilting his affianced bride in favor of a lowly woman from the wrong side of the tracks.
She stared at Ever, the offspring born of that unwanted union, and felt hatred so deep she found herself screaming, “Get out!” When Ever didn’t move, Arisa grabbed the teapot on the bedside table and threw it at her.
“Aunt!”
The pot crashed against the side of Ever’s head, and burning hot liquid spilled over the side of her face.
Horror washed over Arisa, but still she screamed, “Get out! Get out!”
She watched Ever whirl around and run away, and a devastating sense of fear seized her for one moment.
If Ever truly did leave—-
She would be alone.
No one would care enough to look after her like Ever did.
She would die alone—-
Arisa blindly reached for the phone. The pastor came to the line a few rings after, and she said desperately, “Pastor, I need your help. It’s Ever, she’s become unruly and I don’t know what to do.”
Thoughts of the future loomed ahead of her, one where Arisa would die alone, and she began to cry.
“You have come to the right place, my child.” As the pastor spoke, he leaned against his seat and closed his eyes.
Ever.
He had his eye on her for a while, but he had also forced himself to tread carefully around the girl since Arisa was also one of the church’s most generous benefactors.