After Ellie loses both her parents years apart, her stepmother, Janice, takes her over, dictating her entire life and forcing her to live in the shadow of her stepbrothers. But when her Aunt Jody reveals a secret, Ellie has no choice but to act.
After losing my mother at the age of three, my father became the main person in my life. Everything in my world revolved around him, as I had no grandparents on either my mother’s or father’s side.
We still had my father’s sister, Aunt Jody, but she had immigrated long ago and lived halfway around the world.
So I only knew my father.
Man carrying his daughter and looking at the water | Source: Unsplash
But when I started school, my father brought Janice home with her two sons, my future stepmother, and my stepbrothers.
At first, everything was fine. Janice treated me well, brushing my hair every night until it was smooth and shiny. She even wanted me to attend her wedding to Dad.
“Oh, Ellie,” she would say, refusing to call me Eleanor, “You must be my flower girl! Jackson and Avery will be the ring bearers, but you, sweetie, I need you to be my flower girl.”
While Janice and my dad were planning their wedding, Janice got me involved. She showed me the color palette she wanted, the flowers she liked, and took the boys and me to taste the wedding cake.
Little girl dressed as a flower girl | Source: Unsplash
“I like peanut butter cake,” Avery said, wiping the frosting off my dress.
“And you, what do you like, Ellie?” asked Janice.
“Chocolate,” I replied, loving the attention she was giving me.
As much as I was afraid of sharing my father with our new blended family, I was grateful that Janice wasn’t the evil stepmother I’d feared she would be. Yet, at the end of the day, I missed my mother.
But then, just after my sixteenth birthday party, my father started complaining of chest pains.
“Oh, Ellie,” he said one day as we walked through a supermarket, taking every item on Janice’s shopping list.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, watching him clutch his chest.
“It’ll be fine, Ellie,” he reassured me when we got home. “I’ve just been overdoing it lately.”
Supermarket aisle | Source: Unsplash
A few weeks later, my father died at home. He had a heart condition that only became apparent that day at the supermarket. But my father refused to go to the doctor.
That’s when everything changed for Janice, and she became the tyrannical, evil stepmother I’d spent years worrying about.
“No, Eleanor,” she said one morning while making breakfast for Jackson and Avery, “I’ve decided Jackson needs your room. It’s much bigger, and he needs space for his gym equipment. Your father left behind a lot of money, so I’m going to use it for the boys’ rooms.”
I couldn’t argue. Even though I tried to fight for myself, Janice never let me speak. She kept telling me to be grateful she kept me home. Some days were quiet, others were noisy and full of confrontations.
Breakfast on a table | Source: Pexels
For two years, I let Janice dictate my life. She changed the entire house, adapting everything to her taste—there were few memories of life with my father.
“Janice,” I asked one morning, “where is the living room clock?”
I loved this clock. It terrified me when I was younger, but my dad told me it had been passed down through the generations.
“When it rings,” he said, “you must remember your family.”
And then one day there was nothing left.
“I sold it,” Janice said, sipping her coffee. “It didn’t match the rest of the decor. Now go. Isn’t this your last day of school?”
When I arrived at school, I felt like a part of me was missing. I had felt the same way when my parents died, but I didn’t expect to feel the same way about a clock.
Clock placed on a surface | Source: Unsplash
I’m thinking of you , I texted Aunt Jody. Janice is taking care of everything. I’ll have to find a job soon.
I didn’t expect her to respond, given the time difference.
But just as the bell rang, marking the end of the day, Aunt Jody called me.
“Are you alone?” she asked me before greeting me.
“Yes, I’m still in school,” I replied.
“I read your message. You need to leave before they realize you know the truth,” she told me.
“What are you talking about?”
“They hid the truth from you. But your father left you everything, Ellie. I’m shocked. The inheritance is rightfully yours. Janice hid it from you because she wants everything.”
The revelation hit me like a ton of bricks. All these years, under the same roof as Janice and her sons, I was my father’s rightful heir, unaware and wronged.
Person using a smartphone | Source: Pexels
“How could she do that?” I wondered, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Don’t worry,” Aunt Jody said. “I’ll talk to our lawyer. I’ll take care of it and tie up the estate so you’re the only one who has access to it.”
I nodded, knowing full well she couldn’t see me.
“Leave the house tonight,” she said. “My lawyer will work quickly, and Janice will know soon. I need to know you left the house safely. I’ll book you a ticket as soon as possible.”
I promised I would. I planned to go home, pack my things, and leave for my friend Mariah’s house as soon as possible.
Just before leaving my childhood home, I went into the kitchen and wrote a note to my stepmother and stepbrothers, not out of spite, but as a statement of strength—especially for what was to come.
Person writing a note | Source: Pexels
The inheritance you hid from me, that you used to gain power over me, is rightfully mine. Consider this my final farewell. I am leaving to reclaim what is mine, with or without your consent.
I left the note on the kitchen table, a symbol of my departure and the first step toward reclaiming the life my father wanted for me.
I don’t know what will happen to Janice, but if Aunt Jody helps me, I’m sure Janice will leave my house soon. For now, I’ll stay with Mariah and wait for the next step.
Young woman rolling a suitcase | Source: Pexels
What would you do in my place?
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