My father went quiet again. I wanted to see what else they could prove that they loved me as their daughter. The endless silence was the best answer.
These people knew what kind of life I had lived these years. No matter how their arguments were, it was useless. They always said that Olivia had poor health. However, her annual physical examination showed that she was in good health while I had long-term anemia and poor digestion.
In the end, my parents were just making excuses for their failure. Since I returned to this family, my parents had thrown my sister to me to be taken care of. Ever since she was a child, Olivia had a bad temper and liked to find my fault. Not only that, she would also beat and kick me.
If I defended myself even a little bit, my parents would beat and scold me severely. But if I didn’t defend myself, Olivia would make lies. It had always been like that. Not giving me food, locking me up in a small dark room and being punished to stand or kneel on the balcony on snowy days were all my daily routine.
Once I had a high fever and cried and begged them not to punish me. My father said I was pretending to be sick as he grabbed my hair and threw me out the door. That night, I almost froze to death outside.
When they needed me to go to a gathering with relatives and friends, they would put on beautiful clothes for me and gently say that those punishments were just them trying to give me lessons. They would threaten to leave me if I told anyone about their mistreatment of me.
As soon as I got home, they urged me to take off the beautiful clothes because they rented them and had to return them to the owner. At that time, I always envied my sister for living a princess-like life with the best food, clothing, housing, transportation and travel. I even fantasized that my parents would see my goodness one day and give me a little love.
Day after day, year after year then passed. My fantasy was replaced by disappointment bit by bit. Until even the disappointment was enough, but it eventually turned into despair.
At this point, Olivia suddenly stopped throwing tantrums as she walked towards me step by step.
“Anastasia, Dad didn’t mean it. Please just forgive him. Does the wound still hurt? Do you want me to help you deal with it?”