It Was Only a Dream...I Hope
A Step-father's Betrayal
It all started with the mother’s job. It started to go downhill. People were being fired left and right for stupid things that no one should get fired for, pays were getting cut, that sort of thing. Luckily for the mother, her job was not in danger; but unfortunately, her paycheck was cut slightly. Although she had a good job, a stable marriage, a wonderful daughter, and a pretty good life overall, she didn’t feel completely happy. She felt that she was sort of fat for her age and decided that she was going to get weight loss surgery. Her husband and daughter thought it would be a great idea; not that they thought that the mother was fat, they just noticed that she was unhappy and knew that this could be something that would cheer her up. Soon, the news spread to other members of the family and they all supported the mother in her decision.
The day of the surgery finally came. Everyone had felt fine, that is, until that morning. All of a sudden, the step-father and the daughter had a very bad feeling about the surgery. They tried to convince the mother to not go through with it, or at least to reschedule. The mother wouldn’t listen to them; she was too excited about her surgery. She should have listened to them because just a few short hours later, what the step-father and daughter had feared the most had come true. There had been a mix up with the anesthetic; the mother never woke up. The rest of the family was devastated.
With her mother now dead, the step-father became the daughter’s legal guardian. After a few months of grieving, he decided that they needed to move away from all of their grief. They needed to start over somewhere, clean the slate, if you will. He knew that the daughter was still incredibly upset, but he didn’t know if she was upset enough to pass up moving to a place where she’s always wanted to live. He knew exactly where they were going to move. Within three weeks, both of them were all packed up and heading for London. The step-dad was right; the daughter was still very upset, but she was not so upset that she would pass up moving to London. The fourteen hour flight took off without a hitch and they landed safely in London. They moved into a small two bedroom house on the outskirts of town. Neither of them could predict the drastic change that the step-dad was going to make.
About two months after they were all settled in: they’re stuff was unpacked, they had a new place, the daughter was enrolled in a school, and they made one or two friends, the daughter started to notice that her step-dad was changing. The sweet, kind, gentle, hardly ever gets mad step-dad that she knew was turning into a mean, bitter man who seemed to always be yelling at her. She went to school one day, only to find out that her step-dad had taken her out of the school. She didn’t know why he did that, there was no logical reason for him to do that, but he did. That same day, she came home only to find that her step-dad had thrown out almost all of her stuff. The only thing left in her room was a mattress, a comforter, and three pillows. Her step-dad started to yell at her for no explained reason; all he kept telling her was “it’s all your fault!” and he locked her in her room. That night, just as she was beginning to get into her pajamas, her step-dad came in, told her not to get ready for bed, took her by the arm, threw her out of the house, and slammed the door in her face.
Where was she to go? She didn’t know where any of her friends lived and she didn’t know anybody else in London. The only thing she could do was wander around in search of shelter. She finally found a dark alley between two houses. It was covered, should it rain, and there was a large box at the end of it. If she closed the box, it wasn’t terribly cold, but it was still cold nonetheless. She was hoping that her step-dad was just in a drunken rage and that this would be a one-time ordeal. It was too bad that her step-dad was quite sober and that this would not be the last time she slept in the box.
The day of the surgery finally came. Everyone had felt fine, that is, until that morning. All of a sudden, the step-father and the daughter had a very bad feeling about the surgery. They tried to convince the mother to not go through with it, or at least to reschedule. The mother wouldn’t listen to them; she was too excited about her surgery. She should have listened to them because just a few short hours later, what the step-father and daughter had feared the most had come true. There had been a mix up with the anesthetic; the mother never woke up. The rest of the family was devastated.
With her mother now dead, the step-father became the daughter’s legal guardian. After a few months of grieving, he decided that they needed to move away from all of their grief. They needed to start over somewhere, clean the slate, if you will. He knew that the daughter was still incredibly upset, but he didn’t know if she was upset enough to pass up moving to a place where she’s always wanted to live. He knew exactly where they were going to move. Within three weeks, both of them were all packed up and heading for London. The step-dad was right; the daughter was still very upset, but she was not so upset that she would pass up moving to London. The fourteen hour flight took off without a hitch and they landed safely in London. They moved into a small two bedroom house on the outskirts of town. Neither of them could predict the drastic change that the step-dad was going to make.
About two months after they were all settled in: they’re stuff was unpacked, they had a new place, the daughter was enrolled in a school, and they made one or two friends, the daughter started to notice that her step-dad was changing. The sweet, kind, gentle, hardly ever gets mad step-dad that she knew was turning into a mean, bitter man who seemed to always be yelling at her. She went to school one day, only to find out that her step-dad had taken her out of the school. She didn’t know why he did that, there was no logical reason for him to do that, but he did. That same day, she came home only to find that her step-dad had thrown out almost all of her stuff. The only thing left in her room was a mattress, a comforter, and three pillows. Her step-dad started to yell at her for no explained reason; all he kept telling her was “it’s all your fault!” and he locked her in her room. That night, just as she was beginning to get into her pajamas, her step-dad came in, told her not to get ready for bed, took her by the arm, threw her out of the house, and slammed the door in her face.
Where was she to go? She didn’t know where any of her friends lived and she didn’t know anybody else in London. The only thing she could do was wander around in search of shelter. She finally found a dark alley between two houses. It was covered, should it rain, and there was a large box at the end of it. If she closed the box, it wasn’t terribly cold, but it was still cold nonetheless. She was hoping that her step-dad was just in a drunken rage and that this would be a one-time ordeal. It was too bad that her step-dad was quite sober and that this would not be the last time she slept in the box.