Mathilda
Mathilda was incredibly bored, holding her fragile little brother closely against her chest and sitting quietly on the sagging cushions of the old sofa, completely absorbed in watching bright, cheerful cartoons.
Her father hadn't come home for dinner tonight; recently, she didn't know exactly what dangerous, illicit things he was busy with, but he often stayed out all night, leaving them completely alone.
Although Mathilda wasn't very old, just a twelve-year-old girl forced to grow up entirely too fast, she knew perfectly well that her father definitely wasn't a good person.
She knew this undeniable fact because he was an active, violent gang member and had a heavily documented criminal record of being imprisoned for severe drug use and distribution.
But her biological mother had tragically passed away far too early, and her distant maternal grandparents simply didn't care for the struggling father and daughter either, abandoning them to the unforgiving streets.
So, even though her father was quite a massive, irredeemable jerk who rarely showed her any genuine affection, she was permanently stuck in this miserable situation.
And not long after Mathilda's beloved mother had passed away, he had hastily remarried a woman with an incredibly questionable, promiscuous private life named Maggie.
Furthermore, that vain woman not only gave her father another young son, completely shifting his remaining attention.
But she also brought her own biological daughter, Liv, who was several years older than Mathilda, to aggressively live with them in the cramped apartment after the marriage.
Mathilda still couldn't successfully resist or refuse any of this toxic domestic arrangement, entirely because she was only twelve years old right now.
She simply didn't even have the basic, financial ability to support herself, let alone safely escape this terrifying, abusive family and live independently in a sprawling city like Los Angeles.
Fortunately, her daily life wasn't just about pure, unfiltered suffering.
At the very least, her innocent half-brother wasn't nearly as hateful or cruel as her vain stepmother or the entitled stepsister who shared absolutely no blood relation with Mathilda.
He was incredibly sweet, well-behaved, and always clung tightly to Mathilda for safety and comfort.
If there was absolutely anything she truly cherished and couldn't bear to leave behind in this terrible, suffocating family environment.
It was only her sweet little brother!
Her father hadn't come back tonight, and her stepmother, Maggie, had stormed out angrily into the dark night earlier in the evening.
She had been mysteriously gone for over two full hours and still hadn't returned to the apartment.
Mathilda wasn't worried about her stepmother's safety in the slightest; instead, she was genuinely, profoundly happy she had been gone for so long, enjoying the rare peace and quiet.
She enthusiastically took the perfect opportunity to watch bright cartoons with her younger brother for a while longer.
She was happily holding her sleepy brother, deeply enjoying this incredibly rare, fragile moment of absolute happiness and peace together in the glowing light of the television.
Suddenly, a flamboyant, aggressively shrill young woman's voice violently rang out through the quiet room.
It instantly and forcibly dragged Mathilda right out of her rare, comfortable moment of joy.
"Mathilda, it's time for you to go rest," the voice demanded, dripping with unwarranted authority.
She didn't even need to turn her head around to know exactly who the arrogant owner of that grating voice was.
It was none other than Mathilda's older stepsister, Liv—the entitled daughter born completely out of wedlock to her notoriously promiscuous stepmother long before she ever married Mathilda's father.
Mathilda always felt a deep, cynical suspicion that perhaps even her stepmother, Maggie, didn't actually know exactly who her eldest daughter's biological father really was.
However, looking at Liv's distinct physical traits, there were two specific things Mathilda was absolutely certain of.
That was the undeniable fact that Liv's unknown biological father must have been incredibly unattractive, and perhaps even quite a bit fat.
Otherwise, with Maggie's undeniable, natural blonde beauty and striking features.
It would be genetically impossible to give birth to such a plump, visually unfortunate, and deeply unpleasant daughter!
"Maggie clearly said we could watch the television until she gets back!" Mathilda shot back defiantly, her voice tight with suppressed irritation.
Mathilda stubbornly held her brother a little tighter, refusing to turn around, keeping her dark eyes fiercely focused on the bright cartoons.
Liv seemed to have aggressively gotten herself a brand new boyfriend recently, and the two of them were currently in the absolute, sickening heat of their fresh passion.
Before Maggie had mysteriously gone out into the night earlier, Liv had been sequestered in her bedroom, endlessly giggling on the phone with her new boyfriend.
The two of them had been talking continuously for hours, right up until just now when they finally finished their sickeningly sweet conversation.
Otherwise, Mathilda knew Liv's selfish, overbearing personality all too well.
If she had finished the long, drawn-out call with her new boyfriend any earlier.
She would have definitely come strutting out into the living room long ago to aggressively drive Mathilda and her little brother away, just to selfishly hog the TV to watch her trashy late-night dramas.
In all brutal honesty, Liv wasn't actually completely, irredeemably ugly; after all, Maggie's underlying genetic traits were simply too good to be completely erased.
It was just that she looked much, much more plump and heavily built than any of the other normal teenagers her exact age.
Coupled perfectly with her deeply toxic, entitled personality, she was something Mathilda fiercely disliked, so the two of them inevitably got into vicious arguments.
Click!
The cheerful TV program instantly vanished, and immediately, several wild hippies appeared on the screen accompanied by the sudden, deafening sound of blaring heavy metal music.
Mathilda spun around in absolute, unfiltered anger and saw her older sister, Liv, standing not far behind her in tight pajamas, triumphantly holding the remote control.
Seeing Mathilda fiercely glaring at her in anger, Liv stood tall, looking exactly like a smug, victorious hen.
"Now, immediately, go to sleep," Liv spat, her eyes narrowing maliciously.
She issued the harsh command to Mathilda condescendingly, entirely enjoying her pathetic sliver of power!
Just as Mathilda's jaw clenched tightly, and she was about to explode and violently argue with her.
She suddenly heard her fragile little brother in her arms whisper softly to her, "Sister, I'm sleepy."
Looking down at her little brother's heavy, sleepy eyes and his incredibly sweet, well-behaved manner.
Mathilda realized she had absolutely no choice but to completely suppress the boiling anger raging in her heart, settling for giving Liv one last, venomous glare.
Then, with absolute care, she gently picked up her little brother to take him down the hall to bed.
Seeing this silent, forced retreat, a wildly smug, arrogant winner's smile immediately appeared on Liv's round face.
The more Mathilda looked at that infuriating smirk, the angrier her racing heart got.
Knowing full well that with her small frame she was absolutely no physical match for the heavy, sixteen-year-old Liv.
She still suddenly whipped her hand out and gave Liv's fleshy buttocks—the exact physical part Liv was notoriously most insecure about—an incredibly hard, stinging slap as she walked past her.
"Ah!"
The sharp sound echoed as Liv physically jolted, completely taking the painful hit, and her smug expression changed instantly into pure murderous rage.
"Mathilda, I'm going to kill you!" Liv shrieked hysterically.
Fuming with absolute, blinding fury, she violently spun around and lunged forward, desperately trying to grab Mathilda just as the younger girl was about to flee.
Seeing that things were rapidly going south and a violent physical brawl was imminent, Mathilda quickly set her sleepy brother down on his feet and urgently told him to hurry back to his room.
As a direct, chaotic result, just as the enraged Liv was violently preparing to tackle her and teach her a brutal lesson.
The sudden, heavy metallic sound of the front door's deadbolt unlocking and the door clicking open suddenly came from the dark entryway.
Then, the distinct, rhythmic sound of heavy high heels clicking unsteadily on the cheap linoleum floor quickly followed.
Maggie, who had mysteriously and silently disappeared into the dangerous Los Angeles night for nearly three full hours, was finally back home.
"Mom, Mathilda has been stubbornly watching those stupid cartoons right up until now," Liv whined loudly, her voice dripping with fake grievance.
"I politely told her to go to sleep, and she actually aggressively hit me!"
Liv was Maggie's only biological daughter, and in this fractured household, she was usually much more favored and fiercely protected by her.
Therefore, seeing her mother finally return from the dark streets.
She immediately acted entirely on her malicious, petty intent and aggressively complained first to completely control the narrative.
Mathilda knew perfectly well that her stepmother heavily favored her annoying sister Liv, but she was naturally, fiercely stubborn to her very core.
Hearing this blatant lie, she glared at Liv in absolute, burning anger and then quickly looked at Maggie, completely ready to loudly explain the real truth.
However, being an incredibly observant, street-smart girl, she immediately noticed something completely bizarre.
Maggie's usually impeccable, tight clothes were heavily, noticeably wrinkled, and her normally styled blonde hair was an absolute, tangled mess.
Mathilda didn't know exactly what on earth her stepmother had been doing out there in the dark night just now, but her beautiful face was heavily covered in a thick layer of glistening sweat.
A few damp, messy strands of her blonde, medium-length hair were firmly stuck to her moist forehead.
Coupled perfectly with her noticeably, deeply flushed red cheeks, her visible, heavy physical exhaustion, and the complete lack of structural coordination in her trembling legs as she walked.
Mathilda's sharp mind suddenly came to a very confusing, innocent conclusion: Did Maggie just go out for a massive, exhausting run?
She genuinely thought her usually glamorous stepmother looked exactly like she herself did after being forced to participate in a grueling, long-distance marathon race at school.
Although she simply couldn't logically understand why Maggie, a woman who absolutely never had a single habit of working out or exercising, would suddenly decide to go for a brutal run in the absolute middle of the dark night.
In that exact moment of absolute distraction, Mathilda actually completely forgot to fiercely defend herself against Liv's petty accusations.
"Liv, keep your shrill voice down," Maggie breathed out, her tone surprisingly soft and lacking all of its usual sharp bite.
Maggie had just gone through an absolutely unprecedented, earth-shattering physical experience.
Because she was heavily, constantly worried her dangerous, gang-affiliated husband would suddenly find out exactly what illicit activities she was doing if he returned home and didn't see her there.
She had spent the entire, intense time trapped in a wildly intoxicating mix of heavy worry and absolute, electric excitement, feeling an indescribable thrill pulse through her veins.
Moreover, during that intense time, she had finally obtained a deep, profound, long-awaited physical satisfaction.
Feeling exactly as if she had just violently discovered a brand new, glorious world, Maggie was currently in an incredibly, undeniably good mood right now.
She lazily wiped the heavy, lingering sweat from her flushed forehead with the back of her trembling hand and first gave her eldest daughter a very mild, gentle reminder to stay quiet.
Then, her hazy, satisfied eyes slowly looked over at Mathilda, the defensive daughter of her husband and his ex-wife, and her small, sleepy young son standing in the hallway.
In an absolutely great, unprecedented mood, Maggie did something incredibly rare; she reached out and affectionately, gently patted both of them on the head.
"Go to sleep, both of you," Maggie murmured softly, a dreamy, distant smile playing on her glossy lips.
"It looks exactly like your father isn't coming back here again tonight."
"So, goodnight."
After saying that bizarrely sweet, uncharacteristic farewell, she actually seemed quite incredibly weak and physically drained as she walked, staggering clumsily toward the dark sanctuary of her bedroom.
She completely left behind a bewildered, entirely speechless Mathilda and a totally stunned Liv.
The two deeply hostile sisters were left just standing there in the middle of the glowing living room, staring blankly at each other for the very first time without fighting.
They were both left quietly, deeply wondering exactly what on earth was wrong with her.