As she walks slowly towards the door of the kitchen, she can’t help but feel uneasy. Her mind tells her something different from what her heart is telling her. She stops for a moment to calm herself, the beat of her heart can be heard a mile away. She can’t quieten her hard thoughts.

“Where are you going?” a voice says, chasing her down. As she turns around she can see her stepmother’s furious face. She comes close to her and wraps her finger around her arm.

“You are hurting me, stop it,” she says.

“You think you can do as you please now that you turned eighteen?” her voice sounds cold and empty. “I have been looking after you since the day your father left me and this how you want to thank me?” her gaze could burn a hole in her body.

“I didn’t mean to leave you,” she says, with a cracking voice. “I couldn’t stay with you anymore. I’m suffering, I need to find myself!” she says, feeling her lungs burn.

Her stepmother can’t believe the words coming out of her mouth, her anger subsides in seconds, and she can see tears starting to gather in her eyes as her tears roll down her cheeks. A warm touch overwhelms her body.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you were unhappy staying here?” she asks.

She rests for a while before she continues, “I wished I had the courage that you have when I was your age. I was also left with my stepmother and I couldn’t take it to be there anymore. I wanted to be free but instead I stayed quiet to satisfy her because of the pain my father had caused to her by leaving her, the same way your dad left me.”

“I got bitter and hard towards you and I punished you for what your father did to me.”
That young, fragile and empty girl in her eyes can now be easily seen. She gets close to her for a warm embrace.

“You can leave my child I know how you feel, you can leave.” Her voice sounds at peace and that allows her to leave in harmony.

Tell us: What do you think of the stepmother?