Prompt #1 - Who Are You?
My name is Audrina Adare. And if you think you've had a hard life, you obviously don't know mine.
I was born and raised in a house called Whitefern with my father, my mother, Aunt Ellsbeth, and cousin Vera. But there was another in the house – the ghost of my older sister who I bear the curse of sharing the same name and birthday as. She was raped and killed on her birthday, and my parents have been devastated over it ever since. Papa wanted me to be just like her, so he could reclaim the glory of once having the greatest daughter in the world. He said that I could be like her, that I could catch her so-called "gifts". He locked me in her old room and forced me to sit in her rocking chair and sing the same one she used to sing, over and over. He wouldn't let me out until I finally did.
For reasons I didn't understand, I'd always had a faulty memory and no sense of time. Though it didn't help that there were no working clocks or even a calendar in the house. But on every Tuesday mama and Aunt Ellsbeth had tea, where they'd sit on the sofas and insult each other through some portrait on the wall. I later realized it was their way of sending their hated to each other without any guilt. Aunt Ellsbeth was jealous of my mother, mama was beautiful and was the best piano player ever. She'd be right there playing it when they'd host parties. I could see why she was jealous. After all, mama had the best daughter in the world, a loving husband, and me (the other daughter), and Aunt Ellsbeth only had Vera.
Vera never liked me, though I was never sure why. I always tried to be friends with her, but she only pushed me away. I was jealous of Vera, she got to leave the house and have friends and go to school while I was trapped in Whitefern under the watchful eyes of my father. I didn’t want to be completely like her, though, since she was extremely perverted and I wanted nothing to do with that sort of thing. But I did long for her friendship, I wanted it so bad. I needed just one friend, and then I knew I could be happy.
When I grew older, and papa stopped watching over me like a hawk, I began to go outside more and see the world beyond the windows of Whitefern. I soon found that there was a little cottage right near the house, and that was where I met Arden Lowe. Not only did he go to school (with Vera, I soon learned), but he also worked hard to support he and his mother because his mother couldn't work.
Arden and I became closer and closer as the months went on. He encouraged me to stand up to papa and soon I was enrolled in a school and taking piano lessons. I was never happier.
Mama soon became pregnant, but unfortunately she died in childbirth. Though it put me in a depression, I was excited at the prospect of having a sibling, one that wouldn't judge me or pick on me. Someone that I could love. But I didn't see her until many ears later, and when I finally got that chance, I knew there was something wrong with her. She couldn't speak or even focus her eyes. It was some sort of disability I couldn't understand. But I loved her anyway, and I was the one that took care of her.
Mama's death crushed my father. Every time I'd see him, he was like a ghost just passing by. He never smiled or laughed anymore, and he detested Sylvia, the child who killed his beloved wife. I soon realized that he and Aunt Ellsbeth were pursuing a relationship together. And even worse, I learned that Vera wasn't my cousin, but my half-sister.
Speaking of the devil, Vera came back from her affair with my piano teacher right about the time that I married Arden. She must have had feelings for him as well, because I could see the hatred in her eyes every time we crossed paths. Tragedy struck around that time too, when Aunt Ellsbeth was pushed down the stairs and killed. Not too far after that Arden's mother, who papa had invited to live with us at Whitefern, was also pushed down the stairs and killed.
I was also pushed but didn’t die. The fall only put me in a coma. In the coma I could hear everything that was going on around me, but no one knew I was internally awake. I heard Arden and Vera talking about me, she was hoping he'd let me die so they could run off together. He didn't, but I knew that they were having an affair right in my hospital room.
I don't know how it happened (and to this day I still don't), but Sylvia was the one who brought me out of the coma after Vera tried to kill me. When I was actually awake, papa told me the life-shattering truth – that I was his first Audrina.
I was the one who was raped, but I wasn't killed. Instead I fell into a deep shock, not wanting to do anything with my life anymore. Papa said that he put me into shock therapy to erase all of my memories. It obviously worked, but the price was too unbearable for him. I didn't believe it, I didn't anything he had to say anymore. I couldn't believe that it had happened to me, and that Arden saw it all but never said a word about it. I then learned that it was Vera who'd set me up to be raped.
After Vera's death (incidentally, she too had fallen on the stairs, though a dark part of me believes it might have been Sylvia), I had had too much. I needed to leave the house with all the lies and deception. I got into my car and I was ready to leave this place behind, when I saw the looks of sadness in papa's and Arden's eyes. After several moments of thought, I decided that what was past is past and we should only look to the future.