Sister Dearest By Mandy

Approx. 20 years ago

"Gabriella, come in quickly!" Momma whispered to me through the door. I scurried in. From the way she had been whispereing, I knew that he was here.

"Gabriella, I told you not to go outside. You father told you to stay in." She scolded me gently, brushing the dirt off my dusty dress.

"But, Momma, Alexa was out playing and she asked if I wanted to. I couldn't tell her no!" She never understood how important it was to me to have real friends. I was her only friend.

"Si, hija, just do not let your father find out. He doesn't like you to play with those children. Have you finished your schoolwork?" I always finished my schoolwork, but she always asked anyway. She hurried me into a seat as my father approached.

"Marguarita! Where is my dinner?" You couls hear Daddy yelling a mile away. Our neighbors said so.

"On the table, Lorenzo. Just the way you like it." Daddy sat down across from me. I didn't like the way he stared, but he did it anyway.

"Why hasn't she been fed already. You know I don't like that little alborotador at my table!" Daddy was always calling me a troublemaker.

"Perdón, perdón. She was finishing her schoolwork. I did not want to interupt her." Momma always tried to defend me to Daddy. It usually only makes him mad at her, but I know she tries.

"Next time I want her fed sooner so I don't have to look at her." I started to eat the meal Momma had put in front of me. I ate really fast so I wouldn't have to listen to Daddy yell. He always yells about his day at work. He really hates his job. As soon as I was finished with all of my food, I stood up and washed off my plate.

"Where do you think your'e going?" Daddy shouted at me. He was so loud it hurt my ears."Aren't you going to ask to be excused?"

"May I be excused?" I said quietly. Since Daddy likes to be so loud, he likes me to be very quiet.

"Get out of here." I could hear him talking to Momma as I left."Teach that kid some manners, Marguarita. You should have already done it. I'll bet Elaine's kid has manners! She knew how to be a mother." I hate it when Daddy talks about my sister. Sometimes I hate her, but most of the time I just wish I were her. Daddy says she's perfect. She's smart, and pretty, and nice, and everything I'm not. She even has a better mother than I do, but I like my Momma anyway. And she doesn't have to live with Daddy.

I run to my room as fast as I can, but I know I won't be able to get away from Daddy. He always finds me. I know when he's done with dinner, when Momma goes to bed, he'll come to my room for me, just like he does every night. I don't think she knows what he does, but he told me that if I tell her, or anyone, that he'll really make me pay. It only gets worse if I try to hide, or pretend I'm asleep. Once I ran away, only to my friend Alexa's house, but he still found me. He really made me pay that time. I had to tell my teacher, Ms. Conzez, that the bruises on my arms and legs were because I fell a lot, Daddy is always saying how clumsy I am, but she didn't belive me. She called Daddy at his work. He was even madder that night. The next week he even got me taken out of Ms. Conzez's class. But that was okay. I got put into Alexa's class, so I have more fun there anyway. I do miss Ms. Conzez, though. She was real nice to me. Oh no. I can here Momma in her bedroom. That means Daddy'll be coming soon. Sure enough, a few minutes later, I heard his footsteps. Curling up on my bed, I started to cry. I wiped my eyes real fast, though. Daddy hates it when I cry. He calls me a crybaby, a wimp. He says I should be brave like my sister. I bet Paula never cries.

"Where are you?" My room was dark and he couldn't see me yet. Then he turned on th light and I had to sit up."Come on girl, you know what to do."Tears still in my eyes, I pulled off my pajama top. I'd been doing this for years. After that long, I did know what to do.

Approx. 10 years later

"Gabi, whats wrong?" Ronny Waruez asked me. We were out on a date,at the local movie theater. It was a drive in, so we were very isolated, too isolated. I was so uncomfortable being alone with him. Ronny was was first boyfriend, so I don't quite know what he expectes of me sometimes, but I did know that he was going to far. He leaned over to kiss me again, and I backed away, pushing him against the car door.

"Just stop, Ronny, I don't want to." This was too awkward. I really don't want to mess this up. It's hard enough for me to make friends beause of Daddy.....but I promised myself that I wouldn't think of him tonight.

"Look, Gabi, I asked you out because I thought you liked me. Now you're acting like I have some contagious disease or something. Whats up?" Everything had been going perfect until he had tried to kiss me. When he did that, I just went rigid, and he noticed.I had hoped he wouldn't.

"Nothing's wrong." I managed a small, tight smile. "Good." He put his arm around my shoulder, and put his face near mine. Reacting on auto-pilot, I jerked away again.

"I'm sorry." Tears welled up in my eyes. Why am I doing this? I'd had been out with Ronny before, and I had been fine. But tonight when he tried to kiss me, I just burst into tears."I'm going to go home."

I clumsily opened the door, fumbling with the rusty lock. I know that Ronny had to be confused. I was confused.

After a very long walk home, when I jumped out of the car, I had forgotten that it was a 7 mile walk to my house, I had managed to dry my tears. Standing outside my small house,I realized that I really didn't want to go inside. I didn't want to see Daddy, and I didn't want to have to answer his questions. He always interrogates me about my dates. He didn't even wanted me going out with anyone in the first place. I figured it was some kind of sick jealousy. Whatever it was, I hated it with a passion. Walking trepidly up the rickety steps, I peeked through the window and saw that there were no lights on in the house. They must have gone for dinner, I reasoned. I knew that the lock on the door was broken and simply shook it to open it. It creaked open and I let myself inside. It wasn't often that I was left alone in the house, and I quickly figured out how to use this to my advantage. Heart pounding from fright, as if Daddy would come bursting out of the closet at any second, I pushed open the door to the room he and Momma shared. I had dreamt of going through my fathers thing or years. I desparetly wanted to find out about my sister. All I had eve heard of her, besides how perfect she was, was her name. I didn't even know her last name.

After thoroughly and methodically going through Daddy's closet, dresser, and even the boxs under the bed, I had found absolutely nothing aknowledging her existance. In a last effort attempt, I opened the wooden chest Momma kept at the end of the bed. Much to my surprise, laying on top was a picture. Actually, it wasn't the picture, but the words on the back of it that surprised me. It was a photo of a young girl, barely 5 or 6. The caption read "Paula Stevens, 6 years. Sunset Beach, CA."

"Sunset Beach." I murmered to myself. I knew where my sister was, or at least where she had been. That was a start. It was a start I planned on using. I was going to go to California, and I was going to find Paula Stevens.

Approx. 2 years later

My 18th birthday had finally arrived. I had been waiting for the day that I could leave behind this small town, all the bad memories, and especially my father. I would leave them behind forever. I was now able to move on, and that was what I was planning on doing. Behind Daddy's back, I had been saving money for years, and lately I had been looking into studio apartments in the city, but I wasn;t sure that was what I was going to do. Now I was thinking about just buying a car and driving straight to Sunset Beach.

A few weeks later

I decided what I was going to do. I will buy a car instead if an appartment, but I'm not going straight to California. For Momma's sake, I applied to a few colleges, and one in L.A. accepted me with a 2 year scholarship. I'll go there for a couple of years, and earn some more money. I have about 2 thousand now, and I know that won't last forever. I can even get a bit of an education while I'm doing it. And most of all, I'll have time to think about exactly what I'm going to do to Paula. I'm going to have the most perfect plan to ruin her. I just know it.

Approx. 4 years later

I can hardly believe it. After putting the confrontation off for years, I am finally in Sunset Beach, California. It will all start in a matter of days. I'm so nervous, I can hardly believe it. But I'm also determined to make this work. Someone has to pay for what Daddy did to me, annd I know it's all her fault. If she had been there, it wouldn't have happened. So I'm going to see to it that Paula Stevens gets what she deserves. She is going to hurt just as much as I did. After all, sisters are supposed to share right?

A few days later

I found Paula yesterday. A nice woman at the local newspaper told me all about her. She works at the police station. A detective, I guess. Her mother and brother live here, too. There was one thing that really made me take notice, though. She has a hunky boyfriend, another detective, her partner, and he 's going to be how I get to Paula. I'm not stupid, I know that I have good looks, and he is just a man. He won't be able to resist the temptation. Hell, not even a preist would be that resiliant.

There she is now, coming out of the police station. Here goes nothing.

"Hi, I'm Gabi...."

THE END

All of the stuff about gabi's childhood comes from my imagination. little or none of it is fact.