Chapter11

The words echoed in my head like it was a dream. "NOOOO!!" Aunt Christina screamed. I stepped back, my heart threatening to burst out my chest. I became dizzy. The room and the floor seemed to be moving. I looked at Sawyer and her mother screaming at the top of their lungs, both begging uncle Ken to wake up. I turned to Heather. She had fainted. It all seemed unreal. Voices echoed in my head continuously. Headache and dizziness took over. I stared at the mourning. I'd gone pale and had suddenly stopped breathing. The next thing I felt was the cold hard floor. *** Uncle Kenneth had died. Just like that. Leaving me, Heather and Sawyer alone. Another burial. In just a year. I hadn't even recovered from my father's death. Yet, there I was. I'd cried more than ever and this time along with Heather and Sawyer. The whole ranch was down. Now I was totally alone. Uncle Ken was buried too. In the same month as my dad a year ago. I didn't know what to think anymore. And all this was just the beginning. *** At the end of that year, I was only twelve and a half. Aunt Christina had succeeded in making the girls feel better after their dad's death. I had noticed the fact that she had only mourned her husband for a week and a half, and had passed over it. Like my dad had said the night before he disappeared, she didn't love him. She didn't love anyone. I'd refused to get over it. It was too hard. - One fateful day, dad's lawyer came over again. And to my disappointment, I was obliged to sign over the care of my dad's property to aunt Christina. Luckily she had no right to use the money from my dad's bank accounts that were meant for me. Or anything else. She just had to keep them. She was more than satisfied with the responsibility though. That was the start of my agony. ~~ Two days after the lawyer's visit, I was in the living room watching TV around 8PM with the girls when aunt Christina came in. "Sheridan?" "Yes, aunt Christina?" "Go pack your stuff from that room. You're not sleeping there tonight." I looked at her confused. "W– where then?" "In your new room. The stable." My mouth dropped open. Even the girls looked at their mother in wonder. "The stable??" "Didn't you hear me the first time? Yes, the stable." "But aunty that's– that's where the horses sleep." "So?" I couldn't believe my ears. "Things are really gonna change here, Sheridan." she said with a wicked smirk and came over to sit by me. "There are new rules." I gulped. "Since you have no where to go to and nobody else to stay with, you're gonna have to pay to stay here. And since you can't touch your money yet, you're gonna have to work." The girls were as shocked as me. Heather tried to speak but her mother angrily drove them to bed. "To work?" "Yes, Sheridan. This is what will happen from tomorrow, you'll always sleep in the stable, you'll be in charge of cleaning this house. I want the floor scrubbed tomorrow and the dishes washed. Everything must be shiny. The baths, the rooms and every other thing I haven't mentioned. You're now a houseboy here. Understood?" I felt tears well up my eyes. I'd never seen someone as wicked as aunt Christina. "I'll take those crocodile tears as  a yes." she brutally grabbed me by the collar and pulled me up the stairs to where my things and that of my dad were. She watched me pack my stuff slowly, tears continuously flowing down my cheeks. "You know what?" she started, "Take only two pairs of trousers, a short and four t-shirts." I looked at her confused. "W– why?" "That's all you'll be needing you idiot. I'll just take your remaining clothes and that of your dad as a part of your payments. "W– what?!" "Yes. You have the right to take only one thing belonging to your father. Make a choice quickly." she ordered. I cried and cried. Was this really happening? Where was my dad? Where was uncle Ken? I had no one to save me. I opened my dad's bag and took out a picture frame of the the both of us. "Aaaaaw, how pathetic." she laughed, "Nonsense. Now get yourself downstairs" "W– won't I take my books?" "Books? You must be kidding. Houseboys don't go to school." she grabbed me roughly by the ear. "Ow!" "Shut up!" She pulled me down and out of the house to the stable where horses stayed. "No horse stays in this one. This will be your room." she laughed and pushed me into the cabin. "Sleep tight. But don't forget you have a lot of work tomorrow." I watched her walk away, heartless. That night I cried and cried in the hay and midst of animals. I'd turned into a servant in that house. Weeks passed by and things got worse. Aunt Christina had fired all the employees that uncle Ken had employed and replaced them with people that were loyal to her. All the former employees I could depend on that were my friends were fired. Aunt Christina would starve me and beat me up often. I was dirty, pale and hungry. I looked more like a slave than anything else. Nobody wanted to touch me, approach me or even speak to me. The new employees tossed me around as much as they wanted to. I'd gone from the little boy with a satisfying lifestyle to the dirty ranch boy. I didn't even have the right to see Heather. I hardly did. I was always outside working. And whenever I cleaned the house, she was always at school. *** One day, I was starving in the stable and I began sobbing to myself. I prayed to God to help me. I prayed for my dad or uncle Ken to help me. I was hopeless.