Poison ➸ cth

o n e

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"Iris!" The shouts came from downstairs. I sighed, wishing I could just drown myself in my studies. Unfortunately, I couldn't. Not with my stepmom around. She couldn't even get my name right. Or maybe she could, but she just chose not to. "Iris Mills, you get your little ass down here right now!"

I grunted, reluctantly pushing myself off of my bed. I would give anything to not have the same last name as her, but there was no way in hell she was letting me change it. Plus, it was still my father's name, and that's the one piece of him I was allowed to keep. I was never able to go visit him in prison because I had to 'keep up the charade.' I hated it. He never did anything to me.

"Yes, mother bitch?" Which is what I wanted to say. I didn't, though, of course. I didn't want to get my head chopped off. Instead I answered her they way she wanted me to. "Yes, Regina?" She didn't let me call her mom or mother, and I didn't want to.

"Ugh, finally! What took you so long? Doing something you're not supposed to?" I mentally rolled my eyes. Yet another action that would get me in a whole lot of trouble. "No, ma'am. I was studying."

"Yeah, of course you were." She sneered. She never believed a word I said if it had anything to do with actually behaving. She always thought I was sneaking around, doing things I wasn't supposed to. No matter what I did or said, that was always the case.

"Did you need something?" I asked her, considering she was too busy mocking me to enlighten me on why she called me downstairs.

"I just wanted to let you know that I was unexpectedly called me out to work tonight. I was going to get the shopping done, but seeing as I will not be home, you and Ryan will go." I wasn't surprised she wanted me to go shopping, but I had never been without her. She didn't trust me enough to let me go alone or go with someone else.

"Ry-er, Mr. Bennett is coming tonight?" I asked, expecting her other goon instead.

"Well, that's what I just said, isn't it?" She replied, annoyed. She gathered up all of her things and clicked her way to the door. "I'm leaving immediately, and Ryan wont be here for another ten minutes so don't go doing anything stupid, little miss." Then she was gone. I probably stared at the door in shock for about five minutes. First, she was letting me go to the store without her, and now she was leaving me alone for ten minutes? Strange.

Another five minutes gone, and a car was pulling up in the driveway. I waited until he was in the house and had shut the door before walking up to him and wrapping my arms around him in a tight embrace. He chuckled. "Hey, kiddo." He placed one arm on my back and one on the back of my head.

I looked up at him and smiled. "Hey, Ryan." This picture seems odd, right? Why would one of my step-mother's lackeys be hugging me and being sweet to me? That's because Ryan was my dad's best friend. He knew how horrible Regina was and that my dad was innocent. As much as he hated working for her, he knew it was the only way to stay close to me and protect me.

He had to keep up his own charade. Waiting until we were sealed off from the outside world to actually be enjoyable, pretending to be a horrible person when he was around Regina, acting like he despised me. He did all of that just so I had someone in my life that actually cared for me.

"Regina actually left you alone for a little while?" He asked, glancing around the empty house.

"Yeah, I know, it's weird. Did she tell you that we were doing the shopping while she was working tonight?"

"She did. I don't know what's going on with her. Maybe she's getting laid or something, and that's why she's acting happier than usual." Yeah, that's happy for Regina. I laughed at his suggestion, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"Yeah, you're right. No one wants to sleep with that old bat." It's true, she had aged a great deal since my father's imprisonment. She tried dozens of methods to stay looking young, but she still looked twenty years older than she actually was. But, being the perfect little slaves we were, we had to tell her she looked gorgeous and youthful.

"So, what does little Eira want to do first?" He asked, and I giggled. I had always been pretty small so he always called me 'little Eira.' He was, in a way, the father I never had. At least for the past twelve years of my life. "Well, I'm getting kind of hungry I guess."

"Great! I have the perfect idea." He grabbed my arm and pulled me upstairs to my room. "Get dressed. I have a surprised that I know you're going to love."
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