Elyra Breaks-Laws//D12//FIN

[Sleepy Fluttershy]

Name: Elyra Breaks-Laws
Gender: female
Age: 16
District: district 12


“You bastard bitch! Where is my left shoe?”


A grumpy middle-aged man is standing in the middle of a small room and in front of him there is a thin and small red-haired girl. He slaps the child so heartily that the sound echoes in her ears and a tear appears in the corner of her enormous grey eye.

“I'm sorry... I don't know...”

The man's face darkens even more and another slap follows.

“And who is supposed to know? Me? Or the shoe itself?! You are the one who must look after my clothes in this house! Where is the shoe? What did you do to it?! Don't you look at me like this! You should be thanking me for what you have! Do I need to remind you who pays money for your food and clothes?!”

He grabs her hair and his ugly face watches the kid tremble.

“Where is my left shoe, you *****************” And another ton of really bad words follows.

That is not a really pleasant episode of my fascinating life. Yes, I am the girl. My name is Elyra. And the fierce-looking guy is my stepfather. He is not that awful, just a little bad-tempered.

I actually think he loves us in his own way. “Us” means me, my elder brother Sirius and my little sister Xenia. After our mother died, we had to live with our so-called “dad” and the scenes like the one I have just described were a part of our daily life. Beating us is sort of a daily routine for him. I don't blame him though. He only got to spend less than a year with our mom and now he is stuck with us for the rest of his life. We are not even his children and my real father wasn't married to mom, when we were born. He was making promises he wasn't going to keep for years and then just casually disappeared and came back in three months, only to tell mom he fell in love with another woman, whom he even decided to marry. Belly (his name is Billy, but we call him that because of his big belly, not because we dislike him, the nickname just suits him) was very generous to marry mom and agree to take care of three bastard kids. It is very hard for him to think about everything and the responsibility might be too much for him to handle. And that is why I left our house to live in the streets when I was eleven.

I spent more than five years of my life without a normal home. These were hard times. I actually realized how awfully hard it was for a small kid to earn money. But I didn't give up. Begging in the streets all day and then searching for shelter was fun. The only thing that almost made me feel miserable was the fact that my siblings didn't want to come with me. It is understandable. They love Belly too much to leave. Besides, home is the only thing that reminds the three of us of mom. So I had to visit them once in a while to make sure everything was all right.

Mom used to love us even more than our step dad does. She told us fairy tales about animals and plants, so even now I still feel like the whole universe around me is alive and all the animals understand me. That is why I love butterflies. After mom passed away, I would often whisper the things I wanted to tell her to a butterfly and believed that it was going to deliver the message.

When mom was still there, each of us used to get a glass of cold milk on Sundays. I still feel the taste in my mouth when I try to remember what life was like before it was only Belly and us.

I also recall the yellow sunshine dancing on the curtains in my room when I woke up every day. Belly made us all move into the attic and sold the curtains to save money for heating and buy us food: vegetables for us and beer for himself. I am not a big fan of beer, because every time he kicked me, I could smell it from his mouth and it was also all over the first floor of our house after he brought a few friends of his to have a drink. So, what was I talking about? Yes, yellow. I love yellow. But that is not the point.

The point is that when mom was alive, it was all clear. I had a mother and two siblings. Now things are a little more complicated. While I was begging for money in the streets one day, no one was giving me anything. But one man I came up to offered me to live with his family. Now I am adopted and my name is Elyra Breaks-Laws instead of just Elyra Breaks.

I am still a bit wary of my new family, because I am new to it and a little afraid they won't like me, but they seem like wonderful people. No one calls me “bastard” here which sounds strange. I told them my name is Elyra, but being called that also sounds a bit odd, because my siblings would always call me “Ells” while I was still living with them. I also may be finally able to go to school again and finish my education which seems really wonderful. However, I still can't forget my old family and often visit Sirius and Xenia when Belly is not around. I am pretty confused. Am I a Breaks or am I a Laws? Probably both, but which family is my real one now? I don't care much about it. I still love them all.

[Deleted]

"After mom passed away, I would often whisper the things I wanted to tell her to a butterfly and believed that it was going to deliver the message."

i am shooketh

accepted!