“Burn those who burned me!” Chapter 35

Story # 2: Murdered by my family, I was reborn to reclaim my life! Chapter 1: The Rebirth of Clara Granger.

Chapter 1: The Rebirth of Clara Granger.

***\-Clara’s POV:***

I stared at the receptionist with complete confusion. What was I doing back here? My name is Clara Granger; I was a groundbreaking world-renowned bio-chemist creating groundbreaking lifesaving medicines. I was also murdered at the age of 29 at the hands of my husband, father, and stepsister. Right now, however, I was staring in the face of the clerk at Bartrum Private Academy, asking if I would be applying to Lexington’s pre-biochemistry early admission program. Lexington was one of Glendale’s most prominent schools of Pharmacy. It was also the alma mater my parents, Caroline and Jameson Granger went.

My parents got married straight after undergrad. My father wanted to be married before they entered pharmacy school together. Everyone always talked about the storybook romance my parents had.

*“Your father loved your mother so much! It’s rare you seen that type of love.”*

It is what I would hear all the time from people who thought they knew them. But the truth was, my father was a notorious cheater who often mentally, verbally, and emotionally abused my mother. Jealous of her genius, my dad couldn’t handle constantly living in the shadow of the great Caroline Rouleau. They weren’t aware of all the anguish she’d suffered at the hands of my father up until the day she died in a violent car crash.

I was thirteen when my mother died. The day after, my father brought home his mistress Anna and their lovechild Sophie. With no regard for my feelings, my father expected my to be okay with this new arrangement.

*“This is your sister Sophie. I expect you to treat her and your new mother with respect.”*

He’d barked his orders without even an ounce of remorse. In the beginning my stepmother and sister played the dutiful mother and sister. Pretending to be considerate and caring forcing my guard down before their true intentions began to show. It started one evening when I came home from school. On my way to my room, I noticed Sophie wearing a white-gold necklace with a pink heart. It belonged to my mother; it was the color of our birthstone as we shared the same month. Angry, I walked straight up to Sophie and demanded she give it back.

*“Where did you get that! Have you been in my room?”*

Sophie looked at me with half innocent eyes. Tears began to form as she shook nervously.

*“Oh, my gosh Clara! I’m so sorry! I went into your room looking for you and I noticed it on your vanity. I thought being your sister, you wouldn’t mind if I wore it.”*

I tried my best to conceal my anger, after all, I never explained to her what that necklace meant to me. Holding back my frustration, I calmed my voice.

*“It’s fine Sophie. Just please take it off, it was the last thing I brought my mother before she died. It holds sentimental value.”*

As soon as I reached my hand out to take the necklace, Sophie fell backwards onto the floor hurting her leg.

**THUMP!**

Sophie let out a loud yelp causing our parents to run over. Suddenly, she grabbed my leg and began begging for my forgiveness.

*“Please Clara! I’m so sorry! I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to touch your necklace! It won’t happen again!”*

Loud sobs followed as she continued to beg for my forgiveness. In state a shock, all I could do is stare at her. Suddenly, her mother came falling to the floor.

*“Clara! I know you don’t want us here. I would never try and replace your mother but please, don’t take your hatred out our daughter! We’ll leave if it means you’ll be happy!”*

Confused by her words, I began to protest. I hadn’t even touched Sophie, let alone told them to leave.

*“Ms. Anna I-”*

**SLAP!**

That was the first time my father had ever hit me. Though he’d never been the most affectionate, he never laid his hands on me. As my cheek throbbed from the sting causing me to feel slightly lightheaded; I could hear my father yelling.

*“What the hell is wrong with you! Why would you hit your sister! Haven’t I given you everything!”*

Through sobs, Sophie began to protest.

*“Please don’t be mad at her daddy, I should have never taken the necklace.”*

My father looked down at the necklace on the ground.

*“Is that what this is about! Some stupid necklace!”*

The words burned like coal in my chest, how could he say such a thing.

*“Dad, that was mom’s-”*

*“I don’t give a shit! Your mother is dead! What difference does it make if Sophie wears some stupid necklace!”*

With that, he stomped on my mother’s necklace causing the causing the heart to shatter. After helping his new wife and daughter stand up, he sent me to my room to stay while the three of them went out to eat that night. It was at that moment I realized I was completely alone in that house. My only refuge was Jason.

Jason Sterling was my childhood friend. Our parents were in business together for many years and he was my first love. He would always tell me how he would marry me one day and we would live happily ever after. All of that changed, however, when he started hanging around Sophie. Suddenly I became the big bad stepsister picking on poor Sophie.

*“Honestly Clara, when did you get so petty.”*

He’d said to me one afternoon when Sophie began crying because I wouldn’t give her the ring he brought me after my mom died. The ring represented loss for a loved one. I remember him telling me as long as I wore that ring, my mother would always be with me. So, from that day on, I never took it off.

*“It’s just a stupid ring. You act like I can’t buy you another one. Sophie doesn’t have anyone to buy her things.”*

So, from that point on, I kept my distance. I put all of my energy into my schooling. I was already the top student at Grayson middle school which earned me a spot at Bartrum Private Academy, one the city’s most elite schools. That day, I couldn’t wait to get home and show my father. Even if he didn’t care for me as a daughter, I figured he’d be thrilled as an academic. Instead, I was accused of being a “show off trying to humiliate Sophie.”

*“What do you think you’re doing! You know Sophie has been struggling and you come in here bragging! If you go to this school I won’t spend a dime of my money!”*

True to his words, my father refused to pay for my schooling. What he didn’t know was that my mother had set money aside for me in case something ever happened. I used that money to pay for my tuition as well as my uniforms and took a part time job at a café to throw my father off. Because so many people praised him for my getting into Bartrum, he never forced me to leave. Instead, he chose to stay distant, never attending an award show, or parent teacher, never showing any type of devotion. Instead, I would watch him praise the gods for Sophie getting participation awards. It didn’t matter however, I loved my school, I had friends, my teachers loved me, and it was the one place I didn’t have to share with Sophie.