Chapter 1: The River
Nyla looked down at the river and sighed. The stream's continuous flow seemed endless, but her reflection stood unwavering in the translucent liquid.
"Ugh! Just my luck!" Nyla kicked a pebble into the river and watched it travel through the maze of stone that lay at the shallow beginnings of the stream. She suspected that her mother was furious by now. She didn't mean to travel so far into the woods, but when she noticed she had, she was already lost in the bewitching beauty of the landscape.
"Maybe she'll laugh it off!" She placed her hands on her belly and a deep grumbling laugh escaped her belly. Then she dropped her hands in defeat. "Ny you definitely forgot who your mother is." She slumped on a flat rock and crossed her arms. After sitting for a while in thought she stood and walked along the rocks with her arms spread apart, one foot in front of the other.
"Of course she wouldn't" she laughed. As she walked along the rocks she imitated her mother's reprimanding tone. "I worked so hard for what I have and all you do is sit around and cause trouble!" She giggled, but the laugh was filled with hurt and sadness.
Nyla decided the best way to make her feel better was to get as jovial as she could get. So Nyla started to jump and skip along the rocks that lay at the border of the stream. She eventually became bold enough to actually skip along the rocks that lay in the stream. Suddenly she felt her body twirl over the very first slippery rocks that started to signal the flow of the stream into the river, but still in a laughing fight Nyla hadn't noticed she was falling until she opened her eyes and saw the rock that flooded her vision with hues of black and red.
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"Sasha, Alicia! Have you seen your sister! I have been looking for that girl all morning!" The buxom dark skinned woman placed her manicured fingernails on her wide hips.
The first to answer was Sasha. She sprayed herself a second layer of skin with the Victoria Secret perfume she fancied. "Ugh! That girl is NOT my sister, and as for where she is. Don't know and definitely don't care." The girl primped herself in the mirror, more interested in applying heavy coats of makeup than the conversation.
"Alicia!" The woman called again, her breast heaving as she turned to the other girl.
Alicia lay sprawled across the bed in an all too small negligee, with the phone attached to her ear. With a quick eye roll she placed the phone down and replied. "The family dog went for a walk. I don't even know why you guys stress anymore. She'd just love it if the house went up in flames because of her absence!"
The woman, turned with a pout heading down the corridor. Celeste hated how the twins talked about her daughter, but at the rate that Nyla was going they had a reason too. She would obey wholeheartedly when Celeste would threaten that dumb animal of hers, but now that the four legged mongrel was gone, Nyla had become even harder to control. If only she were like Sasha and Alicia! Her current husband's twin daughters were not the most perfect children, but they were easy to buy off. In a way she saw herself in the little brats. She shuddered at the thought of any real motherly relationship with the two.
At the end of the corridor the stairs spiraled down into the foyer. There she saw the man who had swept her off her feet with the promises of immense wealth.
