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“Ugly, don’t you wish your skin was lighter? Maybe you’d be pretty if you were lighter? Dark and ugly, what a messed-up combination. You’re as dark as this candy bar,” Isadora taunted, waving the Hershey dark chocolate bar in the air.
Keziah threw her head back, laughing.
“Now that’s dark,” Keziah confirmed.
“When you get to high school, the boys won’t want to date you. Face it, you’ll be single and alone. Who wants to be with a girl as dark as you?” Isadora snarled.
“No one,” Keziah added. “I wish Dad never married your mother. Then you wouldn’t be here. I wish you didn’t exist.”Keziah’s words came out harshly, puncturing my already fragile heart.
Mom put them on punishment many times for tormenting me. Unfortunately, Mom couldn’t come to my aid anymore.
Isadora’s fist slammed into my arm. A throbbing pain shot through my lanky arm. “Ouch,” I yelped.
This had gone on long enough.
“No more,” I roared, plunging my fist into Isadora’s jaw again and again.
I grabbed her hair and dragged her toward the door.
“That’s enough, Kennedy.” Keziah yanked my ponytail as I pulled the door open.
I was met with wide eyes. “Get your hands off her, Keziah. You’re twenty. You have no right putting your hands on a twelve-year-old girl,” Quinn roared.
“She’s a monster. Not a girl,” Keziah spewed.
Quinn peeled her fingers from my hair. “Isadora needs to pay for all the nasty words she said to Kennedy. Don’t stand in her way.”
I didn’t waste time. Isadora slapped at my hands, still snug around her long hair.
“Let me go, darkness,” she growled.
“Not yet.” A wicked grin struck my lips as I strutted out the patio door. Finally, I released her hair once she was at the edge of the large pool. Placing my foot on her back, I kicked her into the water.
“You, bitch,” she shrilled.
I winked at Isadora as I locked the patio door. Peace and quiet. Just for five minutes. When I walked into the theater room, I noticed Keziah wasn’t there.
“Quinn, where is the other evil half-sister?”
“She’s locked in the basement. Grab a bag of popcorn and soda please,” he said it like it was just another day around our house.
I pondered on his words, then grabbed the snacks. Pounding fists sounded on the patio and basement door simultaneously. “Crank the volume,” I urged.
He did. We settled on the sofa to watch Transformers. The surround sound drowned out their screams and banging.
Later that night, when our fathers returned, they said what we’d done was unacceptable. That was when I realized my father loved them more than me. They came to the decision that Uncle Anson and Quinn would move out. Uncle Anson had more than enough money to do so. Originally, our fathers felt it was better having the entire family live under one roof. Dad took away my remaining support system. I was on my own. It was the worst move Dad could’ve made. Quinn and I had already lost our mothers a few months ago in a car crash. Now we wouldn’t see each other often.
My life took a sharp turn when I turned sixteen. Dad said I had to help with the family business since Quinn had gone to college. Nothing like becoming a high school drug dealer. My father and Uncle Anson were known as the Carter Kingpins of San Antonio.
Once again, my tawny hue half-sisters didn’t have to pull their weight in the family business. Why?
I began to wonder was my dark skin the reason I was treated so poorly.
At eighteen, I wanted out. By twenty-three, I had to leave. My sanity was in jeopardy. Giving up my rich lifestyle wasn’t easy. Quinn had already extended the invitation years ago to join him in Portland, Oregon. I fled my cushy home and hopped on a bus destined for Portland. The money I saved from selling dope was enough to pay for my first year of college, and a little Honda Civic. Finding a job was a priority. I couldn’t become complacent. An older restaurant owner who’d been in the restaurant business for years took a chance on me. The cook position at a well-known downtown restaurant paid well. Trying to work and maintain an A average in college became daunting. Somehow, I managed for a year and a half. It felt weird attending college later in life. Most kids entered college at eighteen. I didn’t attend school until I was twenty-three years old. Everyone my age was graduating by then.
I hadn’t talked to my father until a year ago. Dad accompanied Uncle Anson when he came to Portland to help Quinn with the restaurant.
Our fathers were still shady as ever. They always found a way to profit off the backs of others, especially their children.
