TIRED OF LIVING

In Yorkshire, England, a place where class and status mattered the most, a girl could be seen with her head between her knees, sobbing. She looked barely 17 years of age.

Her ash blonde locks cascaded down her slender knees. If anything, she looked quite malnourished. Her sobs were only getting louder as she gently cried out to herself.

"Why does my life have to be like this. Why was I put into such a family. I'm really tired of living."

She continued to cry until an old lady stormed into the room, clearly angry. The wooden door flew wide open and one would wonder how such an old lady had that much power to throw the door open like that.

The girl stopped crying and was about to raise her head when she felt a firm hand grip her arms so tight that the nails pierced into her pale skin.

"You good for nothing child, haven't I told you to go to the barn and clean up the place. And here you are crying your eyeballs out like I called your mother a witch. Get the hell out of here and go do your work", the old lady screeched which made the girl flinch.

"Y-yes g-granny", she stuttered and hurriedly left for the barn.

"This child is really something".

When the girl got to the barn, she could see that the whole place was messed up. Dung was everywhere, hay was scattered around, buckets were left haphazardly. She could tell that this was done intentionally.

A drop of tear escaped her eyes as she picked up one of the buckets and went to get some water from the well which was directly behind the house as the old woman instructed.

While fetching the water, the girl could hear the old lady laughing and cackling as she watched her favorite TV show. A ghost of a smile appeared on her lips.

She tried lifting the bucket out of the well, but because she was so weak, she almost fell into the well along with the bucket. Another girl placed her hand on her shoulders to stop her from falling into the well and helped her to take the bucket out.

"Kathy, are you alright? You almost fell into the well. You have to be careful. You look tired, let me help you". The girl rambled on like a mother hen.

"Jane I'm fine. Thanks for helping me. I'll manage on my own".

"What's your problem Kathy? You need to learn to take help when it's offered and when you need it. I'm not going to take no for an answer. I'm going to help you carry out whatever the old hag tasked you with", Jane said.

Seeing that Jane was stubborn, Kathleen sighed and gave in to her. Jane offered to help her carry the bucket but she refused.

They went back to the barn and Jane couldn't believe her eyes. The barn was looking terrible with faeces all over the place.

"That old witch, she did this intentionally didn't she?", Jane spat out in anger.

"We both know she did Jane. But it's not a problem. I'll get this cleaned up in a few hours. Just go and rest, you must be tired after cleaning the whole house."

"Oh no you don't. Kathy, I'm helping you do this whether you like it or not."

Kathleen looked like she was about to speak but Jane beat her to it.

"Didn't you clean the whole kitchen by yourself when it was my job? Take this as payback and keep your mouth shut", Jane said looking so stern that Kathleen was afraid to go against her.

Again, Kathleen gave in to Jane and they both got to work cleaning up the barn.