Saving Mona

Chapter 1 🌇

Beautiful cover in media by nhyiiiiii. Thank you ❤️

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Bloomville town - a beautiful place where everyone was a celebrity. In there, you could find the retired old Olympic champions, you could find the elusive boybands and you could find the world’s geniuses. But even in a town designed to cater to the needs of and offer privacy benefits from outsiders to celebrities, there was a bit of a  hierarchy system. At the very top of the latter / that hierarchical system was the Del Lana family: private about their personal life but public in other things. And in this family was the beautiful daughter of the Del Lana, Monalisa Del Lana...
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I made way to the bathroom to get ready for school. It was another place apart from my bedroom, where everything was a show. The bright fluorescent light flickered on as I stepped into the large bathing area. Everything was pristine and expensive. Square-shaped polished marbles lay below my feet; brown bricks were on the wall with few decorative plants here and there. My personal favorite{note the sarcasm} was the huge white Jacuzzi bathtub large enough to fit five people, smacked in the middle of the ridiculously large room.

Ignoring the sight I had grown accustomed to, I undressed and stepped into the Jacuzzi to have a quick bath.

Immediately I was done, I wrapped a black towel around my naked body. Just like the bathroom, my closet was also unnecessarily vast. It was big enough to conveniently contain a  queen-sized bed and wardrobe.

I chose a simple but classy pink crop top, frizzy black high waist net skirt with a gold high top sneakers to complete the look. I straightened my naturally curly blonde hair to perfection and tied it to a high ponytail.

I kept my makeup light with a simple pink blush, mascara, liner, and my signature cherry red lipstick.
Nodding in satisfaction, I walked out of my room and locked it. Mother had a tendency to take destructive trips to my room and ruin my order of things.

Tucking the key safely in my backpack which I had picked from my room, I quietly made my way down the stairs.
I had finished the last flight of stairs when I heard her voice. I involuntarily had a sharp intake of breath.

I swerved to look at my mother, Carmen Del Lana. She was wearing her depressing grey robe, her thick blonde hair spread in many places. Her eyes were puffy and red as the lipstick coating my lips, her lips parched and skin looking like it hadn't seen the light in centuries. She had on, her signature look of agony, and her best friend - alcohol was held tightly in her right hand. It was just 7:39 am.

Her blue eyes were glazed over, and she reeked of alcohol, vomit, and a whole new level of pathetic. Judging from the bottle in her hand by this time, father mustn't
have gotten home last night. The morning was already turning out bad for me.

"Hey!" she repeated again, swaying slightly. There was no use trying to ignore her, things would just turn out ugly.

"Where are you going?" she slurred taking a huge gulp out of her buddy, death in liquid form. I couldn't help the disgust that formed on my face but luckily, she didn't notice.

Taking the form of a submissive daughter- it pleased her inebriated sadistic mind, I answered her question.

"School, mother."

She nodded in faint cognition and for a minute, I thought I was free. I should have known better. Her head suddenly snapped up to look at me so fiercely, I staggered back.

"Is that sass I detect in your voice, girl?" she spat at me.

"N-no I-I d-didn't." I stuttered, not fully understanding what was happening. This was going very badly. I had to stop her from blowing up. If she did, things would end up badly for me. I couldn't let that happen, but how?

Before I knew what was happening, mother held my hand in a tight grip, bruising the tender skin beneath her overgrown fingernails that mercilessly pierced my wrist.

Overwhelmed by the sudden and unexpected pain, I let out a sharp cry and a saw a pleased look cross mother's face. She tightened her harsh grip on me and hissed in my ear.

"You don't have any right to sass me, young lady, this whole family is a mess because of you and that stupid boy. This is entirely your fault so you better shut that pretty mouth of yours before I do that for you. Am I clear?" she asked once again tightening her grip.

I hastily nodded and quickly pulled my already red wrist to the comfort of my body the moment she let go. Then mother stepped back and smiled. It was like a switch had gone off in her. I was used to it. It was like that every day.

Handing me the keys to my white Audi, she led me out of the house. She fixed her hair on the way, dumped the finished beer on the table, and wore dark glasses to cover her bloodshot eyes.

"Bye dear, have a safe trip to school."

She shouted so loud, I was sure the neighbors could hear, but that was the point. As if they were fools, she made them believe we were the perfect happy family from the wonderful Bloomville town, and the envy of every family out there. It was her act, how we were. We lied about everything to the point that the lies started to blur the truth.

With her blinding smile, she added
"Why don't you use some ointment on that bruise on your wrist, dear? You shouldn't have worn those bracelets to sleep last night."

I understood what she was trying to tell me with those words. "Hide the bruise or you will get more than that".

It might be unsettling to you; the lies, the deceit, the pain, the hurt, the façade, and the broken pieces of a family beneath it all, but I was used to it. It was my life. The world outside the mansion was my stage and the inhabitants of this town, my audience.

I was almost as good as the woman who brought me to this wretched world. After all, I've had all my life to perfect my lies. I didn't even know who I was again. I was who they wanted me to be. If they wanted a perfect daughter outside the home, I would give them just that.

So holding my bruised wrist, I hid the pain of my dying heart, and with a loving and adoring smile; I turned to mother and blew her a kiss.

"Bye, mom." I forced out, my eyes filled with fictitious happiness, and entered my car. I looked out the car before I zoomed off to see mother giving a nod of approval of my act and her smug smile when our neighbors peeped out their window to look at the perfect loving mother bidding her wonderful and perfect daughter goodbye as she drove to school.

With a tired sigh, I replaced the look of anguish with a happy go lucky smile of a girl with no worries whatsoever as I drove to Bloomville High School. The heavy sense of despondency weighted me down mentally.

That is the sad life of Monalisa Del Lana, the broken girl hidden behind a mask of happiness. That is my miserable life.