The other woman's DAUGHTER

Chapter 1

     Believe it or not, Cinderella didn't suffer quite much as Maryam has! Cinderella didn't get beaten up by her step mother whereas Maryam has gotten beatings from her step mother while her mother watched without doing a thing. What could her mother do? Her own mother is scared of the co-wife. The woman is old enough to be her own mother, how can she confront her all because of a child who isn't their husband's to begin with. The woman could easily get her beaten up too. Staying put is all she does when things like this happens.
    
     Unlike Cinderella who had to do alot of chores only, Maryam gets beaten up by both her younger and older siblings in addition to the chores she had to do. Exacting her revenge on the younger ones would attract the consequences of getting beaten up by their older ones. So, she doesn't even bother defending herself. The day she tried standing up for her right, she gotten beaten up badly. For that reason, she decided to swallow it all,  as such she's successfully turned to a door mat.

     Cinderella got the privilege to have the mice and blue birdies as friends. They kept her company and assisted her in whatever way they could. Unlike Maryam who has only her thoughts as company. Non of the other kids bothered to know if she was fine, heck she was invisible to them, besides she's not Baba's daughter. This information is something each child knows.

     Cinderella also had only Anastasia and Drizella to contend with for siblings. Maryam has quite a number of them. Mama(her stepmother) had given birth to seven kids before she was brought to this world. Mama didn't stop there when her husband had gotten married to Mommy(Maryam's mother), with every pregnancy of Maryam's mother,  Mama got pregnant too. Maryam has four siblings already. Trust Mama to have additional four children too, making the sum of Alhaji Ali Matazu's children to be fifteen.

     Finally, Cinderella was lucky to have a fairy god-mother at her disposal and had ended up getting married to the prince. There's no Prince coming to Maryam's rescue for now, the poor girl is twelve years old. She is in junior secondary school one. There's still a long way to go, but on the bright side is that Maryam didn't get that mean Lucifer of a cat to torment her.

Maryam arranged her textbooks in her bag. She had handpicked the subjects they have for the day. It was an advice from one of Mama's daughters. She had seen how Maryam kept stacking all her text and note books on her bag every blessed day. Not like she relayed the advice nicely. She spat it out irritatingly telling her she might break her spine if she keeps stuffing all her books in her bag. Maryam was grateful for the advice nonetheless.

     "I hope you've arranged your siblings' books" her mother asked as she laid on the longest sofa like she always does. Maryam wonders if she ever gets up from the sofa  when they leave for school. They always meet her on that same sofa, in that same position when they return from school. Maryam nodded. She had done that last night not wanting to be preoccupied with work this morning.

     Alhaji Ali Matazu is a retired Air marshal. The man had secured connections in every part of the country. He is also into politics now. He helps fund campaign because the man had money coming from different businesses he's into and ofcourse several shares he's bought in major companies around the country over the years. It's evident they won't be getting poor anytime soon unless if Allah wills it ofcourse.
Maryam allowed herself take in a deep breath thrice before leaving her mother's part of the house and ofcourse it began.

    "Maryam! I can't find my bag"

    "Maryam where is my homework"

    "Maryam I want my tea"

    "Maryam the toast is too dry"

    "Maryam my sock is Missing"

    "Maryam get my bag from my room"