The streetlights had already flickered on by the time Gabriella reached the gates of the Hill's Residency.
The old iron hinges groaned…loud.Gabriella scoffed. It was as if they too resented her coming 'home'.
Evening wind brushed her hair, tugging at the loose strands. The air still smelled faintly of the city…smoke, rain…the scent of night closing in.
She paused for a moment on the porch, looking up at the house that would never truly welcome her, but was her permanent address.
The curtains were drawn. Warm, golden light spilled through the gaps.
Gabriella's fingers tightened around the strap of her backpack. Her stomach clenched. She could already hear voices inside… her stepmother's shrill laughter cutting through. She was probably talking to someone over a call.
Gabriella inhaled once, twice. "Just get to your room. Quietly. Don't make noise.Lock yourself inside! "
The door creaked open.
She slipped in, shoes barely making a sound against the door mat.
Her eyes flicked towards the staircase.Close enough. Just a few steps…
"Where the hell do you think you are sneaking off to, you lazy cow?!"
The voice cracked through the hallway like a whip.
Gabriella froze mid step.
The next second, a cushion came flying from behind the sofa, smacking against her shoulder with a dull thud.
She turned…slowly.
Her stepmother stood there, one hand resting on her swollen belly, the other propped against her hip. Her nails were sharp red crescents against the fabric of her dress.
A smirk tugged at her painted mouth, but her cold assessing eyes didn't quite match it.
"Well?" she demanded, stepping closer, her slippers slapping the floor. "Where have you been all this damn time, huh? School was over hours ago. Or were you out there slutting around with boys?"
Gabriella's grip on her bag strap whitened. Her jaw flexed.
She said nothing. Just stood there, breathing through her nose.
The woman's tone sharpened, her voice rising, bouncing off the walls.
"Answer me when I am talking to you! Did you even get that damn scholarship or not? Because if you didn't…" she jabbed a manicured finger towards Gabriella's belly, "...forget school. Your father doesn't have dimes left to waste on you, bastard."
That last word hit harder than any spell, any curse,any jinx ever could.
Gabriella's knuckles twitched. Her shoulders trembled…not from fear, but from restraint.
Her heartbeat played like a drum in her ears.
Her throat burned.
Her vision wavered, just slightly…edges darkening, like a camera lens closing in too fast.
"Not here. Gabriella,control. Breathe.Not here."
She closed her eyes, whispering under her breath, so low it was almost lost in the hum of the ceiling fan.
"I can not lose control here. I can not lose control."
Her fingers dug into her palms until her nails left crescents.
Her stepmother's shadow loomed closer.
"What was that? Come again?" she snapped, tilting her head, smiling that cruel, fake smile.
Gabriella inhaled deeply…slow, a breath that scraped her ribs.
Then she lifted her head, meeting the woman's eyes for the first time that evening.
"Yes," she said, voice steady. "I am going to get the scholarship."
A pause.
"After I successfully finish a task."
She shifted the bag higher on her shoulder, gaze unwavering now.
"Tell Father he has nothing to worry about. I won't be a burden."
Then, softly…almost politely… she added.
"Now if you will excuse me."
And with that, she turned, the faintest tremor in her fingers was the only sign of the storm still caged beneath her calm.
The air turned sharp…like glass about to shatter.Almost prickly.
Gabriella had barely taken two steps when a hand clamped around her elbow. Hard.
Her stepmother's grip burned, fingers digging deep into her skin.
For someone heavily pregnant, she moved with a speed that shouldn't have been possible… unless coming from spite or deep rooted hatred.
"Where do you think you are going, you lazy lump?How dare you turn your back on my face?!" she hissed, yanking her back with enough force to spin her around.
"Dinner won't cook itself, you know! You expect me to be slaving away in the kitchen in this condition?"
Her other hand shot out, grabbing Gabriella's backpack strap.
The tug was violent…so sudden and strong enough that Gabriella stumbled forward, hitting the edge of the table. The vase on top wobbled once… twice… and then…
CRASH!
Porcelain shattered across the floor like a burst of stars.
"God damn it!" her stepmother shrieked, voice slicing through the air. "You stupid, cursed brat! Look what you did!"
She pointed at the glittering wreckage, her hand shaking with fury.
"Do you even know what this was? My father's brother brought this from China! Do you even know how expensive it is?!"
Her breath came in jagged bursts as she clutched her belly.
"Do you have any means to pay this back? Huh? Say it! Do you?! You useless piece of bad luck!"
Gabriella just stood there, chest rising and falling slowly. Her face was still…eerily still.
No fear, no apology. Just a calm that seemed to mock the chaos around her.
The silence stretched for a heartbeat too long.
Then, quiet flatly she said,
"I can't pay you back for what you ruined yourself."
Her stepmother's head snapped towards her, disbelief flickering in her eyes.
Gabriella's voice didn't waver.
"You pulled me. Technically."
The woman's nostrils flared, fury flooding back in.
"You shitty little…!" She lunged, arm raised…
But Gabriella's hand lifted first. Just a subtle, sharp flick of her fingers.
And then…everything stopped.
The shards of porcelain scattered across the floor trembled… rose… one by one.
In slow motion, they hovered midair, catching the dim lamplight as if suspended in water. The air hummed softly, a vibration barely audible but heavy enough to make the curtains shiver.
Her stepmother froze midstep, eyes wide, mouth open.
The floating shards began to spin…gracefully, deliberatly…each one finding its match, clicking into place like a puzzle reversing time.
Piece by piece, the vase rebuilt itself…seamed like sealing with faint, silvery veins of light…until it was whole again, not a crack in sight.
The hum faded. The air settled.
The vase landed back on the table with a soft thud.
Perfect. Untouched. Like nothing had ever happened.
Her stepmother's knees buckled, and she sank into the couch beside it, her face drained of color, jaw slack.
"What the…" she whispered, voice barely there.
Gabriella turned her head just enough to glance over her shoulder.
A smirk…a small, dangerous smirk curved on her lips.
"I can definitely do that," she murmured.
And then she walked away, the soft click of her footsteps fading towards the kitchen.
Behind her, silence swallowed the room whole.
Only the faintest tremor of the vase remained…like only it still remembered being broken.