A Sister's Duty
Episode 1
She could see him, she could see just how depressed he looked at the party. He was definitely not having fun despite the fact that the party was held in his honor. Tonight was his birthday, the day he turned 18 but somehow his entire mood made it seem like he was at his own funeral instead.
Joanna had to let out a sad sigh as she looked away from him in favor of looking across the table at the object of her brother's misery, her father. Her father to the people in the hall was the perfect person to emulate when it came to looking for a role model, however she knew the truth, as did her brother; their father the Lord of Pearl Bridge was an abusive prick.
She was not much too older than her brother of course, they were the same age only separated by months in a single year, also by mothers but that was a different conversation; that however did not stop her from embodying the role of a big sister with a duty to protect her little brother who, as the party wore on, was ever more miserable.
Their father was playing a perfect role as the proud father and Lord of the land in front of his people that all lapped up his act like a couple of mindless sheep. Letting out a sigh of disappointment she stood up from her seat which turned all eyes on her.
"My apologies my lords and ladies, but I must have my rest now, the night has gone for too long and morning will soon come. To maintain my beauty, I must get some rest now." She said to the laughter of agreement that went round the hall. "Come on Sam, you too need some rest if you wish to one day be the best swordsman in the land as father has prided you as."
As she said this, she looked at her father and dared him to argue with her and risk having his ego bruised, because boy she had some harsh words to say to him, disguised as polite of course, should he object. Fortunately for him, he simply nodded his head with a fake smile and allowed Sam to stand up and go with her, letting out a proud laughter that sounded fake to her, but genuine to the others in the hall who all nodded and whispered at how incredible her father truly was.
Shaking her head as she and her brother left the hall she couldn't help but kick a flower vase down in frustration. "Time and again, father seems to always appear as the perfect father. I fucking hate him!" She yelled out as she glared at the guards who guarded the closed Hall door.
"Yelling at them won't help." Sam said as he held her hand and pulled her away from the door and in the direction of the stairs that led to the sleeping quarters.
"Sure it helps, it lets out the rage I feel on your behalf, rage you don't seem to have." She said as she pulled her arm away from his to place them by her side.
"First of all, I do feel the rage, but what do you want me to do? If you haven't noticed, father is the Lord of the land, and I am just a bastard who got lucky enough to be adopted into his household." Sam said as he spread out his hands on frustration. "All I can really do is accept my fate and live life as it is."
"Even if you are fucking depressed all the time?" She asked in outrage. "That dear brother, is not life!"
"Well it is all I've got." He said in a defeated voice as he walked out of her sight.
She had to look down in anger as she had to admit that he was right. Being a bastard normally meant living a life being disgraced and hated by society. Her father might have been magnanimous enough to adopt him and give him a comfortable life to the people watching, but in private he was just as bad and as cruel as everyone else. She couldn't bear to see her brother like this, but what could she do?
With a frustrated sigh, she stomped her feet and walked up the stairs before getting to the hallway that led to her room. The moment she entered her room though, she saw Sam on her bed, hugging her pillow as he rocked himself back and forth.
"Sam, what are you doing?" She asked, which snapped him out of the daze he might have been in as he stumbled out of her bed and unto the ground with her blanket getting entangled with his legs. "I am not angry or anything, but what the fuck?"
"I don't have a fetish or anything, I was just... I was scared alright! I didn't know whether father was going to come looking for me in my room to remind me of my place in this mansion." He said as he got up from the ground. "He never comes in here, he wouldn't dare, so I just thought I could, you know, hide in here?" He asked in a shy way as he looked away from her to the door nervous that he would be kicked out or that her father would barge in to beat the shit out of him.