As soon as Amara left I couldn’t help but glare at Aunt Sadie. She had been nothing but awful to Amara who didn’t deserve that and had just tried her best. Aunt Sadie glanced over at me, “Now, take that awful expression off your face, this was supposed to be a nice dinner.” Normally, I would behave for Aunt Sadie, but I was too angry to do that tonight, “Yeah, it was supposed to be a nice dinner, until you ruined it!” “You better watch your tongue young lady or we can not have cake tonight!” Aunt Sadie said crossly. “I don’t care about stupid Cake!” I yell, “I care about how you’ve been treating me!” Even now I don’t know how I got so angry all of a sudden, but I do know that it may have been the reason my life changed. “And how have I been treating you?” Aunt Sadie said through gritted teeth. I glared at her, “Forcing me to study all the time, being insanely strict, treating my friends badly!” “You should appreciate all that I do for you!” Aunt Sadie yelled, “And on the topic of your friend, I don’t think I approve of you continuing to see her.” My whole face turned red, and I was standing now, “You can’t control my life! I can see Amara as much as I like, and she’s exactly the type of person I want to be around!” “If she’s the type of person you want to be around, I should question how I’ve been raising you these past couple of years!” Aunt Sadie said angrily. “You should, because it’s awful!” I scream, tears welling up in my eyes, “I never get to have fun! And now you’re trying to take away the only person who makes me happy!” Aunt Sadie was seething, “Madelyn, you will go to your room and not come out until you have thought about what you did. Your actions tonight have been absolutely unacceptable and I will not tolerate it.” I balled my hands into fists, “You can’t tell me what to do! You’re not my mom!” I knew I had crossed a line, but at the moment, I didn’t care. “Your mother is dead, and I’m your legal guardian now whether you like it or not. Now go to your room and stay there.” Aunt Sadie said firmly. I brushed a tear off my cheek as it fell, “I hate you!” I screamed as I bolted down the hall to my room. As I entered my room I slammed the door behind me. Then the tears started to flow. “I hate you!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, “I hate you! I hate you!” The tears fell hot and in a steady stream like a waterfall. My chest tightened and I gasped for air like I was drowning and trying to breathe. I didn’t know what was happening or why I felt the way I did, but I did know that I couldn’t deal with Aunt Sadie and her rules anymore. I couldn’t even stand the world I lived in anymore. I looked at my boring gray wall that I had always despised, and I punched it. Full force. “Ow!” I fell backwards, my hand swelling, “Why did I do that?” I fell into the book shelf beside my bed, and felt yet another piercing pain, but this time in my back. “Aaugh” I groaned as I sat up and rubbed my back. Then I heard a loud thud coming from beside me. I turned my head towards the noise. Then I saw it, a photo album from me on the farm. One of the only things that got brought with me to New York. It had gotten splayed open to a random page when it fell off of my bookshelf. I moved towards it and looked. The picture it was on was a picture of me, with a paper crown on my head, playing in the meadow. “That's right,” I whispered, “I thought I was a princess.” I remembered. I remembered how everything used to be so much simpler, how all the days were filled with magic, and how I was always happy. I closed the photo album and clutched it tightly to my chest, and I wished with my whole heart that I could be a princess again. That all the days would be magical, and I would be filled with happiness. I wish I was a princess. Little did I know that that wish would actually become true.
