Chapter 2 Her Stepsister

At Conserve specialist hospital, in room 246, A very beautiful girl laid still, unmoving, only breathing. When suddenly her fingers moved, followed by her hand and then her eyes fluttered open, and just like that she was brought back to life.

The young lady slowly sat up and stared around, trying to get familiar with her environment. She remembered everything, from her family, to the reason she was involved in the explosion at Riverdale Hotel, she remembered it all.

She groaned as a wave of headache hit her and held her head. 'How long have I been asleep' she thought and tried standing but she fell with a loud thud, her legs felt like jelly, her body felt very strange. What in the world was going on? Using all of her strength, she managed to carry herself but it wasn't long until she fell over again. Frustrated by all her fruitless efforts she groaned and to turned to face the other side. Then she noticed something weird, her hair was super long and black? What happened to her scarlet hair?

She frowned and decided to check her reflection in the mirror. She managed to stand up again and this time she didn't fall. She picked up a silver tray and screamed immediately after she saw her reflection. Someone else was staring at her through the tray. 'What happened to me?' She panicked.

Did get her soul swapped she usually watched in those TV series?

Just as she was thinking about what happened to her the door opened and an older-looking woman walked in with another young girl. "You're Awake?" The younger girl screamed and she flinched. The both of them kept staring at her as if they had just seen a ghost.

"I can't believe this, you shouldn't be standing, you are still very weak" The older woman hurriedly pushed her to her bed "Tell me are you feeling any pain anywhere? Can you remember who you are?"

She stared at them in a confused manner before blurting out "Of course, I remember, and the last time I checked, I didn't look like this! What did you do to me? How many hours have I been here, I need to go, My mother will be worried" She tried getting up but the nurses held her down. "Hey! Listen to me, you were injured when you were brought here so......." The old nurse was hesitant and took a deep breath before continuing "They performed a plastic surgery on you and you've been here for more than five years now"

The room suddenly grew silent as only the sounds of their breathing could be heard. Suddenly the girl busted into a hearty laughter. "Fine, you got me. Where are the cameras?" She asked wiping away a tear that had at gathered at the corner of her eyes but then she stopped and noticed the nurses had a guilty look on their faces.

We're they saying the truth? Had she been here for Five Years? Her heart skipped a beat and she stared at them in utter shock "What are you saying, where is my mother, I want to see her right now!" She yelled and jumped from the bed but the nurses held her down.

"Listen to me, Calm down. We don't know any one of your family members, there was no way we could Identify you either but now that you are awake we can contact them for you" The nurse said while patting her back. "You know, you should consider yourself lucky, almost a thousand innocent people lost their lives to that incident. You should be a little positive okay?"

The Nurse noticed that she was a little calm after she spoke those words. "I'll go and inform the doctor now, if there is anything you need you can ask her, she'll be at your service.

By the way, what is your name?" She noticed how the girl hesitated before saying "Ariel" "Wow, such a pretty name" The younger nurse giggled and stayed with her while the older nurse went to fetch the doctor. "Ha, you must be hungry, let me fetch you something to eat, you can watch TV in the meantime" The younger nurse said before turning in the TV and handing the remote control over to her.

Ariel couldn't help but Sign at how giddy the young nurse was. She only tried to push all her thoughts away because her headache was getting worse. She picked up the remote and flipped the channel but something caught her attention and she stopped before increasing the volume.

"It's been a year since Popular Fashion designer Octavia Loftis, got married to Lance Loftis and from what I know, her Married life it's treating her well, Although she has gone through a lot lately with Her Step sister's disappearance and step mothers death she still managed to build Royalty Fashion and meanwhile Loftis Technologies is doing quite well in the hands of Her Husband. They are so perfect for each other, we are hoping for a baby soon and........."

Ariel couldn't listen anymore, tears started streaming down her face. Octavia, her sweet innocent sister had stolen not only her boyfriend but also her dreams. Her heart ached badly. She bit her lips and dug her fingernails into her hand but it couldn't stop the pain and betrayal she was feeling. Why was luck always against her? Why did life hate her so much? Octavia had taken the two things she love most in this world. The only two things she had but she didn't blame her, could she?

After all, she was the Wicked step sister, the one who bullied her and tormented her all through her life, the one who would hit her and embarrass her both at school and home. The one who turned her into a slave but even when she did all those things, no one noticed how bad she was hurting inside, no one knew how she was struggling deep down, she didn't do all those things because she wanted to but no one seemed to care, Everyone thought that it was yet another Cinderella story. The usual Tyranical Step sister - Pitiful Daughter kind of story. Suddenly she noticed she had difficulty breathing and her nose was wet. She tried to wipe it but noticed it was sticky, She was having a nosebleed.

Her condition became worse as she kept on gasping but couldn't breathe. She weakly moved her hands to press the alarm button but stopped midway. Why should she bother, her whole life was over, there was nothing to continue living for just then she dropped her hand and fell into darkness.

********************** "She's awake?" Mr Carter asked and the receiver confirmed it. He felt overjoyed. Finally, after so many years of waiting, she woke up. He turned around and glared at his son. "Get out" He shot. Haylon only bowed and stepped out of the car. The butler who was outside almost stumbled at the piercing gaze of the young master.

He quickly walked to the other side and got in. "Brian, take me to the hospital" Mr Carter grinned and Brian started the car immediately. He couldn't understand why Mr Carter was so happy but on the other hand, the young master looked like he would stuff anyone who crossed him in a jar.

After a long drive, they finally arrived at the huge hospital. Brian immediately jumped down to open the door for Mr Carter who was impatient, as they got to the VIP ward they saw the doctor in charge of the girl in the corridor. "Master Carter!" The man bowed respectfully before leading him to his office.

When they had settled down the doctor proceeded to talk about the matter at hand. "Master Carter although she has woken up, we discovered that she has Epistaxsis (Nose Bleed) I think it's due to an injury in her head and unfortunately, she also has asthma. Having these two together might cause issues but Luckily for him,she has a good immune system and as long as she doesn't get too upset or sad it wouldn't trigger her nosebleed" The doctor explained everything. "Oh and also, she doesn't want to talk about her family and I don't think we should pressure her yet" He added.

Mr Carter couldn't help but simile, that wasn't an issue. He would make sure she was happy for the rest of her life, to him whenever he look at her, he felt like he saw his wife through her and besides she also had something of Jasmine's so it felt like a blessing to him. "So when can I see her?" He asked and the doctor stared at him like all he said wasn't going through his head at all. Ariel stood at the end of her room looking out through the glass window, winter was already fading away, it had stopped snowing, and it was only a matter of days before spring arrived. She leaned on the windows and thought for a while, if it had been there for five years, that meant she was Twenty-two years old and almost Twenty three in a few months. Her eyes widened in realization. Was she that old already? But looking at her reflection she looked like she was just about to be twenty years old.

"Argh! If I'm this old where do I start from? I didn't even go to college" She groaned in frustration. "Don't worry, I can settle that for you" A stentorian voice settled in the room and Ariel turned to see a handsome man with the doctor. "Hi, Ariel. I'm Jasmine's Father" Ariel's eyes widened in shock at how young he looked.