Lyra's POV
As long as I could remember, my father passed away, leaving the three-year-old me with my grief-stricken mother.
Not long after, she started selling herself and brought different men to our house. She called them her "clients" and I was forced to call them "Papa". Soon once I grew up, one of them molested me.
But I got so pissed and repulsed with his actions that I stabbed his hand with a fork. My mother beat me with a belt afterwards.
Honestly, I didn't have any fond memories of my mother as she always spent her time either with her clients or drinking away with her misery. I tolerated her whims as she was the only blood family that I ever had.
Until I turned sixteen, she got pregnant by one of her clients.
"Why wouldn't you just abort it, mom?" I said when she announced that she wanted to keep it.
"Why should I when he promised to marry me after giving him his pup, Lyra?"
"H-his pup? Wait, you slept with a wolf? You know that wolves looked at us like pigs in a pen! Abort it, mom! That hound only made a fool out of you! He wouldn't marry you!"
My words only made her give an ugly, old scowl. As she aged, she now relied on make-up to maintain her beauty. Now that she wasn't wearing anything, I could see the wrinkles creased under her eyes.
"You're the one who is making a fool out of me! You've never agreed to any of my choices!"
"That's because every single damn choice you made was a mistake! Like wasting money on alcohol and drugs! Selling yourself even though there are other proper jobs out there!"
"P-Proper jobs?" Her body trembled. "So, you are embarrassed to have me as your mother, is that what you're saying, bitch?!"
I gritted my teeth before I snapped. "YES! How many times you've neglected me and left me to your clients, mom?! Yet, you didn't care whether I could have died at all!"
SLAP!
My left cheek stung yet I was so used to her physical abuse. I gave her a cold stare and in exchange for her piercing glare.
"How dare you speak to your mother like that!" She bellowed then, a thought crossed her mind before she scoffed. "Seeing that you are very ungrateful for questioning me as your mother, defying me like this…" Her clenched fists are now turning white, shaking violently in fury. "IF YOU WEREN'T JACK'S CHILD, I SHOULD HAVE ABORTED A WASTE OF SPACE LIKE YOU!"
It hurts. My breath hitches at her harsh words before I show off my calm demeanor. I won't allow her to see me weaken with her words. My hands clenched as my jaw tightened before I gave a deep, loud sigh.
"So, that's your true feelings, huh? You don't want me at all."
Her eyes widened and at first, a part of me thought she would at least deny it, but she gave me a stern frown. "Yes, I've always wished you were never born, Lyra."
"Fine. If that's how you feel, I am better off leaving this house." I must not cry, I keep repeating this in my head.
"GO AHEAD, BRAT! I WON'T TAKE YOU BACK EVEN IF YOU COME BACK CRAWLING, YOU HEAR?!" She laughs, poking her manicured finger at my chest. "Go and rot and you'll see the world isn't as kind as you think!"
"I'm fully aware how this shitty world works, mom!" I yelled back. "Oh, should I call you Amanda instead now that you have not once seen me as your daughter?!"
"Go ahead! Just go and suffer while I'm living a luxurious life with my second husband!"
"Well, fuck you, you wolf cock-sucker!"
I had already turned my heel, avoiding a single glance at her as tears slowly streamed from my eyes. I thought I could control myself but I couldn't as her words stung worse than the beatings, the attempted sexual harassment and the the insults I've faced all throughout my life.
At first, I wanted to turn around and apologize. I still loved her despite that.
Yet, the damage had been done. And so, after carrying a worn backpack with few of my belongings, I left without uttering a word.
That was the last time I saw her.
Years of being homeless made me tick. I started sleeping under the gymnasium bleachers for the rest of my high school life. My peers later found out that I had gone from the whore's daughter to a homeless student that they enjoyed pestering me in my "home". So, I moved from one place to another for my sleeping and bath arrangement.
But that changed when I started getting a job: street performance.
Because humans had now lived in the dirtiest and poorest parts of Slumber Hound City, we hadn't watched any films or those cinema theaters that I'd heard of. The only source of entertainment was the stage plays acted either from the school gymnasium or the streets.
After working hard honing my acting skills, I started getting more roles and more recognition around the streets. My acting troupe were the kindest people I had ever met and they offered me to live with them so we could practice and rehearse together.
Soon, we traveled from one street to another showcasing our ability to wow the audience.
For the first time, I experienced true happiness and I thought being with my troupe, I didn't need anything at the moment.
Yet, I acted greedy. My passion for acting grew when one day, one of my crewmates found an old CD and DVD from the scrap yard.
"Will this be your first time seeing a movie, Lyra?" Adam, the director and leader of the troupe, asked as they started preparing the DVD into a small TV.
I nodded. After all, the creatures took over the world a hundred years ago. Humans were now in the lowest of the hierarchy and I grew up in this new generation when humans had to get "used to" this new life they called "The New Normal".
Only a few families are lucky enough to own a phone or a DVD set at home.
"My mom didn't bother to buy a TV so I grew up never seeing a movie once," I told him.
"This movie is way older than me. It's called "Mrs. Miniver". I am sorry you won't be watching amazing CGI but the acting and story makes up for it."
Gibberish words that were new to me were on deaf ears as my eyes glued at the screen for the first time.
But wow, after watching that movie, I was amazed, impressed, and ecstatic! Never had I ever seen such amazing acting prowess that made these characters so…believable.
After that, I had a dream.
I wanted to become an actress and be as convincing as that Walter Pidgeon guy or to become as charming as Greer Garson.
I wanted to be like them. And since then, my new goal in life was to be a famous actress. I wanted to wow the audience with my skills.
However, my happiness was cut short when I received the news of the death of my mother.
And her child—I later found out is a girl—was taken by her biological dad.
But the worst part was that wanted posters with my face on them scattered around the streets and I became a criminal in the eyes of our small civilization.
I didn't know why and what my mother did that I had to be a part of her scheme but all I knew was that I couldn't get caught, no matter what.
So, I left the troupe. I didn't want them to get involved in my issues. I started working different odd jobs—jobs that could bring more money so I could survive.
And I silently prayed they would give up on finding me and those posters would be replaced by newer ones.
==========
CRASH!
My body jolted and collided against the bottom of the barrel and my eyes shot open from the impact.
"Well, that's the first one. Let's get the rest of them back in the truck."
"We need more backup, boss!" The other whined. "There are too many of them!"
"Quit complainin' and let's go!" The voices became distant as their footsteps moved farther away.
But I couldn't believe that I dozed off into a deep sleep!
I opened the barrel lid and slowly peeked to see if the coast was clear. The room was dark and I was surrounded by the stock berries of crates and barrels.
Seriously, what was with the creatures' obsession with berries tonight?
"This must be the storage room of Diamond Hotel," I muttered to myself, seeing that no one was around.
I jumped out of the barrel and slowly snuck out of the storage room. I saw another room across the hallway.
A laundry room filled with machines that were still working and some clothes were hanging on the clotheslines.
My eyes flickered as a thought came to my mind.
"Yeah, this will do," I smirked.