A Breathe of Freedom

"Seraphina, darling are you ok? Would you like me to have the servants make you something to eat or drink?' "No mother, I'm quite fine" "I wish you wouldn't call me mother darling, I sound like some evil counterpart to your life" I pretend to be too focused on my book written in Braille to respond. I hear a soft sigh from her direction and then there's silence. Finally, I can think. Alesha Paris DeJuneis. Dubbed by the press as the "best mother on this planet and any other." She lost her son and husband in a deadly car crash and had to take care her newly blind, paraplegic daughter while taking the reins of a multi-billionaire company that she had virtually no hand in before. My name is Seraphina Asia DeJuneis, the burden my poor mother had to carry on her shoulders with her grief and new responsibilities. When the car crashed, I was completely crushed and my head was slammed into something like steel. I can remember green trees and a long open road in my eyesight and then there was nothing, just a colorless blur and the pain was to unbearable for me to stay awake longer than a few minutes. But in those minutes I heard my father utter with his last breath the words that I kept close to my heart: "Don't let anyone tell you that you can't, not even those close to you". That was two years ago and now I'm a determined 18 year old intent of finally cutting any ties I have left with my mother and breaking free. Why would I do this? Because her "best mother in the world" routine is only a ruse. That woman is a cold-hearted snake and I knew it from the day I woke up in the hospital and I realized that I had to pretend to get ahead. An underage burden could only do so much. So even though I woke up, I stayed perfectly still and listened as my mother and my doctor that is bound by a weightless Hippocratic Oath. "She is to be bound to a wheelchair for only a few months, then with physical therapy her legs would be able to work again and her eyesight might be able to be restored due to new developments in science" he said. After a few moments, the woman I one lovingly referred to as mom replied to that other snake "For $100,000 dollars she is to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life and her eyesight is never to be restored. I've come to far for her to ruin me now" It was then that I realized two things: My mother had lost all of my respect and because of something she had done, our family is destroyed. She did not deserve to be apart of my life and I needed to cut her off immediately. But for me to do this I had to play it safe, I couldn't do anything too strenuous now but I wasn't going to sit back and let my family's death be ruled an accident. So I sat back silently and just nodded when my mother relayed my prognosis that she payed for, I complied with my many doctors and nurses who my mother payed to coddle and take care of me in my "forever disabled state, and I kept up my helpless ruse until my 'loving mother decided I should go to a special school. I knew that my school sessions were the only times I had away from the watchful eyes of my tormentors. I just needed one person to be my confidante. The only person I could really trust was my driver, Chavez. I was finally able to feel a small bolt of happiness at the fact that there was still someone I could trust in this world I could trust. It was Chavez that helped to put my plan in motion. It had been six months before my mother deemed me ready to enter into civilization. That was just enough time for me to heal and now I was ready to get my legs back into action. So when my mother thought Chavez was taking me to school every morning, I was really checking into a clinic under a fake name and completing physical therapy. While my face was forgotten to the world, my name would still draw attention to me. For the next six months, I worked and worked to get my legs back in working order and for me to be able to work with a walking stick and guide dog. While I was quite interested in those new developments in science, I had to take baby steps, literally. With my legs in working order and my mastery of my eye condition, I was ready to investigate the circumstances surrounding the accident for myself to get to the bottom of things. With Chavez's muscle-like help, I was able to find out that when my dad's car was in the shop just for a measly oil change, the brakes were indeed tampered with by one of the workers, who were paid by, surprise; surprise, my mother. But I didn't understand her motive for wanting to kill all of us at the same time. So I had to snoop around my father's forbidden office space in my house while my mother was gone. I felt around his desk and felt one of his picture frames he always kept there. I memorized the picture in it by heart, all of us gathered around that fated car, happy. But, I had to quickly find something out of place before my mother returned then I felt it, a loose board in one of his drawers that contained one single sheet of paper. BINGO! I quickly rolled the paper into my shirt so I could have Chavez read it to me later then I hurried out of the office as fast as I possibly could. After another agonizing dinner with my mother I was able to get Chavez to read that paper. I finally understood why my mother wanted us out of the picture. According to this paper, which I found out was a copy of Dad's will, my brother and I were the only people entitled to his company after he died, my mother would not receive anything. So now it became clear why she would want to get rid of us all at one and why her stomach suddenly acted up when it was time to go on one of her daily rides. And the reason why she was intent on keeping me disabled also became clear. I would have to automatically sign everything over to her no questions asked. With this information, I was even more determined to get better and cut my mother off at the jugular. Take away the one thing she would literally kill for: riches. My dad saw a reason to leave her high and dry, now I do as well. So here we are now, one day after my birthday, waiting for the family lawyer to come in and finally distribute my late father's assets. But my mother would be in for a shock when she realized her helpless daughter was now capable of walking for herself and thanks to science and help from Chavez, I was able to see everything for a full year. I saw the loving glances between her and that disgraceful doctor. I saw the nurses looking down on me with pity at my situation and I saw my mother, only by blood, sneer at me with venom in her eyes while asking if "I was ok?' or "I needed something?" But today I was finally going to be free of her and this family. While there are some happy memories in this house with my family, I no longer call it home anymore and after today I have no family, except Chavez of course. But I needed a new start and to do this I have to remove the toxicity and move away. If my plan went accordingly, I would be able to move away in peace and leave the company in good hands. When the lawyer had settled and was ready to start, my mother exclaimed with the happiest smile I had ever seen in years "Let us begin!" We both listened in earnest to the contents of my dad's will and then I heard the words that made my heart leap "Due to your current condition Seraphina, you are not fit to inherit your father's company." While I had a whole speech prepared to deliver to my mother, I realized I had given her too much control of my life already and I just had to erase her from my life as easily as possible. So I stood up walked towards a very stunned lawyer and delighted in the horrified gasp from that snake. " I sign all of my assets away to Chavez Astorino and his family." After working my pen to write my signature, I turn around and see literal tears streaming down her face. I feel a small twinge of guilt at the fact that she is now penniless and destitute, unless she marries that already married doctor. Oh well, that's her problem now. I'm out of her life and I'll make sure she's out of mine. The last thing I see of her is her form slumped on the floor in a faint. I walk outside, look around and breathe in the air that swirls around. My shoulders feel so light and I feel so free. I finally gave my 'mother' what she deserved and she is completely cut off from my life. How quickly life can change and how sudden can it become hard. At least we can be sure of one thing, the shackled can taste freedom and the wrong will be caught and punished.