I hate people. Yes, you heard me right, even you. It has been that way since my mother unfortunately passed away six years ago.

I'm sixteen years old now and for the past six years, my life has been hell.

I was just a normal boy who had everything because my parents were rich but after she passed away, everything changed.

My father who used to love me so dearly suddenly changed, he loved her so much that he couldn't handle losing her and started blaming everything on me, he called me a cursed child and said I was the reason she died.

I understood the part about him loving my mother, I mean the woman was extremely beautiful and had a wonderful personality so who wouldn't love her?

What I didn't understand was why he was blaming me for everything, I mean, I was also extremely sad that she died so there was no way I could have been the cause of her death.

According to what Cecilia told me, he was just unable to let go and because of that, he took away my freedom and everything I loved.

I was stopped from going to school and started getting homeschooled, he said he was doing it for my own good but I knew he was doing it just to isolate me from the real world for a while just to make sure his grand plan played out perfectly.

Getting locked in the huge mansion I called home felt like an unbearable punishment especially because of the fact that he also took away every communication device I had, my phone, my tablets, and my laptop.

He made sure there would be no way for me to reach the outside world and that was when I concluded that he was really trying to isolate me. 

Yes, it felt like an unbearable punishment at first but after a while, I was able to adapt to it and accept what was now my life. 

I thought he would stop there but he didn't, I thought he only wanted to isolate me but he was really out to make life miserable for me.

When my mother was alive, we ate a full three meals daily, nobody in the household of Estevao was allowed to starve not even the maids and guards, they ate just as much as we did and while that didn't change for them, it suddenly changed for me one day.

I got up that morning by 6:00 AM just like I always did, a habit that my mother instilled in me at an early age and because of that, I perceived the alarm clock as something that was there to annoy me instead of actually waking me up.

I smashed the button of the useless alarm clock with my hand folded into a fist instantly shutting the annoying device up before slowly getting up on my feet.

Now that I think about it, my father didn't teach me much, he was just there to give me anything I asked for, maybe he only smiled at me because my mother was also smiling. 

Almost everything I knew, my mother taught me, she always told me it was always good to do a little workout and get your body going before starting the day, that was the reason why I always did at least fifty push-ups in my room every day before doing anything else.

I completed the push-up quota I set for myself in no time and after that, I made my way to my bathroom to brush my teeth.

As I slowly brushed my teeth, my glance shifted to the red bracelet on my left hand, it was a gift my mother gave me on my seventh, she said it was a good luck charm and that I should wear it everywhere. 

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

That sounds ridiculous to me now that I'm older but I still wear the bracelet everywhere, I haven't taken it off since she passed away. 

I don't know if that's why I've been having dreams where I see the bracelet glowing and floating, it's been the same exact dream for years now with nothing notable happening other than the floating glowing bracelet which is strange but I guess it really isn't anything to worry about.

Brushing my teeth never took that much of my time and now that I was done with it, I returned to my room.

On a normal day, this would be the time I go outside and walk around the house a bit and maybe have a small chat with Cecelia before coming inside to have breakfast but today was different.

I had a chemistry test in the afternoon and although I was up till an hour before midnight last night studying, I wanted to study some more before leaving.

Studying was never my favorite thing to do but with all my devices gone and almost no form of entertainment present for me I actually started enjoying doing it which was really surprising to me.

I guess people will do anything to scratch an itch of boredom even if it means doing something they don't usually enjoy doing.

My desk was still messy from last night and after staring at it for a while, I sat down and got to work.

I started studying by 6:25 AM and I guess I got too engrossed that by the time my stomach started acting up, it was already 10:06 AM.

"Whoops, I guess I got carried away," I muttered before getting up on my feet. "Until today, I would have never imagined myself studying this long in the morning, I guess people can do anything under the right conditions."

It was time for my breakfast break and eager to find out what the maids cooked up for breakfast today, I think the fact that my father had most definitely left for work also added to my joy because, to be honest, I hated seeing that man's face.

With a cheerful smile on my face, I slid down the rails of the staircase something both mother and Cecilia had warned me not to do in the past numerous times but I still ended up doing it every now and then. Eh, it's not like I've fallen off before. 

For some reason, I felt elated, like today was going to be the best day ever unbeknownst to me that the opposite was already in effect. 

As I slid down the stairs, I found my smile suddenly disappearing as caught sight of the head maid in the dining room to the left.

A middle-aged woman with an unerasable stern face, I guess it made sense for her to be that stern to control the four maids under her but I still didn't like the fact that she never smiled.

I could instantly sense that something was wrong not just by her presence there but because the four maids under her were also in the room. There was also the fact that I couldn't smell anything. 

'What's this all about?' I wondered as I slowly made my way to the area.

"Good morning, master Ezra." The head maid greeted me as soon as I got close enough to do so.

"Good morning," I responded before turning to the other maids standing by the side.

The first three I didn't really care about since they never gave me the time of the day but Cecilia had a sad expression on her face and was avoiding eye contact with me for some reason.

I should have noticed it at first but the dining table had nothing on it which was strange because my breakfast was always there every morning no matter when I decided to eat it.

"Miss Stella," I called before turning to the head maid.

"Yes."

"Where's my breakfast?"

"I'm sorry young master but there won't be any for you today, those were orders from your father."

'Orders from my father?'

I was confused, why would my own father deny me breakfast? It was baffling to me but at the same time, it also made sense.

I had learned from everything he had done to me so far to not just fly with anger in situations like this, all I needed was to ask the necessary questions and understand the situation.

"Okay, but did he say why I am being denied breakfast today?" I asked hoping that it would be a good reason even though I was sure there was no good reason for anyone to deny their son breakfast.

"Yes, he said it will be your punishment for not joining him for breakfast and he said it will be that way anytime you refuse to join him for breakfast or any meal." She disclosed.

"He wanted me to join him for breakfast and he didn't send any of you to come call me?"

I was stunned beyond belief, I could tell from the way he looked at me since my mother died that he hated me and, to be honest the feeling became mutual after a while but I never expected him to stoop this low.

Stella refused to answer my question and after standing there for a while I turned to leave.

While I was turning, I caught sight of the three maids standing beside Cecilia smiling, they were deriving pleasure from my suffering and no matter how much they tried to hide it, I could always tell.

I always caught their scornful gaze on my mother even as a child, it didn't make sense to me because my mother was the kindest person I ever knew.

I tried to find out from Cecilia if they got mistreated by my mother behind the scenes but she claimed that assumption was false and finding that out made me more confused then.

Why look at someone who treats you so kindly that way? It didn't make any sense to me, it took a little growing up on my side for me to realize that they were just jealous but that still didn't make any sense to me.

Why couldn't they just be content with the fact that even as maids, they were living better lives than most people out there? But no, they decided to hate the person who always looked out for them because she was better than them, and rightfully so.

I guess they hated me too because I was her son and well, the feeling was mutual.

I hated those three and their stupid forgettable faces and it wasn't just them, I hated my heartless father for the way he suddenly changed after mother passed away and I hated the head maid for her indifference toward everything.

She never looked at me or my mother the way those other three did but I still hated her for turning a blind eye to all their gossiping about my mother even after her death.

There was only one person in the house that I didn't hate at that moment.

With my mother gone, she was the only little bit of bright light left in my life, the only one that gave me hope that there were good people out there who wouldn't despise you or try

to hurt you for no good reason.

Well, I guess she did give me hope until the right condition for her to falter was met.