The Last Sunset

Ella watched the little girl with hair as black as the moonless night and as smooth as silk come out of the little hut. Her gray eyes were distracted, playing with some wolf cubs that her family always kept close by.

Ella's hatred of being cast aside by the Alpha's son, that girl's father, was too great for her to forget and move on without revenge. One of the wolf cubs came up to Ella, who bent down and picked it up with contempt, but she needed it at that moment to attract the girl.

"Hello, Cybele! Come and get this cute little animal." Ella called out and saw with joy that the little girl had finally noticed her.

With the faltering steps typical of children who have only just learned to walk, Cybele began to advance towards her.

Cybele stretched out her little arms, and Ella threw the wolf on the ground and picked her up, ran towards the place where her car had stopped, and as soon as she got inside it, the girl started crying, and Ella slapped her across the mouth, and the girl's surprise was evident.

"Shut your mouth, or I'll throw you in the freezing lake!" Ella threatened and the girl remained silent, holding in her sobs.

...

Cybele woke up to the sound of the alarm clock and got up to prepare breakfast for the family. Her mother, Ella, demanded that she prepare everything before her brothers woke up and saw her client leaving. She couldn't make a sound either. Cybele no longer minded the abuse she received from her mother. It had always been like that. The beatings she received, which left scars for some time, no longer bothered her either. She was tired of trying to be the daughter her mother wanted. Ella was never satisfied. She slept all day, leaving Cybele to look after the house. Ella would only get up when it was almost time for her clients to arrive.

That morning, Cybele was in for a surprise. Ella was waiting for her, sitting at the kitchen table and holding a lit cigarette between her fingers.

"Good morning, my child."

Cybele didn't answer, and hid her surprise. She walked past her and began preparing breakfast in silence, ignoring the presence of her mother, who probably wanted to give her another beating.

"Darling... I have to talk to you about something..."

Cybele continued her work, without showing that she was listening, but Ella went on.

"My clients have started to take an interest in you..."

Cybele felt the chill on her skin, and without Ella realizing it, she was startled.

"I can't keep supporting a tramp like you without any return! It's time for you to help me pay for this house!" Ella said more aggressively.

"That's a crime. I'm only thirteen." Cybele reminded Ella, hoping that her mother would rethink the matter.

Suddenly, she felt her face burn. Her mother was standing in front of her with hatred in her eyes and had just slapped her across the face. Cybele looked at her questioningly.

"I'm not stupid! I know that. But you already have a desirable body and my... Friends have realized this. In exchange for you serving them, I'll allow you to attend the reserve school." Ella said and sat down again. "What do you say?"

Cybele turned and faced her. Ella had never allowed her to leave the house to study. She had learned everything she knew on her own, with the help of her brothers' books.

"I... I don't want to." Cybele said and turned to the stove where the water for the coffee was boiling furiously.

"You're going to serve them anyway. The study was just a way of rewarding you for allowing and obeying their command. But I can find clients who won't mind being...violent, to grope the fresh, virgin body you have to offer them..." Ella said calmly and Cybele knew she wasn't bluffing.

"I... I accept, but I want some time to prepare." Cybele said thoughtfully.

"You can go to the reserve school today. I had one of your future clients enroll you last week. You have three months to decide if you're going to continue attending the school and helping me with the household expenses, or if I'm going to have to chain you up so that you can be used violently, and either way, you're going to help me keep this house." Ella said and stood up. "Your class starts in twenty minutes." Ella said and left.

Cybele's eyes lit up. She had no way of knowing yet, but while she was having visions of large, rough hands touching her body, her eyes were wide open, rapidly changing colors. She needed to avoid that fate, and she already knew how to do it.

Cybele quickly helped her siblings get dressed for school and then got herself ready. On top of her makeshift bed, which was nothing more than some cardboard lining a large wooden box, were school supplies, just like her brothers'. She picked them up and made her way to the reserve school for the first time.

When she arrived at the school, she was made to take an exam and test her knowledge, to find out what grade she would be placed in. Her knowledge led her to be accepted into the class of students two years older than her, but Cybele didn't care about getting ahead of her studies. All she could think about was her plans. She didn't have time to feel proud of herself.

She sat in the second row after the door in the fifth seat, and looking to her side, she saw a boy from the reservation watching her with interest, and she wondered if he spoke her language, because it was obvious that he was of oriental origin, and when the teacher started teaching at the front, she didn't think about the oriental boy anymore.

During the snack break, a few girls from the reserve, all with similar features, brunettes with dark eyes, approached and began to try to talk to Cybele.

Cybele hadn't expected this and was delighted to have friends her own age. They spoke of their tribe with pride and love, which made Cybele wish that one day, there would be a place she could be proud to be a part of.

She was a fast learner. In just a few days at school, she already knew more than the rest of her classmates. Her mother taught her at home to be obedient to the commands of her customers, and Cybele often pretended she hadn't understood, so that those lessons would be extended. She didn't mind being beaten when Ella lost patience with her constant mistakes.

One of her friends from school sat next to her in the cafeteria with the others and then Cybele understood why they had sought out her friendship.

"Cybele... You sit next to Kevin..."

"I don't know who you're talking about." Cybele replied thoughtfully.

"That young man with the green eyes and light brown hair..."

"Ah!" Cybele remembered the oriental. "Yes."

"So..." Catlyn, who had started the conversation, said, turning red, and her friends began to exchange giggles. "I'm in love with him..."

"Wow! How... Interesting..." Cybele said, still not understanding why they were talking about the boy with her.

"He's destined to marry Catlyn, but he hasn't approached her yet and it seems he doesn't even know she exists this year..." Emma, another of her friends, explained, visibly upset.

"Because he's meant to marry her?" Cybele asked confused and watched as another of her friends elbowed Emma.

Emma smiled awkwardly.

"It's a tradition of our tribe. You wouldn't understand. And that's why we need your help. Kevin doesn't want to talk to any of the girls in the tribe. Could you talk to him about his fiancée, so we can see how he reacts?"

Cybele stared at them coldly, but she was bleeding inside. They only wanted her friendship, to use her. They saw her usefulness, but she wouldn't allow it.

"I've never talked to him and I don't intend to." Cybele said and concentrated on her snack in the hope that they would leave without insisting, but that wasn't the case.

"We know that." Emma said quietly. "But you can approach him, and pretend that you're seeking his friendship..."

"Yes. I can do that." Cybele said and stood up. "Perhaps he's not ready for that, just as I wasn't when you approached me... For those few days, I believed I had friends." Cybele said and hurried off.

Her friends looked at each other and went after her. They found her in the bathroom washing her face.

"Cybele... We didn't approach you out of interest..." Emma tried to explain, but she didn't have enough arguments to refute the truth. The sentence sounded false even to her own ears.

Cybele stared at them with a cold anger, which she decided to hide. After all, she wouldn't be there for long anyway.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked without showing her intentions.

"Just make friends with him and find out his intentions." Catlyn replied. "I need to know if he's interested in someone else."

"I'll do that, but until I find out something, don't come looking for me again." Cybele said and walked away, bumping into them with her shoulder.

Cybele returned to the class and started writing while the teacher was talking. She turned to Kevin, who looked at her like he knew her secrets. Now she knew his name.

"Can I borrow your notes?"

"No." He replied with a frown.

Cybele went back to concentrating on her teacher's words. As soon as the siren sounded, announcing the end of lessons, Cybele stood up and was about to leave the classroom when a hand grabbed her arm, not hard, but firmly.

She turned around and saw that it was Kevin. She looked inquiringly at his hand holding her, and he let go and gave her a friendly smile.

"You didn't insist on my notes."

Cybele looked at him with her usual cold eyes.

"You said no."

"I said no at the time." He said and held out the notebook, which Cybele took suspiciously.

"Thank you... I'll return it tomorrow..."

"Please, take your time." He said and left.

It was the first time Cybele had talked to a boy other than her brothers, and it had an effect on her feelings that she didn't know. She put his notebook in her backpack and went home.

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