Chapter Text
“Lena!” A harsh voice yelled up the stairwell to the attic.
“LENA!” The voice yelled again, this time pulling the dark haired women out of her daze.
Standing up from the stool she was sitting on, Lena quickly walked to her small vanity mirror before scrubbing the tears off her face and taking a deep breathe.
It had been a hard day. It had been a hard couple of days. Hell, Lena would venture to say it’s been a hard six years. But today was especially bad as the market didn’t have the produce her adoptive mother had wanted and that had warranted her throwing Lena against a wall and yelling at her for a good hour.
Though when she thought about it, days like this were pretty normal in the luthor mansion. Something outside of Lena’s control would go wrong and Lillian, her adoptive mother, would find any excuse to berate her. A few years ago it would just be a stern talking to, but over the years those talks morphed into Lillian physically, verbally, and emotionally abusing Lena. Some days after Lillian finished her rants Lex, her adoptive brother, would hold her as she cried and would tell her that it’s just because mother loves her that she yells. Some days Lex would be just as mad and would yell at her some more. But, Lex would remind her that she needed to be grateful. If it weren’t for the Luthors she would’ve been put in an orphanage and lord knows where she’d be by now.
“Dead in a ditch.” Lex had told her.
But life wasn’t always like this for Lena, her early childhood years were a joy. Her mother raised her as a single mother and where they lacked in some areas like money they made up for in love. Life with her mother now feels like a daydream. It had been 10 years ago and the memories of her had started to blur around the edges. One thing Lena does remember about her mother was her courage to take on life with a heart full of love and kindness and Lena strives to be just like her. Those early days of her life were nice. The first four years with the Luthors were pretty nice as well. Lionel, her adoptive father, had loved her like a daughter and Lillian rarely laid a hand on her. But Lionel fell ill and passed when Lena was 14 and the past six years Lena has found herself living as a servant in her own home. Soon after Lionels death Lillian moved her up to the attic and took away any sort of comfort Lena owned. The only thing personal she had now was a small chest full of her mother’s belongings, hidden away in a back corner.
Still staring at her tear-stained face in the mirror Lena took another big breathe to ground herself, “Have courage and be kind.” She reminded herself before rolling her shoulders back and walking out of the attic and down the stairs to whatever chore Lillian needed to do.
“Where have you been? I’ve been calling you for five minutes!” Lillian fussed as soon Lena stepped out of the stairwell.
“I’m sorry mother, I was in the restroom” Lena lied smoothly, if Lillian knew she was crying it would warrant another beating.
“Luthors Do NOT cry.” She had told a 10 year old Lena right after her mother passed. And it took a while but Lena learned to control her tears and emotions and only let herself cry in the privacy of her own room or in her brothers arms.
“Your personal habits are getting in the way of your chores. Do I need to lock you out of your bathroom again?” Lillian now asked her, eyes boring into Lena as Lena cast her gaze towards the floor.
“No mother. I’ll be better. What can I do for you?” Lena rushed out.
“Supper. Your brother is famished, shame on you for making him wait.” She said pointing towards the kitchen.
Lena just nodded and made her past Lillian to fix supper. Thankfully Lena had put on a pot of soup earlier In the day and all she had to do was fire up the stove and reheat it. She quickly set the table and set out water and bread before letting her family know that they could come eat. As they sat down Lena brought the pot of soup from the stove and placed it on table before grabbing Lillian and Lex’s bowls to fill up. Once she served them she slowly picked up a third bowl to fill for herself.
Immediately, Lillian hit the ladle out of her hand and it fell back into the pot with a clatter.
“Do you THINK you’ve earned supper tonight lena?” Lillian asked, venom in her voice as she said Lenas name.
Lena swallowed hard as she thought on her day. She’d done the laundry and the shopping and the cooking and the cleaning. She had even woken up early to clean out the fire pit. But the market didn’t have all of Lillian’s produce and she had made them wait on supper an extra five minutes while she gathered herself in her room.
Knowing not to argue Lena just agreed, “No ma’am.”
“No. you haven’t. Now make yourself useful and clean out the stalls.” Lillian ordered as she broke her own bread and started eating, dismissing Lena with a wave of her hand.
Lena walked through the kitchen and towards the barn trying to not think about the hunger pains she’s currently having. It had been three days since she’d had a proper meal and she was hungry. Maybe she could take a few bites of leftover soup without Lillian noticing once they had finished.
Ignoring her stomach Lena found herself in her favorite place, the barn with the horses. She didn’t get to ride but maybe once a week but her horse, Sam a beautiful chestnut clydesdale, was the best companion a girl could ask for. Lionel had gotten Sam for Lena as a 12th birthday gift and while taking care of her and the other horses was a added chore now for 20 year old she wouldn’t trade her time with Sam for anything.
Lena finished up in the barn before heading inside to clean up supper. When she returned she found the pot of soup drained and both bowls piled on top of each other inside of it. Lena sighed, her hopes for a few swallows dashed as she walked the dishes back to be cleaned.
Picking up the first bowl to clean Lena was shocked to find the second bowl still 1/4th of the way full with a small bite of bread left. It wasn’t much, but Lena knew that lex had hidden it from Lillian so that she could have a bite to eat. It was also probably Lex’s version of an apology for how he had treated Lena just three days ago, she can’t remember what she had done, but he had ended up throwing what little Lena had on her plate into the fire and across the kitchen floor and had made Lena clean up the mess. And now soup came as a peace offering.
It wasn’t much but Lena smiled as she sat down to eat her soup. The warm liquid filled her stomach and reminded her of nights with her real mom, eating this very same soup and laughing for hours.
Lena smiled at the memory as she reached up to grab the locket around her neck, one that her mother had given her minutes before she passed.
“Have courage. Be kind.” Lena reminded herself, “it’s going to get better. It HAS to get better.”