"Irene… No tea." I look up from my empty tea cup to my sister.

"Of course there is no tea Calliah. If there was you would have spilled it all over. I don't want to get in trouble with you spilling the tea. So instead of tea we have pretend tea." Irene explains to me.

"So…. No tea?" I say, trying to understand what she said.

"No tea, baby doll." She rolls her eyes and smiles at me fondly.

I watch Irene take her tea cup, holding out her pinkie, and take a small sip. I mimicked her and smiled brightly. I want to be just like Irene when I was her age. She was my role model. "Irene…" I say softy.

"Yes baby doll?" She looks over and smiles.

I open my mouth to ask my question when we hear yelling. I see Irene get up and starts to explore. I get up and follow her. She was waiting for me and held her hand out for me. I grin and take it. "No talking, okay?" She tells me. I nod and we go downstairs. The yelling got louder as we got closer to the dining room. Irene stops me and looks in the crack through the doors. She moves me beneath her so I could see.

"She needs to leave, Bridget," Daddy says to mummy. I wondered who he was talking about. Probably a servant. We fired them all the time.

"She is only five, Richard. She needs me for now." Mummy says.

"She is a bastard!" Daddy says and hits mummy in the face. Irene gasps beside me and I look at her. Irene was looking kind of pale and frightened. I take her hand but she pulls it away. I pout and try to take it again. She pulls it away, and pushes me down. I stay on the ground and look up at Irene. I was hurt that my best friend was being so mean to me.

"She is not!" Mummy yells.

"She is not my daughter and I want her out! Now! If she isn't out of the house by the end of the week, I will send her somewhere." Daddy yells before storming out of the dining room and into his study. I can hear mummy crying in the other room.

Irene frowns at the dining room doors and looks at me. "They were really mad." She says and sits down by me. We sit on the floor waiting for someone to come get us. We waited forever, until my mother came out of the dining room and saw me sitting there.

"Calliah? Irene? What are you two doing sitting there?" She asks us.

"Daddy and you were fighting and we were listening in. Why was daddy yelling?" Irene asks.

Mummy sighs and picks me up. "Irene, would you mind if Calliah and I had some time alone?"

"Sure…" Irene says softly. She goes up the stairs, looking back half way up and smiles softly at me.

Mummy and I go to the living room and she sits down on the couch. "Sweetheart," She starts to say before sighing. "Calliah- I did something bad in my past…"

"Like break a vase? Irene says that she almost did and she says that it nearly gave her a heart attack." I ask, trying to understand things.

"Kind of like that, but in my case, I broke the vase." She says, closing her eyes.

"Did you apologize?" I ask.

Mummy looks at me. "What sweetheart?"

"Did you apologize to the person whose vase you broke? Irene said if you do something bad then you should apologize right away and they might be less angry." I explain.

"Yes. I apologized but it didn't work. Because of my mistake, you have to go to your aunt's house for a little." Mother tells me as she plays with my hair.

Aunt Ginny is an older woman and didn't like kids. She would come over for Christmas and sit with mother. When I tried to talk to her, she would always slap my hand and tell me to leave her alone. The thought of living with her made me sad.

"I don't wanna leave… I'll be good. I promise!" I say to her and tear up.

"Oh sweetie…" She says and sighs. "You are a good girl but you have to leave. Daddy needs time to forgive my mistake and you can't be here for that." She says, kissing my head. "I need you to go upstairs and pack all your clothes, books, and dolls. Can you do that for me?"

"I have to go now?" When mummy nods, I climb off her lap and go upstairs to my room. I thought Irene would come in and help me or talk to me, but she never did. Our nanny came in and helped me pack.

Father and mother were at the front door when I go down with my nanny. My nanny walks out the door and mummy comes up in front of me.

"I love you Calliah so much. Never forget that. I will call you tonight to talk to you, okay?" She say to me softly.

I nod and try to keep my tears away. Irene was by mummy and looked very sad. She comes over to me and sniffles. "Don't cry Calliah. Crying is for babies." She reminds me.

Mummy places a hand on my cheek and kisses my head. "My little rose. Be good for Auntie and I will see you soon." She kisses my head again and stands up. She leads me to my father and hands me off. She goes to Irene and places her hands on Irene's shoulders.

I look up at daddy. "I will miss you, Daddy," I say softly.

"I am not your father, Calliah, so you will call me Mr. Adler when you visit. Is that understood?" He asks me.

"N-Not my dad?" I repeat.

"No. I am not your father. Now get into the car. I don't my driver gone all night." He says, going upstairs.

I take some deep breaths to calm myself down. I don't understand what is happening? Why is everyone being so mean? I look at Irene and frown. "Irene…"

"You have to go sweetie…" Mummy says. Irene and Mummy lead me to the car and mummy helps me into the car. I place my hand on the window and Irene puts her hand on the other side. I start crying harder as we pull away.

Aunt Ginny really didn't want me in her house, so she wasn't very nice: she didn't hit me that much- usually just a of couple hand smacks or swats on the butt. She was more neglectful than anything, often going out to galas and dinner functions, and forgetting about me. It wasn't all horrible, though, because I was able to read and play as much as I wanted. I still had my tutor and etiquette lessons, but they weren't as fun without Irene.

I didn't get to see my family until Christmas, which was five months after I left the house. I remember being super excited to see them, but it wasn't a good time.

I was so excited to see my family, that I couldn't stop bouncing and chattering the whole ride over. Aunt Ginny eventually had had enough of my energy, and backhanded me, with a command to shut up.

"Mummy! Irene!" I yell and running into the house, looking for them. My father and mother come into the hallway and I stop. I felt my smile get bigger as I got closer. I hug both of their legs and look up at them.

"I missed you guys so much! I love you. When can I come back? Tonight? Where is Irene? I missed her too. My lessons haven't been as fun since I am doing them alone. Has she missed me? I missed you all." I say so quickly, my words begin to jumble together

"Get off my legs, Calliah." Daddy says, removing my arm from his leg. He turned to my mother. "It seems your bastard child still hasn't been taught anything. She is still an unruly child. Do you see why she shouldn't be allowed here anymore?" He glares at me briefly before turning back to Mummy. "Poor little Irene just wanted a nice family Christmas and you had to ruin it by inviting that little bastard. I want her out of my house now."

"Richard, its Christmas. She wants to be with her family." Mummy tells Daddy.

"I am not her family. Send her to that piece of shit that is her father if she wants family. She will never find it here." He glares at me once more before going back to the living room.

I can hear Irene laughing. I grin and walk towards the living room, but my mother stopped me. "You can't go in there Calliah." She tells me, forcing me to look up at her.

"But I wanted to see Irene. I miss her. It's Christmas and that is where we have everything," I explain and try to go again.

My mother stopped me and knelt down. "Calliah, I know you miss us, but you can't. Daddy and Irene don't want you here. They don't want you here. I should have never told Auntie Ginny to bring you."

"I want to talk to Irene. I'm her baby doll." I say and pout.

She sighs and nods. "Fine. I will see if she wants to talk to you." She walks into the living room. She returns with Irene and place a hand on Irene's shoulders. "Irene will talk to you but only for a little." Mummy and Aunt Ginny move to the side and I look at Irene.

"Irene. I missed you so much. I had tea parties with my animals." I tell her.

She frowns at me and crosses her arms. "I don't care Calliah. I want you gone."

I frown and move closer to her. "Why? Just cus I'm not here doesn't mean I can't be your baby doll."

"Just leave Calliah. You aren't my baby doll anymore. You aren't my true sister anymore." She says and looks at mummy. "She is ruining my Christmas."

"Calliah, come on. You are going back to your home." Mummy tells me, taking my hand.

"I am home." I tell her and look at Irene. "I'm your baby doll." I say and tear up.

"You are nothing to me." She says and goes back to the living room.

Mummy kneels down before me. "You are going to go back to Aunt Ginny's."

"Alone?" I asked. I had never been alone in Aunt Ginny's house before.

"Alone. Auntie Ginny will be staying here." She tells me. "Wait here, and then I will walk you out." She says before going into the living room. Mummy comes back with a small gift, which she handed to me. "This is my present to you, my little rose. Open it tomorrow morning and think of me and know that I am thinking of you." She had tears in her eyes, but was fighting to keep them from falling.

I pull it to my chest and nod. I was sobbing by this point. I just wanted my mummy on Christmas. The two of us walk out to the car and she helps me in.

"I will miss you sweetie, but it will be better this way. You will understand when you are older." She told me before shutting the door.

I then made my lonely way home where I spent my first- of what would eventually be many- Christmas alone.