*****content advisory: child abuse******
My stomach is on fire, I stumbled up the stairs as my vision blurs. My head is spinning, what did they put in the cake. It's my tenth birthday today and they gave me a small piece of cake. It made me so happy but who knew they would put something in it.
I puke on the stairs as my insides burn. Even while my insides are on fire and It seems I might die, i still feel nothing. The maids said I don't know what emotions are and it's true. I don't feel happy,sad,scared or anything else. I have no emotions but it feels natural, to me everyone else is strange.
I finally made it to my dusty room, the door creaked open as the tiny bed in the corner comes into view. The room is pitch black but I'm still able to see perfectly like it's daylight.
I stumbled closer to the bed but I couldn't make it as I collapse to the floor.
"Is she still alive?"
"I hope she dies tonight, then we can return to the main castle permanently. " that must be stacy and lacy, the maids who poisoned me. I could feel my consciousness fading in and out. They continued to ramble on and on as their voices echoed faintly in my head before my vision went black.
*************
"Child why are you just standing there" i jolt my eyes into focus, as the tiny apartment i live in comes into view.
"Jia, I asked you to grab me a beer from the fridge are you deaf" a man sitting on the floor screams at me. Jia, that's my name
"Leave her alone " a woman screams from the corner of the room. She was covered in bruises, her eyes were swollen and her lips busted, 'mother!!'
"What did you just say to me you b***h" he stumbles up as he lunges for me. I stumbled as I fall backwards. Mother runs at him grabbing him by the waist.
"Run baby... run" he was hitting her as he screamed at her to free himself.
"Mother... i'm scared"
"Run baby.... i'm behind you" she cried desperately to me. I bolted out the door running down the streets. I could still hear his voice as he ran stumbling after me. I could also hear Mother running after us. Cars honked at me as i crossed roads without thinking.
I just ran without looking back, the lights from the buildings blinding me as people watched as the madness unfolded. Some took out their phones to record while I heard others calling the cops.
I could hear him getting closer, I ran to cross another busy street without thinking twice as he was gaining on me. A loud bang stopped me in my tracks as people around screamed.
Two bodies were laying on the floor covered in blood as a car stood still feets before them.
"No....no....no....Mother....father.... no wake up..... I'm sorry.... it's my fault" I walked towards them trying to shake mother awake.
"Someone call the cops. Baby girl don't look" someone had grabbed my arm pulling me into a hug as a crowd gathered.
They all think I can't hear them but I hear everything. They call me a pitiful child, some say I killed my parents, they say I should have just stayed still. It's my fault, i killed them, its my fault mother I miss you. I'll be abandoned good child... so please....please come back...
"Jia, hi I'm grandma Lee and you will be staying with me from today. I'm your mothers distant relative" she looked at me just the same way, with so much pity.
"You poor thing, how could they put you through so much at just 9 years old, come here child. " she streched her hands out to me for a hug and I took it gratefully. I have been crying for the past 2 days and I am so exhausted.
"They all said i killed them, was it really my fault. I'm a bad child that's why. I will be a good child so tell mother and father to come back grandma please." she stroked my back. It has been so long since I was hugged so warmly.
"My dear, they were bad parents. You don't need to feel pity for them dying. I say good riddance" she laughed a little.
I lived with grandma Lee from then on. She was a distant relative of my mother. She had always advised mother to leave with me promising us a safe space and a new life but mom never took it.
We moved to another town and she changed my name from Jia to sarah for protection. 'You are still young, its not too late to start over with good memories' she would always say.
I had nightmares of the accident but I got over it quite fast because of grandma's support.
She would always say my father abused me but my mother let me get abused.
Every year on their death anniversary she would take me to their graves and spit on them for almost ruining my life.
I found love and life living with grandma, it was a kind of family i always longed for. She gave me the stability and safety any child deserved. I was even able to make friends. It was amazing.
When I turned 12 a friend of mine Introduced me to novels and I fell in love with them.
I always imagined myself getting transported to another world where i would live with my loving parents and siblings that wpuld spoil me with love. so I picked up knowledge on different subject. Agriculture, engineering, medicine,pharmacy etc. If it could help me in a fantasy world I learnt about it.
Grandma even encouraged me to pick up judo and takwando, she said it would give me the courage to fight back if I ever needed to.
But all that happiness didn't last long. When I turned 17, grandma's health took a turn for the worse and just like that I lost the only rock in my life. Before grandma passed she ingrained it in my soul
'It wasn't my fault, i just got the short end of the stick when it came to parents. Just because I couldn't control who gave birth to me doesn't mean I can't control my future.' So I promised her never to let myself get abused, no matter who the person was. If I cannot beat them I should run, run far far away.
Grandma would have been so angry at me for sneaking out at night but I would be so glad if she comes back to scold me.
"Grandma i miss you" i turned the corner before I saw it, a truck barreling down at me before everything went black.
In a dark room, a body sprawled on the floor with eyes closed. Her eyes shot open as her golden eyes with black spiral line running through the middle shone into the darkness.