Her Story Her Face

The cool breeze of march sweeps past her face. Thana felt it like pins poking on her skin. She brings her freezing hands inside the pockets of her coat after fixing the beanie she had worn on her head, the last item she grabbed before leaving the house.

She walks at a fast pace, scanning her surroundings with every step she takes for she is becoming a bit too paranoid. The way her cheeks turned into a crimson red made her look like she was holding her breath. But the thoughts that tormented her were thoughts or the tyrants catching her outside.

They do not frighten her to an extent but she wouldn't need them adding up to the pressure of the morning that wasn't exactly pleasant for her. She can only handle so much that receiving more trash talking was unnecessary. 

Thana just needed to get past the gate of this neighborhood of hell then she'd be freed. 

But as always, her name isn't just part of the list that the gods hold on the palm of their hands. Her luck was non-existent and her life is always at the edge of the cliff, one blow and she was done for. There's no other choice but to face the misery that awaits her. 

"Quit following me around twin pigs," Thana snaps first, earning her frustrated snorts from the darned twins. She turns around to face them. They looked at her with their brilliant green eyes and gritting braced teeth as they meanly eyed her up and down.

Thana wishes their father, Dr. Evans, a well-known dentist, placed barbed wires on their teeth instead. Unfortunately, he didn't but she ought to do that herself because her mood was becoming a wildfire and she needed a way to release her anger. 

They bring trouble wherever they choose to venture like one time they burned down an appliance shop that their grandparents own. And the time when they visited Manchester for a holiday but came back with a police record.

Others describe them as a walking disaster. And as miserable as Thana's life could get, they are always hot on her trails. They're the representation of bad luck following her around, refusing to let her be.

Thana had to be placed in such a dreadful neighborhood filled with wealth-craved, unpleasant people.

"Such a temper. Could this be the effects of the breakup," Tweedledee provokes Thana with a grin. 

Word surely travels fast in this forsaken place.

Her twin brother, as Thana would also call Tweedledum, followed after his sister with a peal of obnoxious laughter, "Joshua must've taken the right pills this time. Must've been the anti-blind pills."

"Oh, Joshua and whatever he claims to be his important medication. I remember he'd shake whenever we try to pry it off of him. He's psychotic; no wonder he'd choose to be with a partner very similar to himself," Tweedledee strikes.

Thana should not be bothered by the careless words of the good-for-nothing twins but her face hardened as she was already in a foul mood. Nothing at all was giving her a break. 

She didn't have time to entertain the two because she was fueled with the desire to get away quickly as she saw the guy whom she despised more than anything in the world. He's the only one who can almost successfully bury her deeper in hell with what she was already experiencing. 

Not her sisters, not the twins, but the man himself, Cain. 

It shouldn't be a coincidence that such a man is named after the son of Eve, the boy who killed his brother. Cain became the sole reason for his own father's death, Mr. Richards, dying of a heart attack because of his own son's brutal nature. 

There used to be a rumor that Cain must have done something to his father enough to trigger what his poor old father had been hiding from him, an illness. Despite such unfortunate events happening to their family, he refuses to turn over a new leaf. 

Cain is the spawn of the devil himself. Aside from being verbally abusive, he's also one to physically hurt you.

Thana isn't in the mood to be another of Cain's victims again, not again when she had already escaped once. Cain walked slowly, he likes the thrill of giving his victims a head start to run before he catches them.

Thana turns on her heel and makes a run for it, ignoring the siblings that infuriates Thana but can't actually touch her. She makes her escape by putting her track and field experience to use. She could call herself someone physically trained.

With what had gone through, it was a necessity because one had to do all she must to get away from getting hurt. 

The twin's loud mockeries fades as Thana gets closer to the gate leading out of her misery. Her heart rate quickens when she hears the sound of steps going after her.

She pushes aside the thoughts of Cain behind her tracks as she makes a sharp turn towards the market square after successfully passing the gates. 

But as she was starting to slow down, seeing that she was about to meet a crowd outside of the nearest store, she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

"Don't touch me, get away from me!" Thana thought she only shouted in resistance through her mind, but the fear converted her thoughts into her voice. 

"Leave me alone, Cain!" She exclaims with persistence as she swiftly turns and hits the arms of the person who touched her.

She clenched her fist into a tight ball, ready to pull a punch but she then realized that the person that grabbed her isn't the person she expected him to be. 

It confused her further that it was an older man dressed in a warm jogging attire. The man looked like he was in his fifties, could be older but he looked healthy and fit. The old man wears a rather surprised look on his wrinkled face.

Innocently, he lifts a familiar purse in front of Thana in which she quickly takes it from his hand, claiming what belongs to her. She looks past the old man to find no trace of Cain following behind them. 

Without expressing her gratitude to the old man, she holds onto her purse and walks away. Thana leaves the old man stunned by her rudeness and he could only sigh at what adolescence had become in this generation. 

"Ungrateful child. That's another one coming from that rich neighborhood," the old man snorts, leaving the opposite direction, resuming his morning jog. 

On the other hand, Thana didn't realize that she was speed walking like she was hot on her trail until she noticed that she was already deep in the marketplace, and she arrived faster than she had expected. Upon realizing that she had slowed down until she came to a full halt and she caught her breath. 

She turns to her right when she notices that she stopped right in front of a cafe with large windows. She sees someone whom she never thought she'd see for a while. 

It was Joshua with another girl.

The sight hit Thana like a crack of thunder, her ears ringing with disdain. She scoffed, watching the two of them shamelessly flirting as if no one else existed.

The girl was unfamiliar—likely from another town or perhaps a foreigner, drawn in by the same innocent facade that once fooled Thana.

The audacity of him, she thought bitterly. Joshua wasn't even remotely handsome. His entire appeal hinged on that "kind neighborhood boy" act, a carefully crafted lie he used to ensnare unsuspecting women.

But Thana knew better now. She had learned the hard way that love was nothing more than an illusion, a fragile fantasy crafted by those who are too innocent to see the truth.

Even so, she couldn't entirely blame Joshua for his manipulations. After all, her reasons for dating him hadn't exactly been noble either. She hadn't fallen for his tricks. Not really. 

She had gone along with it because she needed a distraction, a brief escape from the loneliness and chaos of her life. But, of course, she kept that part to herself.

She had played her role, letting him believe he had won her over with his charm. Little did he know, she'd already figured him out long before he uttered his first sweet-talking word. Thana stayed just long enough to have her fun. Then, when she decided it was over, she let him go without a second thought.

Now, as she walked past the café with her head held high, she refused to give him or his new conquest a second glance. The whispers and curious stares from passersby didn't faze her. Let them look, she thought. Their opinions were as fleeting as the London sun.

And speaking of the sun, a single ray managed to break through the overcast sky, illuminating Thana's face like a spotlight. The light didn't flatter; it revealed. It drew attention to what was once beautiful but now married—her imperfections, her scars.

Three marks told the story of her past, etched into her skin as if to ensure she would never forget. One stretched from her left eyebrow to the side of her nose. Another ran from her upper lip to her chin. The last, a straight line across her right cheek, stood out the most.

These scars weren't just blemishes; they were her history written in flesh. A constant reminder of the tragedy she'd endured and survived.

Thana kept walking, her shoulders straight and her gaze unyielding. She carried her scars not as shame but as proof that she was still standing. And that was more than enough.