Twelve

"My life is not meaningful mother"

Crystal smiled sadly, her hands on her laps.

"My dear....do not say....."

"No mother, this is the truth. I cannot hide it from you anymore right? I know i have been unfair to you. You have the right to know.

You have taken care of me for three years without asking for anything in return. You are a very good woman and i am happy to consider in you mother" Crystal said, cleaning the tears that were already falling. She hated this....remembering her past.

Her torture.

"I never knew my parents. I am not even sure they existed. I don't even know why they had abandoned their child but still it hurts when the people who had brought you into this cruel world leave you carelessly in front of a stranger's doorstep.

"I did not even understand why they had picked me from their doorstep and carried me into their home if they knew they will hate me. My life is meaningless mother. The more i explain in details, the more it becomes more confusing" Crystal said, biting her lips, trying hard to control those tears that were threatening to fall.

Memories.....dark hidden memories were starting to unravel itself in her head. Those painful memories gnawed at her once again, taking away all the strength she had in her.

"Your parents abandoned you on a doorstep?" Madam Garcia asked with widened eyes.

"Yes. They left me there to suffer. I started doing chores at five mother. They started beating and inflicting pain on me right from a very young age. I never had a decent bed nor did i have a perfect childhood. I started hawking at the young age of seven.

"I cannot even choose which was the worst experience of my life because all i have ever been throughout were far from worst. I was raped for the first time at the young age of seven right there in the streets"

"Oh my God! Crystal I'm so so...."

"No mother, let me continue....i want to continue. That night was a traumatic experience for me. Being young then, I did not know what it meant to have sex or be raped. All i felt was an unbreakable pain They did not even pity a poor little girl. They did all they wanted to do with me and all i could do was cry....i was helpless mother"

"They?" Madam Garcia could not help but ask. A tear tricked out of her left eye as she heard Crystal's story. It hurt that and innocent child had to go through all that.

"I was raped by four men. I never saw their face but they were very big and hefty. After they were done with me all i did was cry on the ground where they left me. I didn't move from that spot for a long time till when i had no other choice but to get up"

"I was sore all over and i had a lot of injuries over my body but my foster mother never looked at that or even wondered what had happened to me to the point of coming back home with only a pant on. All she did was run inside and come out with a very hot iron"

Crystal stopped, trying to stop her tears from flowing. Raising her shirt up she showed Madam Garcia the place where her foster mother had used the hot iron on her. It was on her stomach.

"They never took me to the hospital. I thought i would die with the work they gave me and also because of my condition. They didn't even bathe an eye when they saw what the iron had done to me. Instead, the work they gave me doubled.

"I don't know how it healed but it healed without consulting the hospital. I hawked and at most thrice a week i would be raped.

"Why didn't you tell anyone my dear? Why did you have to shoulder every thing on your own?" Curiosity took over Madam Garcia, her tears for this girl kept flowing, not wanting to hold any back. She wanted to show her she felt for her and she understood what she had gone through.

"Who would i have turned to Mother? When i had reported to my teacher when i was six, they called my foster parents but i did not know what they were talking about. All i knew was that, the moment i got home, my foster mother put pepper in my eyes and used belt to beat me so that next time i won't talk.

"Three days before you had found me, i had been raped and the money i usually get from selling the biscuits my foster mother tells me to sell was stolen. I had gone home to face her but i could not take the beatings anymore....they were much. For some reason it felt that if i stayed and endured the punishment, i wont be able to see the light of the next day.

"And that is why i had ran that night into the streets. I never knew if my foster parents came after me but i felt safe on the street despite the fact i was still raped. And that was how you found me there in front of that house in that state. That is my shameful story mother.

"This is why i suffer constant nightmares and tortures? How will someone be able to sleep when he or she has had a very terrible past just like mine? It always feels as if i am in a storm, not knowing when the sun will shine and peace will prevail

"It is still fresh in my memory, making me remember the bitter truth i never wanted to accept....i never wanted to let in. I am alone in this world. No father, no mother....no brother no sister..... It's just me.....Crystal"

Crystal turned her head as she cried. She didn't want to bear to see disappointment and disgusting in her eyes. It would hurt bad. Knowing this was the only motherly figure she had who had accepted her, losing her will just freshmen her scars the more. It will be a constant reminder of her loneliness.

That she was cursed to walk alone.

"No my dear, do not cry. I am here for you now my dear. I never realized you had gone through a very bad past. If i had known, i wouldn't have allowed you to narrate it. I know what you are passing through and i know it is not easy for you. Even if it had been three years since you had left hell, it still followed you making you to live in it, pursuing happiness.

"I am here....we are all here for you Crystal. And i will not let that happen to you. You are safe here my child. Don't worry, they will not find you and even if they did, they won't take you away. You are my daughter and i will always protect my child. Never let the past hinder what destiny has in store for you.

"Be strong...be strong"

Tears were still on her eyes as she hugged Crystal. She let her cry, she let her release all the pain and frustration in her through her tears. She would not stop her from crying.

She needed to pour it all.