The Past (2) Filth-

After walking for a while, Delilah and her mother got to a very small shop. The shop was located in the middle of many other similar shops, five on the right and three on the left. Since it was still early in the morning, it was no surprise that only a few people were around.

Roseline dropped the sacks she had packed into one on the cemented floor before unlocking the metal door. "Come in, Lilah. We have to unpack these things before customers start to rush in."

Delilah looked up at her mother and untied the ropes around her legs before slipping out of her sandals. She walked into the shop and sat down on a long bench. "Mum here smells like a couple of rats have died in here."

"It must be the rat poisons. Look around in search of any dead lingering ones," Roseline said, while her daughter kept looking for rats she proceeded to open the windows. "Arrgh...Delilah, what are you doing?!" She shouted as she saw what her daughter was holding. She immediately walked to her daughter whose eyes subconsciously dilated due to her mother's scream.

"Mummy, are you okay?" Delilah asked, confused. She already knew that once her mother call her by her full name, it meant trouble. She did not know what offense she could have committed now to make her mother stare at her like she was going to kill her. Figuring out why her mother behaved in such a way, she wasn't in haste to explain the side of her story. "I just needed the scarf to cover my nose. The smell was too thick-"

Roseline walked to her daughter and gave her a tight slap. "I told you never to open your hair, you can do so only when we are at home! I warned you, you filthy girl."

From the beginning, not exactly from the beginning but since two years ago, Delilah had been told several times to always cover her hair. She had been too accustomed to it that she had even lost count of it, because every single day, she got a notification about covering her hair. The only time she was entitled to let her hair be naked was when she was home with her mother.

She recalled the days she was like a princess, caged in a very beautiful mansion and not let to leave the surroundings, she was allowed to leave her naked hair. She loved it and she was proud to show every single worker in the mansion then but she only covered her hair when she was in school. Sometimes, she had hideously shown a few of her classmates who turned out to cherish her hair too but nothing bad happened. She never knew the main reason she had to keep her hair unexposed.

"Mummy, you said I could leave it open when we are alone and-"

"What if anyone had seen you that way? Do you know what trouble you would have let yourself go through? What if customers had bumped in and seen you that way?" Delilah saw her mother's eyes watering as her own tears fell too. The shock that she had experienced from the slap was still in her that she had forgotten to cover her hair with the scarf. "Why do you still leave it uncovered, Delilah?!" Her mother's voice roared yet again and immediately, she took the scarf and covered her hair with it.

Her hair was a load. It was too long and heavy but there was a way her mother packed it that made it less heavy and portable. So she only had to cover it and made sure no locks or strands escaped.

When she was done with it, she cleared the tears from her face and continued standing, but more and more tears continued to wallop down her eyes. Seeing this, her mother took hold of her hand and sat her down. "Look Lilah, I am your mother and you have to listen to me. How many times do I have to warn you about how dangerous letting your hair out is?"

"I'm sorry." Those words came out of her mouth, freely. Her mother called her a filthy fool, no... a filthy girl rather. Well, what was the difference? But her mother couldn't even apologize and she was the one to do so. This wasn't the tenth time at all. Since the day her father left them, her mother had been behaving too harshly and too caring. At a moment, her face could become so red as if she had bruises all over her face, and in the next second, she could be smiling, her eyes blinking like the stars on a winter night.

So no matter how much pain she suffered from her mum's beating, she could not entirely blame her. It was her father's fault and for every beating, she received from her mother, her heart became thicker against her father.

"Don't tell me you are sorry. I warned you several times that you should take responsibility. You are almost thirteen and-"

Hearing that, another drop of tears skipped past her eyes down to her palm. "Mum, did you take your drug?"

"Shut up your filth- mouth, Delilah! I am talking and you are questioning me! Do you think I'm insane?"

"I'm eight, mummy. I...I am just about to clock-"

Hearing what she said, Roseline took a deep breath before staring at her daughter's hazel eyes. "Lilah, stop crying, okay?" She wiped her tears, "I'm sorry, darling...I just got a slight headache but please obey my words, do not uncover your hair."

"Yes, mummy."

"Okay now, go out and play, I need to pick up those rats and freshen here up. Go now and don't go too far. I'm giving you twenty minutes to be back so that we can watch some new movies I collected from Mr. Landon."

"Mummy, are you two friends? Does he wants to be my father?"

"Just get going, Lilah!"

Delilah looked at her mum and smiled a little, "Mummy, stay strong if you want me to keep on obeying your commands."

"Aww my dear, stop those words."

Delilah removed her hands slowly from her mum's and stood up. She thought of what might happen in the future. But no matter what happens, she was going to revenge. "Mum, stay strong because if you stop being strong, I might stop acting good, okay? I love you and I have forgiven you for using the words 'filthy' and 'filth' on your daughter."

Roseline erased her tears and smiled, "Come, come give mummy a hug."

She disagreed."I'm going to play, mummy. Don't miss me too much and buy lots of yummies for my red cheeks," Delilah said instead and walked outside of the little shop.

Roseline watched as her daughter walked out of the shop before scattering all the strands of her hair. "Arrgh...my little girl looks so evil now. What have I done?"