CHAPTER 27

• "And then what?" Kelvin asked as he stared worriedly at Emily who reached up to her eyes, trying to rub off her tears as they constantly streamed down her cheeks. "It's okay if you can't finish-"
• "No, she's continuing." Melanie interrupted Kelvin who was starting to worry about her, knowing she was telling something she didn't want to tell anyone. "Continue, Emily."
• "Okay..." She sighed out shakily as she sucked in a deep breath, trying to compose herself a little more before she could continue her story, feeling her own body shaking from the thought of it alone. The thought of continuing the story alone gave her goose bumps running down her arms. "The young man went to the bedroom with my mother that night and my father didn't return then since he claimed he was going to be away for three days because of a business program but I knew he was seeing a woman he had been most attached to. A woman that I thought was my second mom though she didn't talk to me much. So my mother took the chance to spend time with the young man, yeah you now get why he stayed over...." She sighed out once more. "Um.... So one day my mother had to go out to meet her father who just wanted to know how she was, didn't want to see me by the way. So I was left alone with the young man that was still around by then. He came from the bedroom and follow me as I was in our backyard just admiring the weak flowers my mother was trying to grow. He squatted beside me and asked if I wanted to be loved like he promised the other day and I asked if he had my candy. He instantly whipped up three bars of chocolate and only gave me one, saying he would give me with rest if I followed him. So I did. I followed as he led me to my parents' room. He told me to sit on the bed and said he was only locking the door just so my mother doesn't catch me eating candy behind her back. I didn't think anything was wrong so I finished up my chocolate bar and asked for the others. He walked towards me and suddenly pushed me back so harshly that my head hit against the thin mattress so hard it hurt a bit. I asked what he was doing and he said he was going to know me how big people love each other and promised to buy me even more chocolates if I left him show me. At that point I was getting scared because he grabbed onto my wrists so tightly forcedly moved my knees apart. At this point I was too afraid to think what he was doing was actually loving someone. So I screamed as loud as I could, screaming on top of my lungs for my neighbors to hear me since I knew their child was in the backyard with his mother at that time, so I was sure she would hear me. I screamed so much my lungs hurt as though I stabbed them countless times. Then to shut me up, he forced his lips on mine and I did the only thing I could to move him away. I bit him hard to the point I even tasted his blood a little. He jerked back in pain and instantly let go of me. I managed to force my foot into his chest and rushed to the door as I heard the doorbell. I instantly unlocked the door and rushed down the stairs, crying hysterically as I went for the door. The moment I opened it, I saw my mother who was just arriving and my neighbor who was the one ringing the doorbell. She asked if I was okay and why I had blood all over my lips. My mother instantly told them to just leave and that I just hurt myself and it was nothing serious. They left after hesitating and asking if it was okay that they leave. Knowing my mother too well, I told them to leave so she wouldn't beat me up for it. So when my mother got into the house, I told her everything with tears in my eyes as I cried out whilst her boyfriend came down the stairs, holding a toilet paper to his lips to stop the bleeding. He yelled at me for lying and that I hit him for not giving me candy or something like that. My mother chose to believe him, since he bought her all kinds of things, so she beat me up and yelled at me for being such a dirty liar. The man ordered my mother to abandon me and promised to marry her, but because I was a problem to him, he didn't want me as his child. So my mother agreed and left me at an orphanage. I didn't refuse going there because I knew I won't get in the hands of a child molester and a woman who didn't love her child. Plus, I was hoping my father would come get me home and we'd be just the two of us. But he never came back and my mother got married to the young man and forgot about me. I stayed there for a while, but the older children began to bully me about my parents still being alive but not wanting me because I was mistake. So I ran away one day and ran into the forest. That's where my new parents found me, on the verge of dying from not eating after five whole days since I was alone in the forest. They took me in and raised me as their own." She bit onto her lower lip as she glanced up at Kelvin whose eyes were wide with terror. Taken aback from her story that was a little too much for a child at her age back then.