It was when she stood up that she became conscious of her environment. She slowly walked back to her seat trying to look calm and composed as everyone stared at her. Mrs Smith just watched the conversation between her two daughters without uttering a word. After Victoria calmed down a bit, she still gave Stephanie some money and asked her to buy the same brand of juice but a different flavour for her. Afterwards Mrs Smith sent her to buy a bottle of water for her.
Without even being allowed to rest for a second, Victoria sent her to buy some snacks for her and her mum. Stephanie ran like a mad dog attending to their needs for twenty minutes without any moment of rest. Out of all the things she bought she didn't have a taste of any of them, she just watched them eat without being offered any.
"Hey get me an ice cream. I want strawberry flavor. I will kill you if you dare make a silly mistake again," Victoria ordered coldly as she passed her the money. Before they arrived there, their mum had already given Victoria money for all her expenses in the park that is why she was rubbing it on Stephanie's face. She wanted to make her feel jealous and miserable.
"Sis, I am really exhausted from running around so can I get you the ice cream a bit later after I have cooled down a little?" Stephanie, who was drenched by her own sweat due to running around for the past twenty minutes, asked gasping for air.
"Did you just say that I should wait for you to cool down?" Victoria asked angrily, staring daggers at Stephanie. "You are just so lucky that we are out here and not at home or I would have taught you a serious lesson for daring to complain when I sent you on an errand. Don't let me repeat myself twice because there are many ways I could deal with you here," Victoria threatened, trying not to sound so loud so others will not hear her words. Stephanie, who was at the brink of collapsing, collected the money from her.
"Your birthday is today too, right?" Mrs Smith spoke to her for the first time since they arrived in the park. Stephanie answered her with a nod. "If that is true, then take this money an buy ice cream for yourself," Mrs Smith said as she handed her the dirty note. "Did mum forget my birthday again even after I reminded her that my birthday was today?" Stephanie thought dejectedly as she walked away.
On her way back after having bought the ice, Stephanie did not notice that her red shawl had almost revealed her scarred face. She continued to walk hurriedly to avoid getting shouted at by her elder sister. Few steps away from reaching where her sister and mum was sitting down, her shawl suddenly fell off. The instant the shawl flew off, Stephanie stood rooted on the floor unable to move. She was too scared to move, the two ice cream she bought fell off from her hand.
The moment the shawl fell off, everyone gazed at her. The way they stare at her made Stephanie wish the ground would just open and swallow her at that instant. She knew what those stares meant. They were those of disgust and hate. Since the day she became conscious of her ruined face, she knew without being told that people's gaze could hurt, it's hurts so much even though they don't utter a word. The little children who were there started pointing fingers at her while some ran away calling her a monster. The adults who were supposed to be responsible and sensible unlike the children spoke ill of her scar.
"Monster....,"
"Dad look at her, she looks like the devil's bride,"
"Ugly girl...,"
"She looks so heinous,"
"Oh my gosh her face makes me want to puke my guts out,"
"Her face looks so disgusting,"
"If I were her, I wouldn't have lived with that kind of face till now,"
The kids shouted to her hearing. Stephanie wanted to run away but she couldn't no matter how hard she tried. Her legs were too weak to run.
Mrs Smith and Victoria who saw the scene everyone has created because of Stephanie's scar slowly slipped away unnoticed. They thought that the shocked Stephanie did not see them but she did.
"Who allowed this ugly thing in here. What a heinous sight to behold," one pretty lady spatted irritatedly before she angrily walked away. The already whelmed up tears in Stephanie's eyes flowed like a river as she saw her mum and sister abandon her in her presence. "What have I done wrong that the universe did not even spare me from this embarrassing moment on my own birthday," Stephanie thought miserably as she continued to stand there unable to move. She stood there for almost five minutes and no one went to assist her.
"Hey girl, you are the owner of this right," A calm and pleasant voice disrupted her thought. The boy walked up to her with her red shawl in his hand.
"This is yours right?" The boy asked yet again when he saw that she was in a daze. The surprised Stephanie thought the image of the boy was just an illusion she created because she needed help. "Which child in his right mind will dare talk to me after witnessing how heinous I look?" Stephanie thought painfully. Her tears continue to flow as she stares at the boy whom she thought was her own illusion.
"Hey girl, are you alright?" The boy asked as he touched her. It was when he touched her that she realized that he was real. "So I wasn't imagining things," She thought as she finally came back to her senses.