FIFTEEN YEARS AGO,
On the industrious streets of London precisely the Brick lane street in the late hours of the night, cars sped the highway and people were still seen walking around, probably making their way home to meet their families.
Everyone walked to and fro, not minding the little ten year old girl who was sitting on the Pedestrian walk crying. Merely looking at the girl, you could see that she had suffered, and is still suffering. It felt as if everyone who passed her got unsettled just by looking at her.
Wearing a very long and torn green gown, her beautiful white hair was very scattered and unkempt with. She did not even have shoes on. She had an injury at the back of her leg but barely looking at her, you could see that the injury at the back of her leg was the least of her problems.
She held the plate which she used to sell meat everyday as she cleaned her eyes. She was in a very big trouble....she knew it. What was she going to tell her mother? How will she believe that she was raped and the money taken from her?
She bit her lips as she continued to cry, calling for her mother and father to come to her rescue, pleading that they should come and take her away from here...away from this world...
Away from this pain.
She had never experienced love from the people who call themselves her parents. She had been told every single day, since she was just five that she was nothing...a nobody....a waste....and orphan. As little as she was, she was made to cook the family meal, do all the houses chores, wash the clothes and do whatever work her foster mother told her to do, no matter how hard, difficult or tiresome it is.
She would go to the abbatoir everyday to help to kill an animal and further go from house to house till she had sold every single one of them, and if she does not sell everything, she was very well punished. As small as she was, she was used to being raped and tortured.
She did not know at that moment what to do. Her foster mother was not even going to look at the injuries those men gave her when they took advantage of her, nor will she notice the innocent girl's tears. There was nothing she could do..the money was gone and she had to be responsible for it. Cleaning her eyes, she got up and made her way home which was another hour walk.
She was used to the evil of the night and she was not scared....not anymore, because she was part of it, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Finally she was home. The Gate man opened the gate and let her in, his eyes depicting both worry and pity for the young girl. He could see by her state that she had gone through a lot and she might likely be in trouble at the moment. She did not know if it was for her but she did not care, she had more problems to deal with.
Looking at the building she called her home, painful memories she knew would never leave her for as long as she lived still haunted her. It seemed they just found a place in the middle of her brain and were rooted there...never to leave her.
It was more of a disease that was incurable.
She cleaned the tears which were already falling down her dirty but beautiful face. Closing her eyes, she prayed to whomever would hear her that the punishment would not be as hard as she thinks it will be.
Opening the door, she walked in. Her eyes immediately went to the sofa where the whole family sits...which she never had the privilege of sitting on and as expected, she met her foster dad, foster mum and Helen, her six years old sister.
A tear dropped down again as she met her mother's gaze. Her body shook in fear as she heard her voice....that voice she dreaded the most....
"You!" Her mother shouted, her face visibly showing that she was enraged and boiling in uttermost anger. Crystal's mother shook in fear as her mother started making her way towards her. She closed her eyes as she expected what she saw coming and true to her expectations, a slap landed on her face.
"Where are you just coming from you little b*tch? Do you know what the time is? And where the hell is my money?" She asked...or more like shouted as she pushed Crystal, making her hit her head on the floor. She felt a sharp pain under the roots of her hair and knew it would bleed.
"Get up you sl*t and give me my money. Why are you quiet huh?"
Crystal bit her lips as tears fell again. Her mother's fists were clenched and her face all red with anger. She knew she could not escape the punishment as it was inevitable now. She looked at the man she called her father, wanting to try to convince him for help but he was just sitting there, looking at his wife, not even bothered by what was even happening. She knew better than to beg...there was no way he would come to her rescue.
"Mum....mother....the money....."
"What happened to my money? Speak before I start doing what I want to do"
"Someone took the money mum" She said, her head pounding, her legs shaking, her hands trembling, her eyes not wanting to hold back her tears anymore.
She let it all out. ...she had to....the damn pain was too much. All of it was too much. She felt so weak that one more push would have made her fall. She felt so tired....so weak....so helpless.
"I knew you have always been a thief, wait till i teach you a lesson"
"Mother please...."
A slap landed on her face and then another, and another. A kick landed on her stomach and a punch made its way to her face.
The beatings came at full force. It was too much....her bones seems to be breaking, her chest seems to be aching.
That was it.
She could not take it anymore.... Her survival instincts came in control as she used the only strength she had at that moment, despite the pain to run away... from her pain....from her torture.
She never turned back....she just ran....ran till she felt she was far away from the hell she lived in....and then she fainted right there.....
Just beside the highway.
Where nobody cared, just like it has always been.