Cold
Shirley lay motionless feeling the cold slowly biting through her soul and tearing her flesh apart. As for what happened, she wasn't too sure, but she had a vague idea that she had been runned over by a car.
Latter faint noises seemed to echo in her ears and she seemed to see shadows hovering above her like vultures dancing around a corpse.
Whistling sounds, faintly reaching her ears and the feeling of her heavy body suddenly lifted up. Shirley couldn't discern exactly what was happening anymore, but she coul vaguely guess that she was carried into an ambulance and probably being rushed to the hospital.
Several thoughts and memories ran through her mind, flooding like a huge wave, but only one question led to her curiosity.
'Would she die'
And if she died, would her mother cry and mourn for her, would she sincerely had hoped that she had treated her better.What about her sisters and her dear father who treated her better than her mother did?
He doted so much on her, even when her mother treated her indifferently. He was never biased towards her and her sisters, though he had many times been suppressed by his wife.
He didn't carry an image of the authoritative husband, standing firmly as the head of the family. He wasn't as active, shrewd and vigorous as his wife, neither was he extroverted as Anna Perez,so he was often compelled to acquiesce to every order of Anna Perez, his wife.
Nevertheless, compared to her mother who was always against her, he treated her warmly, but of course he could never replace the motherly love that she yearned so much for.
Thesame kind of love and privilege that Jenny and Jane enjoyed. Then she thought, maybe it was because she was different from everyone in the house that she was shunned.
Compared to her sisters, she looked emanciated, fair skin, blue sapphire eyes, with copper blonde hair.
Jenny and Jane obtained their mother's features and the silk black hair wasn't compared to her father's brown hair that was slowly turning white. However,their lovely hazel eyes definitely had ressemblance to his.
As for her, she neither had hazel eyes,nor did she have black silk hair, she was simply like a foreigner at home. More to that, she seemed to have inherited a sort of psychic powers that allowed her to venture in the future through her dreams and premonition.
At the age of four she had a dream about her neighbor's son falling from the ladder that had been kept by the child's father. Her little self at that moment only knew how to reveal her dream to her sisters, which was heard by another passing neighbor, but her words didn't give an impression and was taken for a child's wild thoughts. At least, not until the neighbor's child actually went through the accident and broke his legs.
Everything played according to her dream and she was labeled by the child's mother as a witch, while others thought it was a coincidence.
However, they soon joined in the witch fan club and labeled her as a witch when she kept predicting their future, be it good or bad.
Even her mother had made her carry the witch burden and cross, cursing and insulting her for causing the neighbors to shun them. Blaming her for being the cause of their misfortune and poverty stricken life. Because of her weird premonition powers, few people came close to them, and their small community that had once been a united one.
Perhaps, that was one of the reasons why she agreed to drop out of school and work in order to carry the family's burden.
Nevertheless, her powers didn't diminish or got chased by people's slander, she simply choose to remain num about her clairvoyance and watch the scenes replay in front of her without uttering a word.
With time, not many people knew about her clairvoyance, or rather, her witch powers, as they had labelled her, but her mother kept reminding her every day, calling her bad luck and many despicable names. But she didn't bother, at least it was those times that she was willing to speak to her and not give her a cold shoulder and a dirty look of despise and regrets.
She had done so many good deeds and gave up on her happiness to please her parents, listening to her father's words advice and obeyed her mother's commands without any second thought.
Even when she felt wronged, not once had she opened her mouth to complain, because she knew it was her duty as a daughter to be obedient and filial towards her mother and her elders.
However, things had come to where she lay limp on a soft bed, her nose permeated by the strong scent of disinfectant and her warm body gradually turning cold, while her eyes constantly became heavy.
Her consciousness was gradually escaping from her, but she dragged on, trying all means to stay conscious. She wanted to see the worried look in her mother's eyes before she went deeply into a comatose state. She didn't feel it wrong to have those thoughts, even though her mother always gave her a cold shoulder.
After all, hadn't she heard that people tend to cherish what they had almost lost, quickly realising its importance in their hearts.
She wanted to believe that her mother's illtreatments and bias conduct towards her had only been due to stress and the pressure of being of a mother of three with no son.
She wanted to believe that her mother loved her as much as she loved her sisters, but she didn't show it to her, just to help her grow mature.
She wanted to believe that in her mother's heart, she was a treasure and that her previous attitude towards her was merely a way to groom her for the best. She wanted her to grow a mature mind and help her take care of the family.
Perhaps she was just too proud to admit it, but she did love her. After all, no mother would detest their child and wish for the worst for them, no.
However...
Shirley was bound to be disappointed.