ANISHA'S POV
"Th….this girl here, is my child. Forgive me my husband…" she stammered.
"Don't call me your child!" I fought back at her. "If I were your child, you would have done what a mother does to her children! You could have protected me, Amelia! I was just a child; a newborn baby, yet you left me to die! You left me alone in the cold; to die alone!"
"Anisha please…"
"No! Don't say a word! Don't say anything to me! You made your decision all those years ago, and you will stick by it! …..you wanted to have an abortion! So why didn't you? You waited for thirty-eight weeks! I was a human being; a real child, and you wanted to kill me then?"
"No...I didn't…"
"You said it yourself! You went to that evil abortionist at thirty-eight weeks pregnant; hoping to abort? Amelia, I don't know what to say to you right now! I don't want to say anything to you! If I tell you the truth that is on my heart, I may later on regret it…"
"Please say it, I beg you! Curse me and say whatever you want to say. I deserve all the insults."
"What will it help? How will it help me? Do you know what I went through, growing up without a mother? I always had to fight against fears of being rejected! I hated myself! I always told myself, if my own mother could not love me, then who can love me?" I faced the floor as my chest heaved up and down in great emotional strain. I cried like I had never cried before. I started to feel like I was losing my breath; it felt as if someone was choking me, and I started using my mouth as I struggled to breath.
"You left me!! You did not even turn back! You hated me that much!"
"I did not hate you, Ani….."
"You did!" I screamed with my whole heart and soul. Part of my heart wished to slap Amelia; my hand was actually itching to slap her really hard, but I guess it was not in me to slap anyone.
"You walked away! Leaving me in the open. Why didn't you take me with you?"
"Anisha, I was not able to take care of you…"
"Then who was? Who could have taken care of me when you, my own mother, left me behind a rock? So to you; the rock behind which you placed me, must have been the one able to raise me, isn't? It sounded better to you; it felt better; to dump me between a wall and a rock, instead of taking me with you! You are not my mother, do you hear me? You are not my mother!!"
"Anisha please, please I beg you. I only…"
"Don't explain anything! I won't listen to anything you say! Even after all those years, you never even tried to look for me. I just found you by chance; yet you made no effort to find me!"
"I did! I did!" Amelia used the back of her palms to wipe off her tears and she ran to another room. In a short while she was back with a small shoe box wrapped in glittery paper.
"What is that, Amelia? Isn't it the box where we keep our certificates and other important documents? Why did you take it?" her husband asked.
Everyone's eyes were on Amelia, and without responding to her husband, her shaking hands roughly removed the glittery paper covering the box. Beneath the box, she had carefully created a secret pocket in which she stuffed in some cards.
"Here! Here are the cards I have been making for you! twenty-one of them! Every year on the 10th of April, I write out a birthday card for you, Anisha. Please. Please read them…" she brought the cards to my face but I looked aside.
"I don't want to read them, Amelia. Even my date of birth has been a lie all along. 10 April? Well my whole life I have believed that I was born on the 11th of April."
"It was the 10th," she smiled through her tears. "It was late at night; at 11.12PM, on the 10th of April."
She tried to hug me and I dodged her hug.
"Will you tell me what is happening, Amelia?" her husband asked.
Amelia looked pitifully at her husband, and opened her mouth, yet nothing came out.
"I am her child!" I spat out. "The child that she had when she was staying in Lakeworld; in Southrain, to be specific! And she wanted me dead, but at the time that she meant to abort me, she went into labour and I was born. Thirty-eight weeks; Amelia? I was a real child; a living human being at thirty-eight weeks! And you left me outside in the cold, alone, to die!"
"That's not true, Anisha…" Amelia begged.
"It's the truth!! You said so yourself. You told me everything yourself!!"
"Anisha, I did what I thought was best for you. Please, can you calm down first and then we can talk about this? I can answer all your questions, please." Amelia begged me desperately.
Valentina came forward and held my shoulders. "Anisha let's go home. You are too stressed for now. We will talk to Amelia another time,"
Slowly I stood up and held on to Valentina's arm. Valentina was crying.
"Let's take her home, Carter," she spoke.
"Will I be able to see you again?" Amelia's pleading eyes were on me.
"Not now please, Amelia" Valentina gave Amelia a stern look.
Amelia in her stubbornness or whatever it was, ignored Val and said instead, "please Anisha, I would be happy for us to talk …."
"Didn't you hear what Valentina said? She said not now! She is my sister! She knows me way better than you know me! She has been there for me through thick and thin! She loves me! And you're trying to play mother, it's too late for that! I don't need you anymore! You can't just walk into my life from nowhere and expect to be loved!"
"Anisha please. I understand…."
"I needed you on the 10th of April; on that day when you would have nothing to do with me! You did not even look at me, you murderer! You covered y face, you did not care to know if I was a boy or a girl. Leave me alone I don't ever want to see you ever again!"
"Anisha, I have reasons to explain…"
Before she finished talking, I tossed the wet clothes in her direction, freed myself from Valentina's hold and I off towards an unknown destination. I just wanted to run away. To be away from Amelia. Away from her lies. Away from everyone.
Fumbling through my pocket, I pulled out my phone and called the only person I truly and seriously needed at that moment; Dylan. The rain was still pouring down and it was very dark outside, but the phone flickered and while I continued to run, my fingers fumbled in search of Dylan's number.
I could feel Carter closing in on me, but I ran even faster, crossed a busy road with cars screeching and horns honking at me. I did not care at all. I ran very fast and when I crossed one more road, I had no idea where I was, yet I ran. I must have arrived at a small shopping mall, I entered in there and dialed Dylan's number.
"Hey my sweet…" Dylan began to talk but I spoke loudly into the phone.
"Dylan! Amelia is my mother! She is my mother, Dylan! She threw me away! She did not want me….she left me to be eaten by ants…..she hates me, Dylan!!..."
"Anisha calm down, what are you saying? Anisha!"
I heard Carter's voice calling from behind me, "there she is! Come over, Valentina!"
At that, I started to run again. In a short while, I was out of the small mall, and I saw a road much wider than the previous ones. Street lights flooded the whole road, but the heavy rains made it appear dimmer. I ran up following the road.
"Anisha!" Dylan's voice came through the phone.
Right then, bright lights flashed in my eyes; completely blinding me. Instinctively I raised my hand to shield my eyes, taking some steps backwards at the same time. Before I knew it, something hit me on the shoulder and I was hauled up in the air. I heard Valentina's voice calling out, "Anishaaaaaaa!" and everything became blank.