Chapter 10: Am I Not Allowed to Be Happy?
As soon as Loreen could not see Edric from the rearview mirror, her tears fell in torrents.
She ended up sobbing in the back seat, so the driver silently drove her to the airport.
***
(Several days later…)
The sound of the waves played like a melody in the background. The see breeze smelled nice and fresh. The sky was a clear blue and the sun shone brightly.
But under the cottage, tanned from days of staying on this island, Loreen felt like things were still cloudy.
It had been two weeks since she got divorced. Yet, the pain still felt like it was just yesterday.
The last argument they had still clearly echoed in her ears despite the sound of the waves. She wanted to cry so loud to ease her heavy heart and mind.
She went on a vacation thinking the pain would vanish. But it was still there. Being here only made her realize even more that she was all alone.
'Why did I lose all the people that I love so much?'
Her parents were dead before she even had the chance to get to know them.
Her grandparents died before she finished even finished college.
Her supposed child with Edric did not survive.
And now, Edric divorced her.
'What exactly did I do?
'Have I ever committed a sin so grave that I am being punished like this?
'Do I deserve all this pain?
'I had been working hard all my life. Am I not allowed to be happy?'
It felt like the whole world was conspiring against her. Thus, Loreen concluded she should just disappear from this world.
Every single day that she was here, she stared at the vast sea. She repeatedly thought of drowning herself in her sorrows. But her body never let her. She could only think about it but could never do it.
'What should I do from now on?' Loreen asked herself for the nth time.
Even after two weeks, she still did not have the answer to this question, which was why her supposed short vacation here had already dragged on to two weeks.
She did not feel motivated to do anything even when this place had such stunning and picturesque scenery.
She kept missing Edric. She wanted to hear his voice and see his face even if she knew she shouldn't anymore.
Every day, she wanted to open her phone to check if he had called her, but did not dare. She knew her heart could not take it.
What if he did send her messages but only to accuse her even more?
Loreen did not have the courage to listen to more accusations from him, so she did not dare open her phone for the past two weeks.
The last time she sent a message was when she was in the airport. She recalled she had to send the pictures of her notes to ensure he had somewhere to read it if he tore the original ones.
Loreen sighed and gazed at the sea once again.
.
.
.
At sunset, Loreen was still in the middle of grieving when suddenly, a group of kids arrived and were fighting in front of the cottage she was in.
She saw how five other children bullied a thin little girl who was wearing clothes that looked like rags.
The little girl's hair was a mess like it hadn't been combed for days. Not only her clothes but also her skin was dirty as if she hadn't bathed in a while.
"Little bastard!"
"Ugly bastard."
"Your mother is a whore, so you will be a whore too."
"Bastard."
"Whore."
"No one wants a dirty and ugly girl like you so both your parents left you."
The other kids kept shouting that the girl was a bastard and would be a whore in the future.
"That's not true!" the girl rebutted.
"It is!" One of the taller kids said and pushed the girl. The others followed suit until girl fell to her knees.
'What the hell are these kids doing!'
Loreen dried her tears and walked to them. Her social worker's blood instantly ignited.
She approached them with a smile on her face and the yelling kids started to quiet down and looked at her with surprise.
"Hi! What's the problem here?" Loreen asked gently.
"Nothing ma'am, we are just annoyed with her because she insists on what she wants."
"Yes, that's true. She keeps denying the truth."
"And what is that truth?" Loreen probed.
"She does not have parents to take care of her. They did not want her, so they left her."
"Her mother ran away with another guy again last week. Hahaha."
"Indeed. She's a homeless bastard. Hahaha."
'What's wrong with kids these days? Do their parents not teach them anything?! Why would they laugh at someone for being homeless? Where's humanity these days?'
"Is that why you pushed her down?" Loreen tried to keep her calm.
"She fell on her own because she's so weak."
"Yes, she's weak. They left her alone so she must be eating dirt. Hahaha."
Loreen was taken aback and blinked repeatedly. She was horrified at these children's behavior. They derided and laughed at someone who looked so pitiful instead of feeling bad for her.
'Why laugh at someone's suffering and mock them like this?'
Loreen never did that even when she was a child. When she saw someone suffering, she felt bad for them. She never found it laughable.
'Even if they do not sympathize with the girl, there was no need to laugh at her and mock her.'
Loreen wondered what children were learning about these days.
'Ugh, they needed to be educated about these matters while they are young, so they do not grow up to be selfish and narcissistic adults like Sera.'
"Children, that's not good. Nobody deserves to be bullied because of their parents," Loreen couldn't help but scold them.
"And you should never laugh at someone homeless. If she's homeless, then you should help her. Do you want to be homeless too?" she asked, and they all shook their heads.
"See? A wise man once said that whatever you do to others will come back to you. So, never laugh at someone's suffering if you do not want to experience the same in the future. Okay?"
The children were wide-eyed at that and said, "Yes, ma'am."
"Alright, apologize to her," Loreen gestured at the little girl.
The kids glanced at each other.
"It's bad to call others ugly, a bastard, or a whore. It's also bad to hurt others. You did something bad, so you need to apologize," Loreen explained and eyed the kids sternly.
They were all unrelated to her, but she simply needed to correct their behavior.
What would the world become if children were allowed to be this rotten at such a young age?
Loreen could not simply just watch it. She was already at the age when she could have had children, so she knew these kids needed to be corrected.
"We are sorry," the kids finally apologized one by one.
"Alright. Very good. And once you have apologized you should not do it again, okay?" Loreen smiled.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Alright, it's getting late. You need to go home already," she sent them away.
The kids finally started to disperse, yet the little girl just kept on crying on her knees.
Loreen checked her and noticed she was wounded.
"Come, let's go and treat your wounds," Loreen offered her hand.
The little girl looked up at her with teary eyes. She looked at Loreen as if she was an alien.
'Is she scared because I'm a stranger?'
"I'm Loreen. I'm a tourist. I'm staying at that hotel. I just want to treat your wound," she smiled and pointed to the hotel just a few meters away from them.
The girl just stared at her.
'Or does it hurt when she walks?'
"Then, wait for me here. I'll just get something from my cottage, so I can treat your wounds," Loreen said, and the girl nodded.
She patted the girl's head and went to get her bag.
Loreen had just returned from a short hike in one of the mountains on the neighboring island, so she had a first aid kit with her.
She returned to the girl, and she had waited for her indeed.
"Sit down here," Loreen settled a small chair she got from the cottage.
The girl eyed her before obediently doing as she was told.