This is a story that I started writing in my 9th grade and couldn't continue afterwards. I am going to resume back very soon. Any feedback is highly appreciated.
CHAPTER 1
My life changed forever at twelve and
I can still hear the deep dangerous voice of my aunt booming every time, making
me frightened that she might come some day to threaten me to work all day and
night as she had done in the past,
beginning from the moment when I first learned how to walk. My life
seems much simpler after I fought that unforgettable battle with my aunt,
trying to sought out that maelstrom and I am glad that I have succeeded…………..though
not thoroughly.
It was mid December of 1999 when I
was just about 8 years old, enjoying the scene of snow -capped mountains of far
away land through the window of the storehouse where I have been spending all those
terrible nights, always having night mares rather than good dreams. By seeing
those piled snow everywhere of the night's hard work by the black clouds, I
immediately wanted to rush outside to play with neighbor's children by making
snow man or hitting snow ball to each other.
I wanted to know how it feels to be
and play with children of my own age since my aunt always leave me grounded in
the house for whole day, giving me a pile of works to be done which includes
mopping, sweeping, dish washing and doing laundry before she returns from her
work or sometimes barbecue……..but I have missed all these happy days of
childhood unlike those of other children around me and in my mind, I used to
believe that my aunt or say that evil woman will never give me a sense of
emancipation for the entire life of mine, torturing me day and night, complaining
about things that is none of her business like saying that I am ugly or like I
am bearing stench without exactly knowing that it was her who is responsible
for locking me into the store house while she slept on the soft bed having
sweet dreams. During that time, I wanted to yell and shout at God for the
unfairness and misjudgments. I wanted to know exactly why God is punishing me
by giving so many arbitrary detentions which is, in fact, deserved by that old
hag.
CHAPTER 2
If God had been fair enough, she
should have been dead by any second or she should have had a car accident. My
only hope was to wait for a miracle to happen.
Without having any destination, I
have lived all these years: frightened, tremulous and deprived like a girl left
isolated in a drought; frightened that some voracious creatures will grab her
and chew her in any second; tremulous when the dusk comes bringing the chilly
wind and deprived of not having even a single droplet of water to banish the
dryness of her throat. I was like that girl in a
drought or …………..worse may be.
Not only did her knavish behavior
frightened me but also her physique appearance. I heard she had once been a
famous athlete, and even now the muscles were still clearly in evidence. You
could see them on temple, in the big shoulders, in the thick arms, in the
sinewy wrists and in the powerful legs. Looking at her, you get the feeling that
this was someone who could bend iron bars and tear telephone directories in
half. I'm afraid; she was neither a thing of beauty nor a joy forever. She had
an obstinate chin, wrinkled lines around her eye lashes with protruding
arrogant eyes and a cruel cave like mouth. And as for clothes………they were to
say the least, extremely odd. She always had on a faded grey jacket, crinkled
skirt and a high-heeled slipper which seems too small to support the weight of
that hefty woman.
Mrs. Linda, my aunt as I called her
for being my dad's sister, was something else together. She was a gigantic holy
terror, a fierce tyrannical witch that frightened the life out of me all the
time. There was an aura of menace about her even at a distance, and when she
comes up close, you could almost feel the horrible heat radiation from her like
a planet Venus. She never takes saunter nor walks peacefully once but march
like a storm-trooper with long strides and arms swinging making everybody on
the street precarious to walk near her. This woman, in all her eccentricities and
in her appearance is almost indescribable but I have made my best attempt to do
so. I always wondered when she would leave my side as I had longed very much
for her absence to fell peace and harmony in my soul.
CHAPTER 3
Just when I was about to turn my head
from the window, satisfied and contended with myself for enjoying the scene
outside, I heard my aunt marching upstairs to my room making creaky sound
beneath her feet and….yah, she was calling my name, 'Jenny, Jenny, Jenny, are
you there dead?' Her voice grew fiercer and louder each time making my heart
beat louder than ever. In a split second, I felt numb without being able to
answer, already knowing what will happen next. I hid myself in the corner of
the store house, my body trembling out of fear. The door then flung open and
there, she was standing with raged wide eyes bearing a scowling face. I
immediately searched her hands with my eye ball rolling to and fro to see with
what she was going to beat me this time.
'Oh! No! God, she is going to beat me
with hose! Someone please save me.'
Silently I begged and prayed that she will melt away in front of me like
a snowman but when I saw her still glaring at me angrily, I knew instantly that
my prayers won't be answered and that I will soon be weeping, throwing my guilt
and sorrow. She hastily and aggressively grabbed my left arm and dragged me out
of the storehouse and then down stairs without even giving me a chance to open
my mouth. When she released my arm, I fell on the ground with a loud thud
giving me an unbearable pain but it wasn't the worst part. She drew the hose
and without giving a chance for me to explain that I didn’t hear her calling or
that I was in a deep thought, she straight away started hitting hard on my
bottom first, then on the back and then slowly it drew near my neck which gave
me the most frightful feeling that I ever had………….I might die under that hose.
Immediately I made my best effort to veil my face with both hands though the
pain terribly pierced every inch of my body and cut jaggedly through to my
heart. She hit and hit without giving a second thought of how badly I was
hurt……….and suddenly it ceased. Slowly and steadily, I removed my hands from my
face to see if she had disappeared but she hadn't.
'Are you going to sit here like this
or are you going to do the dishes I have left in the sink? You fool! You dumb!
Why didn’t you answer me when I called you? Now go and do the dishes,' she
retorted making an angry face before giving me a chance to exhale the breath I
had been holding with exhaustion. During that time, I wanted to fight with her
even though I know that I will lose the battle. That's how I was left with
nothing to do than to encourage myself to go on with my miserable life and bear
the inevitable pain inside my little and solitary heart. I then exasperatingly
made up my mind to follow the better path as I was at least given my meal
thrice a day, be it leftover of her food or not.
With one of my hands on the floor, I
supported myself and slowly made up on my feet, and then passed her with my
eyes down on the floor without even looking to the direction of the kitchen.
Though some parts of my body burnt with pain, I didn’t let my eyes see those
swollen spots which I felt already and kept on doing the dishes one at a time
and that too in vague. At last, I finished with a huge sigh of relief. At that
very moment, the pain became unbearable so I went to the dining room to see my
swollen back and leg which looked worse than ever. By seeing the blots of gore everywhere
on my body parts, I buried my face with my two hands not to see them any further
but sorrow etched so deeply bringing tears, great rivers of silent, anguished
tears. I howled more than an hour like a wounded animal, spilling the guilt and
sorrow that almost tore my heart into millions of fragments. I cried and cried till my stomach ached out
of pain and my eyes became bumpy with swollen spots. I wanted so badly to pour
down my feelings to someone but who will be this SOMEONE? Who will listen to a
poor and an unadorned girl like me? Who will care about me? Who will believe me
if I explain like what a life I had been leading so far? Most of all….who will
believe if I tell them that it was my AUNT who treats me that way? Obviously,
the answer will be NO ONE!
'Jenny………..Jenny………….Jenny', my name
was being called again and at that time, I dashed to where the voice was coming
from without bothering about the pain that was almost killing me……..because I
didn’t want to get beaten again.
'Aunt? What can I do for you?' I
humbly and politely asked her. She didn’t bark at me this time, perhaps due to
my politeness, and explained briefly, 'Jenny, I have to go outside for a work.
The snow hasn’t melted yet and has covered the foot path all over so sweep them
before I return at lunch time’. With that she turned her back and slipped
silently through the back door without glancing back. I kept my eyes fixed at
her until she had disappeared from my view, wondering why she is being so
unfair, unkind and unsympathetic to me.
The breakfast did well after going
through all these traumatic experiences though it was plain bread and a cup of
tea. I voraciously gobbled them up knowing that I don’t have much time. Then
with spade in my hand, off I went to start my work. A heap of thick snow has
piled and I couldn’t even see well in the distant because of the reflected rays
entering directly into my eyes. The thought of having to clear all these
elevated snow formed a tight knot in my stomach.
I started my task and didn’t take a
rest for the next few hours but the height of the snow piled didn’t seem to
decrease and on top of that, wounds around my left leg seemed to become worse than
ever and it pained badly when came in contact with the cold snow. But I didn’t quit
and continued to sweep one after the other and irritatingly, the hand of hour
seemed to tickle fast by each time when I looked at it making me frightened, as
I had to accomplish the work before she reached home. Tears blinded my eyes and
slowly it started to stream down my two crimsoned cheeks. I have been wondering
throughout those abject years of where my parents could be or why they ever
left me.
Then I try to push back my thoughts
thinking that whatever had brought me here, there must be a good reason or even
if there wasn’t, what the use of thinking anyway is. It will be wastage of
time……….I used to give this as an excuse to banish those unsettling feelings in
my mind but the sadness is so profound when the word 'PARENTS' hit my mind.
In truth I actually wanted to know
why they ever left or what difficulties they might have faced to leave me all
behind. I wanted to know very badly about each and every details of what ever
had happened at their earliest. But……how? How will I ever know? Will I ever
even know in future? These are the question that has been haunting me all those
years but of course they never quit……..even now.
The only way through which I can know
the truth is to ask my aunt but I don’t have the guts to ask and besides, I am
completely sure that she will have me devoured rather than telling me anything if
I do so. Therefore, I don’t have any choice left.
While I was having those miserable
thoughts, suddenly I felt some one approaching near me and I was numb in a
second………I haven't completed my work as she ordered and then I knew I was in
for it again. My body was shaking terribly out of fear and I failed to make a
turn-around.
'Can I help you, my little child?'
………..Am I imagining of hearing that sentence in lieu of aunt's harsh words?
No………….it can't be possible. And yah, I heard it correctly………..she is not my
aunt. Thank God!
'Can I help you, my little child?'
You see, I was right. She repeated it and I heard it clearly. Thank God again.
You saved me, you really did.
'My child?' On hearing her for the
third time, I turned to look around without having a single doubt.
She is a young woman in her mid
twenties and has a swarthy complexion. She had worn a black t-shirt matching
her face and a loose jean pant. Her hair has been wound into a tight
figure-eight knot at the base of her neck in which she looks more like a mother
in spite of her young age. There is a serenity and peace on her face which
urged me forward to ask her name.
'I am Samantha Taylor, staying just
near your house,' she answered briefly as if she was in a hurry.
'Oh! So I never noticed,' I replied
her which seemed more like a question than a statement. 'I am Jenny and I live
with my aunt.' I hated myself for using the word AUNT because she is worse than
everyone in this world! She doesn’t deserve to be called as an aunt!
'Don’t you have any big brother or
sister?' she asked me sympathetically and I immediately I knew that she felt
pity upon me for doing such an arduous work, all by myself.
'No, I am alone with her.' This time
I felt happy and proud of myself for using the word HER.
But my heart wasn’t at peace and I
can hear my own heart beat pounding faster and louder after each passing
second. What if she comes and sees me with a stranger having conversation? What
will happen then? Only God knows.
'Will you let me to join in work? I
don’t have much work at home so it will be a good idea to give a hand. I can
help you,' she asked me and I felt bit embarrassed by knowing that she had
detected my uneasiness and fear inside me.
'It will be a pleasure for me. Thank
you,' I answered quickly to conceal my shyness though I knew that shade of crimson
on my face has already proved my true nature……………shy and timid.
We started working after the brief
conversation. With each passing minute, the height of the snow kept decreasing
and at last we worked everything out, leaving a clear foot path visible in
distance. I felt so relieved to see our complete task which meant…………no
beating, no howling.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw her
removing a pearl of sweat from her forehead with the handkerchief. When I
looked at her, she looked back and gave a triumphant smile just like a small
child of age about eight after getting a cone-shaped chocolate ice-cream by the
result of tugging her mother's sleeve for an hour. She is a wonderful woman; elegant,
jovial, candid and compassionate too. She has a lovely physique appearance and
I liked her about everything…….she is angelic. May be God had sent her for me
after all these dreadful and horrible years which felt like an aeon. 'Now we
are done. Hmm……..Do you have any other work or do you want to visit my house? I
will just show you around my house if time permits you. I am alone because my
parents went for trip and my siblings are away for further studies. May be we
can have a good time,' she said tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
She has a silky, shiny and long straight hair, and I wish she will keep it
falling loosely on her back.
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