Chapter 2
If only he knew why they hate me.
Would he hate me, too, after knowing it?
These thoughts eat me up every day, but I try to bury them deep down in my heart. I kept gazing at the dark, starry sky from the hole in our small hut. I don't know why, but I found myself staring at it for hours. Even if I'm tired after working as a mule for the whole day. I still can't find myself sleeping at night. My body was aching in different places, and the hunger I felt was never quenched with a small slice of bread, so I drank water to fill my empty stomach. Until I couldn't drink anymore.
When will our misery end?
When will I be able to provide food to my brother so he can sleep with a full stomach?
All the kids in his school wear nice clothes, but my brother wears worn-out clothes, and he never complains as other kids do. Never demands new clothes or good things from me. Warm tears tickle from the corners of my eyes. I was deeply lost in my thoughts as if I were lost in the darkness of the night with no hope of a ray. I felt a movement beside me, and it made me look at a small figure lying beside me. He was fast asleep. He was exhausted after fetching the water. I looked at my brother, who was curled up beside me, to find the warmth that our thin blanket failed to provide. It was not big for two people, so I folded it and put it on him. I draped my hand over him and pulled him towards me so he could get a little warm against the chill night. I closed my eyes as more tears slipped from the corner of my eyes. Finally, exhaustion took over me as sleep came to my eyes.
Continuing banging on the door made me curl up in fear. I knew who was at the door, and in no time it was opened with a loud bang.
"Thales, you are home," my mother said in her timid voice. I could sense fear in her voice, but she was trying to be strong for me.
"Get her out of my house." I heard a roaring sound coming from the other room.
"What are you saying she is your child?" my mother said in her same timid voice as she was trying her best to calm her husband.
"She is not my child.” He said with disgust. “Get her out before I destroy everything” he shouted. I was sitting under the bed where Mom had hidden me before Dad came home drunk.
"Don't shout. She will hear you." My mother tried to calm him down. I had already heard everything many times.
"Do you think I care if she hears or not? Get her out of my house. She is not my child," he again roared in his drunken voice, making my small body shiver in fear. The memory of him slapping me flashed in front of my tear-filled eyes, making me hide more in fear of him slapping me again like he does whenever he is drunk.
"She is your child, your blood," my mother said in her raging voice as she was fed up telling him this again and again.
"You think I will believe you, Elena? Aren't you happy after fooling me?" He taunted my mother. I closed my ears with my small hands, not wanting to hear what he was about to say.
"We couldn't have children for more than ten years, and I was still happy living with you, but one day you told me you were pregnant. I was truly happy thinking we would finally have a family, but when she was born, she didn't even look a bit like me. This clearly states that you carried someone else's child behind my back. She is a bastard," he roared in his furious voice as I heard the door of the room in which I was hiding tremble because of loud banging. I shifted more in the corner where his hand couldn't reach me as my small body shivered more in fear.
"Where is she?" The doors were slammed open, and he walked in to search for me.
"I did not cheat on you. She is your blood," my mother said in her firm voice, trying to convince him, but he was beyond convincing. Alcohol had blocked all his senses. He ignored my crying mother and started to search for me as he destroyed everything that came in his path. I closed my eyes and tried to move more against the wall, but it was not possible. My small body can't move the wall.
"Here is where you hide her." I heard his drunken voice, and it made me open my eyes in fear. He was looking at me with a malicious smile on his face, making my heart beat in fear. My mother tried to pull him away from me. His hands tried to grab me as I wailed in loud sobs asking him to let me go. But he didn't listen to me.
"Mommy!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as he caught my leg pulling me towards him as my small body trashed to get out of his dreadful grip.
"No!" I screamed, jolting up from my sleep. Sweat beads ran down my face. I will never forget that night. It still sends bad chills through my whole body. The night air was so chilly still my whole body was drenched in sweat while the tears of helplessness fell from my eyes. I was gasping for breath as that night again reappeared, in front of my eyes. I moved my trembling hands to my face as I wiped the cold sweat from my face.
I looked at my brother to see if he had woken up after hearing my sobs. He often wakes up after hearing my cries, but today he was sleeping. I thanked God and stood up to walk out of our house. I knew I couldn't go back to sleep because that nightmare would again haunt me, as it had been haunting me for fifteen years. With small steps, I walked out of the hut. I decided to take a bath as the sun would rise soon, and before that, I needed to go to the forest to fetch some wood to keep us warm on these cold nights. I walked to the river with my other dress in my hand, which was in the same condition as the dress I was wearing. I had only two dresses, so I made sure to use them carefully as I couldn't afford the new one. I stripped and walked into the ice-cold water under the moonlight. The coldness of the water crept up my body.
I immersed myself in the water completely so it could go away. I only came up when I was out of breath. I took a huge gulp of air as my chest rose and fell due to a lack of breath, telling me life was still inside me. I lifted my hand and moved my long midnight hair behind my face as cold water dripped from it. I eyed my reflection in the water under the moonlight. I know why my father never accepted me as his child. My long midnight black hair and my light grey eyes made me distant from everyone here. No one in the village had black hair or light grey eyes like me. The only feature I got from my mother was her milky white skin, which, too, makes me look different in villages full of dusky skin.
I remember once I ran to my mother with eyes full of tears when all the kids refused to play with me. I asked my mother why I looked so different from others. Why do they hate me so much? She stopped what she was doing and lifted me in her arms. I sobbed in her arms. She wiped my tears with her warm fingers and smiled as she pinched my red nose.
"Because you are special, Hera,” Those words echoed in my ears as a bittersweet smile graced my lips. Those words still echoed in my ears every time I was mistreated. Every time I was denied basic human rights. Her words echo in my ears now too. I looked up in the dark sky with that bittersweet smile still on my face. I kept gazing at the beautiful full moon as if I were looking at my mother with a big frown on my face.
"I know those words are not true, Mother. If being special means they have to face hardship like me, then I don't want to be special." I whispered those words in my chattering voice while looking at the full moon as the cold night wind made my body shiver.
As soon as those words left my mouth, my eyes widened in disbelief as I saw a dragon flying across the moon while I stood naked in the cold river.