Ella
Abandoned. Ella was abandoned. She slowly looked up at the dark cloudy sky, her hot tears and raindrops trickling down her cheeks. She let the rain wash away her tears, hoping it would also wash away the feeling of being neglected and left alone. Her tattered clothes were being soaked with the pouring rain, making her shiver, but she didn’t care. She didn’t even realize she was standing in the middle of a narrow road, where the cars were forming a chaotic traffic jam around her. Impatient drivers honked and yelled, signaling her to get out of their way. Soon, she was blinded by the vigorous car lights that made her feel like a deer in the headlight.
‘Why don’t they just run me over,’ she thought, ‘nobody wants be anyways, why don’t they just run me over’.
Ella’s parents went through a divorce when she was 8. She hated everyday of her life, being raised by an incompetent, alcoholic single mom. At the age of 13, Ella and her brother, 5 years older than Ella, were left alone after her mom got arrested for shoplifting. This was too much for 13 year old Ella to handle. She became emotionally traumatized and physically abused by her brother, Sean, who was angry at the world. She was somebody he could take out his anger on. Sean, the only person she could rely on, turned into another reason to hate her life after her mom got arrested. After two years, things started to get worse; she was severely beat by her brother almost everyday. A week after her 15th birthday, Sean was suspiciously nice to Ella. He bought her nice clothes and make up with money she doesn’t know where he got from. He even made her food and often flashed his yellow, rotten teeth.
‘Maybe Sean realized how cruel he has been to me,’ Ella tried putting away her suspicions, ‘maybe things will get better after all’.
Ella was too naïve and had too much faith in her brother. Ella had come to realize one day that Sean had sold their shelter without telling her. She had come to realize that she was one of his “possessions” that were sold to his friends for drugs. She was trapped in her house that was about to crumble down. She was a toy to the psychotic drug addicts. Everyday was a living hell for Ella, and she had tried killing herself over 9 times through extreme self-abuse. She wanted to end it all. She saw no point of her existence and purpose of life. But she always had a twinge of hope that one day, she would be living like all the others. She would have an ordinary life, with people telling her that she has a nice smile. One day, she would have kids and raise them to be happy unlike her own mother. This seemed impossible to Ella. These “unrealistic” ambitions were what drove Ella to escape; with no food, no plans, and no definite destination.
She just ran. She ran as fast as she could as if she was running away from her fear of being caught by her brother’s “friends”, the consequences she would have to face if she went back to her “shelter”, and the life she has to live everyday. She was running out of breath, the howling wind blew her hair in her face, and the rocky trail was making her bare feet blister and bleed. She bit her bottom lip and clenched her fists, trying to ignore the pain as she felt the rocks and pebbles dig into her feet. She knew if she stopped, the chances of her being caught would get higher. When she reached the end of the trail that led to a busy highway, her mind went blank, and she automatically stopped. She watched the cars dash past each other motionlessly.
“What was I thinking,” she gripped onto the hem of her torn sleeve, “where am I supposed to go? I’m not even wanted anywhere.”
Without a second thought, she boldly started walking out to the road, not comprehending her action. She paused when she felt a raindrop on her hand. She let her palm face the sky and waited for more raindrops to fall into her hand. Within a second, the raindrops gathered in her palm, and she realized she was already drenched by the pouring rain.
She gathered her trembling hands around her blue lips. “Why am I here?” she cried out with accusation in her raspy voice, “why is my life so pathetic? Why am I always abandoned? How come I can’t be happy…” Ella wiped her overflowing tears with the back of her hand, and prayed that she wouldn’t end up having to go back to her brother’s friends to “take care of her”.
That’s when she saw it. A threatening headlight blinded her and appeared larger as it rapidly approached her. Ella felt a pang of agony as the blinding light crashed into her fragile body. For a few seconds, she sensed that she was no longer standing on the pavement. She slightly opened her eyes, only to see her life flash by as she flew across the air. Being separated from her dad, seeing her own mom get arrested, getting hit and being abandoned by her brother, being trapped in the living hell, getting goose bumps everytime the guys crept up towards her with their sinister sneers, and feeling that short period of freedom while running away on the trail, feeling the wind gush against her.
‘It’s okay if it ends,’ she comforted herself, ‘I don’t have anything to lose. It’s okay Ella, it’s all going to be okay.’ She closed her eyes tightly and covered her cold face.
Ella’s head hit the ground. Soon, the thick, dark red blood slowly drenched her hair and formed a little puddle around her small, frail head. Although death had taken her away, Ella’s face looked peaceful for the first time in her life.
