“Are you alright now?” Zachary’s soft voice echoed in my ear, I can still hear that asshole’s voice, with his sinister smile, trying to grope me.
“I’m uh, I’m fine now,” I said, but who am I fooling, my hands were still shaking, not in fear but in anger, nightmares started to flash in my head, all the memories I’ve been dying to forget.
“Who was that?” I looked at him, “You’re talking to, before your outburst,” I couldn’t talk back, like I should, to defend myself, I must look stupid in front of him.
“My uncle,” I briefly answered, I want him to feel that I’m not ready to share any side of my life with him, well I guess, he felt that his eyes were asking so many questions, but he just nod, that made me feel relief, I smiled a little bit as my thanks.
“Alright,” he stood up, and offered his hand to help me stand up, which I immediately grab, whether I like it or not, I needed that support, “You can stay here if you’re still not okay, or you can go back to work if that’s alright with you,” he went to his rack and grabbed his suit, “I have a meeting to attend, you can stay for a while,”
I just nod and sat on this comfortable sofa, he didn’t say a word and just left the office, I gritted my teeth the moment I remembered the call. How the fuck was that man able to reach me again? I cut my contact with that family, years ago, I didn’t even consider that as part of my life.
Flashback
“Mamita, why is Grandpa sleeping for days? What’s taking him so long to wake up? Is he having a very good dream?” little Vera asked, she was sitting on her mamita’s lap, while her hair was fixed, her grandpa always wanted her hair in a pony.
“Hmm, well, sweetheart, Grandpa is not feeling well, that’s why he’s sleeping to save energy because you were naughty,” Vera’s laugh filled the room. She loves her grandparents so much, even though she knew she wasn’t theirs, but they treated her with so much love.
“But my birthday is four days from now, will he still be sleeping? I thought a normal sleeping time would be eight to ten hours?” Vera curiously asked, she wanted to know why her grandpa was still laying on his bed.
“We have to prepare for your birthday, don’t worry, I know grandpa is preparing something big for you, so you have to act like you have no idea what he was pulling this time, can you do that, sweetheart?”
Vera nodded excitedly, “Of course, mamita! I can always keep a secret! That’s me! The secret keeper, Vera!”
“That’s my baby, I love you, sweety!” her mamita hugged her, and she felt the warmth from her body.
(Four months later)
“Mamita! Where are they taking Grandpa?!” Vera shouted, she came back from school, only to find out that he was unconscious, “Why are there doctors everywhere?” her eyes were in tears, worried about what will happen, even though she hasn’t got what is happening around.
“Vera,” a tall man towered over her, “I am George,” he introduced himself, but she was too preoccupied, she can’t even find her grandmother, “My mom, which you considered grandmother was rushed into the hospital with my dad,”
“Can I go with them?” she asked, hopeful, “Can you please bring me to them?”
He kneeled down, smirking, “Of course, but first, you have to do something for me, will that be alright? After that, we can go to your mamita and grandpa,”
She immediately nodded, “Okay, just make sure you will keep your promise,”
“Sure,” he offered his hand, which she accepted, and that was the most regretful decision she could ever make as a child.
(Six years later)
“Let me go!” said the eighteen-year-old Vera, “Uncle George! Let me go! You’re embarrassing me!”
“I don’t care, you bitch! Come here, and I’ll show you who’s the real me!” George was raging mad, after discovering that his parents did not give him any inheritance of any of their properties nor money, which made him very mad.
“What did I ever do to you?!” the lady was so confused why she was treated this way, “What the fuck!” she kept on resisting, trying to stop George from dragging her, this was not the first time he laid his hand on her, he always abused her.
George brought her behind the school, and he immediately throw a hand on her, slapping both of her cheeks, causing Vera to fall down, she tasted the blood from her lips, but she doesn’t care, she was both confused and mad.
“What the fuck is my problem, huh? You’re really asking me that? What? what have you done to my dad when he was alive? Were you fucking him? Huh! That would be the only reason he’ll be giving you all his assets!”
Vera was frozen to her spot, she didn’t know that, she was their orphan, and she didn’t expect anything aside from having a loving family which she received from the old couple.
“So what now, you fuck my father while I’m away? You steal everything from me and my family, you bitch, I’m going to kill y-“
“It’s not my fault,” Vera muster all her courage and looked at George, “It’s not my fault that I’m the one who’s there when they are sick, it’s not my fault that I valued them more than you do, it’s not even my fault that they love me more than they do to you,” his face redden, out of so much madness, “You did this to yourself, you pushed them to write other person’s name than you,”
With that, she immediately run, and she never wanted to see him again, all her bruises, wounds he inflicted on her, nothing compares to how he treated her like trash, through his words, and degrading her life, and pushing her to question her existence.