Prompt Five

[cadet_amara]

Your life is flashing before your eyes. What are the three images/moments/memories that you see?

1) She sat still as her mother brushed her hair. It was a weekly ritual that the child cherished, craving her mother’s touch and affection. She admired her, and longed to hear her laugh, see her smile. Her mother was very beautiful, like a princess in a story. The girl never moved an inch when her hair was being brushed, afraid that if she did it would somehow break the spell and the weekly ritual would end.

 

“Her hair is her best feature.” Her mother commented to someone in the room. “She’ll be pretty when she’s older, don’t you think?”

 

2) She had cried when they came to take her away. Mother was gone. Now she would have to go away too. She clung to her older cousin, not wanting to go.

 

“Hey little sister, what’re you crying for, huh?” He poked her in the ribs, teasing her. “Mara, seven is too old for this shit. You get to go on an adventure, stop being a baby.”

 

“But Sanjay, I’m scared.” She sniffled, trying to stop crying. She looked over to where the woman was waiting. Ready to take her off to someplace called Sweden to live with some people she’d never met with a funny name.

 

“Chin up, little sister. You got to show them what we’re made of, huh?” He was a full three years older than she was, so she knew he had to know what he was talking about. Sanjay was almost always right. “Hey, listen, if it’s awful and you’re still scared just run home. We’ll hide you or something ok? Just run away. But now you got to go because that lady is staring.” He gave her a shove towards the woman. “And  don’t let me catch you looking back here with sad puppy eyes, huh? You got to show them you are brave or they’ll walk all over you like a damn doormat!”

 

She nodded a little and raised her chin up, furiously wiping away her tears. She would show them she was brave, even when she was afraid, and she would never look back.

 

3) He was screaming at her, inches from her face. She was terrified of him, but she would never show she was afraid. When he started shaking her she cringed, but continued to meet his eyes, silently taking the barrage of words. This too would pass. It always did. Then he would apologize and tell her how much she meant to him, how much he adored her and wanted her in their home, and she would forgive him, because that was what she always said. “It’s ok.”

 

Fire. She didn’t know when or how it started. She was so confused. The angry screams became more and more insistent. She tried to put it out, but couldn’t think clearly with all the screaming. She was shaking. Or was he shaking her? She couldn’t even tell anymore. Her vision blurred, her heart was pounding, and fear gripped her to the very soul. So, the thirteen-year-old girl did what she always did. She ran. Ran from the screaming, ran from the flames. She just ran.

 

The screams began to change. They were no longer angry. They were terrified now. Then screams of pain… agony. She shut her eyes, trying to block it all out, but the sound of the flames as they engulfed the place she had called home for such a brief period were too insistent. She would never in her life forget these sounds, this heat, this terror.

 

Opening her eyes, she stared unblinking until the image seemed to burn into her mind itself. This would haunt her forever, and she somehow knew she would never be the same again.