It will make a year tomorrow when Stacey and I lost an important part of our lives, her name is Jane, she was fifteen years old, a grown woman in a young body. The little impact she left in our lives is evergreen as I remember the last night we had a heart to heart talk;
'What happened Stacey? You've be bothered since we got back today, anything on your mind you wish to share?'
"I'm bothered by the world we live in, the society we found ourselves, where big men in their tinted exotic cars pass by pretending we're invisible, where mothers shield their precious and lovely children from us who they consider as lesser humans, forgetting that every child on the street has a story to tell and desire to be heard. You know today, I saw something that reminds me of my home"
"What's that?" What was your home like"??"
"Today I came to a shop to ask for alms as usual, and I saw a little girl crying profusely, she was crying so hard that I thought her eyes will pop out, I wanted to move closer and comfort her but then an ugly figure appeared with a weapon I recognized so fast cause it was my dad's best friend and my worst enemy,a belt. The woman with a voice so thick like she swallowed a train's heart was calling the little vulnerable girl useless as she was beating her, she called her useless,Precious, that's all we are to the people in this world, useless. Despite the girl's cry, she didn't stop neither did the people around stopped her, when I couldn't withstand the sight i had to leave but with a memory of why I ran away from home" she sighed and then continued "My father or should say my supposed father, was a raging monster, who believe in disciplining my elder brother and I in a hard way, I didn't see it as discipline but an act of wickedness, it's like when human crushes little creatures like ants, it's evil. But my mum was the quite type, a broken housewife who is so submissive to her husband's will. There's this festival in my house, unlike the regular festivals in the real sense that happens once or twice a year, this one happens virtually everyday, it's a masquerade festival. When I do anything as a little girl that isn't pleasing to my father, he orders the appearance of the belt,I will be laid down naked with the belt dancing to different tune on the same stage of my body sometimes I will be locked in a room for hours if not days without food while my mother will do nothing but cry as she dares not to misbehave and go against my father's command, if she does, her body isn't that old for belt not to land on. Each time this happen,my soul was breaking gradually, as a part of me vanishes everytime till I couldn't take it any longer.
The last time I saw my brother and mother was the first time I saw my father beat my mother, though I do hear her cry when it happens but I never witnessed it. It happened outside our street, he was kicking and punching her really bad, he didn't even listen to the loud cry of my mother or the passer-by pleading on her behalf. I was depressed and completely broken but my heart was strengthened to be able to run away at the age of ten and here I am but the only thing that didn't stop bothering me, is if it's like this everywhere"
"No it isn't' a voice came from our back, it was Jane with her smile, I envy that smile till date because even with what we were going through, she never stopped smiling, she believe that fate separated us from our different families but love brings us together as sisters struggling to survive in this world, and that, that love is sufficient.
"Jane you're awake? Have you been listening ??
'Yes" she said with a smile 'and I said it isn't like that everywhere Stacey.its different in a good or bad way, whichever way, it's different. She said as she sits between us looking at the moon and stars smiling with her
'I came from a beautiful family who didn't have much but we had one another, or should I say, I had my father. I was the only child, my mother was a trader who travels a lot but my father was always around, making me not to really feel the absence of my mother because every moment with him was life fulfilling until my world changed it garment.I lost my father when I was eight and it wasn't the same again" she paused for a moment before she continue "after the death of my father, my mum still couldn't forsake her business so she asked her younger brother, my uncle to come live with us so as to take care of me. Before I knew it, have grown so fond of my uncle as he was always there for me, making me to miss my dad less, he calls me beautiful, he do tell me I'm different from other girls, that I'm a princess growing to become a queen. All these was perfect till one cold night."
She used her hands to rub the tears off her face "it was the eve of my birthday, I clocked twelve, my mum was away on a trip as usual, no call or text from her, just my uncle was around to make my day. We were in the sitting room that evening, and he was telling me of how have grown into a lady and how it would be like, I was enjoying the conversation until he started touching me, believe me, I know what a normal touch feels like and that wasn't it, as he was touching sensitive parts of my body, he called me beautiful as always be the sound was different, it sounds as when a huge animal sees a prey and couldn't wait to devour it, I was feelings so uncomfortable so I told him I needed to sleep but he pulled me closer and somehow forced his way into me. I begged him to stop but he didn't, I wanted to scream but I couldn't and no one could rescue me as we were alone in the house"
She paused for a moment before she continued, guess it's easier to die than to tell of this miserable incidents "that night after he was done making me feel dirt, forcefully taking my virginity, my pride and my freedom, he still had the gut to tell me a lie, that I will die if I mention this to anyone. I never said a word to anyone and he didn't stop until I lost my mother and I was asked to go and live with a relative I know nothing about, that very day I packed the little things I could and I ran as far as my legs could take me and here I am"
"Whoa, that's worse than mine. That's the real pure evil. But who is to be blamed if not the society, the government and the public at large who encourage and breed monsters like my father and uncles like Jane's by not doing anything about it when they could"Stacey said.
'No, I think if anyone should be blamed it should be the parents" I said "parents like Jane's mother who claim to be too busy to take care of their own children and endanger the lives of the kids by entrusting them to one uncle or someone who they have no idea of the devil that lives inside them, they have forgotten that their children are like a citadel,which if not well protected, it will be destroyed by the outside force and once it's ruined, there will be no place for them to run into for shelter during hard times. Or what do you say Jane?"
Jane's opinion was different, what she said that night melts my heart and the reason I keep going;"I don't care who's to be blamed, all I care about is how we, the victims of today won't be blamed tomorrow. I believe all that's happening now has been destined and that there's a light at the end of the tunnel because after dark comes another morning, and every other morning is a struggle,when we are given another chance to live because life itself is a struggle,stop struggling and stop living. It isn't our fault that we are born in a world that doesn't believe in or care about the child on the street, but it would be our fault, if we don't effect change,no matter how little in this world. We are homeless but not hopeless,we have choices and we are defined by our choices,we're conquerers who choose to fight and not give up cause we have nothing else than this fight and our smile that hides our pain in our pride. The world we are affected all our decisions, transformed our dreams to visions but this same world won't ask you the method we used, but that did we succeed. So all we have to do is to make a wish, take a risk, exhaust our chances and make the one and only life we got work and worth it. Hmmm word!!! Do you guys dig?"She asked with a smile
"Yeah, we do!" we chorused smiling as the seven heavens and stars in the sky were smiling with us...
Stacey snapped me out of my thought by tapping me unaware
"Hey precious, we have to go to sleep now or we won't get a space to rest our heads plus tomorrow is another day and we have a lot to do"
"Yeah that's true,we have to rest our heads now but I miss her,Stacey, so much that I'm lost on how to get over it" I said
'I know precious, I know. I also miss her too, really bad that I wish I could sitting around crying until she wakes up and come back to us but you have to remember that every day of our lives is a war we fight to survive in this world and tomorrow is another day for our struggle continues..." She said as we walk to where we'll rest our heads...