Dominoes effect of tragedies

I have been staying in the hospital for a week but every time I asked what happened to me, they all good my question. And ever since I woke up, not even one person came to visit me but luckily I know why, thanks to Stephanie's memories.

Stephanie was born to a family of seven and she was the oldest. Her parents died six years ago and since then she was separated from her siblings. Her younger triplet brothers, David, Daniel and Dean who are now eighteen were taken by her second uncle who lives in city X. Her younger sister Aria was adopted by her mother's young sister.

According to the memories Stephanie was seeking to get custody of her younger sister but her aunt, Lyn Yang, refused her custody of the child and they had been an ongoing battle between the two. Unfortunately for Stephanie, the Court ruled in favour of her aunt as she was older and also married. A good environment for a child to grow up they said.

Sadly for Stephanie, she was caught up in the scheming ways of her family and was shot in the spine during a gun fight in the outskirts of city Y. On that night, Stephanie and her gang were slaughtered by her uncle's Mafia group. The bullet that hit her penetrated her spine sending her into a year long coma.

As for her brothers, Stephanie did not know how they were fairing with her Mafia uncle. When she failed to get Aria, she tried to get her brothers back but that ended in bloodshed and she did not gain anything useful in the end, rather she lost her life.

I sighed as I could not even be half the woman Stephanie was: brave, fearless and most importantly strong. As far as I know myself, I had always been running from my problems, hiding inorder not to get hurt.

I have always been a coward, how can I face all of these problems? Let out an exasperated sigh when another memory attacked me.

Stephanie was seated on the floor, her face battered and her shoulders shaking violently with tears streaming down her face. A man stood in front of her body and spoke.

"I've told you Steph, but you don't listen to me!" he seethed angrily gripping her face with his thumb and forefingers.

"I-I am s-s-sorry," Stephanie stammered and it was completely different from the other memories I had of her. This was a reality that no one knew, Stephanie was broken and fragile inside but she had to put up a brave front just to survive.

"Sorry?" the man said menacingly, "Sorry does nothing!You always say sorry but you keep on making mistakes, huh, why do you keep on doing this to me Steph, you are driving me insane!"

"I-I-I will pu-t le..less s-salt next t-tim-me." Steph hiccuped her voice low but still audible to the man.

"There is no next time woman!" he shouted, slapping her harshly at the end of his statement. Stephanie toppled over and fell to the carpeted floor, her lips bursting from slap.

The man threw Stephanie over his shoulder and then tossing her onto the bed. He kissed her violently as her body trembled in fear of what was to come next. She tried to free herself but he took hold of her hands and pinned them above her head biting her bottom lip in the process, making sure it bled.

He continued his asult by biting her skin harshly leaving rose petals dripping with blood.

"Alex..." she whimpered in pain as tears streamed down her face. "Please stop...I-I am...aaaaah!"

When she scram he had hit her with his belt which he had just unbuckled. "Say another word and I will beat you senseless!" he threatened shutting her up complete.

At that moment, Stephanie regretted choosing this monster in the first place. She loved him with her entire being but he mocked that love and turned it into hate. He changed her home into a prison, he ruined her. Stephanie was only nineteen at the time and after her parents death, this man completely trampled upon her and broke her irreparably.

With out a warning the man penetrated through her pounding on her harshly. Stephanie's body remained limp as the man continued with his deed. He stopped suddenly noticing her lack of response, he hit her with his belt again and barked "Respond to me!"

At that Stephanie tried her best, in spite of her entire body aching to respond to him forcing her self to moan to respond whilst she crying heavily.

My body shuddered at the memory as if it was my own, I then snapped my head towards a nurse who was shaking my shoulders.

"Miss are you okay?"she asked shaking my shoulders and I just nodded my head unable to trust my voice as the memory played in front of me along many similar ones. Making my body shudder involuntarily and tears rolled down my face.

The next days were filled with reccuring night mares of Stephanie being abused and my body felt at if it was happening in the present. In those months I concluded that Stephanie's life was a dominoes effect of one tragedy after the other and how she managed to join a gang stupefied me.