Chp.21- Mother nature came to visit.
Ifenna Matthews
"WORTHLESS CHILD, GET OUT OF MY FACE!"
Once upon a time she lived a happy life. In a house that felt like home, surrounded by a family that loved and cherished her.
Now, suddenly, her life wasn't so happy. Infact, it was a nightmare. Her family suddenly hated her and her house no longer felt like home. Her father, unlike others who still treated her fairly well, treated her badly. Her mother suddenly couldn't look her in the eye whenever she spoke to her.
Where did it all go wrong?
How did her life turn into this?
Everyday she got the same treatment.
"DIDN'T I ASK YOU TO PICK THOSE UP YOU BRAT?!"
"YOUR FACE DISGUSTS ME! LEAVE!"
"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A PAIN IN THE NECK"
"GOD FORBID YOU DO SOMETHING RIGHT FOR ONCE, JASWYN!" Her father's harsh bellow echoed throughout the house.
Ifenna Jaswyn Matthews stared at her bathroom mirror, like every other morning, her eyes stung with unshed tears. Ifenna didn't want to keep on crying so she washed her face and left the bathroom, getting ready for school.
She stumbled out of the bathroom, rubbing the last traces of water off her reddened face. Her eyes flitted towards the daunting clock. A measly ten minutes stood between her and her everyday solace, school.
One may call her crazy for loving the concept of going to school, especially since her peers wouldn't think of it as anything more than an obligatory routine. But for Ifenna Jaswyn Matthews, school was her safe haven. A realm that hid her from the scornful and cold faces of her family.
As she picked her shirt and skirt from her bed and threw them on, she winced at her father's vitriol spilling through the walls, vile words mixed with the piercing clinking of bottles. The alcoholism was another of his dreadful gifts that colored the once cheerful canvas of her family into greyish disdain.
"-CAN'T EVEN WASH THESE PROPERLY, YOU WORTHLESS CHILD!"
A sob lodged in Ifenna's throat at the hateful words but she managed to gulp it down. She pulled her curly brown hair into a low ponytail, ignoring the pang that her messy hair usually earned her mother's ire. She brushed the memory away like dust from a photograph, swallowing hard.
Her mother's strange silence pained her more than her father's vile language. From her caring hands and her sweet lullabies, to the cold indifference that she offered now, the transformation was jarring.
Shoving her bare feet into her worn out school shoes, she turned away from her heart-wrenching reflection in the cracked mirror.
Each tick of the clock felt like a sting on her battered soul as she crammed books into her bag, aware that every second wasted at home was another moment for the violent words and the icy silence to burn deeper.
As she looked back towards the clock one last time, she flinched at the harsh sound of something shattering, a sickening sense of familiarity. Bottles and spirits, always ready to feed her father's demons, which came out bellowing insults.
Swinging her backpack over her shoulder, she cast a last sorrowful glance towards her former home. 'Why can't they see that I am the same?' she pondered, the door muffling the next expletive her father spat out.
Walking down the gravel path, Ifenna drew in the crisp morning air, as if trying to replace the air inside her filled with the rancidity of her home. She briskly started her routine walk towards her school, eyes fixed ahead.
This wasn't just her daily journey to school, but a necessary pilgrimage to sanity, to a world where she wasn't the worthless child. With every step towards her destination, the deafening chaos from her home faded and with that her hopelessness.
Leaving behind her loveless family and her broken home, she embraced school as her solace, where her passion for learning and her knack for mathematics made her feel cherished and capable. Where she was just Jaswyn, the bright, optimistic student who was a ray of hope, not just the 'worthless child'. And for the time being, that was all that mattered.
~•~
~Fayth Martins~
"Guess what!" I jumped back in my chair, startled. I rolled my eyes once I noticed who it was and faced forward again. It was just Aaliyah. Elysian High's gossip girl.
"I totally just walked in on Cimani doing it with Jackson in the girl's bathroom." She whisper yelled as if revealing some big secret. Everyone was aware of Cimani's waywardness and how Jackson never kept it in his pants. It wasn't anything new at this school anyway. Hooking up for quickies in the school's bathroom, that is.
Horny f*ckers.
"His penus is tiny, girl." Aaliyah giggled into her hands as I finally turned to face her with an incredulous look.
"Liyah!"
"It's true!" She giggled even more as she sat next to me. " And he carries himself as If he's got some big dick energy. Ain't nothing big about that D girl. It's small and pink-ish." I gagged, shoving her playfully.
"Can we please stop talking about Jackson's d*ck? Gross."
"You're no fun." Aaliyah's lips formed a pout.
"There's nothing FUN about talking about that dude's p*nis, Liyah" I rolled my eyes as I pulled out my textbooks. Aaliyah parted her lips to respond to me but the teacher had already walked into class and stood in front of all of us as she dropped her notes on the podium in the middle of the room.
"Good morning class. We're onto a new topic today! Ready your pens as I dictate a few paragraphs to you."
~•~
Half way through the day, during lunch, the pain returned.
I was meant to meet up with Izaak for our essay project in the library after eating lunch, but now I couldn't even move my ass to go anywhere. My waist hurt so badly that any slight movement felt like I was being stabbed there.
"Are you okay, Fayth?" Dazzline knelt beside my seat as she rubbed my back.
"Pain." Was all I could say. I really hated how badly my period cramps got. One time It landed me in the hospital, but that was just a one time thing.
"Time of the month?"
"Yes." I groaned. Dazzline tried making me feel better. She offered me painkillers which I took, but it didn't seem to do anything for the pain. She knelt beside me throughout, though, until I was sure the pain had subsided a bit. I still needed to eat something because my eyes were already starting to turn and my head felt like it was spinning in circles. Dazzline helped me up, her arms around my waist as she assisted me in walking. We bumped into Izaak on our way out of the classroom, and he had a concerned look on his face seeing my condition.
"Are you okay, Fayth? I was waiting for you at the library but you- FAYTH?!" Izaak reached out for me as Dazzline screamed. I collapsed on the floor, dragging Dazzline down with me. It felt like I was being punched in the guts and head at the same time.
"Jesus Christ, Fayth! Keep your eyes open Fayth! Oh god-" I felt her soft hands brushing tendrils of my hair from my face as she shook my body softly, desperately. I could hear Izaak's voice too, but as my eyes slowly closed shut, the voices above and around me mixed together and followed me into darkness and a world of nothingness.