ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN

ANISHA'S POV

"Oh no, Amelia, that is a very sad story! I'm sorry you had to go through that. So what happened next? What did you do with the pregnancy? Did your dad and step mother find out? Did the pastor ever find out that you did not abort the child? What about the abortionist? Did you ever see her again?" I asked as I leaned in closer to face her. The crease on her forehead deepened. They were creases of deep pain; telling a story of torture, betray, loss of trust and deep regret.

TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO IN SOUTHRAIN

"Leave this house! Leave this house right away! You are a disgrace!" Amelia's step mother threw her clothes outside. With tears, she picked them up and threw them into a big plastic bag which she carried. She turned to look at her father with pleading eyes, but the man quickly faced the ground. Amelia felt a stab in her heart; she felt like her soul had just broken into a million pieces, and she wondered if those pieces could ever be mended. Was a day ever coming when she would not be in pain? She wiped off the tears and held the stuffed plastic bag in her arms. Amelia started walking, going to an unknown destination.

Chloe! Chloe was her friend, and had always been very kind to her. There was a ten year age gap between the two, but Chloe always treated Amelia as a good friend and little sister. She took out her phone and called Chloe. After narrating her story, Chloe arranged to meet with Amelia.

"I'm very sorry that you have to go through this," Chloe said. "It's a pity I can't take you in. I'm still staying in my parents' house remember? And I cannot explain this to them."

Amelia simply nodded her head. She knew she was alone in this. Slowly she raised her hand to stroke her tiny bump, and she still felt she had made the right decision. How could she have murdered her own child? He shuddered just at the thought of it.

Amelia found herself on the streets. It was rough, it was not something that she could get used to. With the help of Chloe, she started to get part time jobs such as cleaning people's homes, babysitting or house sitting. She hated it all; but then it had to be done. It was for survival; not for the luxury of it. The painful part was that she still owed the abortionist, and the latter had not shown any intention of writing off the debt.

On one particular day, the weather suddenly changed and it became freezing cold. With only one thin blanket to her name, Amelia had to vacate the street corner where she usually slept, and started looking around for a warmer place. She walked with her hands clutched to her chest, where all her belongings were stuffed together into a huge ball which she carried over her shoulder in a make-shift bag made out of plastics. Suddenly she found it; a place in the outskirts of town, which looked dim, but warm enough. Slowly she crawled in and looked around. It looked like someone had been recently in that same place, for she could see fresh crumbs of bread on the floor. With no other choice, Amelia lay on the floor and closed her eyes. The tears began to flow; just like they always did. Before long, she had fallen asleep.

"Mum!! There is someone in our place!" a loud shrill woke Amelia up. It was dark, but the moon and some street lights helped to lighten up the place a bit. Sitting up, Amelia rubbed her eyes and blinked many times. As soon as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, a silhouette of a woman and two children appeared before her. She assumed it was a mother and her two sons. The boys looked to be eight and two years old.

"This is our place," a woman said plainly.

"Oh I am sorry, I am sorry. I was looking for a warm place. I will leave now." Amelia spoke as she stood up. She abruptly yanked her blanket off the floor, and her bag of clothes which she had used as a pillow.

"Aww, she is pregnant," the woman spoke in a voice full of concern. "You are pregnant? What happened? Did he refuse to take responsibility?"

Amelia nodded and felt the tears coming. She allowed them to fall freely. Tears had become her new best friend.

"Don't cry. You can sleep with us only for today. Tomorrow, we can spend the whole day helping you to find for your own warm space."

Amelia nodded, thanked the lady and preparing to go back to sleep.

Early in the morning, the woman woke Amelia up and handed her a few coins.

"I'm sorry but I can't go with you today, as I had promised. Here, buy something to eat."

Amelia thanked her a lot, took the coins and started to walk.

"Come back!" the woman called after her. Amelia slowly walked back and smiled at the woman. Roughly, the woman lifted her sleeping child and pulled off his jersey.

"No!" the little boy cried in his sleep. Ignoring his cries, the woman went on to remove his t-shirt. Underneath that t-shirt, the little boy had another t-shirt. It was bright green in colour, and on the front it was written in red: THIS IS WHAT AWESOME LOOKS LIKE.

Feeling the cold on his body, the little boy woke up and whimpered, curling up into a ball on his mother's laps. Hurriedly, the woman went on to dress him and tossed a blanket over him. She threw the green t-shirt into Amelia's arms. "Take that. Your baby can wear that when he or she is born. Do you want a boy or a girl?" she smiled.

"Ohh, thank you very much. Thank you. This is the first clothing item for my child! I had not managed to buy anything so far," Tears of gratitude filled Amelia's eyes. She neatly folded the t-shirt and put it in her bag.

Life continued like that, and when she was in her seventh month of pregnancy, Amelia was beginning to feel the harsh reality punching her in the face. She had always known that life would be tough; but never in her life had she imagined that it would be that tough. Due to feeling bad and not wanting to be a burden to anyone, Amelia had cut ties with Chloe. Soon after she started ignoring Chloe's calls, she sold her phone to try and make a living. She needed to eat; that was her most urgent need.

On one Sunday, when Amelia was feeling extremely hungry, and she felt she was going to faint; she approached a woman who was walking happily down the road. The woman, who was pregnant, was chatting with her little girl of about five or six years old. Amelia thought in her mind, maybe if I ask for help from a pregnant person, they will understand me better than other people.

Shaking from both the cold and hunger, Amelia asked plainly, "please ma'am, may I have some food? I am so hungry that I can fall down right now."

The woman's smile froze mid-way and she looked at Amelia with pitiful eyes.

"Look mamma! She is going to have a baby; just like you!", the little girl stated, pointing at Amelia's protruding belly. "Mamma, I want to give her my new towel!! My new towel, mamma! Please please! I want her to use it for her new baby!" the little girl pleaded.

The woman looked down at her girl and asked her if she was sure that she wanted to give away her towel.

"Of course mamma! I want to give her! Let's give her now, mamma!"

Slowly the woman unpacked her shopping bag and pulled out a huge beach towel. It had many bright colors, and a huge picture of Minnie Mouse filled most of the towel. The words Minnie Mouse were also written on the corner of the towel.

"She has been crying for this towel for weeks. Now that I have bought it, she insists I give it to you. I hope she won't cry for it as soon as we get to the car," the woman spoke as she handed over the towel.

"Oh no! I cannot take it!" Amelia refused, but the little girl insisted. The little girl insisted so much that she was about to cry, and in the end Amelia took the gift. The woman proceeded to buy her some food, and she asked Amelia to meet her at the same place on the following day.

Although Amelia really doubted that the lady would come back, she still waited for her, on the following day. As promised, the woman drove to the spot, on that day she did not bring along her little girl. She seemed to be in a hurry, and she handed over some packed food to Amelia.

"I thought I had many baby clothes at home, I totally forgot that I had donated them elsewhere," the lady spoke. "This is all I have."

The woman handed over a small plastic bag. Amelia thanked her a million times over, but the woman announced that she was running late, so she jumped into her car, slammed the door shut and drove off.

Smiling, Amelia carried her food and plastic bag to her usual corner. She sat down and started to look into the bag. There was nothing much; yet to her, she felt like she had been given a whole truckload of clothes.

It was a white little set of clothes. A white set made of very soft fluffy wool. There was a trousers with little pockets, and on the front pocket, the letter 'A' was embroidered in red. A little matching jacket was also there. The front of the jacket was embroidered with a much bigger letter 'A'. The hat also had the letter 'A' embroidered on the front, and there were little mittens too, also with the letter 'A' on each of them.

"It's a little suit", Amelia smiled to herself. "My child, you have a little suit", she gently stroked her tummy, and as if responding directly to what the mother had just said, the baby in her tummy kicked wildly.