Pastel Prompts

The maths teacher

"Aya, are you okay?"
Ms. Eva asks the student across her table.

Aya has been coming a lot more than she did in the past few months. Admittedly she is the only student who ever comes to see her and it feels nice. Like she is putting to work her psychology degree to use.

She hoped that the other children would have the confidence to confide in her and look past the Math's teacher title but no one came in.

At first Aya came to ask about an equation she couldn't solve. Once or twice a week but then as time fly past and they discussed new topics in class, Aya asked for assistance almost everyday. It was if she was absent in class when the basics were covered. That worried her.

One day she asked. The poor child broke down. Tears spilled and flowed down her face, faster than one could blink. Ms.Eva was surprised and baffled. This is not a reaction she had even considered happening.

Quick to her feet she went over to Aya and held her in her arms. Embracing her seem to have made matters worse but she knew that if was the actual opposite. She soothed Aya by rubbing her back in circles.

"I don't want to live anymore.",Aya muffled in between her sobs.
That single sentence shattered Ms.Eva's heart. She hugged Aya a little tighter and felt her own eyes welling up.

A few minutes after Aya has calmed down, she asked:
"Before anything else, would you like to share with me what is bothering you?"

Expectedly Aya didn't tell her right away and she didn't push her. With patience, she soon learned that Aya's mother recently passed away . She had left  her and 2 younger siblings-whom Aya had to take care of- with their uncle.

Often times Aya had to ask their neighbours for food as they were barely reaching ends meet with the uncle spending money on alcohol and women.

Sometimes Aya would come home to darkness. There would be no electricity. It would ebe extremely difficult to study during exam seasons. While other people experienced load shedding, living without light became a norm. Both in the house and in her life.

In extreme cases, her uncle would come with his friends and they would try to hit on or grope Aya. They would order her siblings around like their errand-runners and threaten then. While all they do is sit around, smoke their cigarettes and drink.

The sad thing is that no one in the community seems to care. A few elderly women care enough to look after her siblings while she is not home but that's about it. No one has tried to lend a real hand.

As Aya continues to talk Ms.Eva listens. She hopes that Aya speaking to her relieves her of the weight and ache she has to bear on her own.

The next step. Ms.Eva will have to tell the Principal and possibly involve social workers. No one deserves to be treated and live like this, let alone a 16 year old teenager.

Sadly, Ms.Eva knows there are one to many pupils who are in the same situation as Aya. She hopes that one day they open up and share their weight with her.