CHAMBER OF MEMORIES

The Birthday Wish

Pearl let out a sigh as she got up from her bed that December morning. She dragged her heavy feet and weary heart across the room. She stood by the window pane and ran her delicate fingers against the frost. She pushed the shutters open and a rush of cold air entered the room. The cold wind pierced through her but it felt amazing.

The stinging chill was sensational. She enjoyed every moment of the pain as it helped her mind drift away. Her pink fingertips brushed against her arm, feeling the scars, some healed, but most were as new as yesterday.

She shut her eyes and thought of the guy she met last spring. Oh, where is he now? Before there was him, her days were lonely and the conversations she had were only with herself. For she had known, the world didn't want to listen.

That particular lesson she had to learn the hard way; by seeing her mother's mascara stained tears stream down her cheeks as she begged Pearl's father for mercy.

Pearl had always adored her mother. Her mother had shiny hair, luscious red lips and lovely dresses. She used to stand by her mother's bedroom door and watch as her put on her makeup gracefully. She thought her mother was beautiful, but her father begged to differ.

Her father tortured her mother. He shoved her to the walls, choke her, slapped her - he nearly beat the life out of her. Pearl would sob by the corner while witnessing all this. The words her father screamed to her mother were etched into her mind.

"stop whining, your tears mean nothing. Your feelings mean nothing. Not to me. "

And to think that it was coming from the person who had promised to love and to cherish her mother, till' death do they part. Pearl was petrified; she was not to let her vulnerable self fall into the same trench of calamity her mother was stuck in. But then came Jason; a guy who with his open hands, offered protection. With his deep eyes, offered sincere interest. With his words, offered full filled promises. And she had offered him something she had never put forth - her trust.

He saw right through her, a girl who had the character of glass - fragile. He had pushed back her hair and placed a white flower behind her ear, telling her that he saw a part of her that even she doubted - her strength, her bravery.

He held her hands and told her how beautiful she would be if she was brave enough to overcome her fears, to stand up to her father, to open up to more people, to open up to him. He told her that he'd be there to listen. And he would never do to her what her father did to her mother.

"The world isn't all cruel," he said. She smiled; everything he said made sense to her.

Jason was the miracle she had been hoping for. They meet up every day that spring. He would wait for her at the outskirts of town and they'd head home when the sun was setting. When they parted away, she felt her heart fall to her stomach.

He was her escape to a better world. And without him, the world seemed dark and cruel again. He'd smile to her before saying goodbye. "I'll be here tomorrow," he had said every time.

But as autumn approached, he stopped waiting for her. There were days when he would show up late, and stay silent throughout their meeting. He was distancing herself from her, and she didn't know why. After numerous days waiting alone, she stopped.

One day, she found him sitting alone, weeping. She sat next to him, not saying a word. Lastly, he got up, shot her a look and left. In his eyes, she saw hatred, disappointment.

She sat there, watching him go and started to cry. The misery of his absence stabbed at her heart and the fact that she didn't know why he was leaving her tormented her even more.

That December morning, it was her birthday. She shut the window and walked to the mirror. She bit her lips as she dug her nail across her arm, bright red blood and crystal clear tears dripped to the floor. That day was meant to be special, but without Jason, it was pointless. She muttered her birthday wish between sobs; she wished for Jason, for a miracle, for an end to the torment.

She pummeled to the floor and her vision went pitch black.