One More Day

Chapter 9

My parents were nothing to me. They considered me to be nothing. As if I was inteferring with their lives. When I was still a baby, my aunt and uncle had to watch after me for the majority of my childhood. I thought they were my mother and father more than my actual parents. When they weren't watching me, I was just there with my mother and father. They were either arguing with one another or they were drinking. I remembered there would always be fights when I was around the age of seven. There would be nonstop arguing and I would lock myself in my room. The words "You started this!" rang through my head as they fought. I always thought I was the source of their problems. However, I wasn't. 

When my aunt and unle were watching over me one day, I asked them why they were constantly fighting. They didn't give me a straightforward answer. That was when I told them they didn't have to lie because I knew I was the problem of their fighting. That was when my aunt had told me everything.

My mother and father were high school sweethearts. They met one another during freshmen year and stayed together throughout their senior year. Before they went to college, my father had gotten my mother pregnant. My father told her he would stay with her no matter what. He went out and got a job that would be enough to pay the apartment rent, get food on the table, and to get neccessities a baby needed. My mother was grateful that he was there to help her out. She tried to get as much money as she could before she delivered. When I was born, that was when the problems started to arise. 

My grandmother and grandfather were disappointed with my mother for having a baby when she was supposed to be in college. She was only ninteen when she had me. My father was only twenty and had two jobs. They got into a heated argument and my mother shut them out from her life. The only family members that talked to them were my aunt and uncle. My grandparents would come to see me and see how I was doing. They knew the situation I was in and they thought it would be best if they took care of me while my mother and father got their problems figured out. After my mother heard about this, she moved away from my grandparents. My aunt and uncle were forced to move by my mother.

The fighting never stopped. From the moment I was born to when they finally left. I was neglected my entire life since my mother and father were never there to love me and to be open. They didn't accept me for who I was. They didn't accept me as their child. All they would do was work, fight, drink, repeat cycle. It had gotten so bad that my aunt had to stay the night since both my parents were drunk as hell. That was when they started to get physical not only with each other, but with me and my aunt. First it was my father who hit my mother. My mother hit back in self defense, which caused my father to fight back. When my father was working one day, my aunt was sitting with me. I was about five and I was playing a stuffed animal I had cherished upon receiving. It was a little cat. I was playing with it and there was a small rip at its arm. I didn't notice it and I was spinning around with it. The tear got bigger and before I knew it, the arm ripped off. I was so upset that, like any child, I cried. 

My aunt tried to get to me before my mother did. My mother yelled at me for crying like a baby. She smacked me across the face. That gave me another reason to cry harder. My mother was about to smack me once more, but my aunt took the blow for me. My mother beat my aunt a few times before she walked away. My aunt sat down in front of me and examined the cat. She fixed the cat's arm and I was given it back. My aunt comforted me since my cheek was throbbing. 

Around the age of nine, that was when they left. I woke up one morning to find the apartment room basically empty. I was sleeping on the floor with nothing but my cat, a pillow, and a small blanket. I walked into the kitchen to see that most of the appliances were taken. The table and chairs were gone. The couch, coffee table, and TV were gone. I walked over to my parent's bedroom to see the bed was gone. The dresser and drawers were gone as well. I walked back into my room to see everything I had in there was gone. Even my clothes were gone. All I had was my cat, a pillow, a blanket, and the pajamas I wore. They left me with nothing. I grabbed the pillow, blanket, and my cat. I walked out of the apartment room and down into the lobby. The receptionist there knew the situation I was currently living in. However, she didn't know that I was left alone. She watched after me until my aunt and uncle eventually came for me. 

They did their best to raise me, but I was practically raising myself. I taught myself how to cook, sew, bake, how to read and write, and any other things I needed to know. They sent me to school which was a bad decision on their part because I was alone. I was so shy because of my upbringing that I had no friends. I was the lonely one. The kids there didn't even try to reach out to me. 

A couple years of living with my aunt and uncle, they told me that my mother and father had another child. However, they were financially stable to care for this child. That was salt to the deep wound. Fuel to the fire. They had another child and took care of them better than me? As if I was their mistake. A mistake that should of never happened. 

A tear slid down my cheek as I finished telling Dimitri everything. I sniffled, which made me realize I was crying. I wiped my eye with my sleeve and averted my gaze from his. He had a disgusted look on his face, but he also had a saddened expression. 

"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you," I said.

He reached over and rested his hand on top of mine. I looked up at him and he looked into my E/C eyes.

"I'm glad you told me, Y/N. Now I know why you work harder than anyone. I understand where you're coming from. And I am being completely honest when I tell you that, you're not a mistake. You're a gift."

I smiled at him. It wasn't one of my half smiles or fake smiles. This was a genuine smile. It has been a long time since I had a genuine smile.