Not A Stranger to Pain

Chapter 17

Phillip then told his troubled daughter that her mother cared for her that's why she treated her like so.

Chara was puzzled as to what kind of love was that. A love that could destroy everything in its wake.

A love that fed on sorrow and left you feeling hollow.

'what kind of love is this ' she thought to herself. She had never been so puzzled at the complexity of life itself.

She once read the Bible in 1st Corinthians chapter 13 and it said love does not envy and that it takes no pleasure in wrong doing.

She often thought that people misconstrued the word love and often thought that is love was as toxic as this then she would rather have nothing.

She didn't ache for it anymore nor did she seek for it so she would understand what true love was.

As time went on they stopped going to church the routine of going there was becoming tedious to the family.

In church it seemed all they cared for was church Politics or who was wearing the best clothes.

At times us people we seek for a deeper meaning to things or revelation. One day Liz was invited to a new church by her friends that church had lovely people in it. Of course every church might have bad apples it is part of life sometimes we are the bad apples rotten to the core.

The difference was that when the family started going to this church they started healing in a way they never thought they could.

For Chara she finally had a mother who would smile at her and tell she was beautiful and hug her. I am not talking about Liz here but she found a mother in the Pastors wife though Liz was now trying.

She was the epitome of love and cheerfulness. She tried by all means to mend the rift between Chara and her mother which was a work in progress.

Chara for once in her life felt happy or looked forward to going home. She didn't particularly like going home but she enjoyed going to church.

Some years passed by and she was dating , she was so excited but that was short lived.

Her boyfriends name was Bryan , he was tall ,dark, muscular kind of guy . He had tattoos that reached his finger the tattoos started from his arm. He had once been a rugby player,Chara had a thing rugby players.

Chara was a bit enthralled by his looks. He had this bad boy type of thing going on.

He told her that he had changed, that he was once a bad boy and he wants a serious relationship.

She thought that she had found her match.

She believed in what the novels wrote about a bad boy turned to good, a Greek Tycoon falling in love and changing his rakish ways.

She believed in all of that only to be disappointed.

"Hey sexy I missed you can you come and meet me I am outside ", sure I will be out in a sec Bryan."

Chara touched up on her makeup, these days she loved putting on makeup. Who would have thought that her tomboy self would change.

She even showered like 4 times a day people often wondered if that was normal. She had been that type of child who resisted showering. She was the kid who used to be locked into the bathroom until she showered.

The irony of it all, maybe that's what growing up is all about.

Chara went out to meet her boyfriend, they had a date to go to.

She was excited because this was her first date ever.

She had remained single for sometime cause she was afraid of what Liz could do to her she promised to do her body harm.

She shuddered as she remembered what had happened last Christmas. Her cousins had come to their house and they were all seated watching television when Liz had said that Chara had dropped a booger onto the carpet.