The Forgotten Girl

1016 words

The Forgotten Girl

Her daddy was once a pastor of the local church—her mom a Sunday School teacher. Her parent never took her to church. They never took her anywhere. When she was born, her dad took one look at her and said, "Anything that ugly doesn't belong to me." Sadly, he refused to take her home with them. The baby was left alone, forgotten, unwanted. Being born premature, she wasn't fully developed, and the bones in her forehead had not formed. As the baby nursed her bottle, the forehead would collapse back and forth. The sight made her daddy sick. Her mom was too weak to fight him and just did as he said. She left her baby at the hospital all alone.

Then the dad began to drink a lot. Her mom had other children to look after and was afraid to try and do anything against his will. When the hospital called to say someone must come for this baby, her grandmother went and took the baby home.

As time passed by, the ugly baby grew into a beautiful little girl. Then the parents wanted to take her home. Causing the grandmother to have a heart attack, so they left her with the grandmother. She raised her as her own.

The parents were having trouble, maybe with guilt but trouble just the same. Her dad's drinking became so bad her mother asked for a divorce. He became angered, and he hit her, breaking her nose. That was it; she could take no more.

The little girl still lived with her grandmother and grandfather. Her grandmother developed a disability after the heart attack, so her grandfather would take her to church and Sunday School. There she learned all about Jesus. The little girl asked why he did Jesus let terrible things happen to little girls like her. The teacher told her it wasn't Jesus who did terrible things to her; it was her dad.

The little girl thought since she lived with her grandparents, she would always be happy. Then the grandmother passed away. Her aunts thought it would look bad for a little girl to live alone with her grandfather, so she had to go and live with her mom.

She was an outsider. Her siblings did not like her coming to live with them. She became the worker for most things that needed to be taken care of around the house. Her oldest sister got married. The next oldest helped by working and helping her mom with the bills. The younger sister and brother became her responsibility.

Her job was to clean the house, do the laundry, cook meals, and care for the young ones. She had never done any of these things and did not know how to do most. There was no one to help her. Mom worked afternoons and into the late evenings, so she wasn't around. Her sister worked afternoons and always seemed to have a date after work.

She tried very hard to learn how to do everything. She needed to learn quickly. They laughed at her when she made mistakes. Often, she would cry herself to sleep at night only to arise in the morning and start over again. She did well on her own, and before long, she could do what was needed. Then the bad things started.

She had grown into a lovely young lady. Her smile warmed the heart just looking at her. Her long blonde hair and big blue eyes with the sparkle of sunshine made you want to smile too. Her hair would catch the sunlight like a halo. But she was lonely.

Her uncle came for a visit, and while no one was home, he raped her. He told her if she told anyone, they would send her to live in the children's home, and she would never see her family again. She believed him because he was an adult, and she was just a child. After that, he seemed to think anytime he wanted to, it was okay. She was despondent and asked why Jesus would let this happen, but she never understood. She became timid and introverted. The girl didn't have friends. She would go to school, come home, do her work, send the young ones to bed, and cry herself to sleep.

She was a brilliant girl. Top of her class but had no friends to talk to about her problems. She believed she did not deserve friends because she was terrible. Her uncle had told her often enough how bad she was. No boy would ever want her or want to be her friend because she had done bad things with him. She was no good and never would be.

Her uncle told his friend about her and sold her to him for his use. Then the friend told his friend, and she was passed around like candy. Each one reminded her what would happen to her if she told. It broke her heart, and she wondered if her mom knew what was going on, but she was too afraid to ask.

Then she could take it no more and just decided to give up. There was no hope. What happened next was not what she wanted, but she couldn't take any longer. She wanted to live a life of her own, not be some toy for her uncle and his friends to pass around. It was her life, and she wanted to change it. She would do what she had to. When the young ones fell asleep, she pretended to be asleep after her mom had come home. When her mom fell asleep, the girl took her suitcase in hand and walked out the door. With just one slight glance back, she walked on. Where she was going and what she would do when she got there, she did not know. All she knew was she wasn't going to be a used toy any longer.

                                                           The End