Chapter 17
Welcome to my world, a world where every minute leaves you breathless. A world with calamities and various enemies trying to slit your throat or use your heart as a personal trophy. Where each day leaves you thinking- will tomorrow be my last. Have you ever thought about waking up one day and realizing you have to fight for your existence? Yep, that's my world, the world of no return. The world at the end of everything.
Each day that is not spent fighting for my life is always the same. I wake each morning, eat a scrumptious breakfast made by grandma and get ready to learn boring subjects with aunt Laila and uncle Eduardo. And read ancient books with my cousins, Ara and Luisa. The only things interesting about my life are the frequent attacks from 'the hybrids'.
It's like house arrest. I am never allowed out and the only time I can see the world I live in is during the attacks or when I'm moving houses. Me moving houses is like going food shopping. It's something I got to do at least once every fortnight to survive. Just like you can't do without having food in the house, I can't do without moving houses.
The maximum time I have spent in a house is a
Uncle Eduardo and aunt Laila are the only people allowed out of the house, to which my cousins complain regularly about, but it's the rules. And for some random reason, I seem to think it's all my fault. Ara is nineteen and deserves to see the world and most importantly fall in love. And fourteen years old Luisa, on the other hand, needs a chance to explore her surroundings and make new friends.
The only friends I've ever had are my cousins and my caring old grandma, who seem to have a soft spot for me and let me do what I want as long as I don't get caught by my uncle and aunt. I haven't really seen anyone except my family and my attackers.
As a kid, I was always a curious child but I never really ventured out of the house because I was too scared of what might happen to me when I'm not under the protection of my family. The things I'm told about the world being too dangerous and the only living things that don't want me dead are the members of my unusual family, doesn't help my phobia to the world and everything in it.
It has always been like that for fifteen years. And all I can do is hope things will change after my sixteen birthday which is in a week and two days.
I never really celebrate my birthday, it's just like every other day of my life. The only thing different is the fact my grandma,aunt and cousins give me presents.
My uncle doesn't believe birthdays should celebrated, especially not mine. Apparently mine brings back bad memories he doesn't want to remember.
I don't really know why it seems to bring back bad memories and no one seems to want to tell me. Even Luisa seems to know everything about me and she is two years younger than me.
It frustrates me when we have family meetings which everyone is expected to go. Everyone but me!
I'm not allowed to know, I've never been allowed. This is not the first time I have been left out of something. Knowing I am not allowed to know anything about me or why I am in this mess of a life, makes me feel worthless.
I spend most of my sleepless nights trying to figure out a good and understandable reason why I can't know anything. Other nights I try and imagine what it feels like to be normal. What it feels like to able to make friends and go out. What it feels like to live in one house for a very long time. What it feels like to go to school.
And most importantly, what it feels like to have parents.
However, imagining it and actually being able to do these things is very different!