Beautiful Mistake

MARGARET

Every day was the same for me. I silently cried as I watched my drunk dad beat up my mom through the hole in the wooden door. Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything about it. I could only watch in distress. Each day, my mom and I beseeched the streets for money as our means of income. Whenever we got home, we were stripped of the little money we made from my dad.

Today was different. My eleven-year-old self watched my dad as he came into the house drunk as usual, this time with a man I had never seen in my life. "Boss, this is the girl I told you about", dad smiled. The man sighed and took my dad further from me and whispered in his ear. I tried but couldn't hear what he was saying. At that moment, I wished my mom had been around because I felt very uneasy. After a while, my dad asked me to go to my room and left. I hid under my bed still feeling uneasy. The strange man walked into the room and called out to me. "You don't need to hide, I won't hurt you". He opened my badly damaged wardrobe and searched for me. "Don't make things more difficult for us", he said, slightly pissed. He walked around for a while and knelt in front of my bed and lowered his head," found you". He tried to hold me but I pushed his hand away every single time. "Go away, I don't want to see you". I could barely speak without stuttering. He chuckled, "I advise you to come out on your own for your own safety". "No! Leave me alone". I could barely hear myself. He tied his nose with a napkin and sprayed a bottle of unknown substance on my face. I tried my best to hold my breath but I couldn't hold it for too long.

I didn't know what had happened. I found myself lying in a pool of blood the next day. My mom sat beside me covered in tears, "I'm sorry you had to go through this". I looked at her with a worried look and wondered why she was crying. "Mom, why am I bleeding and where were you yesterday?". "I'm really sorry Margaret".

A couple of months passed and my daily routine changed completely. My mom made me come home earlier than usual. My feeding habits changed as well, my appetite rose and I ate three times more than usual. Each morning I woke up to Mom feeding me a salad and I always felt light-headed, sometimes I had a fever. Mom called it "Morning sickness". One morning while I was begging for money on the streets as usual, I noticed something unusual. Everyone that passed sneered and made nasty comments at me. When my older friend, Lily arrived she looked at me cautiously. "Margaret, I didn't know you slept around". I confusingly asked what the problem was and she simply pointed at my tummy. I had forgotten to wear my oversized hoodie. My Mom always asked me to wear it but I forgot on that day. "what is wrong with my tummy?", I asked innocently. "Margaret, it's huge, you look pregnant". Lily opened my mind to a whole different world I had never thought of, she told me different things as well and when I got home I could not wait for my Mom to come back. I ended up falling asleep while waiting and Mom came to my room the next morning to serve me my breakfast. "Mom, am I pregnant?", I asked. She was quiet for a while, "Who told you that?". At that moment she was avoiding making eye contact with me. "Am I?". "No, you're not, and don't go around talking to strangers". She dropped the plate of salad next to my pillow and felt my neck. "You have a fever again, I'll go get the tablets", She left as quickly as lightning. I got up to freshen up just when I felt liquid moving down my legs. I could still remember Lily telling me something about the ruptured amniotic sac that happens mainly before labor. "Margaret change quickly and come with me", My mom stuttered and left my room. She was talking to someone on the phone very quietly. When I knew something was up I went and asked her if I was okay. She told me not to worry and gave me a pink pill, "Take this, it's for your fever". Whenever I had a fever Mom always gave me a white pill but, that one was pink. I pretended to take it and gulped down the glass of water she gave me. A cab took us to St Matthew's hospital while I pretended to be asleep. She got a call again and told the person on the other end of the phone that I was ready for a caesarean delivery.