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Washed away
She held on to the fragile branch with a death's grip as the roaring water threatened to drag her away.
She gasped, the bubbling swirls entering her mouth. There was no hope left...
She had to let go.
"Why!" she cursed herself, as the currents carried her deeper into the forest.
"Why did I have to run away?"
She was just a little girl.
...
Earlier that morning, it was as usual. Her father came home intoxicated from a night's merriment with his mates.
"You stupid woman!" He yelled at her mother, who was trying her best to hurry for work after feeding him and tucking him to bed.
"Poor mom", thought she, with tears in her eyes.
"If only I were a boy I would've been more responsible...
I would not let my mother be treated this way"
And yet on went her mother, giving her a kiss before she went off to work.
But something was wrong, very wrong.
For some reason, dad was in an unusual fit of rage she had never witnessed before, and once he realised he couldn't get any sleep due to the rain drops seeping through the hole in the roof to his bed, he went on and started to pull her hair.
Relentlessly, he started to beat her.
In a moment of shock, she tried to defend herself and reached out to the nearest thing she could latch onto, and flung it to her dad. It was mom's favourite vase.
As her dad was stunned by what just happened, she took her chance and ran away.
She didn't know where, but any place was better than here.
And she ran. Amidst the fog and rain, she couldn't see where she was headed, and the next thing she knew, she slipped and fell.
...
"On second thought... "
"Feels good, doesn't it?" said a voice in her head.
"No more dad, no more hunger, no more suffering"...
"Yeah", she thought. "Just the water and I, and it's oddly the safest I've ever been".
Although the currents were rough, it was as if she was baptized from her bruises and scars.
"No more suffering"...
She opened her eyes. "River Nymph, have you come to forsake me?"
...
"Not forsake, but liberate"
...
She could not help but put a smile on her face. Compared to what she's been through in her life, the rocks and debris gnashing at her body felt like a breeze.
As the water filled her lungs, she neither resisted nor did she curse.
...
"Never again"
...
Her eyes opened at the sound of the river crashing into rocks. A waterfall was up ahead, but she had made her decision.
She then embraced her plunge from the top and fell to the depths.
Her life flashing before her eyes on her fall.
"I'm sorry, mom"she thought, with tears in her eyes.
But she had no regrets. For she knew, the river had chosen her, and she, the river.
© Ben Tariang
She gasped, the bubbling swirls entering her mouth. There was no hope left...
She had to let go.
"Why!" she cursed herself, as the currents carried her deeper into the forest.
"Why did I have to run away?"
She was just a little girl.
...
Earlier that morning, it was as usual. Her father came home intoxicated from a night's merriment with his mates.
"You stupid woman!" He yelled at her mother, who was trying her best to hurry for work after feeding him and tucking him to bed.
"Poor mom", thought she, with tears in her eyes.
"If only I were a boy I would've been more responsible...
I would not let my mother be treated this way"
And yet on went her mother, giving her a kiss before she went off to work.
But something was wrong, very wrong.
For some reason, dad was in an unusual fit of rage she had never witnessed before, and once he realised he couldn't get any sleep due to the rain drops seeping through the hole in the roof to his bed, he went on and started to pull her hair.
Relentlessly, he started to beat her.
In a moment of shock, she tried to defend herself and reached out to the nearest thing she could latch onto, and flung it to her dad. It was mom's favourite vase.
As her dad was stunned by what just happened, she took her chance and ran away.
She didn't know where, but any place was better than here.
And she ran. Amidst the fog and rain, she couldn't see where she was headed, and the next thing she knew, she slipped and fell.
...
"On second thought... "
"Feels good, doesn't it?" said a voice in her head.
"No more dad, no more hunger, no more suffering"...
"Yeah", she thought. "Just the water and I, and it's oddly the safest I've ever been".
Although the currents were rough, it was as if she was baptized from her bruises and scars.
"No more suffering"...
She opened her eyes. "River Nymph, have you come to forsake me?"
...
"Not forsake, but liberate"
...
She could not help but put a smile on her face. Compared to what she's been through in her life, the rocks and debris gnashing at her body felt like a breeze.
As the water filled her lungs, she neither resisted nor did she curse.
...
"Never again"
...
Her eyes opened at the sound of the river crashing into rocks. A waterfall was up ahead, but she had made her decision.
She then embraced her plunge from the top and fell to the depths.
Her life flashing before her eyes on her fall.
"I'm sorry, mom"she thought, with tears in her eyes.
But she had no regrets. For she knew, the river had chosen her, and she, the river.
© Ben Tariang
