Why? by Anh-Thu Ho

She was running. She was going to leave all this pain, this suffering. For the last time…

‘Why me? What did I do to deserve this…pain?’

As she ran towards her house, many thoughts and memories passed through her head.

‘Mom, dad, I’ll see you soon…’

She was right there, standing on the curb. She was waiting, for her parents to come out. But when her parents opened the car door, a drunk driver swerved suddenly towards them.

In an instant, the seven year olds parents were dead.

A tear slid down her cheek. She couldn’t believe she could just stand there watching, hopelessly. She felt so...helpless.

‘Why did it have to be you guys? Why not me? All this wouldn’t have happened if it was me! Why did you have to leave me with Uncle Dave?’

She cringed at the slightest thought of her Uncle Dave. Uncle Dave was an alcoholic who drank excessively and constantly abused her.

She had tried to sneak in. But he was right there, waiting for her. With a beer bottle in his hand and his face red from drinking. She tried reasoning with him, trying to escape the inevitable pain.

“U-Uncle Dave…I-I was just…”

However, she was interrupted with a slap to the face. Then, he hit her down, her face slamming into the cold, hard floor. She cried, pleading for him to stop. But he just kept hitting her until he crashed to the floor, fast asleep.

Tears stung her eyes as she thought about him.

‘Why me?’

As she approached her house, she started walking in very stealthily. She opened the door and looked around, frightened. Her uncle wasn’t home.

‘I can’t back down now…’

She wiped her tear-stained eyes and continued down the hall and up the stairs. She started to cry again as she thought back on her miserable life.

‘Everyone at school thinks I'm a slut and ridicules me, because of him, the one who...raped me. Uncle Dave will kill me sooner or later anyways. All that torture...I'll finally be able to escape it. Well, it's not like anyone's going to miss me anyways...’

She ran into her room, closed the door, and shut the blinds. She walked to her desk and opened a drawer to reveal a gun she had been hiding for some time. She then picked up the gun and held it to her head. She took one last breath.

‘Why?’

And then…

…she was gone.