𝚂 𝙼 𝙸 𝙻 𝙴

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

WARNING
GORE, BLOOD, AND DISTURBING DESCRIPTIONS MENTIONED WITHIN TEXT! ABUSE TRIGGER WARNING! READ AT OWN RISK!
*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･

_________

I couldn't feel my legs nor any part of my body and although I might be a child, I am pretty sure my body is not supposed to ache this intensely. The only functioning part of me was my brain which was racing with thoughts about Momma. The once kind hearted and most sweet soul was my mother, or at least she was until she turned cold and harsh. The paramedics and police officers were the ones who saved me from that hell-hole of a house, they saved me from the building in which I found nothing but the sprinkled ashes of who I once was, a house where I found nothing but the empty reflections in the mirror; I guess I had fallen apart without even realizing it. I must have left the real me when Daddy left us and broke Momma's spirits.

Is it okay to not be okay, now? Will I be punished for shedding a few tear drops?

I didn't know and I didn't want to risk the possibility of a punishment.

"Get her on the stretcher, now! We don't have much time until she loses consciousness!" A pretty blonde yelled demanded. Once she delivered that one statement, another pretty brown haired lady and a tall gentleman rushed over to me and gently placed my limp body on a cushion. It rose up and I heard wheels rolling.

I can trust pretty people, right? Momma was pretty so I must be able to trust them... right?

"Doctor Higgins and Gold, make sure the child is okay during the operations. Keep her stability levels at a level, okay? We want to prevent a code green or blue today, especially with a kid as young as this one."

"Yes ma'am, will do," a beautiful tan woman replied. Based on her golden blonde hair and hazel eyes, she must be the Doctor Gold woman the Pretty Lady previously addressed.  She put on a pair of blue latex gloves and raised some kind of mask over her lips and nose. "You're going to be okay, honey. Everything will be okay."

"Am... Am I in trouble? Am I dying? Can I go back to Momma, please..?"

They all looked scared at my questions, perhaps it was because they had carefully and delicately taken my shirt off to examine my torso. Doctor Gold and the Pretty Lady began to tear up in their eyes at the sight of my bruised, scraped, scarred, and cut skin. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"My God, you poor girl..!"

The man who towered above everyone took a look at my medical condition and his face turned ghostly white. If only I had known then this wasn't a good sign.

"Doctor, please come examine her condition. It's critical. I have never seen nothing quite like it; who did this to her?"

The pretty blonde lady took a look, gagged a little, and then swallowed a gulp of nervousness. The scalpel she held in her hand pierced the skin of my forearm where a bulge was presiding, she did this without any warning. "Anesthesia is not an option with this case. Nurses, get an extra IV and blood packs. Doctor Gold, comfort her. We have work to do. Sweetheart, who did this to you..?"

My answer would horrify everyone in the room for the entire operation and possibly for the rest of their lives. My response was unpredictable.

"Momma."

My response was clearer than the pain in my eyes and the empathy resides in my pupils as the woman next to me caressed my cheek lovingly. "You'll be okay, darling." she said reassuringly.

"Lead in the lower shin, wrist, upper left arm, and shoulder. Metal located in right calf and right ankle. Jesus Christ... bullet buried in abdomen right beneath organ. Higgins..! Scalpel! I need to remove lead and bullet before poisoning happens and we lose her. God knows how long she's had these inside of her body."

The nice lady rubbed her fingers in circles as the blonde one began digging in my body with her short knife. It hurt. It hurt a lot, I must have done something really bad.

"Qué tan malo es?"

"Bad. She endured a lot. Poor baby."

The blonde lady lowered her mask after hours of cutting my skin and she kissed my forehead, something Momma never did to me, and droplets of water ran down her face and onto my cheek. What's wrong?

"You're gonna be okay... I promise you, I promise you that you'll be okay.. God forbid anyone from doing this to you again. You poor child... I'm sorry." She said with sadness in her voice.

"Don't be sorry, Pretty Lady. I did something bad, didn't I? Is that why it hurts so much everywhere?"

The lady that was stroking my hand began bandaging my poor, limp body as the other lady wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked at me and cupped my cheeks into her hands and said . "You did nothing wrong. Your Mommy did a very bad thing to you. If anything ever happens like that again I want you to come find me here. My name is Celeste Dexter. Mention it to anyone around and ask them to bring you to me."

Why did she have to tell me that and give me the idea of hope in a world full of cruelty where fairness isn't granted to a mere child? I had to sit there and watch as my childhood was destroyed by the Old Hag's hands. She turned me into something you wouldn't have allowed me to become had you just kept me. I became someone I feared; the mirrors all cracked when I peaked into them. Don't you realize that this wasn't my choice? I didn't choose this.

˙sᴉɥʇ ǝsooɥɔ ʇ,upᴉp ᴉ

She smiled, God, why did she have to friggin smile at me like that. Her lips curved up into an innocent and full of happiness smile as she pat my head, the man and other lady rolling my bed into a hospital room.

She lied.

She didn't have to give me a false sense of hope like that.

She didn't have to tell me to go to her when it happened again and then forget about me.

I needed her.

I trusted her.

Now all I can imagine is her crooked facial expression when my legs carried my bloodied body into her office with the words "I'm back, Celeste" only to have her say "pardon? Who are you?" I didn't want that. I didn't want any of this. Lord knows I simply needed someone, anyone, to rely on.

You gave me to the Old Lady because you trusted her. You told me, you friggin told me to go to you when it happened again, but you forgot.

"She's going to be okay, Grandma Jesse. Please take the child in. She needs someone as a mother figure after her traumatic experience."

"Aight, aight, Celeste, I get it. The young-in need somebody to look up to, right? Yeah, 'kay. I'll take the brat in."

"Grandma Jesse, please be kind to the poor girl. She really needs you-"

"Yeah, yeah, shaddup Celeste. I know how to care for a kid. When do I get the girlie?"

"In a bout a month and a half."

"Perfect. I'll be back around then. See ya."

You gave me away as quickly as you found me. Do you know what she did to me? DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHE DID TO ME?

This was simply my new beginning.