Her Fate

EPISODE 1 - MEET ANZEL

“Loneliness is a vice on the heart, squeezing with enough pressure to a constant pain.”

AUGUST 2

7:00 AM

Have you been rejected in your life by your loved ones?

Loneliness sounds like such an easy thing to fix: find a friend, reach out to someone who cares. Every time Anzel tries, they recoil, unwilling to offer an olive branch of hope to the social leper, and so her anxiety deepens.

There are nights it takes a hold of her. All she could do in those long black hours is find an enclosed place to shake until the tears subside and she could focus on the dawn light and breathe.

It wasn’t simply a lack of company, though that was part of it for sure, it was a black hole that grew more powerful with every social snub. It threatened to swallow every part of Anzel, bad and good, until all that was left was a human shaped shell, too numb to feel the pain anymore.

She doesn’t have all the good things life had to offer, but she kept pushing hard. Getting her dreams fulfilled was all that has got her pushing forward.

“You don’t belong here. You better leave.” Her mind recollected dad’s furious face screaming out every word in that sentence day after day. “You mean nothing to us. We’re no more family. Living here doesn’t make you family, you’re a complete stranger to us,” mom would always say.

Anzel always held her nose to stop the tears, trying not to upset him more.

“Leave her alone dad. None of this is her fault, she’s just a child.” As tiny as her kid sister was, she never stopped standing up for her, but usually she just makes it worse. “Get to your room and never show your face till I say so.” She would get grounded just for standing up for Anzel. That’s how worse defending her could cost.

Her life has been filled with pain, headaches, regrets and no love. She gets little or no happiness every blessed day of her life.

At three years old, she was forced to live in a secluded world of her own, due to the rejection she got from people outside. She thought it was just normal for outsiders to hate on her, but clocking ten, she realized it was a passionate hatred people had for her.

It didn’t end there, the continuous insult rendered on her parents by the school authority, including the students, and the neighborhood because of her brown skin color slowly killed the immense love they had for her. As their hatred for her grew week by week, month by month, it became more and more obvious that she totally lost them.

She tried to make herself as silent and invisible as possible by locking herself up in the room and not roam downstairs so that her parents would forget about her.

She was always left behind every time they went on a family outing, taking with them her kid sister, Kevy, everyone’s favorite.

Up till now, Anzel has not received even an atom of love, care or affection from her parents, the only one that she gets much attention from is her kid sister, Kevy. She never stops loving and caring for her even though sometimes she gets grounded by her parents for hanging out with her. She’s the sweetest thing she has ever been gifted by Zeg, the god of Khisza planet.

The only position she has in her parents’ lives is their first child and their first daughter, while Kevy is the second born. Basically, they’re only two children born into the Rokus’ family.

Anzel was sitting all alone, away from the world, hoping for a new morning in her life, thinking about how harshly life has treated her and brooding over what exactly had gone wrong.

5:35am, as early as it was, she was found perching by the window of her room, watching as the artistic golden sun got up like a baby and started painting the dark black sky into a bright blue sky. That was the perfect moment to hide yourself in the arms of your beloved; here she was, all by herself, with no one to keep her company.

The bright looking milky clouds got up from sleep and started travelling around the sky, visiting the wonderful environment. That has always been her regular activity each time she woke up. Observing the magical transformation in the sky gave her a living faith that someday she would smile again.

It was already 7:03am when she glanced at the wall clock in her room. That explains why the early morning sun began sticking out.

She got down, strolled into the bathroom and splashed her face with cold water. With the help of her face towel, she was able to dry her wet face. She does this every morning to keep her hydrated, till when she will have her morning shower before she goes ahead to brush her teeth making sure they were crystal clean.

Minutes later, she was walking out of her room, heading straight to Kevy’s room. Her room was two rooms apart from hers, mom and dad’s room are in between.

Kevy usually comes to her room every morning, but she hasn’t, which was odd. So she decided to check up on her before she began preparing for school.

She turned the door knob of Kevy’s room and pushed the door open. She was hit by the beautiful look the rising sun rays added to her room every single morning. Anzel secretly admired this view pretty much.

Moving inside, the door clicked behind her. Jerking her head to her right where Kevy laid, her heart suddenly stopped beating and her widened eyes couldn’t believe what it just captured. “Kevy,” she whispered.

A dart to her right landed her on the bed she laid, she couldn’t believe what was happening right in front of her. Kevy was shivering, her teeths were chattering, her lips were trembling, her face had turned pale, and worst of all, her body temperature was high.

“Kevy, what’s wrong?” She screamed.

Kevy parted her trembling lips, like she was about to say something.

“What on earth are you doing in Kevy’s room?” The known voices interrupted, which had her trembling in fear already. It was her mom and dad.

She was unable to speak, she was supposed to take permission from them before coming here. Sadly, she just signed her death warranty.

Composing herself, she slowly stood up and turned her position to face them. All she could do was point at Kevy, who was lying lifelessly with tears rolling down her delicate cheeks.

Moving their eyes to the position of her hand. “Kevy!” Her mom exclaimed. Her pitch tuned high while rushing towards Kevy’s direction.

Pushing Anzel aside, she lifted Kevy’s head and placed it on her lap, while checking her temperature and all there was to check.

“What have you done to her?” She flashed Anzel a deadly look, her voice taut. Her dad’s flushed face was enough to reveal he was upset.

“How can I possibly harm my own sister?” She cried out. “I came in a few seconds before you both did to check on her, I was startled as you both are to meet her in this condition.” Her throat turned soar.

“Quiet,” her dad squealed. “Move out of this room.” He pointed at the direction of the door. “And never again will you come back here to check on her.” His voice was hoarse and deep.

Her chest almost popped out upon hearing those words. What was she supposed to say when she had no say whatsoever.

“Leave already!” Her mom yelled, sending an electric shock to her body.

Trembling with fear, she exited the room, moving straight to her room. She opened the door of her room and closed it behind her.

Scanning the room hopelessly and searching the room endlessly for someone to speak to, nobody was there. She was totally alone in the endless nightmare. She was solitary, alone, forced to live in a bed sit of a rising damp.

The state of raw abandonment had swallowed her sanity whole. She fell to the ground at the corner of the unsoiled room, laying her head gently on the floor, her back placed against the cold tile and puffs of warm breath threading out of her lips.

“When will the frustrating or deadly nightmare finally be over?” She lamented.

Was this truly life? Full of pain, heartbreak and difficulties? Someone out there should help her out, she needed help!! She screamed within her.

Today was just like any other day, a bad day for Anzel.

AUGUST 2

7:35 AM

Mr. Rokus’ house was extremely edgy earlier today considering the fact that their favorite, Kevy, had a pretty high fever that got everyone’s plans for the day totally ruined.

After she was found shivering, sneezing and crying on her bed. A doctor nearby was called to have a checkup on her. The doctor detected she had fever and gave her some injections and assured everyone she would be fine in a few hours.

“The injection will make her sleep for an hour or so because all she needs now is enough rest to recover. She’ll be perfectly fine when she wakes up.” Dr. Jahe assured, while taking off his stethoscope.

A ray of happiness altered the sad faces of both Mr. & Mrs. Rokus, Anzel’s parents. We pray so.” Both chorused, releasing a deep breath while clasping their hands together with a tight squeeze.

Dr. Jahe packed his medical equipment into his suitcase. “I’ll be on my way now,” he announced after he had picked up his suitcase.

“Thanks Dr. Jahe. We’ll see you to the front door,” Mr. Rokus responded. After one more glance at Kevy sleeping peacefully by the couples, they followed Dr. Jahe downstairs.

“Make sure she gets enough rest, remember to give her the medication tonight as directed, but be sure she eats first before administering the medicines to her,” Dr. Jahe said while making his way to the front door.

“Definitely,” Mrs. Rokus assured.

Dr. Jahe reached for the front door and swung it open. “Thanks for saving our little angel.” Mrs. Rokus appreciated him with a warm smile.

“Doctors are meant to save lives, it’s our duty. No need to thank me. Have a lovely day!” Dr. Jahe replied with a bright smile.

He walked out, closing the door behind him.

Kevy had to stay back from school today because her fever still hadn’t gone down. Anzel had to leave without her since she couldn’t make it.

AUGUST 2

7:42 AM

There was no one to accompany Anzel today. No, not even the wind as it howled and screeched its way past a damaged lamp post leaving her to mourn her way through the Kena city alone.

With the help of her grey baggy top, she was able to cover her heart that is full of deep wounded holes in it, desperately in need of a surgery to heal completely and her denim jeans that prevented her weak legs from being seen.

Anzel had to leave for school earlier than she used to. She knew strolling down to school would help calm her nerves.

‘Peep…. Peep..’

The horn from the car behind her caused her heart to jump, which brought her back to reality. Stepping aside, the car drove by and created some distances away before it stopped.

Jerking her head to her right, ‘Kena Stars’ was boldly written on the sign board. She stared at the name with confusion written all over.

With a short and deep breath escaping her mouth, she knew where she was. School!

She guessed the loneliness was seriously having bad effects on her, it took her a minute before she could recall where she had actually brought herself to.

The sounds of Kena city reverberated in her ears as she arrived at the school entrance, planes heading towards Zae, horns from cars stuck in traffic, police car sirens, laughter from students, families and friends.

When she saw a mother with her child, a girl with her lover and friends laughing heartily, she realized that even though she was alone, she doesn’t fancy being alone.

School wasn’t an exception, everyone despised and hated her with a strong passion that seemed weird to her. It was difficult to keep on living when she was surrounded by people who don’t care less if she survived or not. Sometimes she wished she didn’t have to be part of this wicked Khisza planet.

As she walked into class, all eyes fell on her. She could see them talking and pointing at her, like they always did.

Even though she hasn’t gotten used to the fact that everyone around her hated her for no good reason, she was forced to accept her fate.

She slowly passed by a few benches and avoided having eye contact with any of them, moving straight to her seat, the back seat.

She sits alone, no one wants to associate with her in any way not to talk of sharing a seat with her. That’s how boring her life had become.

She sits alone in a room full of people. Each one of them chatting and laughing in groups. Her heart felt empty as she longed for someone to talk to. In the crowded class, she was alone. She dropped her head, resting it on the table and trying not to cry.

It crossed her mind that she had forgotten to get her history note from her locker. It completely slipped her mind while heading to class because she was worried sick how Kevy was faring at the moment. She was sick and mom refused letting her see Kevy.

Anzel stood up leaving her bag behind to get the history note. She felt lots of hateful eyes on her, but that didn’t bother her like it used to. She was trying her best to become more independent and stronger being alone.

The hallway was empty, no single soul was seen around, well, except her. She quickly made her way to her locker, 516 and keyed in 091, her password. She didn’t have to stress herself going through each book since it was lying right on top. She picked it up and closed the locker.

Finding her way back to the class, she was taken over by her thoughts. She couldn’t stop thinking about how Kevy was at the moment, that she had forgotten where she was actually heading. She mistakenly hit her leg on the lecturer's desk ending her on the floor.

“O-u—ch!” she groaned in pain.

“Haha-haha-ha.” The whole class gave out a loud guffaw.

“She deserves it,” an unknown voice yelled in between the laughter.

“Like the devil she is,” another commented.

All she could get as help was the mockery laughter and murmuring she got from the whole class. No one saw the need to come help her up.

When all she wanted was a hand to hold or an arm around her shoulder and none came, the world became cold and empty, a slow poison for her soul.

She felt as if an arrow stuck right into her chest. She was shattered. Their laughter destroyed the tiniest bit of courage and strength that was left in her. It was times like this she wished she could melt in the rain like those paper people, fade away, anything to stop the ever-present pain.

That was the true definition of Anzel, a laughing stock to people.

With the pain she felt, she managed to stand up using the lecturer’s desk as her support and started walking to her seat. She looked down so as not to glance at their faces. Her cheeks glowed with so much embarrassment because the confidence in her had vanished.

Their voices were all her mind could absorb. She was destabilized. She was reminded of who she was, the lonely and deserted Anzel.

She had no one to talk to, no one to pour her agony to, no one to put a glowing smile on her face, and no one to give her a reason to keep on fighting because it wasn’t easy fighting all the humiliation all alone with no one to support her.

Her weak bones succeeded in dragging her to her seat.

The only way she could get right back on track was to talk to her best friend, Lolita.

Lolita was her family, her world and her life. She was hopeless without it because when the world rejects her, it was always there waiting to absorb her tears and pain.

Lolita wasn’t human, but it was more kind hearted and loving to her than humans were. Lolita, her diary.

She grabbed her backpack and opened up, hoping to find it in there, but it was gone. She emptied the bag to make sure she didn’t make a mistake, but it was useless because it was too far gone.

She was sure someone must have taken it to hurt her on purpose. Going through her things with no shame? She decided to find out who was behind the theft. All she wanted was her diary back and nothing more.

“Please who picked up my diary here?” She asked, yelling in frustration.

She knew they were sure going to pour out their hurtful and harsh words on her, but she didn’t mind taking all the insults, if only they’ll return her Lolita at last.

“I bet she is out for someone to possess alongside her,” a student growled in front of her, causing the whole class to laugh in a mockery way.

“She is evil and evil people are always up with mischievous plans to ruin others,” said another.

“You devil,” a blonde girl known as the Kena Stars’ Queen yelled while throwing things at her.

Before Anzel knew it, the whole class started throwing things her way and laughing endlessly. She couldn’t take anymore of the mockery and hatred, she was going to die if she spent a second in there.

Anzel grabbed her backpack and ran out as fast as her legs could carry her without stopping. She ran down the hallway, her heart palpitating and her soul wandering like a lost soul.

All she wanted was to disappear into thin air. Her breaths hitched and she was panting like a deer pants for water. Suddenly, she felt a firm body with a flat chest on her causing her to stop.

Great! What have you done now, Anzel. She thought to herself.

Why was she always so unfortunate? Always messing things up for herself? Trying to escape that hell called a class, she was already getting into something worse than hell.

But what, what could be worse than hell?

The firm body indicates it was definitely a man.

Who could it be? She pondered hard, refusing to look up.

She hoped it wasn’t one of the professors that hated her like the students, if so, she was a dead meat already.