The Last Letter

10

Chapter VII

By that time I met Benjamin, I was just 16. I worked at my grandparents’ restaurant to support myself and to also serve as my payment for the years they’ve been taking care of me. Even though life was tough at my young age, I couldn’t complain since I only have myself and my grandparents. And they’re also at their retirement age so I don’t want to be a burden.

I am Suzanne Mea Cruz, 18 years old, a first year architecture student.

I don't have a family.

I was 10 back then when I first met my grandparents who adopted me.

Yes, they were not my biological grandparents. It was raining so hard that night when they found me curled up inside a church. I was malnourished, wearing dirty clothes, and I haven’t even showered for days. That time, I thought they were angels sent for me from above, and I wasn’t wrong to think that. All these years, they’ve been giving me the love I didn’t receive even once from my biological family.

I was 10 back then when I felt the world was unfair.

My so-called mom and dad are gamblers. They’ve been quick to give me up in exchange for money.

I remembered crying everyday. I grew up being abused by my drunk father and beaten up by my drug-addicted mother, almost everyday. I didn’t have any siblings so I had to endure everything by myself. My father abused me almost everyday when he’s out of money. My mom just let him do whatever he wanted to do with me and sometimes, she would just watch us. I still can’t forget the smiles she would make when she sees me almost lifeless on the floor saying “you deserve it”. I abhor her more than my dad and more than anyone else in this world.

Now that I think about it, they aren’t humans, they’re devils.

I sometimes wondered why my mom had to give birth to me. Why didn't she just abort me when they knew we were poor and that they wouldn't become good parents. I even asked God why he had to give me to the most unloving and selfish family.

I was 10 back then when they wanted to exploit me to foreigners.

I was crying and running so hard and so fast just to escape. I saw my mom receiving money from strangers. That day, for the first time, they dressed me in nice clothes and tidied me up only to discover that they sold me for a couple of bucks. I bit my dad’s hand so hard that I managed to escape before they put me into the stranger’s car.

Even though it rained hard that day and my eyes were cloudy from crying, I didn’t stop running until I felt extremely tired and hungry. I was thankful I walked into the church where my future foster parents found me.

I was 10 back then when I heard both of my parents were jailed.

It turns out the elderly couple who rescued me reported to the police as they saw many bruises and cuts in my body. They investigated me at first and a couple of days later, I just heard many people from the squatters area where I lived were arrested.

I was sent to an orphanage for a couple of weeks for protection and nourishment. There, I was able to eat full meals a day, was dressed and had a shelter that I didn't have to get scared to walk into. I also made and played with many friends for the first time in my 10 years of life. At that young age, I thought I fulfilled my dream.

I was 10 back then when I experienced true happiness in my new family.

It turned out that the elderly couple who found me in the church filed for my adoption and after weeks, it was granted. Their names are Rosanna and Leandro Cruz and they are almost in their 50s. They insisted for me to just call them grandma and grandpa since they were old enough to be called that but I don’t mind calling them mom and dad. But since that’s what they wanted, I’ll just do what they said. My first name wasn’t changed but my surname was later changed from ‘Ramos’ to their family name ‘Cruz’.

My grandma and grandpa also had their own children which I don’t know if I should call them my brothers and sisters or my aunts and uncles. They were all living away, some overseas and had their own families. They supported my grandparents in their decision to adopt me, saying that it would be nice to have someone accompanying our old parents.

They were all nice and good-hearted people, from parents to their children. That's why I didn’t have a hard time adjusting since they also treated me like their own child.

They cared for me so much that they decided to move to another province for me to forget my dark past and start a bright, new life. When I was inside the church that rainy night, at such a young age, I thought deeply into how my life went. It was depressing and devastating. With everything I’ve been through, I myself was on the verge of giving up my life but thankfully, my guardian angels came to me right on time.

I didn’t study when I was in my previous family so I had to enroll in primary schools even though I was far too older than my classmates. I was embarrassed so I studied really hard and achieved many achievements in order to apply for skipping a grade.

Fortunately, I was qualified.

From then, I managed to get into the grade I would be normally enrolled in based on my age.

I was so happy to gain many friends back then, even though I was bullied by others because I was adopted. I was genuinely thankful to the ones that didn’t discriminate against me being adopted, and still chose to befriend me.

Time passed by and I’m having the best time of my life.

I was in highschool when unfortunate things happened.

I was 15 that time and I needed to stop school because my grandma had a mild stroke. My grandparents didn't tell me but I knew let alone hospital bills were too much for us to handle. Although my grandma said it was unnecessary, I decided to stop going to school for a while and take care of my sick grandmother first.

Since it was just a mild stroke, it didn’t take too much time for her to recover. She started regaining her energy day by day and can perform basic house chores that I scold her when she does. I just want her to rest because I was worried it might be dangerous for her to walk around.

Since I stopped for a while, I decided to work to earn some money to help in the expenses for my grandma’s medicine as well as for my allowance when I go back to school. Although it's hard to get a part time job at my age, I managed to get into a local convenience store as an organizer and bagger of goods. I did that for 8 hours everyday for a year. The pay isn’t much but it is enough and the work is not that tiring so it was a win-win situation for me.

At that time, my grandparents’ children sent us too much money and told us to have grandma checked in a bigger and better hospital in the city. But my grandma said she doesn't want to be admitted to a hospital because she is really okay and promised to voluntarily go to hospital when she feels something is wrong. In the end, the money they sent is used to build a small restaurant for my grandparents. And there I worked part time after school. I demanded that they won’t have to pay me since I live with them, but my grandparents insisted because I also worked hard to pay for some of my grandma’s medicine.

They said they were ashamed to let me work to support our family’s finances when I should use the money I earn for myself. But I didn’t even think that way. I told them I am indebted to them for not only saving my life but also giving me the best life they could.

The first months of my grandparents’ restaurant were tough since we didn't have many customers but we needed to pay for the rent and other expenses. That’s when the mayor visited our restaurant and gave us a good word around the city and the town. Then for the next few days, we were visited by so many people that the restaurant became very busy.

And one day, I met Benjamin and his best friend, August.

To be continued…