The angel he lost

A lonely childhood

The night Anna Maria was born, a giant scary storm, like never seen before hit the town. It wasn't something usual, as it was the beginning of summer, so the people in town saw it as a bad sign. 

Due to the storm, some fallen trees blocked the main road, and everywhere was an electricity blackout. The doctor could not come and her mother, who always had been a healthy and vital woman, died that night while giving premature birth at Anna Maria.  

Even as a little girl, Anna Maria knew each detail of her mother's tragic death, as her father always blamed her.  So deep was his pain for the death of his beloved wife, he started resenting and even hating his own daughter.

Her father, Vincent was once a wealthy and affluent man, but after the tragedy he turned to gamble and alcohol, to cope with the pain. He became the shadow of the men he once was, losing everything he had....his home, his money, his job, his reputation..... As you can imagine, Vincent was not a good father to Anna Maria, who had to practically raise herself. When she was not in the school, or in the church she was mostly alone. 

Anna Maria was a very special girl, to say the least, she was kind, noble, smart and sweet. She had this angelic aurora in her, her heart was pure. But because she had no grown-ups around, to pay full attention to her, these special qualities of her would go unnoticed. 

But Ana Maria was also an empath, with this deep need to help others, to the point she would sacrifice herself. Her father was the first to get the advantage of her kindness... Instead of Vincent taking care of his infant daughter,  Ana Maria would try to clean after him, try to cook, and help him go to bed when he was too drunk to do so himself.  

This continued for a few years until relatives of Vincent decided that enough was enough. Ana Maria vividly remembered the day when her uncles came to her small house, to speak to their father. 

"You need to get married. You need a wife to take care of your house and your child. This can't go on" - they chanted. At first, her father started opposing them, but it didn't take long to convince him. He said yes, and at that moment Ana Maria felt a clench in her heart. She knew that she had lost her father forever, and he was all that she had in this world. 

On the day of her father's small wedding, she remembers her aunts dressing her in a new beautiful dress.

"You look so beautiful Ana Maria, like an angel. Tell me? Aren't you excited? You will have a mother from now on" - her old aunt smiled at her with compassion, but she did not get the reaction she was expecting from the little girl. Two lone tears felled from her eyes, her look was so sad and her expression so mature

"If God did not give me a mother, people can't either" - her answer shooked the people gathered in the room, they felt a knot in the throat, from witnessing the misery and loneliness of this poor orphan. The depth of her feelings and the look in her eyes,  made them all feel incredibly guilty for not being close to her and try to help. But to everybody's convenience, this short touchy moment was quickly interrupted by the music as the ceremony began. 

Ana Maria also vividly remembered the first day when her step-mother, Bianka set a foot in their small house. On her face, she had a look of disapproval for everything, she had only married Vincent because her even poorer family had forced her to do so after her first husband had divorced her. 

On the first week after the wedding, the house was constantly full of people who would come by to bring presents and give their good wishes to the young couple. Everything seemed fine at first, but the whole time Bianka and Vincent totally ignored the presence of the little girl. With the money earned from their relative's and friends' presents, they went on honeymoon vacations, for a month. They left Ana Maria at home alone, where she would often get scared at night or get hungry. She made sure to close the door and all the windows at her small house and slept with her head covered in blankets, counting the days when her father would come back. 

He did come back, but things only changed for the worse. Their relationship was very troubled, just like their character. They were days when they would be all sweet and roses, and others when they had huge loud fights, making scenes in all neighborhood. Who would suffer the most from this, was Ana Maria who would try to hide in a corner, covering her ears and trying to be invisible. That's who she felt, invisible. No one cared for her. Every night she would pray to God to send her where her mother was, thirsty for love and attention.

Bianka shortly felled pregnant and gave birth to a girl. When the baby was born, Ana Maria instantly fell in love with the little girl. Bianka made her do all the chores around the house and take care of the baby, but she was happy to do so, as long as she would spend time with her little sister, Teresa. Even though they were almost 10 years apart, she felt very close to her sister, after all, she was the only person in the world who showed some love and affection to her. 

But soon, Ana Maria would notice the terrible difference between the way how they treated her and her sister. Teresa would always have the full attention of their father, she was loved and cherished. Vincent and Bianka spend a lot of money on buying everything that she wanted,  spoiling her way too much. 

As she grew up, Teresa also started to emulate the behavior of their parents, towards her sister. She would often hit her, call her names like her mother did, or demanded to give her her stuff. That hurt Ana Maria, but she tried to brush it off since she was younger. 

At the age of her 14, her life started changing when a new girl came into her class. Little did she knew that that girl would change her destiny.