Under the moon

CHAPTER ONE 🌙

They say magical things happen at night, but i think they meant under the moon.

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"Amera you are broken, nothing good will ever come out of you." My father said venomously, attacking me with a shovel. "I don't know what i was thinking, when i married your mother Isabell". He continued. He dragged me outside , using the shovel to make a hole and then he pushed me inside. I begged, pleaded and shouted but he looked at me with those eyes which were once filled with love but now empty and dark, and began closing the hole. I could hear the sound of his feet getting faint, but i continued shouting ; "somebody help me!" But no one could save me.

My life was never like this. My mother Isabell was an epitome of beauty. She got to know my father, Jordan in high school. Our family, is what happens when a teenager gets pregnant. She got pregnant as a senior about to graduate, so it saved her from shame a bit. After graduation, my mom gave birth to a broken girl, called Amira. That's what my father would say. I was left with my maternal grandma while my parents continued their education in yale university. They squeezed time to come see me, so they weren't strangers to me. After they got married, i moved in with them , and life was sweet . Jordan made it a routine to always take me out every Saturday, to get ice-cream and my mom always took me to the mall.

But things went downhill one fateful day. The day i will never forget in a hurry. I decided to skip the school bus going home , instead i bounced my way back home , hopping from one feet to the other. Passers-by, looked at me as though i was crazy, because at some point, i started running and singing, more like shouting at the top of my voice.

"I got magic, magic, magic!"

I was so excited to the extent that if you had told me Peter pan was real, i would say amen to that. Two blocks away from home, i greeted old man Harold who was sitting in his recliner chair. I walked up to him and whispered in his ear; "Peter pan is real." Immediately his whole face lit up in wonder.

"Oh my!." Was all he could say. My mother always told me i was so smart for a thirteen year old girl.

As i got closer, i could here glasses hitting the floor, shattering into pieces. I got to the porch and jumped to ring the bell. I was expecting a happy faced mother to answer and sweep me off my feet like she always do, but instead, i was greeted with a puffed eye woman, who i could barely recognize as my mother, and glasses on the floor. I scanned the whole scene and then looked up to my mother.

"Did i miss a parade, or was there a very ginormous rat, that the whole house is torned apart?"

"Yes sweetie, there was a very big rat , but the exterminator didn't do this, i did." My mom said, bending down and engulfing me in a tight hug.

"But what about dad, he knows how to take care of rats?" I asked raising my head from her chest. Hey, don't blame me. How'd you expect me to know what happened. I was thirteen for crying out loud.

"He went on a business trip." She replied coldly. Gripping my hair that she was stroking tightly.

"Yikes! Mom my hair."

"So sorry sweet, now go clean up, you look like a walking disaster. " she said shoving me forward.

"Ouuu, look who is talking, it's as though the rat beat you black and blue, go bathe in the pool mummy." I replied, laughing.

"Amira!" My mom shouted.

"Can't hear you, am in the bathroom."

Weeks passed and there was not a mention of the parade incidence , and dad came back from his business trip, going about his daily routine.

Two years back, every Friday, i would always visit my dad at work, but that stopped, when he told me that i was now a big girl and that he usually gets distracted while am around. But this particular Friday, i decided to skip the bus going home and pay him a visit. Besides, it's been a while , what could go wrong.

"everything always goes wrong when i skip the bus."

I entered a taxi going to glasshouse, the name of the street my father company was located. I wanted to surprise him, so i told the taxi man to stop at a corner to the street. I walked up the stairs of the building and was greeted by a surprised receptionist. Mrs white.

I always wondered what kind of parents give their children white, snow white is doable.

"Hey Mrs white, it's been a long time, how is business." I asked the same question my mom always asked every time we visited.

"oh, hi Amira, does your father know you are stopping by?" She asked , fidgeting .

"Of course." I replied, placing emphasis on course.

"Okay, let me inform him that you are around." she replied, picking up the telephone.

"No, no, no." I said too quick, that she looked at me suspiciously.

"I mean of course, but i don't want you to disturb him, it's not necessary." I said, playing with my curls.

she eyed me , before dropping the phone. "Yeah, it's not necessary."

whew!

I reached for the elevator, and clicked the number 6. He's office was situated on the sixth floor. As i waited, i shifted from one feet to the other nervously.

"Calm down Amira, this is your father for God sake." I said to myself, rubbing my palms together. Ding!

The elevator opened to a beautifully decorated space, with artificially potted flowers, placed strategically at corners and a tinted door, leading inside my dad's office.

I searched for the Secretary, who was to lead me inside or prevent me from going, but i found the seat empty. I shrugged my shoulders, and opened the door.

shock wasn't the word to describe how i felt, to witness the scene before me. So this is the reason i was a distraction, why he didn't want me near his office. I stood there, shaking and transfixed to the spot.

"I was scarred for life." and this was just the beginning of mayhem.