Chapter 4
888 Words
Episode 3 — The Secret of Her Birth
Time flew by so fast until the little girl turned five.
She was still too young to understand the things happening around her. She didn't know why people behaved strangely whenever she walked past them, and she didn't understand why other children were never allowed to play with her.
She only knew that she was always alone.
While the other children in the village ran around together, played games, laughed, and chased one another through the compound, she would sit quietly and watch them from a distance.
Sometimes she would walk toward them, hoping that someone would ask her to join them.
But the moment they saw her coming, they would stop.
Some children would run away.
Others would pull their friends along with them.
She never understood why.
One afternoon, she sat outside her house, watching some children playing not too far away.
They were laughing loudly.
One little girl threw a small ball toward another child, and they all screamed with excitement as they chased after it.
The little girl smiled.
She wanted to play too.
She slowly stood up and walked toward them.
But before she could reach them, one of the children noticed her.
The laughter stopped.
The children looked at one another.
Then they ran away.
She stood there alone, holding the little piece of cloth she had been playing with.
Her smile disappeared.
She looked down at herself.
She checked her clothes.
She touched her hair.
Then she looked around, wondering if there was something strange about her that she couldn't see.
She didn't know what was wrong.
She was just a child.
And children did not always understand rejection.
Sometimes, they simply blamed themselves.
That evening, she went to her mother.
Her mother was busy with something when the little girl walked toward her.
"Mother."
Her mother turned.
"Yes, my baby?"
The little girl stared at her for a while.
"Am I cursed?"
Her mother's hands suddenly stopped.
For a brief moment, there was silence.
Then she laughed softly, as though the question was only a child's silly thought.
She reached out and rubbed the girl's head.
"No, you're my perfect little baby."
The little girl looked into her mother's eyes.
"Are you sure?"
Her mother smiled.
"Of course I'm sure."
"Then why don't the other children play with me?"
Her mother's smile became a little weaker.
"They are just children. Don't worry about them."
The little girl nodded.
"Okay, Mother."
She believed her.
At five years old, her mother's word was enough.
She didn't know that her mother was hiding her own fear behind that smile.
She didn't know that there was a reason the villagers kept their children away from her.
She didn't know that the day she was born was a day the village had never forgotten.
All she knew was that she wanted a friend.
Someone she could talk to.
Someone she could play with.
Someone who wouldn't run away whenever she came near.
Days passed, and her life remained the same.
She spent most of her time around her parents.
Whenever she walked through the village, people watched her.
Some whispered.
Some stopped talking when she passed.
Others simply turned their faces away.
She didn't understand any of it.
Sometimes, she would look at them curiously, wondering why they were always so serious whenever they saw her.
One day, while walking through the village, she heard some people talking.
She didn't understand what they were saying at first.
She only heard her name.
She stopped walking.
The people noticed her.
Immediately, their voices became quiet.
The little girl looked at them.
"Why did you stop talking?"
Nobody answered.
She waited for a moment.
Then one of the women looked away.
"Go home."
The little girl frowned.
"But I didn't do anything."
The woman said nothing.
The little girl slowly walked away.
Her small heart felt heavy, even though she couldn't explain why.
When she got home, she looked at her mother.
"Mother?"
"Yes?"
"Why don't people like me?"
Her mother stared at her.
For a moment, she looked frightened.
But she quickly hid it.
"Don't worry about them, my child."
The little girl nodded.
She didn't ask again.
But that night, as she lay beside her mother, she kept thinking about the question.
Why did everyone avoid her?
Why did they whisper whenever she walked past?
Why did they become frightened when they saw her?
She remembered the question she had asked earlier.
"Am I cursed?"
Her mother's answer echoed in her mind.
"No, you're my perfect little baby."
She closed her eyes.
She wanted to believe her mother.
And she did.
But somewhere inside her innocent little heart, a tiny question had already begun to grow.
Maybe there really was something different about her.
Maybe there was something about the day she was born that nobody wanted to tell her.
She was only five years old.
She didn't know what a forbidden day truly meant.
She didn't know why the village feared it.
She didn't know why people looked at her the way they did.
But one day, she would find out.
And when she did, she would finally understand why she had grown up with no friends, no playmate, and no one to call her own.
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