Iced Out, Broken

 

She was tiny, a naive little girl with big dreams.  Her mother had always told her that they would find a better life, a comforting home but it would have to be in another land. Theirs was plagued with far too much ugliness. 

It took months of planning, days of traveling but eventually they finally reached their destination.  Mom, within days, had found and rented a very small petite apartment that was scarcely larger than the small garden they had at her original home, the only little shack the little one had ever called ‘home’.  They had lived in a rural community and this one, where she now called home, she woke up to daily to many sights and sounds that were all foreign to her.  Her mother assured her, this home would be special, it would be better.  The journey was leading to good things ahead for both of them. She had faith and bestowed it on her young daughter.

 The little girl embraced all the change with a spirit of innocence that can only be found in youth.  Her mother found a job, cleaning homes, much nicer bigger residences than any in her dreams.  She didn’t care, she was happy to do it, be busy and providing for her daughter and herself.   The income was helping her buy food and clothing for her little girl. Now, neither of them had to go hungry.  This allowed her mom to be home when she returned to the apartment from her new school.  She was starting to excel in English and acclimate to the new world her mother had brought her into.

New friends invited her over for sleep-overs and, in time, her mother gave her more freedom. Life seemed good, though she missed some of the times of old, she did find this new life more peaceful, much more worthwhile.

Until one day, that day, the day that broke her. There was a day so horrible it destroyed what she had left of her innocence and her heart.  Her mom had walked her to school and as she was bending over to kiss her goodbye, masked men approached her mother.  They grabbed her arms and pulled her away from the little girl.

The child began to cry in fear. She looked at her mother’s face and it mirrored her emotions.  Her hero, Mommy, was crying and yelling at her to go into the school. Her lack of understanding of what was going on froze her to the spot, standing still, watching, her protector be taken down to the ground. It was like she had seen cattle in her home country be lassoed only this time, in the reins of men’s arms in uniforms was her mother.   She heard her screams from down inside and distinctly heard her say she would cooperate, but the men seemed deaf to her mother’s cries. And to her, as tears streamed down her little face creating a puddle on the front of her shirt, no one was said a word to her. She felt so alone.  She felt so little, so uncared for and so afraid.  The land the place she was learning to love was crushing her heart right there on the side walk, a few steps from the front door of the school.  And she could see her mommy was powerless to stop the men.  As they dragged her away, before the door of the van closed, she would hang on to her mommy’s last words, “Honey, remember, I will always love you.”