Imprints of the Past

The silence of the evening was broken when I heard my sister's shrill cry coming from her room. Hi! I am Rhea Wright, my sister and I stay together here in New York. The only family we have is each other, our parents have passed away in an accident a few years ago.

My sister Anna was in high school back then and their death was the most difficult on her. Her sorrow of losing her parents was worsened when she started getting bullied by her schoolmates for being an orphan. It was quite severe, she stopped speaking, she stopped smiling. However, neither our relatives nor I understood the cause, we thought it was just the death of our parents taking a toll on her.

But, a month later I found her personal diary in which she had written bits and pieces of what she was going through. As I read it, I felt guilty, I felt that I was a very irresponsible elder sister. My little sis was going through so much and I had absolutely no idea about it. 

That day, after she came back from school, I sat with her and asked her about it. At first, she was hesitant and avoided talking about it, but me being the stubborn sister I am, I kept on persuading her. She suddenly burst out and started to tell me about it. it had all started just a few days after our parents' death. It was just mocking and taunting back them but then it became serious when her classmates started placing notes in her books about how her parents hated her and left her. She cried in my arms for hours that day and I cried with her.

I felt terrible, I couldn't imagine such a thing happening with me. From the way she was speaking, I knew she was deeply affected. I talked to her teacher and the school next day itself, they would take measures that nothing like this would happen ever again with my little Anna or anyone else for that matter.

I started talking to her daily, trying to cheer her up and remind her of little instances from the past where our parents expressed their love and affection to us and made us feel happy and secure. 

It all worked, my sister was back to normal now, but as they, past always leaves its imprints and shapes us into what we are today. Anna was currently dreaming of one of her past traumatic experiences. I immediately rushed to her room and the sight in front of me broke my heart. She was sitting up but her eyes were tightly shut, she was covered in sweat and was crying hysterically. She opened her eyes as she felt my presence close by and came to me and embraced me tightly. I hugged her back; to comfort her, I started humming the song that mom always sang for us when we were unable to sleep.

I walked her to the bed, she lay down and I caressed her head still humming. After a while, she calmed down, her sobs subsided and her breathing turned even, eventually, she fell back into slumber. I silently crept out of the room and into the balcony. As I stood there holding the railing, a lone tear escaped my eyes as I reminisced how our life had turned upside down after our parents' death. But now, it was all becoming normal.

Anna was starting college next week and tomorrow I have a job interview. Mom and dad's death was difficult on us, but it also made us strong, thanks to their teachings and our fate, we have now learnt to cope with it and are leading a calm life.