- 7.
Ashley saw that her parents didn’t believe her.
They said she was confused.
She glared at me.
It made her look petty.
I just smiled at her.
My parents got annoyed with Ashley’s
accusations.
They told her to go change.
But she looked out of place in fancy clothes.
My parents didn’t say anything.
They called a doctor to examine her.
The worse her examination got, the darker
her parents‘ faces turned.
Ashley’s leg was injured when she was
abused.
L
She limped.
She was malnourished.
She had an STD.
It was too late to cure it.
My parents looked horrified.
Ashley looked guilty and started to beg for
sympathy.
“It’s not my fault…”
“When I was kidnapped, I fought back. But
the kidnappers poured boiling water on me. I
have a scar on my face.”
She started to cry.
“They sold me to a family in the mountains to
be a child bride. I refused, so they didn’t feed
- me. The family’s son died young. I wasn’t
worth anything, so they sold me to an old
man.”
“The old man was ugly. He did horrible things
to me. I was lucky to survive.”
She was sobbing.
く
My parents looked sad.
They felt bad for Ashley.
Before they could comfort her, Ashley went
- on.
“I waited for the old man to die. Then, I ran
away. I didn’t stop running.”
She cried.
My parents held her shoulders.
They started to cry too.
“I’m glad you came back. You would have
suffered forever.”
“We’ll put our energy into you and make up
for the years you lost.”
I rolled my eyes.
My parents still felt bad for her.
But…
I looked at Ashley.
She was crying.
I didn’t think she could really make a
comeback.
<
Chapter2
