2 chapter two: A Road Fight.
Sofia's POV
I couldn't sleep properly last night as the memory of the past kept resurfacing in my head. I kept struggling on the bed beside my mother, making sure not to wake her up from her sleep, if she was sleeping at all because she hardly sleeps at night. "Are you ok Sofy?" She asked, I guess she must have heard me struggling to sleep. "I'm ok mother, don't worry about me. You should sleep". She nodded her head and lay back to sleep.
I could hear the whistling sounds of birds outside, indicating that it was already morning. Just another to start all over again.
It's been 9 years since my father was taken away. We once heard rumors of him escaping from jail. We hoped and prayed that he might come to find us someday, but he never showed up. So we had just had to accept that he was killed or he died somehow.
We have struggled so hard for the past years in pain. My mother became bedridden and there was no way she could work. She was a waitress at the bar I'm now working at.so I had to take care of her. I had to work hard to take care of her and also pay the bills of the shattered house we are living in, if not then we would have nowhere to stay.
I was thinking of getting another job, maybe one in the morning and the other in the evening.
This was getting out of hand and my mother's condition got worse every good day...no, there has never been a good day in our lives since we were stripped of our possessions in Italy and we have to move down to the United States.
I can't even count the number of times I almost threw up, trying to clean up the mess my mother makes on the bed. It was just too much for a 17-year-old, but I had to do it, she is my mother and the family I have left.
Pushing the bad memories aside, even though they would eventually come back in about two minutes, each time I try to forget.
I looked at my mother's sleeping form, on the broken bed we have been using for a long time now. She looked peaceful in her sleep, but I know deep down she was not peaceful. Taking the brown duvet off her body, I sighed in frustration at the mess that she had made.
"Mother, we need to clean you up?" I hesitantly tapped on her shoulders gently.
She groaned and turned to her side, rubbing the sleep off her eyes.
"You don't have to do this every day, Sofy, come on, go prepare for work".
She said with sleepy eyes, looking at me and I looked at her back in frustration. She probably doesn't know how smelly this place will be.
Without wasting much of my time, I walked to the bathroom that was connected to her room. I don't know if I should describe it as a bathroom or a toilet. Well, a toilet having a broken shower hanging above the ceiling, the toilet pot was broken and a hole around it on the floor. You could see the maggots inside the toilet if you looked closed down, but we had to manage.
I put water in a black bucket that was standing on the floor and grabbed her towel hanging on the bathroom line, I took her hand towel which was now a body towel, and put it inside the bucket of water.
I took another bucket out with me. I skipped the hole around the toilet pot, making sure not to put my leg inside, or else, I will probably end my life if that happens.
I Placed the bucket beside the bed. I rolled my mother to the side and took out the brown sheet that was soaked in urine and put it inside the empty bucket, I then stripped her naked and used her towel to clean her body.
She denied me from cleaning her, but I had to.
With that being done, I put her in some fresh clothes and took the dirty sheets into the bath, and washed them.
I was already tired before I could go to work.
I made some breakfast and fed her and also washed the dirty dishes in the kitchen. This was tiring.
It was 9:30 Am when I was finally done with everything. Mrs. Berna is going to let heaven loose today, for me coming late to work. She denied adhering to the situation I'm going through, claiming she didn't make me go through it. But what I was supposed to do, I had to stay cool because I needed the job.
Putting on the only boots I have, I tied my hair up in a pond and took out my black jacket as it was cool this morning. Having got set for work, I walked to my mother's room, placed a kiss on her forehead, and told her goodbye.
"Take care of yourself Sofy and remember I love you". She said holding my wrist. A tear left my eyes after hearing her words.
"I love you too mother".
I gave her a tight hug and then separated from her so as not to go late to work as I was already late.
Something felt off today, but I couldn't tell what it was. I just pushed it behind my mind and closed the door after me.
****
"Such a cheap lady, at her age she sleeps with everything in trousers".
"I heard her father was a drug addict and got arrested by the police "
"I also heard that her mother is bedridden, maybe as a result of her daughter's prostitution and the curses are probably following her".
I overheard these girls that have been on my neck ever since we moved to this neighborhood 10 years ago and they're still doing the same thing. I have tried so hard to avoid them but still, they won't let go.
They make a mockery of me, each chance they get. It is fine if they talk about me, but not my family. I was so pissed off, but I decided to ignore them as I have been doing for the past years, and go to work since I was more than late.
Before I could take another step forward, I felt a hand on my shoulders, grabbing it so hard that, before I could react, I was pushed to the gravel road, thereby bruising my hands on the ground. When I turned around, I discovered it was the same girls that were trash-talking me.
I picked myself up, trying so hard not to cause a fight. "Whore! What now, did sucker. You had enough last night and don't have the strength to fight us". One of the girls with blond hair and floppy jaws came yelling right in front of my face.
"Her bedridden mother probably gave her too much work this morning ". The skinny one with faint brown hair and thin bones that I could break in a second said behind me and that struck me hard. I so much wanted to rip their heads off their neck.
"You all better stay off my back this morning, I do not want trouble".
I said with a scowl on my face and my hand's up in a fist, trying to get myself up from the floor, they pushed me back down. At this point, I could not take it anymore, I have had enough already. I punched the blond hair girl in the stomach using my feet, I saw her falling to the floor. The skinny one grabbed my hair from behind, I held her arms over my head and yanked her forward, and her back hit the tarred road. I got up from the floor and walked towards them, grabbing them by the hair, I brought their faces together and collided them against each other. When I released them from my hold, I saw blood streaming down their foreheads. Yes, I did that, giving them a taste of their own medicine.
"You all better be careful with the kind of person you trash talk about. This will be my last warning; the next time you talk about me or my family, I will make sure to fuck both your fathers, and brothers, and make your mothers bedridden, and then kill you and feet your bodies to the dogs". That has never been me, but self-defense. I needed to stand up for myself and my family because being vulnerable wouldn't do me any good.
They nodded their heads in fear as they drifted behind. Good, exactly what I wanted, they should fear me.
*****
I arrive at my workplace at 10 AM. It was hard to explain why I came late to miss Berna because her mouth was worse than that of the girls I just fought with. She could strip you naked with just her insults. I was putting up with her, because I needed this job, if not, I would have chopped off her tongue a long time ago.
"You this little dirty whore, do you think this is a brothel where you come anytime you want huh? this is my business for goodness sake".
I greeted her behind the counter and she ignored my greetings.
"I'm sorry miss Berna, I w...".
She cut me off before I could explain myself. With thick makeup all over her face, looking like she has been surviving on plastic surgery. "You probably want to join your bedridden mother at home".
She said unfazed and that got me mad, I have had enough of it today.
"STOP!" I said at the top of my voice, making her go tense and the people around looked in our direction. I must have said that out loud. Enough of them calling my mother bedridden, how on earth was that her fault.
Tears streamed down my face. All bad memories resurfacing. The incident of last night came to mind.
"You all won't believe what is going on in town, come and watch the news "
Alex, one of the waitresses came behind the counter and told us, thank goodness he didn't take notice of the tense atmosphere between us. "Make sure you go along with your bag, you are fired". She said, making me stop in my tracks. "You're missing out!" Alex yelled again.
"People are callous " I heard her whisper and this got my attention. I stamped into the bar, I couldn't believe what my eyes saw, when I lifted them, to look at the small analog TV that was standing on top of a table at the entrance of the bar.
