Chapter 48 Arrie’s past.

Chapter 48: Chapter 48 Arrie’s past.The morning sun peered through the transparent glass windows, casting its warmth on a young woman about to recount painful memories of her past. Her audience was a young man in a hoodie seated next to her. Arrie’s playful demeanor had completely disappeared, replaced with a serious and emotional one. ’’I was born an orphan, with no parents. My earliest memories were that of being at an orphanage’’ She paused as though she was organizing her thoughts, her gaze distant, as though she was peering through the veil of her past Kailen’s eyes narrowed. The time dilation artifact just confirmed that she was telling the truth. Losing his parents two years ago had wrecked him, and yet, this lady was born an orphan. Arrie’s voice swept him out of his thoughts ’’The orphanage was an extremely harsh place to live at. We rarely had food to eat, and when we were given food, despite how bad the meals tasted. They rather made us more famished, due to how small the quantity was. At times, we literally had to fight over pieces of bread, and guess what...’’ she chuckled ’’I was the tiniest among the kids, always having to hand over my share of the meals if I didn’t want to be beaten mercilessly by the other kids’’ Arrie paused, staring at Kailen who looked at her in shock. The time dilation artifact had confirmed she was being honest about this one too. He spent just two years on the streets, outside the confines of a home, being driven constantly by hunger, he could testify that this was tough. And this girl endured this from an early age? Arrie continued ’’ Driven by hunger, I sometimes had to sneak into the room of the orphanage owner for kitchen keys, to steal food. It continued for a while, some years even, until one night, I was caught’’ Arrie sighed, although she had moved on, this was not a memory she loved to recount, especially what happened that night and the next ones, but for the sake of the gentleman she saw her past self in, she had to talk, if she wanted to convince him that she genuinely wanted to help him heal. ’’I was beaten mercilessly, then as punishment, I was sold by the owner of the orphanage to some human traffickers, at the tender age of 11’’ She paused, pain flickering through her blue pupils. Her audience, Kailen was completely shocked. He knew she was not lying thanks to the time dilation artifact. But a question dawned on his mind, nagging at him. Why was she so cheerful and carefree? Why was she naively good natured. Had the world not been unfair to her just like him? Reigning these questions in, he listened, as she resumed speaking ’’I became a prostitute when I was 11 years old’’ It was obvious she was in great pain recounting these memories, as her fists were clenched deeply, yet she had to speak, for his sake ’’ I saw all kinds of things at the brothel. People who preferred children as their sexual preference did horrendous things to me, and the other unfortunate kids. Sometimes we’d be lashed by them to give them pleasure, other times, beaten up. Sometimes we had to satisfy one client after another for hours to the point of almost dying. Then we’d be healed by hired healers to full health, only for the process to repeat itself again. This went on for some few years. I was literally treated like an object, a merchandise. To be honest I had no self-esteem at the time’’ Arrie chuckled, a melancholic one at that. Kailen listened; his thoughts all jumbled up. This lady had been through worse than she had been through. Yet, she behaved completely different from him, good natured, lighthearted and warm? Why? Was she not naive, too trusting of people ? Wasn’t she acting too innocent in such a cruel world? Would someone like her survive the cruelties of this world? Arrie snapped him out of his thoughts, holding back a trace of tears that almost fell from her eyes. ’’I always asked myself. Why did I have to suffer so much? Why was my life so unfair? Why was I never loved, why did people treat me like trash and called me trash, worthless, and a whore, why was I born an orphan, why did my parents abandon me. I only had one answer; because I was worthless, and no one wanted me, so I tried to please them, my bosses, my clients, I tried to please them. At least, if I please them and measure up, so they do not call me worthless anymore, I won’t be worthless anymore. But it never worked. How they treated me only got worse. I hated myself more and more for being worthless, and I hated everyone around me, for also making me feel worthless about myself. I hated everything and everyone’’ Arrie paused, strangely she was calm, even smiling at this point. Clearly, she was thinking about how stupid she had been at that time, childish even, and stupid, finding her behavior at the time funny, measuring her self worth based on how others treated her? That was stupid She stared at Kailen, clearly caught in his own thoughts. She continued ’’I grew callous. I closed my heart. I became emotionless, I didn’t care anymore about what anyone said, or thought about me, not because I had found some self-esteem from myself, but because I didn’t want to hurt or feel the pain of being treated like a worthless piece of trash. Worst of all, I trusted no one, why would I? No one from the time I was born had shown me even an iota of love, no one. To me, trust did not exist’’ For the first time since she started talking, Kailen spoke ’’You have been through worser than I have ever experienced ’’Arrie smiled faintly. His voice seemed empathic, not cold or callous. Kailen was being honest. Compared to this lady, everything he had experienced was nothing to write home about. With the time dilation artifact having confirmed the truth of her words over and over again,he didn’t doubt her. proceeded ’’ However everything changed on the day I turned sixteen. I had been transported to New York City to entertain a rich man in his house. Having satisfied my client, I was returning with my pimp in his car to our city when the sirens of a beast tide invasion went off in the city. The screams of people flooded the environs, as beasts ravaged people to shreds. Something ,presumably a beast ,slammed through our car ,causing my senses to be disoriented,my vision blanketing . I woke after who knows how long , with my whole body crushed , pain assualting every part of my being. As for the dead body of my pimp sprawled on the car steer , I payed no attention to it. Coughing a mouthful of blood from a few moments, I knew I would end up like him very soon. I grew dizzy ,feeling relieved that my pitiful life was about to end. However my weak hand movements at that moment triggered some sort of reaction, a connection to the metal of some sort , causing the weakly hanging door of the car that had been almost torn apart to fall down. A few footsteps reached me, then a blurred face. Screams from a woman followed, she said she found a survivor . Quickly, I found my weak body pulled out onto a stretcher. A comfortable wave passed through my body a few moments later, and then the pain ,the loss of sensation of some of my body parts, ceased. I felt normal again, I had recovered . But I was pissed off, angry even I yelled to the first face I saw, that of a mature woman ,lashing out to her asking her why she had saved me?. I was tired of life. Had I died ,it would have all been over. But she had saved my pitiful life. What was gonna happen after that. The woman replied ’ Because you have every reason to be saved, your life is precious, and you are human just like everyone else’. This was what she said . I remembered everything I had been through from childhood, the abuse,ridicule ,pain, torment , being treated like a worthless garbage . I remembered it all. Then a look of ridicule appeared in my eyes . I scoffed. Obviously ,another person who was just gonna use me for her goals ,and treat me like a disposable piece of trash ,I thought . Those male clients I had in the past , some of them even promised to buy me off from the brothel. They said I was beautiful ,but they were empty words . After sleeping with me ,they told me it was all a pretense, and that a piece of garbage like me wasn’t worth anything to them. They said they found it entertaining seeing the stupid expression on my face when they lied to me. I didn’t believe the woman. Trust did not exist in my world. The woman sighed, then told me to give her a chance, she would make my life better. I was scared, skeptical and confused. But I told myself I had nothing to lose, if I went back to my previous city, I was gonna be a prostitute, what was the worst that could happen if I followed her. With that,I made my choice. I followed her, I trusted her, and I have never regretted that decision till today. " Arie looked at Kailen, who was staring at her with the most profound expression of shock on his face. " When did this beast tide you speak of occured ?" He asked ,his breathing ragged. " 2 years ago" " Was it the beast tide that destroyed New York City, the one involving the Coiling Terror?" " Yes" Kailen sighed heavily..