THE LITTLE MERMAID
Have you ever heard the story of the 'The Little Mermaid'?
A soft breeze gently circled the spot where I silently sat and watched the sun as it slowly bade goodbye to the world.
And it was then I cried….
"Hana, we're just teenagers! What do you expect me to do, say that I'll marry you or I'll take care of you? Be realistic! I'm just sixteen and you're just fifteen. Lose that baby, before someone finds out. You're going to get us both in a lot of trouble if you don't do as I say."
As soon as he said the last word, my right hand had already slapped him right in the face.
"Hana…" he uttered as he gently rubbed his aching cheek. "Be reasonable. I don't want any trouble. I still have a lot of things to take care of. I have dreams you know… And I won't be able to pursue them if I am tied down. So please have the abortion… for both our sakes," he begged.
I carefully looked at him… my one true love. Tears slowly flowed out of my eyes as his image started to blur away not only from my sight but from my heart as well.
"My baby! My baby! What have you done? Why? Why?" my mother cried as I knelt down in front of her and my father.
I had no choice but to tell them the truth as soon as I realized that I had noone else to turn to.
My heart was being torn into pieces as I watched my parents both in pain. I knew that they wanted to get angry but their love for me still prevailed and they just took everything with tears in their eyes.
After that day, everything changed. I was forced into a world that I wasn't prepared for.
Months passed…
I was cleaning the house when I accidentally found my favorite book hidden away in an old cabinet. It was the book that my father used to read to me when I was just a little girl. It was the story of the little mermaid.
I stopped and carefully traced the book. It was the book that my father read to me every night before I went to sleep. I remember as my father read the story, I would always dream and think of my own prince charming. I was always asking myself when I would be able to meet my special prince who would call me his princess. I guess I was too eager and too foolish.
I tried to look for something that wasn't supposed to be mine. Just like the little mermaid, I fell in love too easily and gave up everything without thinking about the consequences. I thought that love was enough and that the man I found was going to truly love me and treat me as his one and only princess. But just like the unfortunate mermaid, I also made a mistake…
And in the end, I was also left… alone.
"Mama…" a little voice suddenly called out for me. It was then that I turned to see my daughter standing beside my mother.
"It's late dear. Come on, we're leaving," my mother said with a smile.
I nodded and again took one last look at the sky and the sea in front of me.
I might have taken the same path just like the little mermaid did. We both fell in love and sacrificed everything in order to make our love ones happy. But in the end, we both got hurt and so the little mermaid chose to make the ultimate sacrifice.
But I will never follow that path.
As I gently carried my little daughter in my arms, it was then I knew I had already started to walk in a different direction… I was already making my own story… the story of me and my beautiful daughter.