Chapter 0
I remember cuddling with my mom the night I was born. Is that weird? That I remember something from so long ago, something that I shouldn't be able to recall, yet I do. My birth was horrendous, lots of blood, lots of pain, squeezing through a hole much too small for something my size. It squished my features and bones, if most of them hadn't been cartilage I'm sure most of them would've snapped from the strain. But still once the fluid was cleared from my lungs and I took my first gulp of air I screamed with all the might of my tiny lungs.
The man who pulled me out quickly gave me to the woman lying down. Oh she was so frazzled and breathing hard, seems she had been through a lot of pain too but still she beamed at me as if I was the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on. Most days I wonder if she knew what I would do later on, would she have killed me right then and there or tried to raise me better so she could change me later in life? Would she ever look at me as she did that day or peer upon me as if I was the spawn of Pluto, or as some new religion puts it, Satan? I guess I'll never have the chance to ask.
But still, on that day I seemed to instinctively know this was my mother, the woman I would rely on for a good chunk of my life for my survival and I cuddled to her bosom for warmth with a want to be allowed back inside, to hear that heartbeat that soothed me the past 9 months. It sounded so different from this side but was still comforting in its own familiar way. I stopped crying for a moment, content to be right there while she tucked a blanket around me. The warmth and soft beating of her heart were so comforting I silently began to close my eyes. "My sweet baby Maria," my mother cooed. I used to be so small, sweet and innocent back then. I wonder where it all went wrong?