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The Scars She Hid From The World
The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.Valeriana
“Mom, I’m getting late! Goodbye!!” Valeriana said, walking hastily past the breakfast table. She then gave a bright smile and leaned to kiss the cheeks of her most precious human, “Goodbye , take care and don’t run around in the house!” she said. “Sure my Ana dear, take care, okay?” An old lady in her early eighties said, smiling ear to ear. That old lady is Valeriana’s paternal grandmother. Or the most important, precious person in her life!
“Ana! You can’t do this every time! You always skip breakfast, if it goes on then you will become sick!” A pretty woman said.
“Mom, sorry but I really have to go, the children must be waiting!” She said while taking a piece of bread. And added, “Don’t worry, I’ll eat this bread on my way!” And left the house in a running way to escape her scolding.
“Josephine, calm down! She will eat something after she gets there.” Grandmother said.
Josephine is Valeriana’s mother, but everyone says that she looks like Valeriana’s elder sister. She has really good skin, without any wrinkles, which makes her look younger. Nobody would believe that she’s in her late forties.
“Outside food doesn’t suit her, mom,” Josohine said with a stressed face.
Valeriana was walking down the street, sunlight falling on her face. She looked towards the sky, blinked her eyes twice and blocked the sunlight with her one hand, and said, “A sunny day it is!” And smiled brightly.
Valeriana is the name of a flower in Europe. Just like the flower is used for the treatment of insomnia, anxiety and psychological stress, our Valeriana also helps people to get out of depression. Especially the children and old people.
Valeriana works in a NGO. Which helps millions of orphans, old people get their comfort place. Her beauty, her humbleness, her smile helps the people to feel at ease.
Valeriana’s common trait is that she always smiles no matter what happens. Life has never been easy on her. Since her childhood she has been suffering. Be it her dad leaving her and her mom, when she was only six years old. Or be it the students in her school bullying her for being poor. She has always faced these problems with a smile on her face. No matter how many times these things tore her up, she didn’t let her smile fade away nor did she let anybody else get the hint that she’s sad or what’s going inside her.
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