The December air was cold and frigid and the sky gave a look of despair. A draft blew in from the windows giving the room a bitter feeling. No matter how hard the heater blew the icy cold was still there, biting at your ankles. Curled in the corner on a pile of blankets sat a black, scruffy dog, beating off the tug of sleepiness, trying to stay awake. Clothes were strewn about, they seemed to be everywhere but in the hamper. A pile of dust and small objects sat in the middle of the room. A girl no older than fourteen sat beside it, her long brown hair in tangles and thrown into a ponytail. Small hairs unable to make it into the confines of a hair tie framed her face as if she was a lion. She sat there picking out little trinkets that somehow made it into the pile, when the door cracked open and a smooth voice pierced the silence. All that was said was “Can we talk?”

The woman crept in, closing the door behind her and swiftly made her way to the bed, only stopping to slightly frown at the smell of a rotten banana and dirty clothes. The girl stared at her, waiting for the woman to speak, but when she didn’t she returned to her work, placing small objects in different piles. The woman appeared to be stuck in thought, trying to spit out the words that haunted her while fidgeting in her spot. Slowly, she began to talk, bouncing around the thought that was really stuck on her mind. Speaking softly, almost whispering she said, “I... I know what you probably have been thinking. You know, with your dad and I. and how we have been sleeping in separate rooms.” Tears were welling in her eyes and her voice cracked, “I tried to fix things, I really did. I wanted to go to therapy with him, so we could talk things out. But you know how your dad hides his feelings, always bottling things up and never talking about them.” The girl continued her work, “I just want you to know that I really did try. So… here it is.” At this the girl paused her work and looked up, the light in her eyes gone. She already knew, but she didn’t want it to be true. The woman continued to talk, tears crawling down her face like rain on a window, “Your father and I are getting divorced.”

The tears fell harder, every drop felt like thunder striking the ground and tearing apart the girl’s world,  It seemed as if the woman also did not want it to be true. Standing up, the girl tried to say, “I know” but the words caught in her throat like a butterfly in a net. The woman didn't see this, she didn’t see how hard the child was trying to stay strong, not for herself, but for her mother. The girl knew that she couldn’t cry, so instead she stayed silent, turning away to busy herself with work. This was something she had learned to do from a very young age, something she learned from her father: Show no emotion, bottle it up, one day it will be gone and no longer a problem.
The piles of trinkets grew larger as every second passed. She picked up an old portugal figurine, and her mind wandered to when she was in preschool. Her mom had come to pick her up, but just before she left, her teacher called her over and handed her the little doll, telling her of the life and magic that the doll held. It was once perfect, whole and bright, but now dull and broken. Turned into nothing more than a memory of when she was happy. She placed it into the pile of trinkets that each held their own memory that would be forever cherished. Hoping that one day her life will be as simple and joyful as it was then. A cough brought her out of her deep thought, the loving images flowing away to live with the others in her corners of her mind. No longer able to focus the girl watched her mother, trying to stop her weeping.

When the woman finally regained her composure she continued to talk, “I told your sister a few weeks ago, and now she refuses to talk to me. I don’t know what else to do…” again she began to let the sorrow filled tears fall from her eyes. The girl stood up still facing away from her mother and wiped the ever growing well of tears that was about to overflow. Turning around she said, “I understand, I know that you guys weren’t happy. I won’t hold anything against you, Bad things happen and sometimes you can’t control them.” The mother looked up, her eyes were bloodshot and tears streaked her face. Trying not to cry her mother said “Thank you. You know ever since what happened a few years ago your father just couldn’t stand to look at me anymore. He said that he can’t stand to live with a person who would put their children through what they did.” The girl understood, knowing exactly that she herself could never look at her the same after what happened. Flashes of screaming and slammed doors flooded her memory, she didn't want to remember them, but sometimes the images popped into her head. She went to go hug her mother but then stopped, she felt that if she continued then the tears that were bottled up would finally let go.

A deafening silence took hold. Not knowing what to do the girl picked up a broom and swept up the remaining trash that sat in the middle of her room. Suddenly a little boy barged into the room yelling, waking the dog who began to bark like mad. The distant sound of the boys favorite tv show, Teen Titans Go, filled the silence and the woman stood up and sternly told the boy to leave. She ushered him out when he refused and shut the door behind him. The last gasp of tv noise made it through before it once again was silent and heavy like early morning fog that creeps up your ankles. The woman returned to her post on the edge of the girl’s bed and continued to watch the girl work with her back facing towards her. The woman had no idea that the girl was letting a single tear roll down her face, the tear that held the truth that all of this is really happening. Sensing that the girl wanted to be alone, the woman got up to leave. But before shutting her door she added,“You know I love you, right?” The girl turned to face her mother, doubt crossed her face like a cloud on a summer's beach before she finally smiled a fake grin and responded “Yes. And I will always love you too.” The door gasped shut and the girl was finally alone.

Isolated with nothing but her thoughts and the snores of the lazy mutt in the corner who had finally stopped her incessant barking. She continued to work for only a few more seconds before her thoughts broke through the wall that she had worked so hard to build up over the years. All of her emotions, questions and realizations hit her at once, and the blow was too much. For the first time in years, she cried. She cried tears of sorrow and pain. As she walked absentmindedly to her bed with her face blotchy and eyes swollen and bloodshot, all she could think was “why me?” Laying down, thousands of answers came to her mind, but no matter how many answers she got, she knew she would always have a feeling of betrayal and loss in the bottom of her heart. She knew that years from now, she will never be the same normal girl, but now-a-days, who actually is?

That girl has learned that bad things happen, that your life may not always be perfect. Yes, it will take time for her to recover, but slowly she will come back to being the person she used to be. But with a knowledge that no matter how hard life may try to pull you down and throw negative thoughts at you , you have to move forward and “work through it” as her mother says. She will grow up to be someone who knows that all marriages are not perfect and sometimes you need to leave the ones that drag you down to be happy. She will bring a knowledge and understanding into the world and be able to help those who never learned the tough, but understandable lesson she had to learn.