Chapter Twelve [ The damage private part]

Chapter Twelve [ The damage private part]

"Why don't you just complete high school in the same school in the town proper so you won't fall behind your older brothers and sisters who were graduates of high-grade standards of education? "Mom likes to discuss adding,

"This community centre high school is, if I'm not mistaken, chaotic right now since the teachers are paid so little that they have to take longer and postpone regular lessons. The majority of the kids are just sitting outside the classroom because there aren't enough seats inside for everyone.”

The mother continued, "However, most of them eventually chat with their boyfriends and after that we see the girl already bulging her belly as she grows fatter until finally, we saw her taking care of a baby already and stop going to school any longer. One of her classmates, who appears to be a young, little lad with no employment and who merely loiters on the corner of the street smoking cigarettes and occasionally smelling alcohol as he walks staggeringly while being borne by the wind, is the father of her newly born child. What a sad bunch they are!”

After her mother had spoken to her father about her proposals during the day when there was no agricultural work, she completed her remark that evening as Ericka laughed at the circumstances knowing her father had already agreed.

John is listening quietly as well because the circumstances make it unlikely that he will be able to continue with his higher studies.

Ericka prepares their evening meal in advance for her parents, John and Kuya Randy, who get home before dusk that late afternoon.

She is aware that the farm animals are already sleeping in dirty puddles and eating their hog feed, and that the poultry flocks are already perched on the large, wide branches of the mango trees that surround the yard.

“We don't have the electric power, Mama, Papa?" the insects began to chirp as she was preparing the dinner table.

She took a little pause after remembering to bless her parents by kissing their hands.

Ericka graciously asks for their hands as part of a children's evening custom that Christian families in rural areas typically pass down from generation to generation as a gesture of respect as God sends parents to the children.

Her two brothers likewise kneel down to ask their parents' blessings of their hands as they touches their head to say a short prayer before rising to sit at the dining table later that night, beaming as Ericka prepares a lovely feast, stating,

Randy said, "Nice aroma makes me more enticing to eat more than enough."

John declared, "I can sleep soundly this evening because my tummy is satisfied."

"That would be enough for now," both of them said as they began to eat. They each took a bowl of cooked rice, fish sauce, fried big fish, and boiling string beans with sweet potatoes and stewed green vegetables leaves.

“There are a lot of mosquitoes around, Ma, Pa. Should I start a fire furnace with some coconut husks downstairs before we eat dinner?” She hurried down the stairs after getting her parents' assent.

The parents heard Ericka groan in pain as they heard a startling blog falling apart from the stairways.

"What's wrong, Ericka?”

Ericka is unable to say because she is embarrassed to reveal that she stepped on two pieces of flat wooden sticks that were blocking the path because it was dark and she was rushing to build a smoke .

"The mosquitoes feasted my skin made me itch, so I scratched my arms, legs, and face. It led me to jump one staircase before the ground and my between two legs private parts were damaged by the block wood obstructing my route down,’Ma,'Pa! I was unable to stand up any longer due to severe leg pain and heavy bleeding.”

John and Randy peered out of the pen window to see what was wrong with Ericka as she began to cry, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Randy and John were already beginning to eat dinner when they overheard Ericka groaning, despite the fact that she was the one who set the table.

She cries out incoherently as her father carries her upstairs since she is so badly damaged. Her hands are still holding the matchstick and the coconut husk, and her other hands are tightly holding her already bloody privates.

”Mama, Papa!”

Her two brothers, who were around and playing with her, began to chuckle while she was screaming.

"That is what you deserve for paying attention to those bothersome mosquitoes. If you simply endure them, and just eat here so that we can get to bed early after putting up our family mosquito net, you won't undoubtedly encounter that kind of accident. “John stated taunted.

“We frequently use bedpans so we don't need to walk down when we urgently need to urinate. That stairways with block wood down there is perilous when it's dark at night."

She was hesitant to let them touch her private parts since it hurt, so their parents used flashlights to examine where she was bleeding.

” No!It truly hurts," she says, opening her lips wide, casting her eyes upward, shaking in fear and groaning in excruciating pain.

However, in order to apply the medication to halt the bleeding and sterilize Ericka's hands with a disinfectant, her father asks her mother to control both of her hands.

The more Ericka screamed in agony, the more the still darkness of the night was disturbed by her ranting and screams of misery.

Ericka was able to relax for almost an hour before falling asleep and no longer caring about her food.

As instructed by their parents, Randy and John must assist one another in clearing off their kitchen and dining room tables so that by dawn there won't be any debris left behind by nocturnal rodents and tiny crawling insects.

Mother warned the brothers as they spent an hour thoroughly cleaning the area before going into the family mosque to sleep soundly and undisturbed since snakes might scent their leftovers. “Mother warned the brothers as they spent an hour thoroughly cleaning the area before going into the family mosque to sleep soundly and undisturbed since snakes might scent their leftovers. “

Ericka was moved into the bedroom her older sisters usually occupied as her mother fixed her own mosquito net while she slept.

Ericka's mother gives her bleeding private parts a comfortable white, clean, soft rectangular shape size cotton just fitted to her underwear between her two legs that night.

 It made her feel comfortable to stay calm although pains still persisted the entire time it was undergoing the process of healing. Her mother also teaches Ericka how to make her own slimly pad shape size.

Her mother had a need to purchase their basic necessities on that particular Sunday, and her father had given her enough money to cover their small children's needs as well.

Ericka has been searching for her mother the entire time. She is in a painful healing process from bleeding, making it difficult for her to stand up straight to walk, but she tries anyway, making her two brothers laugh because she acts strange and odd to them all when they are playing as her two brothers talk to other boys nearby.

“Now that her private parts are bleeding, let's see if she can still play with us like a weirdo and oddball.”

Because it was their first time seeing a woman's private parts like those of Ericka, who has been the boys' target as who attracts her picky heart first, they all laughed.

Due to the prior accident, Ericka was purposefully kept in the dark when her mother arrived from the fiesta. She brought a lot because Randy was helping her carry the hefty items with their two hands.

Her elder sister from the city just returned for another week of vacation, and they have no idea about Ericka's limping and out of balance in walking as if something in between her legs is aching, making her face turn awful and oftentimes frowning unable to smile. Suddenly, her sister-in-law, who is her eldest brother's legal wife, visits her as well.

Her sister-in-law finds her present attitudes and behaviour amusing given that she was already expecting her second kid at the time.

When she gets tired working on the farm, her sister-in-law enjoys her eccentric personality because it makes her laugh.

But when Ericka is invited to a dance party overnight and there are no scheduled classes, her older sister frequently asks her mother for permission before bringing Ericka along. She feel being love by her elder sister made her like a monster getting all she wants from her.

The younger daughter of Ericka's landlady teases her about her protruding nipples that frequently emerge from her thin, soft blue shirt school uniform when she was still residing in the boarding home. Since Ericka still sees herself as a young girl or child, she does not now wear a lady's bra.

I'm sorry, but if I use the women's bra as underwear, people would think that I am already a lady and ready to entertain my suitors. I apologize that I am not yet permitted.

Her female relative laughed hysterically at her idiosyncratic mindset as she sulked at Ericka's foolishness

Ericka, however, is not impacted by it because, at the age of 13, she still behaves like a child.

While Ericka and her two brothers are not interested in the dry goods her mother bought, they are looking for foods to eat as it is often what her mother buys every time, she arrives from the town fiesta.

Now her loving and thoughtful mother arrives from buying many good things for the three of them. Her elder sister and sister-in-law have already checked what her mother has bought.

They eventually find themselves inside the house since it is time for dinner, and despite suffering an injury, Ericka helps her older sister set the table. They are all giggling quietly as they discuss something that made them all smile when they saw what her mother had bought for her.

"Mama, does that one belongs to Ericka?”

When Ericka's sister-in-law asks the mother, the latter just nods and continues to eat. They exchanged whispers once more, followed by a smile.

The whole night is done, but Ericka is tolerating all the joyous moments they enjoyed while she is in pain

The day after Sunday, it is already Tuesday. They assume that Ericka's injury is no longer painful, so she fixes their freshly washed clothing, folds it neatly, and arranges it in the proper order. As she checks it, she notices three new bras inside that are the right size for her, and she says, "Wow!" adding,

“It's lovely, and I like wearing it immediately because my cousin keeps calling me a fool and a barbarian for not caring about appropriate hygiene and wearing excellent underwear.

But because her elder sister had already chosen the larger size, Ericka felt ungrateful and self-centred and claimed the three bras that her mother had specifically purchased for her as her own. Her elder sister, however, is incredibly kind and generous and will do anything for Ericka, who is beginning to awaken as she matures into a young woman.

However, Ericka is eroding her once-charming, innocent, and happy features, and is starting to resemble a wretched monster in the family.

As a result of her prior injuries and her parents' decision to provide for all of her wants, Ericka is no longer a pleasant girl, but everyone chooses to ignore her awful behaviour and bad character as a greedy, deranged bastard.

She developed into a brat, which her parents, older sister, and sister-in-law tolerated since they thought she was just starting to mature from a young girl to a teen, going through an identity crisis, and going through emotional, mental, psychological, and social changes.

Ericka's personality changed over the course of the days, weeks, months, and years that she spent alone and without anyone to turn to or to tease or treat her in an unkind way, making her stand out among other young women her age. She no longer engages in gossip or harbors negative thoughts about others.

She is not now acting inappropriately with other people; rather, she is quietly and impressively treating them kindly without making any comments or offering any criticism, which others have come to appreciate over time.

Her father saw that she was unique and purchased a lady's wrist watch for her as well as other items to gratify her because she was diligent and consistently won honors for her family's honor and good standing in the community

She already overcame most of the challenges during her second year in town proper High schools, leaving a wound scar in her fussy heart, and when the school year begins, she genuinely decides to switch schools for her third year of high school. She is aware of the difficulties she will encounter when men make fun of her, but not all of them.