Thirty-Three Times Forgotten

Synopsis

The thirty-third time my mother forgot me on the street, I knew—clearly, finally—that she didn't love me. When I was five, during one of her fights with Grandma, a bottle went flying through the air. It hit me square on the head. From that day on, I was no longer the same—simple, slow, dull. Grandma, who had always wanted to take me away, disappeared after that. And my mother hated me even more. To the child I had become, she spat through her teeth. "Why don't you just die?" I smiled at her—brightly, innocently—my foolish little eyes fixed on her face. "Mom," I asked softly, "if I die, will that make you happy?" For a moment, she froze. Then she slapped me hard across the face and walked away. Later, when I saw her again, her arms wrapped around my tiny lifeless body—sobbing as if her heart were being torn apart.