“Honey, what’s wrong? Have you been crying?”
“Mummy, the kids at school won’t talk to me. Why do they hate me?”
Mummy picked me up off the floor and placed me on her lap. “Michelle, honey, they don’t hate you. They’re just told to hate you.”
Sniffing, I replied. “Told to?”
“Because of your eyes.”
I climbed off my Mummy’s lap, and looked into the mirror by my bed. Red irises stared back at me. “What’s wrong with my eyes? Daddy used to say they’re beautiful, just like his.” I glanced at my Mummy for a moment.
She was finding it hard to keep the tears in, choking them back before replying. “Yes they are, Michelle, but they’re… different from most people’s.”
“Different?”
Mummy gently touched my shoulders. Her own deep blue eyes battled with tears. “Yes. But always remember this, my love. The children at school may be afraid of you, the adults may be afraid of you, but I’ll never be afraid, because you have a beautiful soul, and I’ll always love you, no matter what colour your eyes are. Okay?” She gave me her best smile.
I found myself giggling, jumping into her waiting arms. She always had a way of making me happy. “I love you, mummy!”
“I know, and I’ll always love you.”
“Even If my eyes turned green?”
Mummy laughed, which was a rare sound for me to hear. “I’d call you my green giant.” She led me to the door. “Come on then, let’s go and make some dinner.”
While we were eating, there was banging on the cottage door, and chanting.
Mummy ran to the window. Her body began to shake violently. I remembered the day I watched Daddy being hanged. Mummy looked back at me. She ran and grabbed my shoulders.
“Michelle, listen to me. It’s not safe here right now. You must leave, and only return when the sun rises. Do you understand?”
I stared into Mummy’s eyes. “Will you be leaving with me?”
She smiled. “Of course I will, I’ll be right behind you.”
I turned and ran for the back door. My feet led me to the hill behind the cottage. Behind me I could hear the door breaking, and the chanting, as flocks of men and women pushed through the house. For a moment, it was completely silent. I thought there was a hope that they were listening to Mummy, and that maybe they would agree, and leave the house alone, and accept me.
But this was only a prayer, a tiny thought from an innocent child. Reality was never that kind. I knew then, as I heard the gunshot, that my Mummy had broken her promise, and I would never see her again.
