Against it All

This is what I wrote for RSPC. In the actual, the title was different, some parts were cut-off and there were parts that were added. This is all I could remember writing though... had to tweak it a bit.

Though it may be a month late, I just wanna say that...

I am going to Ormoc, Leyte for NSPC!

Thanks a looot to everybody who supported me~

~ o ~ o ~ o ~

Her heart stopped!

“No… No! NO!” She pulled her short hair, scratched her bruised arms and flailed her thin feet around. Her small frame shuddered. In vain, she tried to wake herself up in what seemed like a nightmare.

The room was spinning – or was it the world? Maria de los Santos didn’t care. She supported herself with the help of the sink. The face that looked back from the mirror was foreign. Maria’s usually bright eyes were tear-streaked and puffy. Her cheeks, red from crying and the nest on her head - a poor excuse of disheveled hair.

At 13, Maria was at the height of her life or so she thinks. She’s finally in high school, far away from her monitoring parents and living the life. Her days were spent with friends, boyfriend, and… flings.

Liberation was great. The ‘fun’ and ‘happiness’ it brought came as fast as it had gone. She did not think her ‘play times’ with her boyfriend or her flings would actually lead into her current predicament.

Abortion. Maria’s friend knows one who does. With the baby out of the way, her life can continue as it is. She won’t have to face my parents; she won’t have to stop studying. People won’t sneer at her as she walks by. Her life doesn’t have to change, Maria won’t suffer humiliation, people won’t reject her, she won’t disappoint her parents and she won’t have to live a life of being looked down by everyone. Maria can start anew.

Unconsciously, she caressed her for-now flat stomach.

“But is it worth it?” Maria muttered out loud to no one in particular. Her gaze went to her windowsill where her monggo bean project sprouted small leaves. She did not water the plant or even cultivated the soil. But it grew.

She can’t! She can’t! She couldn’t bear to kill someone unsuspecting. She couldn’t kill her unborn child for the mistake she made. To play around was her mistake; to abort would be her choice.

Maria swallowed the bile that rose to her throat.  Abortion was murder. She couldn’t fathom any more thoughts of killing her flesh and blood. How could she even think of such thoughts?!

“AAAH!” Her screams muffled by the pillow. She stayed there on her bed for who knows how long, screaming out her frustrations, regrets and anger. There was no one to hear her though. No one but herself.

Two red lines. No matter how many times she shook the blasted thing, the lines stayed. Once. Twice. Thrice. She tried taking the test three more times. All pregnancy tests showed the same haunting red lines.

She gave up. As sobs racked her lithe body, she gave up. She succumbed to the fact that there is another somebody inside her.

            Damnation to all! Maria won’t care if her parents are disappointed, if her friends call her slut or even when people talk behind her back. Thirteen and naïve she may be, her body is hers no more. She will protect the new life growing inside of her. Maria de los Santos will protect this gift even when the world is against her.