Stella Mia Read Online Free Page B

voice only muffled by the waves crashing against the shore. “Come on, Sarina. That boy’s blood will be on your hands. You have disgraced me and your mother. She will be so disappointed in you.” He pulls me up by my arm, dragging me back home. I try shrugging his grip off me, but he sinks his fingernails into my flesh until I wince from the pain. My body is always covered in scratches and bruises.
    When we reach my house, I see the light on in my parents’ bedroom. I can make out my mother’s form behind the window. But as soon as she sees us approaching, her shadow disappears, and the light goes out. No doubt she is afraid of angering my father. Sometimes I wish she were stronger and would stand up more to him. I feel so alone. The only consolation I have is that she was worried and waited until she saw I was all right.
    â€œI have lost sleep because of you,” my father says once we’re indoors.
    I begin making my way to the bedroom I share with my younger siblings, but Papá comes over and blocks the entrance.
    â€œYou wanted to sleep outside like an animal, so you will have your wish.” He turns to the cabinet in our kitchen and takes out from one of its drawers a long rope. Wrapping the rope around one of my wrists, he creates a tight noose. Then as if I were a dog on a leash he pulls the rope, leading me outside and to the fig tree in the yard behind our house. He kicks me hard in the shins, causing my legs to buckle as I fall to the ground. Undoing the noose around my wrist, he places the rope instead around my body and ties me tightly to the tree. The rope’s fibers dig into my skin. I begin shivering from my wet clothes.
    â€œYou are lucky I decided not to give you another beating once we got home. But you do not appreciate anything I ever do for you.” He walks away, slamming the door of our house.
    This is not the first time he has tied me to this tree and left me out all night. He has been doing it since I was ten years old. I used to beg him not to leave me all alone in the dark, which I was afraid of until last year, and I also pleaded with him to let my cat Tina stay outdoors with me. But of course my pleas always fell on deaf ears. Eventually, I stopped being frightened. For I realized it wasn’t the dark I needed to be terrified of, but rather my father.
    I suddenly hear a twig snap behind the tree. Sitting up, I see two glowing yellow eyes beaming right at me.
    â€œTina! How did you get out?”
    I didn’t hear the door open after my father went inside, and I know he would never feel any compassion toward me to give in to my request of having my cat stay with me so that I wouldn’t be terrified. She must’ve been out earlier, and no one had noticed she wasn’t inside when they went to bed. My father always keeps her indoors at night to ensure she catches any mice we have. That is his sole purpose for having the cat. He’s always frowned whenever one of us showers any affection on Tina and treats her like a beloved pet.
    â€œMeow!” Tina rubs up against me. I tilt my head toward her and let her lick my cheek.
    I start sobbing, feeling so wretched tied to this tree with only my cat to console me. My distress only elicits further meows from Tina. She’s always hated it when one of us cries. She senses our anxiety and in turn becomes agitated. Tina is now licking me more frantically until finally I stop sobbing. Content that I have calmed down, she curls up against my side, keeping me warm. Even her purring soothes me as it reverberates throughout my body. Comforting myself as I always have by singing, I whisper the words to the song I sang earlier, “Stell-ahhh mia, stell-ahhh mia,” imagining I am one of the stars up in the universe and far, far away from my cruel father.

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    Una Tazza di Porcellana
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    A PORCELAIN TEACUP
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    April 30, 1969
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    T hough all of the days are grueling for me in