Sweet Ana

Ana.

Life was never a bed of roses for the 17 years old Ana neither it was full of thorns before her stay in this small town, she lived in an orphanage.

 Actually Ana  doesn’t belong to Italy. She was a native of New York. Many years ago her birth parents planned a tour to Italy during the Christmas Eve. At that time Ana was hardly three years old. While returning after relishing a day outdoor, their car met with an accident colliding with a lorry. Both her parents were spot death leaving behind the injured little girl unconscious, faintly breathing.

One of the passer-by saw the sight  and instantly called for an ambulance. The tiny fragile girl battled  her life for  almost three weeks in the ICU. At last she survived the massive accident. She had to because fate has some other plan.

When the little girl regained conscious, she  cried her eyes out for her mother. It was a heart wrenching sight to see the girl calling for her mother in her baby incoherent language yet nobody came forward to take her in embrace and console her. She was all alone in the hospital bed,also in the world. For two consecutive nights the girl  kept crying all the time and when none came forward to take the responsibility,  the hospital authorities finally agreed to shift her to an orphanage. She collected all this data from the orphanage file.

Ana stayed in the orphanage for almost 11 years. All the children in the orphanage were provided education in the premise itself. Ana was also growing like any other kids. With passing time her body was also developing physically. She was turning beautiful. Not the gorgeous sexy type but she had a naïve cute beautiful face with big doe like eyes. The initial teenage beauty. If you look into her face, you will be mesmerized by her innocence. Such kind of looks mostly attracts devils. And exactly that’s what happened.

  The caretaker of the orphanage Mr. Jose, who was a 45years old man had obscene eyes on her. Whenever he got a chance, he always tries to touch her in an inappropriate way with his dirty hands.

When one night Mr.Jose came into her room and tried to force himself ,she kicked his lower abdomen and taking cue escaped from the orphanage . She ran and ran for hours crossing the high way . She had no idea how far she went all tired, thirsty and sleep deprived . It was early dawn when she entered some outskirts of a town .  out of exhaustion she dragged her feet  inside a broken gate  and took shelter under Aunt Grace's small cattle farm. The remaining night she spend with  goats and sheeps. In the morning when Aunt Grace entered the cattle farm to supply forbs and leaves, she was surprised to find a small girl sleeping curled like a fetus. When the middle aged  lady enquired her, the poor soul with fat tears narrated everything.  Being a childless and seeing the tiny girl helpless, out of pity Aunt Grace took the girl in her house.

Although Ana was clueless about the outer world but decides to stay with the couple seeing their genuine concern and care.  She was thankful for the roof above her head but at the same time she doesn’t want to be the burden on them. So after a month or two,she decides to help Uncle Albert, husband of Aunt Grace with the bookstore in the evening shift. Initially they hesitated but after enough persuasion  they allowed her and the old man relaxed back at home during her stay in the shop.

They even enrolled her in the nearby school. It's been three and a half years, her staying with them. Now she is in her high school. Being a bright student in her academic , the girl even received a scholarship for the last year. Her kind and sweet personality always left imprint in the heart of the people she met.

 At present with limited things Ana was happy and content in her little world and whenever she saw the homeless people she always thanked God, unlike them at least she has a roof on top of her head. Humble and down to earth, another good traits of her.

 Sometimes Ana wonders about how her life would have been had her parents were alive. And her chest constricts with that thought. At night she sheds tears under her quilt but in the morning she hides her grief with a wide smile. For the couple who loves her dearly like their own daughter. 

 Ana being a firm believer in God sets a routine to visit the church every Sunday where she would pray for half an hour and  later narrate everything she did for the entire week. A heart-to-heart talk to stay close to. God. Sometimes confronts her pros and cons. In this way her days kept passing smoothly. Only God knows for how long.

Today was Monday morning and Ana was running late for her classes.

She picked an apple from the basket placed on the dining table and hastily made her ways towards the door. Climbing down the few stairs of the Veranda she saw aunt Grace very busy watering the rose plants in her garden.

"Good morning aunt Grace" Ana greeted munching her apple once she reach near her.

"Good morning honey!" Aunt Grace raised her head and greeted back joyfully. “Did you have you breakfast?"  She inquired further. 

 "Yup aunty " saying she threw her arms around the lady in a hug and kissed her chubby cheeks. The lady embraces her and lays a loving kiss back on her forehead. 

 Sometimes Aunt Grace feels pity for the lonely child who has endured so much at such a tender age.

 

However Aunt Grace has a firm believe that God won't let her innocent child to suffer more then what she had undergone in the past.

But also there is a saying that God always tests his favourite one through sufferings. 

 "I will make garlic bread and chicken white pasta for lunch. Come home early. " the middle age lady said after she pulled back from her hold.

 

Aunt Grace stared into her face affectionately and gently strokes  the disturbing strands away from her forehead.

 Ana has straight dusky black hair which reach till her hips. Most of the time she kept her hair tied because of the dust and  wind.

“ okay, I will reach home early." Ana assured but she noticed her Aunt seemed a bit worried for some reason . Before she could ask further, Aunt Grace continued on her own ,“ Ana , my child there is a problem. An emergency team from the hospital  will be escorted to the nearby village for a week. Your uncle and I will be leaving in the afternoon . Can you stay alone? If needed you can even  call Elsa to stay.”

Elsa was Ana’s best friend from her school. She lives few blocks away from her house. But both has different personality. If Elsa was bold, out spoken , on the other hand Ana was sweet, kind and soft spoken.

“Oh aunty, you don’t worry  , I will mannage. Its just  matter of a week. Relax.” Ana cheered the lady smiling warmly. Just then her phone beeped with the notification of a message. She pull out her cell phone and read the message. A light shade of blush spread on her cheeks and she smiled shyly. Aunt Grace stared at her with a doubtful look and before she ask her anything, Ana bid her for the last time and left hastily from there not wanting to get late for the classes. 

Ana’s final test will start from the next month and on top she needs to prepare herself to qualify the entrance examination of nursing. Yes, Ana wants to become a nurse like her aunt and serve humanity. 

 

When God has given her another chance to live, why not make it useful for others. Her philosophy.

Aunt Grace waved her hand and kept watching at the retrieving figure of her little girl until she was out of her sight. She sighed with heavy heart.

'Oh lord, protect this child from all the trouble and keep her safe' she prayed silently.

Unaware that some prayers remain unanswered by God.

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