FALLING FOR A HEARTLESS BETA

***Dale’s POV***

While Jacob tried his best to convince Alpha Travis and his daughter into becoming his allies, I couldn’t help but notice the little boy from a distance. The boy who was about six years old was busy cleaning the yard of the huge house owned by Alpha Travis. As I continued to observe the little boy, vivid memories from my childhood flooded my head.

(several years ago)

I was still awake but I couldn’t see anything inside the room. However, I have already memorized every nook of the tiny storage area where she kept her shoes and slippers. The space was too tiny but I couldn’t complain. After all, my body was also small. The little cot was good enough for me to sleep on as long as I would like a fetus.

I ignored the pain from the welts of her whipping. Apparently, my body had gotten used to it. Who doesn’t get used to it if the ray fish tail would touch my skin almost every day?

I wanted to cry and ask for help but it would only hurt me more. Also, if it wasn’t because of her, I would probably be dead a long time ago. If I hadn’t embraced her, I would probably have wandered the streets without a good night’s sleep.

My little legs were full of bruises because of her daily whipping. The only thing I didn’t understand was why she had to hurt me. I did everything she asked me to do. At first, she was kind to me but her kindness was short-lived. At my young age, I was the one doing the dishes, washing her dirty clothes, and everything in the house! She always reminded me to work in equivalent for the food I ate in her house.

Her tiny cottage was located in a squatter’s area, and the place was horrible! I could even hear our neighbor whenever he would snore. Houses were so closed together but no one stopped her from maltreating me. They knew that the woman has physically abused me but they didn’t do anything to stop her.  Nobody was willing to help me!

I tried to disobey the lady’s order but I only got hurt when I went home. Since then, I never dared to disobey her again. I took a deep breath again as I wondered how I could sleep peacefully at night when my stomach was churning. I could ignore the pain on my wounded skin but I felt that I couldn’t handle the extreme hunger.

“Mom, where are you?”

I cried inside my little room. I was suffering with pain and hunger, and if I wouldn’t do anything about it, my suffering might not be alleviated. I got up and groped for my medicine amidst the darkness inside the tiny room. Since I got used to her whipping, I stashed some crushed penicillin on one of the corners so that it’s accessible whenever I needed to.

There were times when I fall asleep crying because of pain and hunger. If only my mother was around, maybe my life would have turned out differently. Maybe, I would never go hungry and the ray fish tail wouldn’t always touch my skin.

The woman who kept me as her slave was overweight, and she’s a huge eater. Whatever her leftovers would be my food, and nothing more. Sometimes, she couldn’t be bothered to leave a little portion for me. Earlier, she whipped me after I asked her for a penny. I was so hungry and the worms inside my stomach probably felt the same because they were constantly churning.

“Madame,” I called for the woman when my vision darkened as I walked toward her bedroom to ask for a little bread.

However, she was annoyed upon seeing hearing my voice. She was watching her favorite tv show and she didn’t like to be disturbed.

“What do you want? You really are a pest!”

“Please give me a penny, Madame. I need to buy a piece of bread,” I pleaded with her because I was starving.

“Bread again? Why? We just had dinner and now you want to buy some bread? How dare you! Go to sleep!” She shouted at me.

“I’m very hungry, I haven’t had dinner yet,” I replied then I continued to plead with her until she grabbed something from the pocket of her dress.

“Give me back the change after you buy some bread, okay? Just one bread  Dale, do you understand?”

I nodded my head, then I immediately went toward the door to get out. A few minutes later, I was on my way to the nearest bakeshop. I was crossing the street when a moving vehicle bumped into me. My eyes widened in realization as my fragile body flew into the air.

I could hear the sounds of my bones breaking when my little body hit the ground. The crowd shouted. There was a commotion around me, but the only thing I could think about was the smell of bread. I was almost at the bakeshop when the car hit me. It was so sudden, and my eyes longingly watched the bakeshop across the street.

Then, I heard her voice!

“What’s going on?” She asked as she got curious about the commotion.

“There’s an accident,” someone replied.

I waited for her to come to me, to help me, but as soon as she confirmed it was me who got into an accident, she just turned around. She didn’t even call my name. She just stared at me as if she didn’t know me! When our eyes met earlier, tears welled up in the corner of my eyes.

The woman could be cruel but I was grateful when she allowed to keep me in her home. Despite the household chores, I didn’t complain. I came to love her as if she was my mother. How could she just abandon me like this?

“Do you know the little boy?” Someone asked, and I witnessed how she shook her head in denial.

“No. I don’t know him,” she replied before walking away.