Can you?
I thought I did. It was dark, late and I was covered in blood when I finally arrived home. During communism in Romania everything was ratio based, even our electricity. My parents were not home, I honestly do not even remember where my parents were. My younger sister was home, and when she saw me, a sadness took over her, yet she seemed frozen and from her tears I could sense fear and neither one of us was able to hold back tears.
The secret
Three weeks prior, I turned fourteen years old. My sister was nine. How do you tell someone as young as nine what happened and to what extent?
We cried some more, tried to clean myself off, changed my clothes and told her everything as tears where rolling down my face and unto my now bruised skin from severe punching.
Alexandra was upset and very quick to hug me, comfort me yet sad, very sad.
I asked her in tears to promise me never to tell anyone, not even our parents. We changed and got ready for bed, had some supper and did our best to go to sleep.
Alice
