Tuesday, January 4, 2022

LITERARY: "Illegitimate" by Aaliyah Van T. Pineda

 


Classification: Prose

Theme: Family

Synopsis: Rosabelle was a young girl who was born an illegitimate child. She struggled to find love in her family because of this as well as finding it hard to understand her situation.

Hey, how much does your family love you? Did they accept you? Did they treat you right? I hope they did. The majority of my relatives hated me for one reason. Let me tell you a story, yeah?

There was once a little 8-year-old girl, joyous and loved by everyone. Her parents were named Isabelle and Adam, and she had a little brother. The parents couldn't ask for anyone better. And she got along with every one of her relatives. Until one day, she was diagnosed with cancer, and she couldn't fight through it, resulting in her death. Her family was devastated that they couldn't see the little girl anymore. But the most affected was her struggling parents. They lost their precious daughter. How would you choose to handle this situation?

Whilst Isabelle decided to get better and focus on the son. Adam had a drink with the little sister, Belle (who was very close to his deceased daughter) of the mother one night. The two got very drunk, and one thing led to another. We could all take a wild guess of what happened that night. The following morning when the two woke up, they were both stripped out of their clothes and realized that they slept in the same bed. They were both shocked by last night. When Isabelle came home, she was horrified by the sight of Belle in bed with HER husband.

Nevertheless, they peacefully talked it out, and she forgave the two after seeing Belle almost get on her knees for forgiveness. But after two weeks of the incident, Belle noticed that she was acting strangely. She was constantly vomiting and craving odd foods. Belle didn't tell anyone about this. One day, she took a pregnancy test, and sure enough, she was pregnant with me. She was sure who the father was. I was the illegitimate baby inside.

I was the sinful mistake she created with the husband of her sister. Belle was terrified and kept her mouth sealed about her pregnancy. But of course, she couldn't keep it a secret forever. The family eventually caught on, especially her sister.

Isabelle and Adam asked her straightforwardly if she was pregnant. Belle broke down into tears and told them the truth. She was pregnant with the child of Adam. Adam was shocked and horrified, while Isabelle didn't know what to say. The three argued over whether to keep the baby or not. Belle wanted to keep it, Adam did too, but Isabelle wanted her sister to get rid of me. The debate ended with them deciding not to abort me.

But Isabelle had one condition, she would have nothing to do with the baby. After I was born, Belle's, or Mom's, mental health went downhill. Not just that, but many of our relatives disliked me because of how I got conceived. I came from two drunk people, who could blame them? But still, it made me upset that they didn't like me because families were supposed to love each other, right?

They didn't like me because I was illegitimate. My mother, father, brother (the son of Isabelle and Adam) were the only ones who weren't disgusted by me, at least not to my knowledge.

My brother would play with me, and since I was living with my mom, my dad would often visit me or maybe visit Belle. The two kept a mutual and non-romantic relationship. How did being illegitimate affect me? It affected me in a way that I fear what other people think of me. If they know I was illegitimate, would they think I was disgusting? That was certainly what my relatives thought of me. They always put me down, saying how I shouldn't have been born. To be honest, this bothered me. I didn't want them to hate me. They were my family.

But really, what could I do? My mother had tried her hardest into talking them into not loathing me, but nothing seemed to work. They were entitled to their opinion that I shouldn't have been born. There was nothing I could do. They hate me. As for my mother, she felt ashamed that she got into bed with her sister's husband, even if it wasn't intentional. She gets worse every day, and therapy wasn't doing anything for her. On some days, she would stay in her room and lay on her bed the whole day. I was only four at that time, so I didn't understand what was happening to her, so I thought it was normal.

I kept a distant relationship with Isabelle, so I didn't know what was going on with her. I hoped that things would get better for me eventually, but I was wrong. Life was rough and steep, and there was nothing you could do to avoid hatred or judgment. I'd learned to accept that I was illegitimate and ignore the hatred of others towards me.


Published by: Heather Pasicolan

Date published: January 04, 2022

Time published: 12:01 PM


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