Chapter 4
“Little Luma, it’s okay. Just a few tough years – Fll be right here with you”
Whenever Mrs. Henderson loft for her bridge club, the stove at home stayed cold.
Back then, Kellan was just a kid, dragging little Luna along.
Nowhere else to turn. He could only turn to my real mom Elara, who lived nearby.
My mom was soft–hearted, couldn’t resist a kid in need.
Anytime Kellan showed up at our door, she’d always help–no questions asked.
Suddenly, memories hit hard, flooding back to my first life’s childhood….
Kellan and I were always scraping by, hungry, begging door–to–door around the base housing.
Neighbors got so fed up they’d slam doors in our faces.
Only Elara ever took pity, handout food to us.
But Kellan’s pride swelled as we got older.
He refused her “handouts,” spat the word like poison.
Once, he even snapped at me, called me a “gutter rat with no self–respect“.
Funny how what seemed like arrogance was just a boy protecting his fragile ego around the girl he liked.
Now, with his precious Luna hungry, he’d tossed it all–scrambling to get her everything.
Comparing then and now makes those fifty years feel wasted–on a man who never cared.
“This time? Let’s never see each other again.”
Kellan. Your own words. So why the hell can’t you keep them?
“Waaah…waaah…”
My cries erupted from the crib.
My mom dropped the rice mid–rinse and rushed to me.
New mom mode–all worried glances and quick hands.
She scooped me up, love in every touch.
Which meant no hot meal for Kellan and Luna today.
That night, my mom and dad whispered in bed.
“Isn’t it strange? Mia’s always so calm, but everytime Kellan shows up with Luna begging for food–then she total meltdown. Why?”
My dad just poked my cheek playfully.
“She’s looking out for you. Everyone’s tired of those kids begging. You’re the only sucker still feeding them.”
Mom laughed.
“Come on–she’s still little. But those two Henderson kids… Can’t we help?”
Dicht Hand Refuses to Save Her
Chapter 4
Dad shook his head. “Not our circus, not our monkeys. Ma’s coming tomorrow to help. She’s got no birini bær hands this sure those kids get cat,”
Kindness ran deep–my parents couldn’t just stand by.
The next day, Grandma rolled in like a storm:
“Hendersons starvin‘ your own kids! Shame on you!”
Suddenly neighbors found their voices, all saying how awful the Hendersons were.
Shamed red, the Hendersons dragged Kellan home–and let him have it.
“Blowing your allowance on games again?”
“Keep wastin’it, and I’ll throw you out like your mom did!”
“We’re drowning in work–can’t you behave for once?”
Kellan got whipped raw–all over this made–up “allowance“.
He just nodded: “Sorry, Uncle, Auntie. I won’t waste money anymore.”
All a show for the neighbors.
Mrs. Henderson fished out twenty bucks in front of everyone and thrust it at Kellan/
Kellan grabbed it, blood still on his lips, and rushed to buy formula for Luna.
Cuddled in Elara’s arms, I watched the whole spectacle–remembering my first life.
How I’d endured beatings just to get Kellan scraps of food.
Love–or not–ain’t subtle.
With me, Kellan was weak, helpless.
With Luna? He’d take any pain, any shame–whatever it took.
All my past suffering–now his turn to feel it!
