Why Didn't You Tell Me? - Damilaara Hannah Adeyemi (i am malala young readers edition .txt) 📗

Hey, I’m Alyssa and I’m 14. My family was SO messed up. Well I guess I was kind of responsible for that. Everything was fine until after Mom announced she was pregnant. I was totally fine with it, and Dad said I could pick a name for the baby. I was hoping it was going to be a girl, but I wouldn’t mind if it wasn’t. I was thinking of maybe Alyssa II (Junior) or maybe Damien if it was a boy. Anyway, back to the point, after Mom was about 8 and a half months pregnant, Dad had an argument with me and then he DECIDED he needed to say something that made this whole shenanigan happen in the first place.
“Dad, can I go out shopping with the money I’ve saved up?” I asked.
“No, you do know we are celebrating your aunt’s birthday today?” he answered.
“Oh yeah, but I don’t need to come, she clearly doesn’t like me anyway,” I retorted “so I’m going OK, bye.”
“ALYSSA, COME BACK HERE NOW,” he exclaimed, “YOUR GOING WHETHER YOU LIKE I OR NOT, your mother and I need to talk to you for a minute.” I thought I needed to sit down for this, because every time Dad had a mood swing 9which he didn’t have very often), it meant he was going to say something big.
“I thought we were going to tell her AFTER the baby was born!” Mom whispered surprisingly.
“It would be better to tell her now sweetie,” Dad replied.
“JUST TELL ME ALREADY!” I shouted, annoyed. It was big news alright, I just found out I was adopted…
After all this time they hadn’t told me! Maybe if they told me earlier in life I would have dealt with the news better! Well, maybe not… Or maybe they shouldn’t have told me at all. No wonder I haven’t seen any baby pictures of me. Well the baby is going to have an absolutely perfect life, no worries at all. I don’t feel like naming it anymore, I just feel like crying… Oh no! Mom’s water just broke! Well, I don’t need to help her go through labour, SINCE I’M NOT PART OF THE FAMILY! The baby is probably just something to rub my face in that I don’t know who my Mom and Dad are! Well, maybe not, but in a way yes! I just wish none of this had ever happened… Nothing seems to be going right at the moment! It’s just SO frustrating! Maybe I should go with her, maybe I am going a bit overboard, but they should have told me about this earlier! I may not have remembered, but at least they would have told me and gotten it over and done with.
“Come ON Alyssa!” Dad cried. I decided I just had to go, and not be such a drama queen.
When we got there, Mom, or should I say Kate, was going through a lot of pain and misery, in some sort of way I felt sorry for her, and another I wished she had gone through even MORE pain. I was thinking mean thoughts, but it’s only natural to when you’ve heard such news as I had. I saw the whole birth process (it was a bit disgusting, but I lived with it), Drew (Dad) and Kate asked if I wanted to cut the umbilical cord, but I thought I would probably pull it off and then say some sort of rude remark in the state I was in, so I thought the best option was to say a quiet no. The baby turned out to be a boy, and they called him Damien just like I wanted, but they were never going to win me back just like that, I’m not that stupid.
We got home, and all they cared about was that stupid baby! I was never going to forgive them at this rate.
“Alyssa, would you like to hold Damien?” Kate asked.
“NO, why would I, he probably stinks of poo anyway!” I was so angry for some reason; I just wanted to be alone for a second.
Run away.
That’s what I’m going to do. I don’t belong here anymore. That stupid baby has taken my place! Not that I had a place anyway… It’s not fair I was here first! Some stupid baby can’t take my place.
The next day, Kate said to me she wasn’t happy with the way I was talking to her. When I think about it, my behaviour was kind of irrational. Maybe I was being a bit… over the top. I went to my room and I ‘reflected on what I had done’. Maybe the reason they hadn’t told me was because they knew I would act this way, I was being immature and idiotic, and I knew it now.
I said sorry to Mom and Dad (I’m calling them that now) and we carried on a happy life together. Damien grew older, and I was soon his role model. I saw his first steps, and his first word was ‘Ayisa’. Just like a happy fairy-tale ending…

Publication Date: 12-25-2010

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Dedication:
For Ms. Avila who picked me for the winner of the Creative Writing Competition 2009/2010 for the whole school when I took part in Year 7.