Crystal of Karuizawa

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏

All I can say is that my life has always been pretty plain. I always wished I could avoid social networks and try to live a very normal life as much as I could. I know I'm living a normal life but typically I would say a working life. I always wanted to spend time hanging out with my friends anytime I can. I love a very simple life but it's always filled with all office work and blogging.

After 5 to 6 months of joining my new job and as it turns out, my childhood friend works here too. My lovely, cheerful, caring Aisha. She is a practicing Muslim, really religious and loving towards her religion.

The last time I saw her was 8 years back. First and foremost, when I saw her, all old memories started disembarking in my head. While exploring her old house, riding through lanes where her family stayed, literally all memories started coming alive. Nevertheless, I started feeling that our teen life is back.

My teen days weren't the ones like the other normal teens. After my mom left my dad while I was a preteen, my dad married another woman who already had a son who was 2 years older than me. His name is Eric, my step brother, the most liked child in my family. In the beginning he was fine, he was thoughtful and always kind but I shouldn't have predicted it so soon, true colours get exposed slowly. When I look back now I realise that he started to erode my self-esteem and my confidence really subtly. It was with sarcastic jokes to start with and it was done in such a way that if you laughed along it seems fine, but the joke is still playing on my mind when it's done so many times. But if I asked him to stop because the joke was hurtful, he would turn on you, saying you can't take a joke. Either way I was always wrong. He'd always make me feel like I was an idiot and I didn't realise that's what was going on to start with. It was constantly happening and it got to the point where, I guess, it started to affect my mental health. I was a very strong person to start with. I didn't think I'd be affected by someone like him until it was too late. I wasn't like a weak person to begin with but I think that was the challenge for him and he enjoyed the challenge. One of his favourite things was to say, "you're never going to be submissive to me are you" and I'd say "no, never". Then he turns around and goes "oh, you will be one day, you will be". It was like he was trying to make me feel captivated around him. He wanted to be the alpha around me, he thought that was what a real man should behave but no, it was more like immature brat behaviour. Due to this emotional abuse I started to experience depression. I never opened up to my dad about this issue because he liked my step brother so much that he would believe anything he said. I was sure about it.

I felt so happy having my friend Aisha on my side. She always made me feel better, never failed to make me feel normal but still when I see my step brother I get depressed, everything hits me. Aisha helped me a lot, I owe her so much for standing up on my side while I was going through my depression.

Her family made me feel like I was a member among them. Her mother, Mrs. Amira has the prettiest smile, her father, Mr. Rasul made me feel the fatherly love I always wish I had with my own father. I really wish my parents treated me the way Aisha's family treated me. After 10 years of spending time with Aisha, I had to leave the country because my dad had enough with the place we were staying. He said he wants to explore the world, not sit idle and waste his time in that one crap place. It was really hard, we hugged and cried so much.

Coming back to the present day, I felt so happy looking at Aisha again. I missed her so much, she was right God made us meet again. She is a blessing to my life. I didn't want to miss her again like I did when I was a teen. So later, what I've come to know is that she has been working in this office for 1 year. She introduced me to her colleagues and they were super nice to me. Later on, this gave me a hope that I could live my life the way I wanted to live.