Unbelievable!
"About the incident that occurred this afternoon," Dad started. "Am I not providing for you enough?" Dad asked. "Yes, Daddy, you do provide enough for me," I replied. "Then why did you try stealing?" Ami's mom asked.
"Haven't I been bringing you up as good as I can?" Ami thought within herself. "Yes, Mommy, you've been bringing me up well financially," Ami answered.
"What do you mean bringing you up financially? Haven't I been teaching you good manners, Ami?" her mom asked.
"Mom, please, with all due respect, don't talk about manners, because as much as I can remember, my little time on earth has been with Auntie Bella. How I fared wasn't what you bothered about. You and Dad believed money could fill in every position," Ami said, while tears dropped from her eyes.
"Tell me, Ami, if your mom and I don't work, how will you have a comfortable life?" her dad asked.
"Huh, comfort?" Ami thought, remembering how life with Auntie Bella as her caretaker had been so far. "Comfort speaks of peace, but what I have experienced so far was different from peace. Was it the incident when her auntie asked her to go buy bread from a nearby restaurant without giving her the money, and being labelled stubborn and rude, topped up with 13 strokes of the cane?
"Or is it the one that happened under the rain, when Auntie Bella asked her to wash her clothes under the rain, saying it will get neater than that washed with a machine? Or is it the fact that she caught pneumonia due to her spending too much time inside the rain, and her auntie brainwashing her parents with the lie that she was playing with her friends under the rain?" These thoughts were what was going through her young mind when she got back to reality.
"Ami! Why are you staring at your mom like that?" her dad asked.
"Mom, please, with all due respect, if my life is what you describe as comfortable, then you're wrong," Ami said.
"How do you mean, Ami? Have your dad and I been mistreating you?" her mom asked.
"Yes, Mom, yes, Dad, you both have not been really fair to me," Ami replied.
"You are such an ungrateful child! Your mom and I go out every morning to make sure you have a comfortable life, and all you do is steal and accuse us of being irresponsible?" her dad asked, visibly angry.
"Dad, I'm not a thief!" Ami tried defending herself.
"Shut your mouth, Ami! Are you trying to say that your auntie is lying?" her mom added.
"Yes, she is, Mom. Can't you see it?"
"Huh, Ami? So you've also turned rude? An auntie who has been trying her best for you since childbirth is who you are referring to as a liar. Why are you being an ungrateful daughter?" her mom asked.
"I'm not being ungrateful, Mom. You and Dad are the only close people I have on this earth, but it feels like I'm alone. Is that why you tried stealing from my cabinet?" her dad chimed in.
"I didn't steal from your cabinet. Why are you both so gullible? Why would I...?" Ami was interrupted by a resounding slap on her face.
"Have you lost your sense of manners? Who taught you how to speak to your mom and me this way? Are you stupid?" her dad asked, his face red with anger.
"Ahhhhh, Ami! The daughter I gave birth to isn't like this! Ahhhh!"
"Honey, I think she has been possessed." Her mom said
The word "possessed" sounded like a gun to Ami's ears. She knew her parents could believe everything Auntie Bella told them, but what she didn't believe was that her parents could accuse her of what they just did. She broke down in tears at the presence of her parents. What baffled her more was her dad's response:
"I think it's true, honey. She seems affected a lot by the saying."
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" she screamed. "Mom, Dad, have it gotten to this extent?"