There was a ill-fated widow who lived all alone. Her husband died a few months after she got pregnant and the widow did not have any family support since she eloped with the man of his dreams without the support of his family. She was pregnant with child and had to work jobs from morning till night just to support herself. People talked behind her back saying how she must have had some bastard filled inside her womb. She kept all her resentment and ill fate all to herself. She tried to work as much as she could with a bright vision in her mind of a future where she and her child will lead a happy life. Her tummy grew bigger and bigger by the day. Before long, she was 9 months pregnant and almost ready for delivery.
However, fate is a cruel mistress as she soon experienced. One silent night as she was coming home from work and cutting through a nearby park she encountered a ruthless rapist. Despite her big tummy the rapist still attacked her and brought himself on her in her present condition. She shouted and cried for help and struggled with all her might. Tears cascaded down her cheeks and she hollered till she no longer found any more voice to do so. The rapist left after he got his satisfaction and left her under a huge Tembusu tree somewhere in a deserted part of the park to die. The widow was left in a terrible state. Her clothes were dirty and ripped and her water broke. Her vagina was teared wide open and bled from the assault by the rapist. In her last moments she cried to the high heavens for their pity and what her life could have been. So earnest was a plea and so heart-wrenching was her story that the star-lit skies took pity on her.
The stars fell like streaks of silver streamers and left the night sky a deep dark void. The night was silent as all of nature mourned, including the tembusu tree which shed its leaves like the first snow of a white Christmas day. The Sun and the Moon took pity on the widow in her dying moments. Together, the Sun the the Moon gave a part of their cosmic powers to her. The essence of the moon and the sun came down from the high heavens like a river of stars and filled the woman's womb. The widow's wounds healed and her clothes were magically cleaned and tidied. The widow drew a second breath and suddenly felt alive again. However, as the essence of the Sun and the Moon streamed into her womb she saw for an instant a vision of the future... In it she saw the fate of her child which were in fact a pair of 'gifted' twins: One will be named lunar, who had skin as pale as ivory and hair as white as snow like the luminous moon. Through her eyes she saw only the history of all things she touched. The other will be named Stellar, who embodied the vibrancy of the sun and the passion of dreams unfulfilled. Through her eyes she saw the future and potential that radiated from all things she touched.
The widow eventually gained enough strength and brought herself to a hospital where she successfully gave birth to Stellar and Lunar. Having lost everything that she had she saw no love in her children. Whenever she saw them she only got reminded of her unsupportive family, dead husband and her vicious rapist. Her blood turned cold and she treated the twins badly. She lied to the twins since they were young that they were actually a pair of abandoned infants that she took pity on because she saw them lying in a dumpster She treated them like objects and used their uncanny abilities to make an incredible fortune. She brought them up in an environment of fear and taught them that they were unwanted things that would not have existed without her. Lunar and Stellar hence learned to respect her out of fear that they would lose the only person who 'loved' them. The widow was always very careful, however, and kept the twins some distance away from her in case they saw into her past and future and learn the truth of the entire fictitious story that she fabricated.
The twins and the widow lived like that for 20 years. The widow's health however dwindled with time and she found herself in her deathbed in a hospital all alone on a starless night. She told herself in her dying moments: "this must be karma for all the things that I had done. I will die alone with my shame and my dreams. the world will not miss me because I am worthless and no one cares about me". However, just as she was about to close her eyes and embrace her rest her daughters Lunar and Stellar came into the room. They each went to one side of her bed and held her hand firmly yet delicately. By this time, the widow was too weak to resist and she knew that her daughters will hence learn the truth. She mustered her strength and opened her mouth. She said: "Lunar, I guess you see my history of the hard life that I led and the hard life that I hence made you live. You see the suffering of my life and the truth of your origins and hence the fact that you are the flesh and blood of this heartless hag you now hold with your hand. Stellar, with your ability to see the future will see my untended grave in an abandoned cemetery where I will be forever forgotten. I hope it gives you satisfaction that I get my karma."
There was silence for a few minutes and the air was still. The winds stopped and a flurry of clouds scudded passed the luminous moon in the night sky. Lunar's skin glowed like the moon in the darkness and she was the first to open her mouth. Pearl-like glowing droplets fell from her eyes and she spoke close to the widow's ear: "I have indeed seen your history mother and knew from the moment I was born that you were our mother. The heavens saw your plight and gave us to you in hopes of purging the darkness that dwells in your heart and mind. But when the essence of the Sun and Moon (the glorious river of light) filled your body you threw away the love inside you and gave up on yourself. I am the moon mother... I am the moon that is hidden but only visible because of the love you threw away and got reflected from me back to you... I love you mother..."
Stellar's golden hair shined like the Sun in the dark room and she grabbed her mother's hand even firmer. In a shaky voice of sadness she said: "I am the Sun that was meant to be your dreams unfulfilled. I was to be the daughter that accomplished everything you wished you had completed and hence complete your fairy tale for you. I have seen your future and knew when we were born that you would treat us so harshly. However, I also saw in the future that one day you will come to call us your own flesh and blood. So I stayed silent and loved you so that I could see that day come... I am the hope and dreams you abandoned when you were left to die under that Tembusu tree. I love you mother..."
The widow was stunned and she could find no words to express... Only tears and murmurs that could not be understood. Love filled her heart once again and she regretted the live that would have been. She looked to the window and prayed in her heart for a last miracle and the Heavens having seen the scene was moved. The essence of the Sun and the Moon that was in her daughters flew into the widow's body and she was suddenly filled with a beautiful vision:
She saw a beautiful home where she spent her life with Lunar and Stellar. How she loved them and how they showed her the happiness that she always wanted. She saw also a tombstone of herself in a beautiful garden of roses where her daughters and grand children gathered to mourn her death... For in that instant the ability to see the past and future converged to see the present of what should have been. The present that the heavens wanted her to have on the day she died the first time in that lonely park and plead for mercy from the heavens...
She learned a lesson that day... as she laid to her rest in her final moments with a beautiful smile from the vision filled with love and hope: Respect never comes from fear and insecurity.
True respect comes from love as did her children loved her so much that they respected her even when they already knew their mother before they were born and the life they will make them go through.
All human beings... yearn to be, belong, become, beget and believe. that is what makes us all beings in this world. Sometimes... we want to be treated as a living thing, belong to a group of people we love, become someone we aspire to me, beget kindness and believe in ourselves and the future. But more often than not we are driven my fear that makes us do scary things. Sometimes... somethings in life we value so much that we are afraid of losing...
And that's the reason why we sometimes choose not to do/ do somethings simply because that thing is so important that we don't want to risk losing it. (A wise friend told me this)
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