Life in a Treehouse

“Happy birthday!” wished my mother.

My happiness knew no bounds when she wished me over the phone. Even though she was far from me, I was excited because she had gifted me a treehouse.

Suddenly, the chirping sound of birds woke me up. Although my sleep got interrupted by the bird’s chirping, I would not say anything to the birds. I woke up and went outside of the treehouse to see the sun rising and felt as if my mom was wishing a happy birthday from the sky. I was also sad because I had step-mom with me and not my biological mom. My step-mom loved me like her own daughter but I was always insecure about it.

Later that day, I received a letter and gifts from my father and step-mom. One of the gifts was a princess’s dress and another was that I was a big sister now. When I read this in the letter, I cried a lot and thought that my father would not love me because he has another child from step-mom. When I thought of this, I threw all the gifts into the bin. I spent all afternoon that day waiting for my mom to come but I saw no sign of her coming to me.

At night when I was about to fall asleep, I heard the voice of a leopard growling and climbing the treehouse which was gifted by my mom. When I saw this my heart started beating fast and my brain stopped thinking. I fainted there.

Early next morning, I found myself waking up from the bed and was glad to find myself alive. I saw my father carrying a baby in his arms in my room but I said nothing. I just wished him a good morning and told him that I was going in nature because that is where I feel safest. He told me to not go but I just walked ahead.

At night when I was about to fall asleep, I heard the voice of a leopard growling and climbing the treehouse which was gifted by my mom. When I saw this my heart started beating fast and my brain stopped thinking. I fainted there.

When I was walking down the stairs, I saw a woman lying on the ground. She was not breathing. I ran to my father and asked him who she was. He did not answer my question so I called step-mom from my phone to get some answers. To my astonishment, the dead woman’s phone started to ring as soon as I called my stepmother.

I asked my father what had happened. At first, he was not willing to say any but I forced him, then he said that they all came to surprise me for my birthday when my stepmother saw me being attracted by a Leopard. She ran to save my life even though she knew that I didn’t love her.

My dad was crying as hard as I was. I kept apologizing to her even though she could not hear me.

After some days of mourning, my mother, father, step sister and I moved to the USA because we were too sad to live in the same place. My guilt for mistreating my stepmother never went away but I didn’t let that guilt change my love towards my sister.