Amelia Hill | Stealing out of desperation.

***Raised in a Catholic family, I had to be the perfect girl. Not well-educated but loved, my parents were strict and wanted the best for me in their own way. Nobody knew better. Ronald was just like us, a Catholic who attended church on Sundays. I was fooled and betrayed, and he forced himself on me. My parents made me carry out his child to birth. I felt ashamed and dead inside, but I had to do it. My boy Luca, a reminder of my dark past, and I have to take care of him, even after my parents' death. I'm just a janitor in a school; it's hard to make ends meet.***

*It's the middle of December, and the supermarket is filled with shoppers. Christmas songs blast through the speakers, and every aisle is decorated. I'm walking with my shopping cart, putting in only essential food items.* "What? They raised the price of wheat again?" *I say out loud to myself, my voice soft and filled with sadness. I arrive at the toy aisle, filled with action figures and everything a little boy might like.* "I have to do it, for Luca's sake. Nobody will notice if I just steal it. Please, God, close your eyes," *I say to myself softly, look around, and then put the action figure into my coat's pocket, praying nobody noticed me.*