The wind whispered in her ear, her mind and head spinning. She didn’t know where she was and she didn’t know why, all she had was a small backpack. She looked inside the backpack. A map, a compass and a change of clothes. How useful. She thought to herself.
She started to think, who had left her on the side of the road? Who could do that to an 11 year old girl? Suddenly it hit her. Her ‘family’ did this. They had thrown her out of the car and drove of into the night, leaving poor little Harriet Darlington on the edge of the road……

Harriet Darlington was born in Ethiopia and sent to an orphanage at birth. An American government had forced her parents to give her away and she lived in the orphanage for 9 years. While many families applied for her they turned away as they saw her, no-one liked her. It was only till the orphanage got sick of her and forced a couple to take her, that she finally found a family. The couple unkindly took Harriet back to Australia and took her to their home. The couple put up with her, giving her a new name (Harriet) and changing her last name from Eddel to Darlington. Harriet, or should I say Ayana lived with the Darlington’s for 2 years, until this. Until they shoved her in their car and drove to the airport, boarded a plane and flew to Ethiopia. They had hired a car and drove for 4 hours, weaving through the dirt roads. Then dumped her. On the side of the road, left alone, to live her last few hours.

Cars, people and motorcycles passed. Staring at her, not giving her a second thought. Some people stopped and talked to her but she didn’t understand them. The Darlington’s told her to never speak Ethiopian again and to forget about it. Ayana obeyed and as a result, here she was, trying to recall the familiar sounds. Ayana knew there was no point begging, no-one ever has food or money and if they did it would be too precious to share.
Ayana was quietly lying on the ground for 2 hours thinking about her life, her biological parents. She remembered her mothers warm arms, holding her tight. Her fathers happy smile as she entered the world. She remembered her mothers salty tears against her cheek when she said goodbye, her fathers warm lips touching her forehead.

“Ayana?” A voice called. Ayana sat up, looking around. “Ayana baby, is that you?” The voice said again. Ayana recognised the voice almost instantly. “Mother?” Ayana questioned. Ayana stood up, her legs wobbling. She slowly turned around until she was facing a beautiful woman, long jet black hair and piercing dark eyes. A dazzling man was standing next to her, smiling his big wide smile. Tears trickled down Ayana’s face. She staggered towards them, her body almost paralysed in shock. When she came to them she stopped. She looked at their faces, they were filled with joy, crying with happiness. Ayana burst into tears and launched at her parents, holding them close. Her parents hugged her back, her mothers tears running down her cheek once more and her fathers warms lips kissing her forehead. Ayana looked up at them again, their warm smiles melting her little heart. Then Ayana whispered the three most important words in the world, “I love you.”

IMAGE AND REFERENCE 
I got my inspiration from this photo. Again, this is from the Unsplash website, so feel free to check it out! The photos are all free, you just have to embed a button or reference it (properly). If you click on the button it will take you to Pierre Châtel-Innocenti’s page but if you look to the top left corner you will see the Unsplash logo. Click on that, and it will take you to the home page.

unsplash-logoPierre Châtel-Innocenti