Does It Matter Where You Start From?
By: Annelise Lords
Tags: Illumination Fiction, Poverty, Beginning, End, Wealth

Does It Matter Where You Start From?

Image by Annelise Lords

“Emily, I need your help,” Dr. Sinclair begs. “Her name is . . . . . .” she pauses, giving her a file. Emily took the file and the first thing she noticed, they shared the same birth date, month, and year.

“She has attempted suicide three times in the past month, according to the nurse who bought her in,” Dr. Sinclair relates.

“Why me?” Emily asks, still reading her file.

“The last two patients that were sent to you have recovered and have been clean and drug-free for the past two years,” Dr. Sinclair said. “You are our last hope.”

Emily sighs and said, “Send her in.”

A lady walks in, looking twenty years older than her age. Her make-up failed to hide the black bags that hang under her eyes. Her pale whitewashed skin looks as if it was washed with colors that bleed. Her attire tells she was clinging on to youth. The sagging of her skin, the lines on her face that makeup couldn’t hide, showed a body ravaged by drugs and hard living.

She sat down, grabbing eye contact. Emily saw more pain than she knew, so she quickly blinks cutting the connection.

“My name is . . ..”

She cuts in, “I don’t care.”

Emily’s body eases back unconsciously, by her comment, then she asks, “What do you care about?”

“Nothing, I just want to die. Why won’t they let me.”

“All of the people I know, healthy or not are fighting to stay alive. You are doing the opposite. You don’t wonder why after three attempts to end your life; you are still here?” Emily asks.

She sighs and said, “Take a trip with me into my past, because you people think you know everything.” And the journey begins.

August 9, 1975, 8:45 AM, Sean and Bridget Mason welcome their only child, a girl they named Angelina, at Madison Memorial Hospital in Beverly Hills California. She was raised by nannies, along with maids, butlers, chauffeurs, and chefs who weren’t allowed to tell her no. Aided and abetted by parents who doted and adored her. Wealth made her life easy, denying her the knowledge and ability to experience life any other way. Life waited upon her. Easing through high school and college, graduating with honors, that her parents bought. She learned that everything in life could be bought. With limited knowledge of her father’s business dealings, after both parents died she sold her share of the company to his partner. In ten years, she went through more than 22 million dollars, also losing the mansion she grew up in. At forty-five years old she had been through five marriages, and four divorces. Paying alimony to four ex-husbands. Her fifth husband died six months after they were married. In grief, she turned to drugs and lost everything else that she owned. She finishes and said, “Now do you understand, why I want to die?”

“That’s nothing, follow me into my life,” Emily suggests.

August 9, 1975, 8: 45 AM, Emily Allen, the first of six children was born to 15-year-old Christine Allen at the Lacovia Jubilee Hospital in South Central Los Angeles. Emily had an impatient life from birth. While her mother works as a housekeeper for a rich family, she was forced to grow up quickly and learn as fast as she could. As her three brothers and two sisters were her responsibility. All of the fathers were missing in action. She was the first to learn many things in life, but the last to fulfill her dreams.

At forty-five years old, she graduated from college with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Counseling, with two years more to go for her Master’s. Witnessing the heartache and destruction drug addiction has done to families, friends, and her community, she hopes to make a difference as a Substance Abuse Counselor. Her degree gave her the power to live the life she dreamed of.

Volunteering for more than eight years, she already knew most of the addicts. She hopes to heal, help, and restores hope. Raising three brothers and two sisters, she didn’t know how to do anything else. Caring for others was thrust upon her early in life. She must live the life she knows. Now you see why I must live.”

Tears slowly slid down Angelina’s face and she said, “We were born the same time, day, month, and year in separate worlds. We each got a different start. You started at the bottom, and I started at the top. I had only one direction, and it’s down. I won’t survive down there. I don’t know how to. You are living the life you know. Don’t you think I should too?”

Emily closes her eyes fighting the tears. Going back was more painful than she thought, then release, “You are alive, you can learn. I will teach you.”

Angelina nodded, and said, “I had a tutor that often said, ‘certain things in life will have more value when it is taught early.’ I didn’t understand the meaning until now. Starting at the top, denied me the opportunity to live more than one life.”

“And starting at the bottom gave me wisdom, knowledge, power, and strength to live many lives,” Emily confirms.

The children of the rich have more to fight with, but less to fight for.

The children of the poor have less to fight with, but more to fight for.

Who wins?

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