The special pear tree to me

It was summer 2004. It was a happy time. A time I felt joy and comfort. A time I love to remember. The air was warm , the wind softly blowing the only tree in our beautiful garden. My special pear tree , the tree my father and I planted together many moons before. Under the pear tree , we read , we played , we sang , we ate. It was just the 3 of us . My father , me and the special pair tree.

I was an only child , the child my mother did not want. She left when I was very small. Not that I would remember. I was my fathers ‘little blue eye’ . We did everything together. My father was my best friend and I was his. Father was a special man , he worked very hard for everything I had. I appreciated him for everything he did.

As I grew up , my father had to work harder and it wasn’t long before he decided I needed a mother to take care of my every day needs. Personally, I believed that I did not need one , but father insisted.

Summer 2008 he married a woman named Elizabeth. She moved in pretty quickly. A lot of things changed when she arrived. This was something I did not like and Elizabeth did not like me. She faked her kindness towards me in front of my father but behind closed doors , she was horrible. I didn’t understand how she could hate as much as she did. I was 8 years old and as my father said I had the most precious smile that could even make the sun melt. I tried to get her to like me but whatever I did she just wouldn’t budge. I spent most of my sad times alone under the special pear tree.

It only took Elizabeth 2 years to ruin my life completely. Elizabeth decided that my father was to work away to make more money to afford her luxury lifestyle. She sent him far far away. A place I couldn’t reach him. Then it was just me and my special pear tree. Oh and the horrible woman I was left with. Elizabeth ignored me at all times , she would leave me home alone to go out with friends. No food , no clean clothes , nothing. All the money my father sent home she spent on herself. Every week he would send her money until one day it stopped coming. That was the day I knew something was wrong.

Elizabeth told me my father had killed himself because he didn’t want to come home to me and she told me it was all my fault. I was distraught. I believed her lies for a very long time. Due to my fathers passing, no money was coming in and it didn’t take long before she forced me into work. Every penny I earned was given to her. Not that I ever even got to touch the money. I was working for a friend of hers cleaning. Every day at age 11 until the age of 18. That’s when I decided to run away.

Running away was the best thing I ever did. It was petrifying but I knew it wasn’t as scary as my future with Elizabeth. Long story short , I got a full time job working in a local cafe to where I ran too. I eventually saved enough to own my own place. It wasn’t much but it was home. I built up my life from the bottom. It only took a few years until I was manager of the cafe. I made it my own style and called it the pear tree. The customers loved it. After some time I decided to go back home to see my special pear tree and how it had grown. But to my shock , the house was up for sale. I rang the number on the board almost immediately. I questioned the woman on the phone and asked where the owner had gone. To which she replied, “she passed not long ago”. Although it was sad news I was overjoyed.

I arranged a meeting with the sales woman and I bought the house. It was the best life choice I ever made. My childhood home.

I found a lot of things in the house , pictures of me and my father , old toys , old clothes but there was one thing that caught my eye. A letter to me. A letter explaining my fathers death. My father passed , courageously saving a small child out of a house fire close by to his workplace. He was a hero. My hero. After all the pain and heartache I was put through by Elizabeth I finally learnt the truth.

I am 30 now with a beautiful family of my own and a husband who I love dearly. And together we sit and play under the special pear tree like times never changed. I will forever remember my father and love him like no other and I will always live my special pear tree for always being there when I needed it the most.