the clown

‘Because … the clown makes everyone laugh by masking its own pain.’

I’ve been here since I was 14. I’m 18 now. I take medicines so I can be calm, but they make me sleep too long. Then the caregivers scold me for not waking up on time. I don’t remember my father. He’s been dead for many years. A man offered to marry me. My mother agreed, but I ran away. The police caught me in a railway station. I don’t remember where my home is. Even if I remember I won’t tell. I won’t go home. My uncle is a bad man. I have seen him raping my mother. I can’t spend my life watching this. I’ll never go back.