Girl on the Street
By Proud P
Winter 2021    Fifth Grade

One day as I walked down a street I saw a girl. She had dark lush hair that covered her face. When I walked closer to her I could see that she was not happy. She looked as if she lost everything she had. I heard people whisper about her, “Who is that disgusting girl on the sidewalk?”

Some other people made faces. I tried not to react but I couldn’t help eavesdropping. I heard some people saying that her parents died in a car crash. I also heard that her parents left her on the streets. I felt sorry for that girl having to hear what all these people had to say about her family, so I sat down in front of her and said, “Hi!”

She looked at me, confused. “Hello? If you’re here to make fun of me, then go away.”

“I’m not here to make fun of you though,” I said, “I want to know how you ended up here, on the streets.”

“Okay then, I guess I can tell you.” I couldn’t really read the expression on her face so I didn’t say anything. “When I was five years old,” the girl said, “I was walking down an alley with my parents. They said it was a shortcut to their favorite restaurant. Of course I believed them, so I followed them down the alley, then there were a group of gangsters,” the girl rubbed her head, “they said something like ‘We will let your daughter go if you come with us AND give us all your treasured things’ my parents looked at me with sad eyes, they turned around and left with the gangsters.” The girl’s eyes watered.

I looked around not knowing what to say. The girl who has a very sad story has been made fun of, by grown-ups that know nothing about her.