A Caged Bird with Broken Wings
I grew up in the warm embrace of my grandparents. Their love was quiet but certain, like the steady glow of a lantern on a dark night. My mother worked abroad, and my father… well, he was a shadow. a figure I was told to fear, a monster lurking behind closed doors.
When my mother finally returned, I expected warmth, maybe even love. But she was no longer a mother to me; she was just another stranger. Cold, distant, and devoted to a man who never acted like a father. Together, they were a perfect match (a monster couple)
Then, without choice, I was taken to Jakarta, away from the only real home I had ever known. I watched my father raise his hands, not to protect but to hurt. I saw my mother endure it, as if pain was something she had chosen. And in that house filled with anger, I learned what it meant to suppress my own.
I was a child forced to grow up too soon. While others worried about grades, I worried about bus fares. While my classmates dreamed about their future, I was selling things just to make it through school. My father? He was always there, but never when it mattered. Responsibility was a door he walked away from every time it knocked.
Even in university, I fought to stay afloat—working, struggling, while my father disappeared again. My aunt helped when she could, but the weight was always mine to bear. And just when I thought nothing could hurt more, my parents stole my motorcycle’s ownership papers and sold it behind my back.
That was it. At 22, I walked away. No goodbyes, no explanations. Just an escape. But even freedom came with chains. My parents labeled me ungrateful, selfish, heartless. My mother spread lies, turning my father and siblings against me. They said I never gave them money, even though I always did when I could.
And as if the universe had written my fate in stone, I kept meeting the same kind of people, partners who lied, who betrayed, who raised their voices like my father did. Even now, my boyfriend has a temper, secrets hidden behind different platforms, messages I’m not supposed to see.
Why was I born into this life? Why do people lie to me? Why do they hurt me when I have never done the same to them?
I feel like a bird trapped in a cage. I escaped once, only to find the sky was just another prison. My wings are broken, and the world tells me to fly. But maybe… just maybe… I will learn. One day, I will soar.