「故事·听力」My Parents Have Their Views On Raising Girls.

My Parents Have Their Views On Raising Girls. I Had To Save My Lil Sis!

Hello, everybody! My name is Jake. I am sixteen years old.  I grew up, surrounded by love and support from my parents. Sounds idyllic, right? But it just so happened that I had to rescue my little sister from my own mom and dad. How did it even come to this? Listen up.

My parents have always been very conservative and you could even say snobbish people. They were also supporters of a very strict and even cruel upbringing. But I didn't really realize this until my sister Cora was born. I never had any problems with my mother and father. To tell you the truth, I have always been their fair-haired boy.  My mom was absolutely over-protective. She doted on my every move, which was becoming more and more annoying over the years. So, I thought I could finally breathe a sigh of relief when Cora appeared in our family. I hoped that now my mom and dad would be too busy to track every minute of my life. But not so fast.

My first hint was when I saw my father's reaction that he was having a daughter, and not another son. He was so angry and disappointed. He rarely came up to Cora's crib and always got irritated when she cried. My mother wasn't that bad, but she was always tired and depressed. When Cora grew up and turned nine years old, it became even worse. My parents were so unfair and strict with her that I had to stand up for her all the time. Concerning myself, it seemed that I was their only beacon of light and they entrusted me with all their hopes and dreams. And the only thing I wanted was to escape from this hell-hole.

And what a stroke of luck! I had a chance to go to a new prestigious school in another area. It was my goal for a long time and I worked hard for it, but I could not get the thought out of  my mind that I would have to leave my poor sister all alone with my mom and dad. Of course, my parents were so proud of me, but when Cora heard the news, she was stunned. I saw she was trying to hold back her tears and to smile. She said she was very happy for me. I couldn't bear it and told her: "If you ask me, I will stay." But she wouldn't listen. My little Cora had a big heart.

So, I made the hard decision and left home. I made my sister promise that she would call me every single day and tell me about everything. And to a point, she did it. I loved my new school and my new life, and Cora would listen to my funny stories every day. But when I asked her about herself, she was very brief. She would always say that she was fine and try to change the subject. However, over time, our conversations came to a halt. Cora found excuses to not to talk to me every evening and just sent me short messages. But one day there were no more messages. I called and texted her a million times , but there was no answer. I called my mom immediately and asked what was going on, but she said that everything was okay. Cora was just being careless and broke her phone. But I had no doubt that it was not as simple as that. And my fears were confirmed.

After a couple of days, I got a message from a strange number. It turned out that it was Cora's classmate. She was very worried because Cora hadn't been to school for over two weeks, and she wanted to know if she was okay. I was terrified. My mother didn't tell me that my sister was sick or anything. Whatever was going on, I felt that I had to rush home as fast as I could. I didn't warn my parents that I was coming, so they were really surprised to see me at the front door the next morning. Mom looked very confused and nervous. I asked her about Cora and she said she that was at school. I told her that I was aware that she wasn't and headed to my sister's room. My mother tried to stop me and to chat me up, but I got to the door and I was shocked by what I saw there.

The room was very clean, but all the furniture was gone. There were no toys, no bed, no writing table. There was a small mat on the floor and a small table with an empty bowl, and that was it. Cora wasn't there. I attacked my dad and demanded an explanation. But he stayed cool and said that Cora was nothing but trouble. And this was the only way to raise her. He said that he had prevented her from going to school lately because she couldn't behave herself, she came home later than expected and she had even secretly tried to use makeup! As a punishment he stopped her going to school for the time being until she understood how a decent girl should behave and what she should look like.

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