Aliya Rhea Bartolome-Castro had never known the kind of childhood meant for someone her age.
While other children spent their days playing outside, she grew up surrounded by things a child should never witness. Her parents were scientists—brilliant, perhaps—but their work turned their home into something far from normal.
Animals were constantly brought into the house.
None of them ever stayed long.
Every single one ended up slaughtered in ways too cruel for a child to understand.
Sometimes Aliya wandered into her parents' laboratory by accident. The moment she stepped inside, the sight would make her stomach twist: exposed organs laid across cold metal tables, glass containers holding dismembered eyes from animals she couldn't even identify, blood staining the floor, and scattered tufts of fur that made her whole body ache in silent sympathy.
I want to leave.
I hate it here.
Those were the only thoughts she could cling to as she tried to ignore the desperate cries of animals being tortured inside that room.
"Aliya, do you want to get out of here?"
The voice came from her older sister—the only person who seemed to understand her fear. Someone just like her, unable to bear what they were forced to witness every day.
Aliya quickly nodded.
"But… how do we leave, sis?" she asked quietly.
"Don't worry," her sister said, her voice steady. "I'll come back for you once I reach the city."
Aliya was only seven years old at the time.
Her sister, Aya Grace Bartolome-Castro, had just turned fifteen.
"You'll leave me here, sis Aya?" Aliya asked, her voice trembling.
"I'll come back. I swear," Aya promised, her eyes soft but filled with determination. "And when that day comes, we'll live somewhere we can finally be free. Just promise me you'll wait."
Despite the sadness tightening her chest, Aliya nodded.
After their quiet goodbye, Aya left.
Aliya stayed behind.
Days turned into months. Months turned into years.
And every day, the house remained the same.
Some nights the smell outside their home was unbearable—the stench of discarded remains dumped behind the house after every experiment. Aliya often cried silently in her room, knowing that another innocent creature had suffered inside that laboratory.
Whenever she walked to school, she would glance back at their large house.
The house she secretly cursed.
The house she wished she would never have to return to.
Years passed.
By the time Aliya reached adolescence, the sister who once promised to return finally came back.
"We're leaving. I'm taking Aliya with me," Aya announced the moment she stepped inside the house.
Their parents looked startled.
"Why?" one of them asked sharply. "Your sister is living a perfectly fine life here."
"Physically, maybe," Aya replied coldly. "But emotionally?"
"She was seven when all of this scarred her. You carved nightmares into her childhood."
Their father exhaled sharply as he stared at both daughters.
"So that's why you disappeared for so long, Aya?" he said. "To rebel against us—and now you're dragging your sister with you?"
"As your daughter, I'm asking for only this," Aya said firmly. "Let us leave."
"Fine," their father said after a moment. "But make sure you can actually provide for her. Don't come crawling back here asking for money."
Aya didn't hesitate.
"Don't worry. I never needed your help before. I definitely don't need it now. I'll be the one sending Aliya to school."
Their father nearly raised a hand to strike her, but their mother stepped in just in time.
"Go," their mother muttered. "Leave. You're both old enough."
Aya grabbed Aliya's few belongings without another word.
Aliya hurried after her.
"Aliya… don't look back," Aya said softly.
Aliya smiled faintly and nodded.
She never once turned around.
She refused to look back at the house that should have held memories—but instead held nothing but trauma.
Aliya was thirteen when she left that place.
Aya was twenty.
They moved to the city and rented a small apartment. Aya was already working, determined to send her younger sister to school. Aliya enrolled in a nearby public school within walking distance.
It wasn't a luxurious life.
But it was safe.
And safety was all that mattered.
One afternoon, while walking home, Aliya noticed something trembling beside the road.
A tiny kitten.
Its body was covered in wounds.
Someone had clearly hurt it. Its mother and siblings were nowhere in sight.
Aliya waited for hours, hoping another cat might come looking for it.
None did.
So she carefully scooped the kitten into her arms and carried it home.
She hadn't taken care of a pet since childhood.
The last one she had loved died in her parents' hands.
Ever since then, she had been too afraid to try again.
You're going to get better.
I just hope Ate lets me keep you.
She gently cleaned the kitten's wounds as it trembled in her hands.
Why is the world so cruel to animals?
Eventually the kitten fell asleep.
Aliya found a small cardboard box and lined it with soft cloth.
The kitten looked no more than two weeks old.
"You poor baby…" she whispered softly, stroking its tiny head.
"Aliya?"
Aya's voice came from the doorway.
Aliya turned and saw her sister holding a bag of groceries.
"You're home," Aya said with a smile—until she noticed the sleeping kitten.
"S--Sis," Aliya quickly explained, "he was hurt, and no one was helping him, so I brought him home to treat him."
"Sis, I promise once he gets stronger, I'll find someone to adopt him—"
Aya suddenly laughed.
"What are you talking about?" she said warmly. "He already found a new home. Why would we look for another?"
Aliya blinked in surprise.
"Y… you're okay with me having a pet?"
"Of course," Aya replied. "And we don't live in that house anymore. We can do whatever we want now. Just take good care of him."
"Sis…"
Aliya hugged her tightly.
"Thank you."
Aya gently ruffled her hair.
"You once told me how they killed your pet before, didn't you?"
Aliya nodded quietly.
"Well," Aya said softly, "now you can love and protect this one however you want."
"I'll be responsible," Aliya promised.
Her sister smiled and began helping her take care of the kitten. Aliya was surprised at how much Aya knew about proper pet care.
"Aliya," Aya said one day, "I want us to have our own veterinary clinic."
"A veterinary clinic?" Aliya asked.
"Yes," Aya nodded. "I want to build one—for the animals abandoned by the world."
"It's been my dream ever since I ran away."
"I want to help them."
Aliya gently stroked the sleeping kitten in her lap.
"Help them?"
"Yeah," Aya said quietly. "In this world, very few people truly care about animals. If only you knew the cruelty out there."
Aliya remembered the creatures that had suffered in her parents' laboratory—helpless, crying, unable to fight back.
"Sis," she said softly, "I know you'll make that dream come true someday."
Aya chuckled.
"Always the supportive one."
Aliya simply smiled.
She believed in her sister's dream.
And she hoped that one day—when the time was right—it would finally become real.