I was in 5th grade the first time I got it.
I was sitting at a computer,
When all of the sudden,
My stomach started to ache really badly.
I found blood.
I stuffed a lot of tissues into my underwear.
I burst into tears and kept crying for some time.
My mother eventually found my stained shorts.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
I didn’t know what to say.
We had never exactly been close.
“Take these and wear one,” she said, pushing a pack of pads in into my hands.
That was it.
Later, when I asked my friends at school,
They told me that period blood was marriage blood,
Or blood you got after having a baby.
I didn’t understand what any of that meant.
When I asked mama, she slapped me across the face.
“You’re a slut,” she replied.
She treats me really poorly now if my period’s ever a little bit late.
“Did you get it yet?” she'd keep asking me.
She keeps looking at me suspiciously too.