I was having a hard time accepting the changes my body would go through.
I used to see how my mother dealt with her period,
And the blood terrified me.
I was afraid of getting it.
Most of my friends and cousins had gotten it.
I felt sorry for them when they told me the news.

My mother then started wondering why I didn’t get mine.
It felt as though she were shaming me,
When she’d tell me that so and so got her period.
I started wishing I’d get it.
I felt lesser than them,
And that they were all grown up,
While I was still a child.
I lied to my friends and told them I got my period.
I would talk to them a lot about it,
So they wouldn’t know I was lying.
I would tell them the details I heard from my other friends.

That was until I got it while I was swimming in the sea.
I was too embarrassed to tell my mother.
I took care of the situation,
And when I got home,
I couldn’t bring myself to say the word.
I just told her that I needed pads.
She was happy.

She stressed me out and made me upset,
But I had to tell her,
Because I didn’t know what to do.
It upset me that she told our relatives and my father.
I still can’t tell her when I’m on my period.