Anna was hiding in the closet, shivering with fear. She was hugging her shoulders

with opposite arms and crying quietly otherwise that monster would have caught

her. Her innocent heart was screaming inside her chest with pain but her larynx

didn’t make a noise. Quiet tears filled with agony were continuously flowing

from her large hazel eyes like a persistent waterfall. She was helpless, so

much helpless in front of that monster that she couldn’t help but hide.

With every scream from outside the closet she trembled vigorously and hugged herself

even tighter. After few minutes, she heard a loud bang, a light scream and

everything fell silent. Her mind went blank for a moment. She gathered up all

her courage and slowly opened the door of closet.

She saw blood, a lot of blood, coming out of her mother’s head. She rushed out of the closet, move

forward and lightly patted her mother’s countenance with her finger tips but

she was unconsciously lying on floor. She shook her mother’s shoulders and

yelled, “Mama, open your eyes… please mama…please.”

Two large tears fell on her mother’s face, she slightly opened her eyes and saw

blurred image of Anna. She was deeply sad for not being able to see her daughter’s

face. Anna was crying, she could hear her sobs but wasn’t able to wipe her

tears.

She breathed heavily, eyes still half opened, she gathered up all her strength to

speak, then she murmured, “Anna… my baby… I…” then she paused.

Anna’s trembling hands covered in mother’s blood patted her face lightly, “Mama,

please wake up… please…” it was hard to speak while crying.

Her mother again gathered the left over strength and said, “I’m…sorry…baby I…

love…you”.

She finished her sentence with great difficulty, she wanted to see

her beloved daughter’s face for the last time because she knew these were the

very last moments of her life. She was in extreme anguish for leaving her

daughter alone in this hell but it wasn’t her choice to die, she was murdered.

The last heavy breath came out of her lungs, a large tear fell from half-opened eye

and her soul departed her body.

Her lifeless body covered in blood was lying on floor, Anna yelled her name, shook

her body but she was gone forever.

Anna opened her eyes with a scream, her forehead was covered with sweat droplets and

she was breathing heavily. She got up, still breathing heavily, looked around

and came to her senses. She picked the glass of water from side table and drank

it slowly. She exhaled the air for few seconds and assured herself, “It was just a dream”

she paused and said again, “why this dream is always so realistic?”

After saying that her lips gave a very sad smile, she laid back and opened the

picture of her mother on her phone. She looked at the picture for couple of

minutes, then she kissed it and hugged it tightly.

Anna didn’t know when she fall asleep while missing her dead mother. She woke up

late and rushed to work. No matter how fast she drove, she was still late at

work. When she entered her office she was amazed to see an unknown man sitting

on her chair.

He was a handsome man with deep brown eyes, shiny flawless skin and prominent

jawline. He was wearing a sky blue shirt which suited him well.

She looked at him in amazement for few second, before she spoke the man stood up

and greeted her, “Hello Ms. Anna, I’m Adam, your new colleague. We got a new

project to work on. ”

Anna replied calmly, “Hi Mr. Adam, nice to meet you.”

Anna didn’t know about the new project Adam was talking about so, she asked, “I don’t

get any notification about new project from my superior. Do you mind explaining

it to me?”

Adam smiled and said, “The head of your department will explain it in a bit.”

Anna nodded and said, “Alright, thank you.”

She then sat on the visitor’s chair opposite to Adam to show him that it was not

right to sit on her seat. Adam was a witty man, he understood that he offended

her so, he excused himself to call Anna’s manager.

He came in with the manager after five minute, he said, “Anna, we are assigning

you a new project because your research skills are excellent. Adam

and you are going to search for cases related to abuse and write article about

it in monthly publication. You both are experienced so, I’ll leave the work to

you.”

He smiled and turned to leave then stopped and said, “One more thing, this office

is small for two tables so, we are providing you two a new office, pack up your

belongings and a peon will shift your stuff.”

Anna smiled and said, “Alright sir, thank you.”

After he left, Adam said, “I’ll meet you in the new office” he smiled and went out of the office.

Anna was excited to work on this new project because she suffered the abuse of her

step father for ten years. She knew the pain because she was once the victim.

Anna a 26 years old journalist, a beautiful, intelligent and successful woman worked

for “Twilight” magazine. She was looking forward to new project assigned to

her.

After an hour, Anna and Adam both had moved to their new office.

Adam after finish organizing his stuff said, “Before we start working, let’s

introduce ourselves.”

Anna said, “Sure, you go first.”

Adam said, “I’m 27 years old. I have been working here for four years. I recently

worked in current affairs and news department. Before that I researched about

economy and stock market. I also wrote about sports as an intern here.”

Anna was listening carefully, she always did. According to her, listening carefully is

very important for her profession.

It was now Anna’s turn she said, “I’m working here for three years, I have worked

for entertainment and beauty articles during my stay here.”

The reply was rather short and to the point. Adam wasn’t expecting a concise reply,

he was expecting a long elaborated response because this was what normal girls did.

Anna was not like any other girl, she was different, may be because of scars

from her past.

After introductions, they started

their work. Both were surfing the internet to find recent abuse cases. After

searching for about any hour both found some cases they could discuss.

Adam said, “I like two cases one

is about child abuse and second is work place harassment.”

Anna replied, “I have found many

cases but I like the child abuse case I studied. The victim is dead, we can dig

it up and try to interview neighbors and parents to find facts.”

Adam said, “I like your idea, can

you email me the case so, I can study it as well?”

Anna emailed him the case and

then they both studied it carefully.

It was 2 in noon, lunch time, Adam

suggested: “I’m hungry. Let’s go and eat.”

Anna couldn’t eat breakfast

because she overslept so, she accompanied him to cafeteria.

They both got their food and sat

on the table. While eating Adam stared at Anna who was silently eating her

sandwich. He thought, “This girl is so

different, I want to know more about her. She looks like a princess from moon

who can’t reveal her secret yet has a beautiful soul.”

Anna looked up and their eyes

met, she raised her eyebrows and asked, “Is there anything on my face?”

Adam shook his head, “No, there

is nothing.”

Anna asked again, “Then why are

you staring at my face?”

Adam got confused and replied,

“Nothing, I was deep in my thoughts. I didn’t know I was staring at your face.

Sorry about that.” He laughed embarrassingly.

Anna smiled to assure him that

nothing was wrong and said, “Never mind, let’s finish our food and get back to

work.”

Adam smiled and said, “Sure,

we’ll discuss about the research procedure.”

After lunch, they got back and

started discussion, Anna said, “The victim Henry was 7 years old, he was beaten

by his father to death, the most tragic thing is he was killed by his

biological father.”

Her large hazel eyes gave a luster

with tiny tears and she gave a sad smile. Then she sighed and said, “The father

was drunk and mother was not at home when the incident happened.”

She paused and looked at

Adam, “How do you like to investigate this case?”

Adam replied, “Father is now

imprisoned after he came from rehabilitation center. He will be hanged by the

end of this month. We can interview both parents and record their remarks.”

Anna said, “We should also meet

the teachers of the victim and write about his behavior at school.”

Adam said, “I agreed with that

too.”

Then they decided on the research

and made the draft. Adam found the address of mother’s current residence and

contacted the police for an appointment with the father.

Anna made the interview questions

and also contacted the school and made an appointment with class teacher.

It was about 6:30 pm when they

both finished their tasks. Adam wanted to invite Anna for coffee but she said

goodbye and left the office in hurry. Adam sighed and walked slowly toward his

car.