"Dump her into the river" , said a man , looking at me with a disgusted expression.

"You sure she's of no use? Her DNA wasn't normal , was it? What if she is one of them?" said another man.

"She is different , no doubt .But she is not one of them. Further experimentation will only kill her. It is better to dump her rather than seeing her pathetic state. Here, hold her legs."

"Is she alive? She doesn't look like it."

"For now, I think. Lets quickly finish the task."

I can feel some men moving my body. I don't know where. My entire body is paralyzed. I can't move, speak or even open my eyes. I know something is wrong with my body, but I am not able to figure out what has actually happened to me. I can hear voices saying that I am being dumped into the river. Is this the end? Am I going to die with such anguish and suffering? Wasn't my entire life filled with pain? Don't I even deserve a peaceful death?

I can feel the men throwing me into the river. So this is my destiny. I had always thought that if I could forget my painful past , I would have a bright future. Now I realize that it was all a lie. My life was meant to be forever bound with such tragedies.

I can feel my lungs filled with water. I am unable to breathe. It feels like my lungs are collapsing. Few minutes, and I am free from such a miserable life . I am not afraid of dying. If this is the end, I am ready to face it.

"Wake up, my child. Open your eyes. You cannot die like this." I can hear a female voice. The voice sounds both sweet and furious at the same time.

I open my eyes finally. I can see a very beautiful woman in front of me. She looks fierce. With an old fashioned gear, she looks just like a warrior. In one hand, she carries a sword, which has an inscription on its hilt, a language which I don't know. The sword is gleaming in her hand. It doesn't look like a normal sword. She has auburn hair and pale skin. Her eyes are jet black, suffused with both pride and grievance. And her eyes changed its colour suddenly. It's crimson now. Am I dreaming? Or have I reached heaven?

"You are not supposed to die so soon. You haven't fulfilled the sole purpose of your life. You should live and breathe for that purpose. Your entire life must revolve around it. We exist only for it. Only then you are allowed to meet your end, child" said the woman, giving me a ferocious gaze.

"What are you frigging talking about? What sole purpose do I have? And who the heck are you?" I said with contempt. I could not resist my annoyance. When I was finally about to leave this wretched life, this woman appears out of the blue and utters nonsense.

"The first of your kind" replied the woman , which triggered my anger. Has she lost it? What kind was she bantering about?

"What fucking kind are you talking about? Why do I have to listen to your annoying bickering when I am finally able to leave this dejected life?" I lost my temper finally.

"You know it yourself. Otherwise they would not have taken you, would they?"

Her words seemed to make some sense. I had always suspected that I was different. I had suspected it my whole life. They seized me and experimented on me because they suspected it too. Will this woman finally clear the doubt which my mind always bore?

But who was she? Why is she appearing in my final moments? My mind was in a state of confusion. Unable to resist the temptation of finally knowing about myself, I ultimately asked her.

" What am I?"

Summer break is finally over. So many things happened during this break. Just when I started to feel that life was becoming easier, I received another hard blow.

"Are you thinking about him?" said Sophie, my best friend in high school. "You know he's not worth it. You deserve better."

"It's not him I'm thinking about" I could not resist myself from admitting it.

"Then are you thinking about your dad? That asshat does not deserve a daughter like you. I can't believe he deceived you and tried to sell you. That trafficker deserves a harsh and cruel death."

Remembering the incident again pricked me. "I know. I'm not thinking about that bastard either. I'm just worried about my mom and sister. I don't know how they are coping up with it."

Eight years ago my father cheated on us for another woman. Since that day our lives were never normal. I tried to fool myself, assuring myself that I don't love him, but in vain. I have always had that void in my heart , a void which only he was able to fill. We moved in to our mother's villa, where we were constantly abused by our uncles. They went on tormenting us for no reason.

Years of abuse had made us stronger. Eventually, we countered their abuses and made them realize that we were no less than men. Thereafter, we had very less interactions with them. I also had a caring boyfriend who looked after me. We were leading normal lives , until three weeks ago.

"You all gotta forget about it and move on. Life will gradually get easier as time passes" assured Sophie. She was a tough girl, who also had her own problems.

"Will it?" I asked with a distressed smile.

We drove to high school in Sophie's car. St Mary's High School was a reputed high school in the town, with many elite students. I entered into this high school through a scholarship. I had many admirers as well as haters in school.

"There comes our golden girl. We accord a warm welcome to you ma'am" said Edward with his usual sense of humour.

"Cut the crap, Ed. Where's Emma?"

"In the canteen, waiting for you. And by the way, I warn you not to enter the canteen" said Ed.

"Why , what's wrong?"

"You will see" he said with an evil grin.

As I entered the canteen, I saw a huge group of students gathered there. When they saw me, they vigorously rushed towards me to greet me.

"Hello, Hayley. Wassup?"

"How was your summer break, gorgeous?"

"If you have nothing to do this afternoon, shall we hang out?"

"Back off, moron. You are not qualified to go on a date with her."

"You have become prettier after this break."

I came to know what Ed was talking about. I'm very popular in my high school due to my grades and excellence in sports. And for my looks, according to them.

I was starting to get irritated looking at this infuriating group of people, when I suddenly caught sight of Emma.

"Hey, Em. Help me."

We finally got rid of them and went our way towards the library to chat peacefully. Emma was also one of my best friends. Her ability of quickly understanding people always impressed me.

" Are you really alright? We can skip classes and go to the park, you know, for peace" said Emma, her words full of concern.

" I'm alright, dummy" I lied. "So how was your break?"

"Don't ask. My mother's gonna marry a jackass and I'm gonna get a fucking half brother. Can you believe it?"

"Holy shit. How did you face them?" Emma always hated the idea of her mother marrying another man.

"Spilled wine on their fucking faces on our first meeting" said Emma with a chuckle. Both of us burst into laughter.

"You really are something" I said, imagining the whole situation.

"Well that's how I react when life gives me a hard time."

"Tell me about it. I was nearly gonna kill my father the instant he revealed his true intentions. He was so injured that he spat blood."

"Well, that's our aggressive Hayley" said Emma. "How did the bastard react?"

"He panicked and fled. As expected of him" I said, remembering the whole scene.

"Then what did you do to Ja..." she paused, wondering whether to mention his name.

My boyfriend Jason used to look after me well, until three weeks ago, when he revealed his true face. I confronted him sleeping with another girl when I had gone to visit him to check up on his illness. Turned out that he was cheating on me for a long time.

"Well, that asshole received my special treatment."

"What did you do to him?" she asked eagerly.

"I clicked their photo and beat their asses till they begged me to show mercy", I grinned.

Listening to this, she gave a great bellow of laughter.

"But do you really feel nothing after witnessing... that?" she asked, expressing concern again. I was always surprised at the fact that she could read my face like a book.

Even I didn't know the answer to this question. Jason was the first person I met in school. We became great friends , and then a couple. He helped me a great deal in sports and took care of me. To the other students in school, we were a great campus couple whom they worshipped. He was always gentle, this change in attitude on his part was truly unbelievable to my own eyes.

I felt pain and loneliness after I broke up with him, which gradually faded with time. But whether I really loved him, I didn't know.

"I don't know, Em. Besides, all that has already happened and we can't do anything about it, can we?"

"Nope. Screw those jerks", she blurted.

I smiled. "Screw them."

"Damn it. It's time for math class. If we aren't on time, that obnoxious teacher Mr Wilson will be too pleased to pick on us. Besides he's the head teacher."

When we reached, the class had already begun. "Here you are, late again. What were you anticipating? Special invitations? Ringing bells? Demerits for both of you. Get your asses on your seats NOW!"

We occupied our seats. As expected, he gave us demerits again.

"Today, I would like to introduce a new transfer student to you. He's from Robert Clark High School, a prestigious school like ours. I hope you all cooperate and help him to catch up on his studies. STUDIES ONLY", he glared at Edward.

"Jeez, only studies? That's boring. I was gonna teach him some other stuff", complained Edward.

The student entered the class. All eyes dropped on him. He had the kind of face that stopped you in your tracks. With tousled dark brown hair, which was thick and lustrous, and mesmerizing deep hazel eyes, he looked like a Greek god. He had prominent, angular cheekbones and a sharp jaw. All female eyes were focussed on him as he spoke.

"Hi, I'm Liam Smith. I'm eighteen and I hope we can be great friends."

His gentle voice captured every girls' attention in our class. Including mine.

"Hey, what are you looking at?" Sophie broke my attention.

"Me? Nothing I was umm.. daydreaming", I said alarmed. I couldn't believe I was lying to her.

"Liar. You into him?" She caught me off-guard.

Sweating all over, I replied, "Are you insane? **** you."

She chuckled. The devilishly handsome guy sat on an empty seat beside mine. I could feel my heartbeat rising.

Emma passed me a piece of paper. I opened it.

NOW YOU CAN STARE AT HIM ALL DAY.

So even she noticed me getting distracted. I passed the paper back to her.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.

She grinned. Was I looking like I was into him? That's embarrassing. I waited for the class to end.

Finally, the bell rang. I was relieved to get out of the class. I felt uneasy because of his presence. This feeling was strange. I was lost in my own thought when I suddenly bumped into someone.

"Oops, sorry. I didn't see you coming."

I looked up at the person and was flabbergasted. It was Liam. Not only his face, his body was also captivating.

"Keep your ulterior motives to yourself. I'm not interested in you", said he, looking annoyed. I flinched at his harsh words. I felt rage rising in me.

"What are you talking about? As if I'm interested in you, you fucking narcissist", I said indignantly. His behaviour was completely different from his looks. I didn't expect him to be this cold. So the gentleness in his voice when he was introducing himself was completely fake.

He walked away without even looking back. It made me outrageous.

"Looks like our campus belle is rejected by the hunk. I didn't know you could make such disgusting moves. I pity you",mocked Carol, who considers herself my rival in the race to become the queen bee of the school.

"Actually, I pity you , Carol. All of your attempts at catching Mr hunk's attention during the class failed. You must be really frustrated", countered Sophie.

Carol indeed felt frustrated, she was embarrassed in front of all. Sophie was a ticking time bomb.

"That was hell of an argument, ladies", interrupted a playful Edward. "I wondered why the smoke was coming from the corridor. Now I know the reason", he grinned.

His transposed humour brought waves of laughter around the corridor.

I was lost in thought for the rest of the day. Why was he so rude to me? I didn't offend him. Does he usually speak to girls like that? Or does he despise only me? But why?

I didn't look at him after that incident.

The day's classes finally came to an end. I couldn't wait to go home. I have to check up on mom and see how she was doing.

"Mom, I'm back."

No response. I knew she was distracted. After my dad cheated on us, she was distracted most of the time. But she never confessed about what she was going through.

"Mom, are you home?"

"Yes I'm, Hayley. I'm in the kitchen. Come here", replied mom. "How was your day?"

"Quite interesting. It was fun to be reunited with Soph and Em." I didn't want to tell her about that annoying transfer brat.

She gave me a contended smile. "Is Ver back?" I inquired.

"She's probably working overtime. She may be back late", she said with concern.

My sister Veronica works overtime these days. I assume it's to avoid seeing us depressed.

The next day, I came to school early. Liam was there too. He ignored me. His annoying attitude increased my anger. He didn't even apologize to me for his ill demeanour yesterday. I decided to ignore him.

Emma came to class a little late. I was surprised to see her anxious. "What's up? you look disturbed."

"This news will hurt you" she exclaimed.

"What's going on?" I felt a little nervous.

At that moment, the teacher entered. "Everybody, back to your seats. We have two new students transferred to our class .They are Jason from class 2 and Emily from class 4. Please welcome them."

I was dumbstruck. So this bastard decided to annoy me by transferring to my class, along with the girl he slept with. When I think about it carefully, I didn't really love him. But I wasn't disloyal to him either. The thing he did reminds me of my dad.

He took a seat in front of me. I assume it was to provoke me. My fists remained clenched for the rest of the class. When I looked sideways, I saw Liam looking at me intently. This provoked me further.

When the class ended, Jason turned back and greeted me with a mocking smile. I could no longer tolerate it.

"You dare to mess with me, scumbag? Don't you remember what I did to you last time?"

His grin widened at my words. "So it's my fault that you are not qualified enough to be with me?"

I punched his damned face, leaving a bruise on it. When I was going to punch him the second time, Liam interrupted and held my hand.

"He's not worth it. Don't lose your temper for that filthy bastard."

His words aroused my temper. Wasn't he cold towards me the first time he met me? Why is he concerned about me now? Is he also a two-faced bastard?

"Do you think I need your help? Why the **** are you bothering me?"

He leaned in close to me, so much that it seemed that he was going to kiss me. All the faces in the class were looking at us curiously. My anger subsided and I felt extremely nervous at his action, but hid the feeling.

A wild grin broke upon his face. "You seem different."