Prologue

Nooo…. Screamed the little girl as she held on tight to the ship’s railings…. Her right cheek stung, the memory of the slap she’d just received…. The slap had come as a shock, the force so strong she’d blacked out… Now she was awake and everything was still a blur, the voices in the background were strange…. She was lost and alone, and this thought released another string of tears…. She didn’t notice the person standing in front of her, and she rather felt before she saw the whip… She felt blood trickle lightly down her back, from where she’d been whipped… The tears poured, but she didn’t make a sound…. The last she saw was her father’s face, before she blacked out again…..

Present Day

Cindy’s POV

“ I heard you last night, '' Baa-Baa

grandma

said as I took a huge bite of my toast…. I didn’t want to disturb her with the details of my ever increasing nightmares.

“I'm sorry, but you know what happens every time, it’s the same as always, Voices without faces”... I couldn’t risk telling her that my nightmares were worse than they used to be. I hated to upset my Baa-Baa

grandma

, her health was deteriorating fast… I playfully put an arm around her and kissed her on the cheek.

“ Did you sleep well?”, I asked in a bid to change the topic.

Baa-Baa

grandma

looked at me with a slightly amused and annoyed gaze, “ classic move hana… Trying to change the topic”. I smiled at her and she smiled back, squeezing my hand on her shoulder reassuringly…

“I just want you to talk to me anytime you have those dreams, I want you to be fine and please don’t ever talk to me with your mouth filled again”, she said as she flicked my forehead… I rubbed the now sore spot and pulled my ears to indicate my promise… She stood and gave me a tight hug, and I hurriedly grabbed my phone and purse. I still had time on my side, there was a guarantee that I might get to work early… I gave Baa-Baa

grandma

one last hug and she promised to make my favourite dumpling and cabbage patch sauce for dinner, I couldn’t help the smile. I was lost without my Baa-Baa

grandma

.

****

I hated crowded places, I really did but I couldn’t afford a car yet and as much as I tried, I completely avoid the human race and my best escape was music, as I got close to the train station I instinctively plugged my headphones in and pulled my hoodie to cover as much of my face as possible… Although lots of Japanese people had come to fully accept and embrace people of different skin colours, there were still a few people who couldn’t just learn to live with it…. So I tried to be careful as possible, lost in music and thoughts.

The train finally arrived, I finally got in and quickly found one of the smaller seats so I could avoid human contact as possible. My phone began to ring as I took my seat, and just as I guessed, it was Lerato Baker, my best friend for as long as I could remember …

I let the phone ring and as I got comfortable on my seat, I picked the call and whispered “what is it?You know how much I despise phone calls but you still call anyway… I swear if this is not important, I'll make you pay dearly”, I said all in one breath.

“ Well good morning to you too, bestie, I see you are still as cheerful as ever…”, she said and I could hear the hint of laughter in her voice, I slowly breathed out and smiled… Lerato is just one of those people you could never stay mad at, she is way too lovable for her own good.

“What is it?” I asked, fiddling with the rope on my hoodie.

“ I’m running a little late and I was wondering if you could cover for me… Thank you, love you and I promise I'll get coffee… Bye”, she said and hung up… wow another super fun annoying ‘classic Lee’, I tucked my phone in my pocket the same time the train conductor announced the next stop, I patiently waited till the crowd lessened a bit and alighted… I drew in a deep breath, free at last. I all but ran out of the train as the number of people trickled out… I bumped into a child beggar whom I compensated by giving her a generous amount on her plate… she graced me with a toothless grin and called me onee chan

sister

… I smiled back and continued down the aisle, I've always loved children… I always have and when my life doesn’t suck like it does right now, I would love to have some of my own.

Apparently, it was too hot for the external forces above, because they decided to make it rain literally without warning… which was the reason why I was scrambling for shelter with my bag to protect my hair. At least that’s what I was doing before some jerk decided to zoom past me and sent all the water in the giant puddle close to the sidewalk right unto me… safe to say I didn’t move… I watched in a hybrid of emotions filled with surprise and mortification as the mannerless SOB

son of a bitch

sped past me with as little as nothing… I was beyond pissed… I was losing my inner peace and with it on my mind, suddenly the car reversed until the driver’s side was directly in front of me. As if I was in trance, the driver smirked at me, sized me up from head to toe and zoomed off like nothing ever happened.