1 Chapter 1

I entered the house and found my father with a lady on his laps. Again with his disgusting attitudes.

"Good evening father", I greeted hoping to leave the scene as soon as possible but knowing my father we'll it won't be that easy.

" Ren, it's the end of the month. Submit the salary", he instructed holding his hand out. I quietly dropped off the cash I got from my job and left immediately. The moment I got to the room I met my little sister drawing on her book.

"Ren, you are back home. How was work? " She excitedly asked. I patted her head and carried her up. I told her all about the day and she laughed at the funniest parts of the day. After our little chat, I told her she had to sleep. There was nothing more important to me than my little sister.

"Rei, I promise you that in the future we won't be here again", she nodded and hugged me tightly. Now can someone explain to me how I am supposed to sleep with this woman in the other room moaning so loudly. Well that's not my problem, my goal is save enough to escape from this hell hole. I have to give Rei the best life I can provide.

I stood up and removed a box from under the wooden floor, took out some of the pictures that were there and placed the money I deducted from all my monthly salary into the box, closed it and dropped it back. Of course my dad was unaware of this or else I would be his punching bag for the rest of the week.

I covered Rei with the blanked and began to pat her head. She is my life, source of joy in this painful days I can't let her be tainted by this evil father of ours. I'm just so happy I was born to protect Rei. This happy thought was sure to bring good dreams to me. I smiled as I slowly shut my eyes.

********

I am so happy to return home from work today. My manager offered to take care of I and Rei and I can't just wait to tell her that we would soon be free from our father's hands. But the moment I got closer to the house I became too uneasy and unfortunately my thoughts were brought to life. Rei was screaming desperately for help. I rushed into the house without a plan in mind. I stood in front of my father and began to shout

"How would you hurt Rei like that? What wrong has she ever done to you? ". Mistake.

No wonder it is said you shouldn't charge into a battle with a blunt knife. But it was too late to correct mistake. A heavy slap went across my face. I became deaf within second but I didn't care all I wanted was to protect Rei no matter what.

" Rei hold on, your big brother is here. You don't have to cry anymore. You know I wanted to tell something but I didn't expect things to turn out like this. And I promised and swore to take good care of in the absence of mother and I didn't keep my promise". I began to blame myself for the circumstances we are facing now. It was then I began to feel the pain on the left side of my face.

"Big brother, you know I was always happy because of the amount of times you promised me the best life. I saw how hard you worked. I saw how much you tried to please me. I saw the amount of times you had to take a beating for me. I saw the amount of times you starved because you wanted to be sure I had eaten. You gave me the best life and I'm so happy. Maybe after today we won't worry about that because mother would take care of us, right? ". The moment Rei said those words I couldn't help but cry. I hugged her tightly even when I knew she wouldn't survive the beatings they were giving us. She was bleeding to badly and almost all bones were crushed. She was an 8 years old girl that needed love. She hugged me back and began to cry,

" Ren, please don't leave me". I couldn't fight back I was not as huge as my father all I was waiting for was to turn 16. I was just a month away why did nothing favour me.

He continued to kick our backs. We hugged ourselves and steamed in agony. At some point Rei stopped breathing. I lost my will to live at that moment. All I wanted was to go where she was going. The beating intensified and I was happy it was finally coming to an end. Rei I'm coming soon.

"Ren"

"Ren"

"Ren"

I struggled to open my eyes only to find my manager screaming. I smiled and finally I lost all access to my senses. I couldn't hear anymore all that was in my mind was finally my little sister is in my hands.

' I'm so glad '.

*******

" Arrest that man immediately. Please I would be placing charges for murder and child abuse", Ren's manager instruted the police officers.

"Miss Aoi, apparently we can't seperate the two dead bodies from each other. They are glued to each other", one of the staffs from the hospital informed. " Then carry them like that". Aoi stood there heartbroken. ' I promised him that nothing bad would happen to him only if I got here very early. Why? Why did it have to end this way? He. Places his trust in me and I couldn't preserve the small life that he was managing'. All she did from that moment on, was blame herself for their deaths. And with each time she visited their graves, she would think about all the things she could have done to help them. Anytime she visited their home, the scene would play in her head everytime. She would stroll around the house for about an hour before she goes home everyday.

Then the dayncame, where the Lord took all her sorrows away. She walked around their room till her heel got stuck in a hole. After careful removal she was able to get her heels with a plank of wood. And there it was , the box Ren kept so dearly. She opened it and emptied it on the floor. There was a lot of money, pictures and a diary. She kept the money back in the box and began to check the pictures. It was nothing but his pictures with Rei, their mother's and hers. And behind each picture were dates. She opened the diary and began to read

The end of the beginning.....

'Why such a name', she thought to herself.

She began to read the pages carefully and realized that every picture with a date behind was connected with the dates on the diary.

'June 12th.... Today my manager gave me money to buy food for myself. I was overjoyed because I now had enough to feed Rei. Is there anything more exciting than that. Rei would be so happy. Miss Aoi is an angel sent by God, I just hope one day she would save us. She is beautiful by the way. If I wasn't younger I would have the biggest crush on her'.

Seeing this made her understand the reason why it was named that way. She now only wished that she came earlier to help the poor boy. Now she was more than determined to avenge them and ensure their good for nothing father would pay for killing them.

"Thank you very much Ren. I'll do my best for you".