3 It was not a dream

She had been locked up in the storage room by a bunch of bullies until a sister found her and she had already fainted from the cold and hunger. She had been told that an older girl needed something from the storage and that she should get it only to get locked up in the storage.

She knew very well who did it. Those girls were fourteen like her although one was already fifteen and ever since they were young, they had bullied her in every way possible. In her dream, one of them poured hot water on her during cooking class just a few months from now.

It ruined her appearance, the left side of her face was scarred by the water and it affected her eyes making her left eye go blind. They made sure all those that wanted to adopt her stayed far away. They told lies to those poor couples that she was possessed by some kind of demon.

There was a couple that did not believe them and still insisted on adopting her because she was very beautiful and intelligent but those girls locked her up in one of the toilets in school on the day they came to pick her up and gave the couple a note they wrote saying she did not want to be adopted by them and that she was going to hide away from them till they leave.

The experience was horrible. She screamed and cried for hours but no one came to rescue her till the following day. All alone in the school building at night locked up in a small space, it was so scary. The thought of it made her shiver as she tried to comb her hair.

The couple left sad after receiving her message of rejection. She could easily guess the life of luxury and comfort she would have lived if she got adopted by that couple. They were rich and anyone could tell that they were nice people.

After taking her time dressing up, she went to the sister's room to eat her breakfast. The room was empty except for a bed, a table, a chair, and a wooden black wardrobe. The room was painted grey with white curtains and her food was on the wooden table facing the wall. It was cold but she was not surprised that it seemed her subconscious mind expected it to be that way.

After breakfast, she went to the library in the orphanage. She could not go to school since the sister had called her homeroom teacher to take a day's break for her recovery.

Everyone knew the royal family well. She had seen them occasionally in magazines. They were rich, powerful, and well respected. She was confused as a war of emotions began. The picture of the royal family looked so familiar, more familiar than ever. They were all there when she died.

Tears ran down her cheeks staining the magazine on the table before her. It had to be a dream. She had fantasized a lot growing up that she was a princess but many other girls did too. She could have created false memories, right?

She shook her head vigorously mopping the tears off with the back of her hand and stood up. She did not want to believe all those painful memories were hers. She did not want to believe she was killed just to satisfy someone's animalistic desire. It was all too much.

She pushed the chair back with a force making it fall with a loud noise on the tiled floor of the library. "It is not me. It cannot be me," she told herself an obvious lie as she ran out of the library. She seriously wanted to run away from those ugly memories however, the more she tried, the more they got stored up in her brain.

She found a corner in the laundry room and sat on the floor hugging her knees against her chest. She rocked herself slowly humming a tone – the only thing that stayed in her memory since she got to the orphanage.

As she rocked herself slowly, she got more and more memories returned to her against her will. Her mother always hummed this same tone when she was little. She could remember that soft, pure, and sweet voice of her mother telling her the song was written by her grandfather as a gift when she was given birth to.

Her mother hummed that same tone in the car when they were left all alone in the middle of nowhere with their car upside down on the grass. Her mother was bleeding but she held her tightly and hummed that same tone to her till somehow she went unconscious and woke up in the orphanage.

"Mother . . . Mother . . . I am sorry. I am sorry I forgot you. I am sorry I refused to avenge your death. I should have never told you to leave the palace unguarded. I wish I never believed her. It was my fault," she apologized sobbing hard.

After crying until her face was as red as ripe tomatoes and her eyes almost like chili, she went to the bathroom and rinsed her face with cold water from the tap. Left alone in this orphanage, she could not think of a way to get back at those that hurt her and her mother.

She needed to leave the orphanage and attain a height strong enough to get back at the royal family. It was almost impossible. She was not naïve anymore to go to the palace to find the king. She could not trust anyone except herself.

***

Somewhere in B city, a man and his friend sat in the private room of a high-class bar sipping from their glasses of expensive alcohol as they spoke freely being friends since they were kids.

One of them had a melancholic appearance with furrowed brow and a sad look on his good-looking face. The other appeared brighter with a mysterious look in his brown eyes and concern for his friend written on his face.

"She keeps losing her mind since Anna went into a coma. She barely eats or sleeps. I don't know how to help her. She makes me feel so useless," the melancholic man told his friend. He sipped from the glass of brown liquid in he held with a sigh.

"Valerie just needs some time. She will soon get used to it. I think you should consider another adoption. She just feels lonely since she used to spend a lot of time with Anna. It almost feels strange now that she is lying unconscious in the hospital," the other man with a mysterious look in his eyes encouraged his friend.

"What if she says I am trying to replace our daughter?"

"She won't. A child that will bring hope to her is all she needs."

"I will think about it. Anna will wake up one day. At least that is what I hope for."

The man pats his friend's shoulder with a gentle smile on his face. "Yes, she will wake up. She needs you and if you adopt a child, Anna won't be too lonely in the hospital."

The sad man sighed again and drank the whole content in his glass in one gulp with a hint of suspicion in his eyes as he watched his friend closely. He immediately brushed off his suspicion knowing his friend won't do anything to hurt him and his family.

His friend's idea was both logical and illogical. He will have to be very thoughtful about it. He got up and stretched before picking up his car key. "I will leave now. I will think about what you suggested. If it is good for both Valerie and Anna, I will call you," he informed his friend and walked out of the private room with steady steps as though he had not been drinking all night.

###

"Valerie, what are you doing to yourself?" the man asked his wife as soon as he got home. After searching around the top floor of the house he could not find her until he went in to her bathroom where she had soaked herself in the large bathing tub.

Her head was buried in the water. He carried her out immediately and checked if she was breathing but she was not. Without any thought, he performed CPR anxiously and shaking as he tried to save his wife's life. Her body was still warm, she could not be dead. At least that was his hope.

After lots of effort, the woman opened her eyes coughing out water. "It is okay," he told her hugging her and patting her gently.

"Justin, she cried. It was my fault. I caused it all. I saw tears. She cried when I visited her at the hospital. She must hate me," she cried against her husband's chest.