1 PROLOGUE (CHAPTER ONE)

It was a bitterly cold and silent morning. The day had not yet dawned, and so everywhere was still very dark. The girl trudged along slowly in the darkness, with only the faint glow of some streetlights in the neighborhood to illuminate her way. She didn't come across anybody and if not for the warm and sleeping bundle that was in the basket she held, she could have sworn that she was the only one in the world.

Tears of pain and anguish flowed freely down her face as she moved along towards the park, dreading and hating herself for the horrible act that she was to carry out in the next few moments. She moved slowly and gingerly, trying to minimize the pain that flooded her whole being each time she moved. It was just about four hours since she gave birth to the baby girl who was wrapped in the basket she held.

"It is for the best. I know that someone with a good heart will find her." She thought to herself, trying to console herself and justify the act that she was about to carry out.

The girl was barely more than a child herself. She was still two months away from her sixteenth birthday. Finally, she reached the spot in the park that she had targeted right from when the idea of dumping her baby began blossoming in her mind. It was a place where people would easily see and notice the child and she fervently hoped that it wouldn't take too long before a Good Samaritan found the child. Some days before she was due to give birth, she had dipped into her meager savings and had bought the softest and warmest blanket she could find. The purchase was far more than she could afford but it was the least she could do for the poor child whom she could in no way afford to keep. That blanket was in the house, but she had another one with her which she treasured even more than the one that she had bought with her money and she draped it over the baby now.

Setting the basket down on the ground, she put on the little flashlight in her hand and used it to search the area around where she had dropped the basket for anything that could pose a danger to the baby. As she did so, her tears began to flow in earnest. She would give anything not to do what she was about to do. She looked down at the basket, taking care to keep the full glare of the flashlight away from the child in it. She saw that the little girl had awoken and she seemed to be looking at her with her wide solemn eyes.

"I am so sorry. I would do anything not to give you away. I do hope that you will find someone to love you right." she told the child in a shaky voice, as though she could understand what she was saying.

The baby stared at her young mother solemnly, and as though knowing that her mother was about to abandon her, the child's lower lip quivered pathetically. She let out a whimper and shivered and to the girl, it looked as though the baby was begging not to be left alone in this place. The girl wrapped the blanket more tightly around the baby and readjusted the pink beanie that she had bought for her just days ago on her head, before placing a tender kiss on the baby's mostly covered forehead.

"I am so sorry." She whispered for the last time and began backing away into the darkness. She stumbled, fell, and picking herself up, she turned and ran away as fast as her legs would carry her.