1. Once upon a time.

We often overlook insignificant little memories and bury them at the deepest corners of our brains forgetting about them completely, and at the end of the day these insignificant facts we ignored tends to have the biggest impact in our lives, affecting us negatively or positively.

Back then if someone were to tell me a small random gift from my parents when I was seven years old would be the source of my double D(not the bra type), aka my doom and destruction, I'll look at them dead in the eye for two seconds straight then burst out laughing at their face till I shed tears.

Yeah, right.

But sadly as much as I'd hate to admit, that was the case. Would things have worked out differently had my dad never found that Ring? Probably.

Would I have been happier if things worked out differently? You'd ask.

My name is Que Mo Hendricks, and this is the story of my life.

You could say that my "double D" started

on a fateful and particularly windy February night in the middle of a jungle my oh so loving parents chose to explore leaving me, their lovely daughter home alone. Cheerful voices of men erupts from the dark atmosphere in a narrow cave on a ridgy and steep mountain coupled with the clashing sounds of metallic objects hitting a hard surface. The sharp diggers and knives reflects the blazing orange flames of the lit touches clipped to the wall of the cave.

The air was filled with smoke from burning firewood and cigars hanging off the mouth of the workers. Let me tell you, smoke combined with dirt and the BO of sweaty grown men is one hell of suffocating combo.

"This trip took longer than expected. Little Mo must be worried sick." A woman in brown khaki pants and blue shirt wiped the sweat on her forehead with a brown hanky. Her blonde hair sticking to her face as she lean on the wall beside a young man in his late twenties. "Just say you miss your daughter, Helena, you look sick yourself. We'll be out of here by this time tomorrow." He comforted his wife. "She'll be fine, she's a big girl now."

Raising his digger, he hit a particularly hard surface in the rocks.

"What's that?" The lady asked her attention brought to the rock. They were treasure hunting in the middle of nowhere as usual. Most of the times they returned empty handed, but on rare occasions they stumble upon valuable treasures which they sell and make lots of profits. Although none of the things they found was pricey enough to sustain them for the rest of their lives.

That had been their plan which they sadly never lived to fulfill.

"Dunno. It's a metal stuck in something." After several hits, the metallic object clinked as it hits the ground. He picked it up and observe it under the dim fire, it was a rough circular object which had a large gemstone embedded in it.

"Yo Hendricks, struck a gold?" an overweight collegue of theirs called. He was covered in dust from his bald head down to his boots.

"Nothing but an old ring." Mr. Hendricks replied.

"Meh, what's it's worth?"

He scoffed, "Not a dine," earning snickers from all around.

"Sort of. It's ugly," His wife took it into her palm. No one would buy this thing, she could tell that at first glance. It made of brass and a dull iron which had crusted over the years. She rubbed off the dirts and the yellow gem reflect with light. "The stone is beautiful though, reminds me of my little Sunshine."

"Huh, I bet even the grasses on the foot of the mountains reminds you of Que." She laughed and pocket it. "It'll look good on her, we should keep this for her."

"Umm. You should make her something. It's useless anyway."

The night stretched and they called quits, emerging from the cave carrying along their belongings to retire for the night and embark on their journey back home at dawn.

*

Under the moonless sky the blurry figure of a little chubby girl (aka me) sitting on the pouch in front of their home can be seen as she gaze up at the stars. Her brown curly mane swallowed her tiny head and the only thing visible was her oversized hazel eyes and a puckered lips. She clutched a grey bunny in her arms as if it were a teddy.

Her puckered lips quiver occasionally and her puppy eyes welled up with tears. "When would you come home, I'm tired of waiting." She rubbed her eyes talking to the stars. Her mommy said whenever she misses them to talk to the stars, they could hear her. She does that every night because she misses them every night, but they never returned, as always. She only got to meet her parents for two days only each month before they waltz away again. Sometimes they stay longer than a month, like this time. Ever since she couldn't count until she forced herself to learn just to keep up.

"Come in Que, it's cold outside. You are going to be late for school tomorrow." Her nanny, Jiji called. Throwing a last glance at the road she got up and ran in shutting the door behind her. She wished she could stay longer, but looks like they are not coming back tonight as well. Already had her dinner, she brushed her teeth and climbed into bed with her pet, Mr. Fruggle in her little yellow room and hummed a tune her mom taught her whenever she was lonely.

At the break of dawn, she woke up and got ready for school, she had all finished her assignments the day before. She was a quiet and obedient child (wonder what went wrong as she grew up). Walking to the kitchen with her pet which served as her alarm every morning, she sat on the dinning table for breakfast. It was a sloppy sandwich she so much dislike, she secretly believe it causes bad breathe and green tooth. She didn't want her breath to smell like Kevin's in her class.

That pest. She cringed remembering his green teeth which oddly resembled the color of her sandwich. She ate around avoiding the green substance when the roaring sounds of car engines came from the driveway. She squealed jumping out of her chair knocking it off in the process.

"They are back!" Que raced out of the house to the driveway and jumped on her parent whom had just gotten out of the car. "I missed you so much. You stayed for so long Mr. Fruggle injured his leg. He refused to eat anything and was sick." The little girl pouted and feigned hurt.

"I missed you too, sunshine." Her dad attacked her with tickles and she erupted in giggles. "We are back now, happy?"

"And guess what we brought you this time?" Her mom said retrieving a box from her bag." I know! Mr. Fruggle the junior!"

"One pet is enough Que, we got you something else." She sighed.

"Yey, what is it, what is it?" Que bobbed up and down, her piggy tails wiggling behind her and her large hazel eyes practically glowing. Her mom opened the box and hang a beautifully hand-carved necklace with a huge shiny stone in the middle around the little chubby girl's neck. It had a cursive words engraved on the side, QUE.

PAUSE.

Let me elaborate a little. According to experts or fortuneteller, shaman etc, it was at this point that a dark energy, an evil spirit, a dark shadow, call it whatever you want, it was at this exact point that it got attached onto the little girl aka me. Right as my mom clipped the shiny yellow necklace around my neck. It was a necklace I came to cherish and wear all the time. Willfully or not, you'll get what I mean in the later chapters. It was also at this particular moment that my double D began.

PLAY.

"Wooow, it is glowing! I love it, thank you mommy, you are the best!" She ran back inside calling her nanny. "Stop running about Que, you'll fall." Jiji picked her up. "It's a nice gift. Now school is starting in 10 minutes. Mommy and daddy would wait for you but the school wouldn't, come on let's go." She dragged the little girl who digged her heels onto the floor crying out for help. After much struggle and a few (empty) promises, they managed to get the girl to school.

Que walked silently with a twisted face clutching her lunch box to her class, earning few glances from her mates. Seated at the last bench, she buried her head on her desk still annoyed for having to come to school just after her mommy and daddy had returned. Her frizzy hair was tied into two piggy tails with yellow ribbons above her head emphasizing her wide and cute eyes. When the bell rang for lunch she ran and hid in the trees at the school garden, refusing to talk to no one.

"Found you, little goblin." A slow smiley and annoying voice whispered beside her ears accompanied by a smelly breath. Without glancing up she already knew who it was. She buried her face deeper into her arms around her knees avoiding him. She hates the nickname, she hates him. Ever since he said her big almond eyes which overcrowd her face resembled goblin's.

Kevin plopped right next to her ignoring her rejection. She had always tried to avoid him but he was stubborn as a bull.

"Go away, I don't want to talk."

"But I want to talk to you. I want to be your friend."

"I don't want friends. I only want my mommy and daddy." She got up and ran away, but before she could get out of the garden Kevin had already caught up with her.

"Your legs are too short, goblin."

"Stop following me." She yelled at him turning back, he didn't expect her sudden halt ended up ramming into her and knocking her down. They both toppled to the ground and she somehow managed to be on top. She was startled and scampered to the side when Kevin let out an ear shattering scream and before you know it, crowd had gathered around them. That was when she noticed his leg was twisted in an odd angle. He was rushed to the school clinic by the nurses and she later found out he had broken a leg.

She had tried explaining that he was the one that ran into her several times but no one listened. Her parents were called to the school and later that night, she was given a long speech which was too big for her tiny brain to comprehend about bullying.

She didn't push Kevin. She didn't mean to hurt him. He was the one that ran into her, but no one listened to her. They all choose to ignore her and kept their distance from her.

Feeling wronged, the little girl threw a tantrum and locked herself up in her room skipping dinner. By the time her father managed to pry the door open, she'd fallen asleep next to her pet Mr Fruggle.

Que woke up the next morning to a growling stomach and went straight to the kitchen for food to calm the beast in her stomach. It was the weekend and the sun was already up. No wonder her stomach was in chaos. She wondered why no one bothered to wake her up. Even her morning alarm which always wake up at dawn and lay on her face cutting her supply of air until she wakes up had abandoned her today. She met Jiji in the kitchen who refused to give her food unless she went back and brush her teeth. In her opinion the woman was simply being unreasonable, who cares about brushing when they were hungry? Having no other choice, she returned and did as she was told.

She was about to leave the room but decided to bring along her Mr Fruggle who must be hungry as well, even though he abandoned her. He wasn't anywhere in sight so she checked under the blankets. There, the little grey guy laid still in bed buried underneath her yellow fuzzy comforter.

"Wake up, Mr. Fruggle, breakfast is ready." She shook it but it didn't move. Grabbing it off the bed, it's head lolled to one side scaring the girl. She dropped the motionless body screaming.

"Mommy, help!" She ran out to her parents room screaming Mr. Fruggles had broken its neck. Groggily, her dad trudged to the room and saw the bunny on the floor.

It had died.

𝐒𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫.

Sitting at the foot of her yellow fluffy bed in the middle of a small and messy dark room, Que stared at the red liquid running down her fingers. The tears threatening to fall from her red and puffy eyes finally came down streaming like waterfalls as she sniffed.

Though the cut on her finger looks deep, Slshe couldn't feel the pain. She was numb. Which only added to the tightness in her chest.

Doning an extra baggy T she look part of the mess herself; teary face with puffy red eyes and stray frizzy hairs sticking in all directions, and now bloody fingers.

She cradled her bloody hands hugging herself and let out the suffocating pain in her heart. She cried, wailing out loud, the storm raging outside drowning her screams of self loathe, loneliness and helplessness.

He was gone too.

She'd turned her room upside down destroying everything that would remind her of him, which was alot unfortunately. From the little gifts he'd gave her through the years all the way down to their photos together. She took them out and tore them piece by piece, and ended up cutting her fingers badly with the sharp edges in the end. What a tragic life.

He'd left her.

He had really left her.

Just like everyone and everything she'd ever care about.

Hurt..

Abandoned...

Miserable...

She cried harder, bitterly and resentfully.

With the bloody fingers on her chest, she clutched her necklace tightly and drown herself in her sorrow.

She cried until her voice became hoarse and her wails turned into heart-wrenching sobs and she started losing consciousness. A searing pain came from her injured finger brought her back and she tried to move her hand shaking away the pain but she was rapidly descending into darkness. A light flashed at the back of her eyes and she was engulfed in darkness. Maybe if she'd die, all this pain will go away.

As her eyes shuttered close, an ear-shattering sound pierced through the night in form of a roaring thunder.

At the top floor of a mansion in the outskirts of a city, a big glass tank was filled to the brim with water in a brightly lit what appeared to be a fancy bathroom. The hulking features of a man who was clearly a body builder or the last descendant of the giant race was submerged in the waters. He was white and still as if frozen for a long time.

The man on steroids suddenly blinked his eyes open revealing a startling slanted glowing purple eyes as huge tattooed veins bulged all over his body snaking around him. He twisted as his bones popped in weird angles and the light went off followed by the shattering sounds of glasses in the darkness.