Chapter One

It was during the holiday season—December 25th, precisely. My school went on a festive break. The exterior environment of my school was designed with flowers. The rose shone under the scorching sun. A lot of fireworks were going off in the street. Every nook and cranny was embedded with "Merry Christmas."

I wished every day would always be today, where there would be no moment of sadness, worry, or anxiety. I saw people laughing and talking to themselves. I wondered in my mind: If this was how everybody behaved in the middle of the year, the world would have been a happy place.

"Briana, we are almost there." My mum called, jolting me out of my thoughts.

"Oh! I have gotten engrossed with the event going on in the street," I answered, smiling back at her.

"No wonder," observed my mum, "I have been staring at you for a while, and I saw your lips moving. I hope you are enjoying the journey."

"Yeah, I loved it. How I wish every day was always like this, Mum? Wouldn't it be a special world?" I asked her, determined to get a response back.

"My dear, it is only in heaven that it can happen," my mum answered with a smile on her face.

"Why not on earth, Mum? Where I would take pictures with all my friends and teacher at school and come back home as a happy, fulfilled girl."

"My dear, today can't be the perfect day to tell you history, but bear in mind that it was because of Adam and Eve. You remember the story?"

"Oh yeah, I remember," I answered.

The car came to a halt at a particular place. I was confused at some point but later discovered that we'd reached our destination. I was surprised. I thought it would take about two hours to get to "Dovey Shoprite," but it took a total of forty-five minutes. I looked around and saw cars parked around the area.

"This was not the garage allotted to "Dovey Shoprite," I murmured.

My mum came down from the car before me and my dad. She went straight at the wing mirror of the car, took a bend, and used her hands to gather the few strands of hair that fell out of her wig to their proper position, while my dad straightened his collar with his eyes piercing through the rear mirror. Their actions stimulated me to check my lap, down to my knees, for any stain in my purple gown, which also had some patches of red and white on it.

"Hello," my dad called out. I raised my face to see him; he was already waving his hands at me through the closed window. I unlocked the door and came out of the car, holding my Android phone in my left hand and my red and white handbag in my right.

I stood near my dad and held his hands. His height was never to be compared with mine. He was two feet taller than I, and his physique was broader and larger, which made others scared of him. He was a military man. But he had a baby face, which my mother jokingly tagged "Assassin."

My mum walked closer to us and gave a signal for us to enter the Shoprite. I held on to my dad's hand tightly as we walked towards the door of the Shoprite. We spotted security men standing on each of the doors. My dad followed through the second door, while my mum followed through the fifth door. A metal rod beeping with a red light was scanned on my dad's body, then on me. The security man looked at me thoroughly before scanning me again for the second time. He scanned me with the metallic rod, raising it above my head down to my body, then it got to the position of my handbag. It made a noise.

"Hello girl, what do you have in your bag?" The security man asked.

"Sir, except for lifeless objects like cake, I don't have anything dangerous for humans," I said, examining every detail of his reaction.

"Bring it out," he said, "and kindly step aside," turning his attention to the next person.

"It is for cakes," I replied, opening up the zip of my bag.

"This is it, sir." I ran back to him, showing him the object. He looked at the cake slice intently and stretched out his hand to collect the object. I dropped it into his open hands, and he tested it firmly, drawing the cake slice on his left hand. I got irritated with his action and told him to keep it with him. I rushed inside to hold my dad's hands, who patiently watched the drama with keen interest.