Chapter 12.1 : Forgotten Past

Jaywick, England, 1986.

Although it had been originally built in the 1930s as a resort for Londoners, over time, Jaywick Village had become an extremely poor region.

Of course, even in this pit of poverty, existed different classes.

Some were poorer, some were richer, and some people were somewhere in the middle.

But right now, in a small corner of Jaywick Village, inside of a small home that had clearly not been repaired for years, unbeknownst to anyone, something was happening which would change the whole world to its core in the future.

At this moment, inside that run-down house stood two people, a woman, and a young girl, probably not more than two or three years old, watching TV together.

Although the woman was not in the best shape right now, being rather overweight, one could clearly able to see that she had been rather beautiful in the past.

Time, or perhaps the very act of giving birth had taken a toll on the woman, alongside the fact that she had to raise her daughter all on her own, especially in this rough area.

As the woman, Polly Sutton stared at the TV, her daughter stared at her instead.

"Mother."

"Was is it sweety?" asked Polly as she looked at her daughter, a faint smile appearing on her face as she stared at her.

"Did you lie?" asked the little girl, causing Polly to freeze.

"You said that Daddy would be back by now," said the little girl, causing Polly's expression to change.

"Diana, sweety, Mommy didn't lie, it looks as though Daddy got slightly delayed, we need to wait some more for him to return," said Polly as she embraced her young daughter, Diana Sutton.

"In the meantime, mommy will tell you another story about daddy, how about that, do we have a deal?" asked Polly, causing Diana to smile and nod, clearly being excited for a story about her father.

Ever since Diana had first heard her mother mention her father, she had become extremely curious about him, pestering her to tell her more and more about him.

...

Jaywick, England, 1987.

Looking at the photo in her hands, which depicted a man and a woman, a faint smile appeared on Diana's face.

Of course, Diana was not interested in the woman in the slightest, as if she wanted to see her, she only needed to turn around and look at the couch, where she was sleeping black-out drunk.

As she stared at the blond man in the photo, Diana couldn't help but become excited and somewhat emotional, as some tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Daddy please come home, Diana wants to meet you," whispered Diana under her breath, so that her mother would not be woken up.

Thanks to all of the stories her mother had told her, Diana already had a vague idea of what her father was like, and this photo verified all of her guesses.

Sadly though, Diana did not have much time to spend with the photo, needing to place it back in her mother's room, where she had stolen it from.

For some reason, around 3 years and 6 months after Diana had been born, her mother became more and more unwilling to talk to her about her father.

Slowly but surely without making any sounds, Diana sneaked into her mother's room and carefully opened a certain drawer, without making any sound.

Suddenly, the door to the room burst open, letting Polly see the scene inside.

Looking at her daughter, who was holding a certain photo, Polly's expression suddenly froze.

Suddenly, Diana moved her head to the side, dodging the beer bottle thrown at her.

Although the beer bottle did not touch her daughter in the slightest, as she looked at the scene in front of her, Polly suddenly burst into tears as she leaped toward her daughter.

"Diana, forgive Mommy, she didn't mean to, she wouldn't try to hurt you!!" said Polly as tears fell down her cheeks.

Even though she heard her mother's words, Diana did not say anything, merely staring at her with a blank look on her face.

At this moment, Diana felt as though her mother was almost pitiful, causing a certain enlightenment to suddenly appear in her mind.

...

1988

Ever since that moment, around one year ago, Polly was not the same as before.

Although she still drank a lot of alcohol, probably even more than before.

Before she even got drunk, Polly made sure that she was not close to her daughter at all, seemingly fearing a repeat of the last incident.

As such, the relationship between mother and daughter had started healing, up until a certain moment.

...

Looking at her mother, who had just walked into the house with a man next to her, Diana, who was sitting on the couch, touching that same photo from a year ago, suddenly froze.

A rather unassuming young man, who looked like he was in his early twenties.

"Diana comes here quick," said Polly, causing Diana to carefully place the photo on the coffee table and get up.

As she stared at the man, as well as her mother, a faint frown appeared on Diana's face.

"Diana, this is your mother's new boyfriend, Harry, in the future he may even become your father," said Polly, causing the frown on Diana's face to disappear, being replaced by a black look on her face.

"Nice to meet you Diana, I have heard a lot about you," said Harry as he stretched out his hand towards the little girl.

Sadly for him though, Diana did not respond as she merely stood there, staring him straight in the eyes.

"It looks like Diana likes you already, let's leave her alone for now and go upstairs," said Polly, causing Harry to nod and quickly follow her upstairs.

...

'How dare you?'

...

Jaywick, England, the next day.

"That's a nasty one," mumbled a policeman as he watched his comrade suddenly puke his guts out after seeing the scene in front of him.

A man was now laying in the corner of an alley, his internal organs lying on the floor.

Not only that, the man had clear signs of torture strewn about his body, having clearly been created by someone with deep malice.

"It's best if we don't involve ourselves with these guys," mumbled the policeman, having already decided that the murder had something to do with some sort of organized crime.

...

Staring at her mother, as well as around twenty other people, who were all crying around a grave, Diana felt anger slowly begin rising within herself.

"Crying, crying, all you do is cry, you piece of trash is the reason father hasn't come back for me," whispered Diana, her childish voice contrasting with the deep malice which had been thrown into the words.

Of course, the words themselves contained the innocence of a child, who really didn't know better.

At this moment, the sympathy she had felt for her mother vanished from Diana's eyes, replaced with only a single thought.

'If you are gone, Father will come back...'