Prologue

Footsteps swayed softly. Barely audible. The sound of her breath rushed a little every time her feet treaded the rain-soaked dirt road. The gray clouds faithfully accompanied the bare footsteps with raindrops.

The girl's ears were bothered by the people shouting for her to be executed immediately. Somehow she was so hated by the people who currently looked at her with disgust, it all started with the news of the journalists covering the big case she had committed. The news eventually spread everywhere, from mouth to mouth, until people held grudges and hatred for her from reading the news of her sadism.

"Give her the death penalty... no mercy!" shouted one of the crowd of people who witnessed the girl's capture.

"You crazy murderer! You don't have a brain. You deserve to die. Your place is in hell!" another shouted in hatred.

"Cursed woman! A human with a devil's heart" shouted another. They were too upset with what the mute girl had done.

Some even spat at her, throwing rotten eggs at her with every footstep.

Her face was downcast, and her gaze looked sad. There was no expression, only a blank stare on that cold, and innocent-looking face.

Dried blood spots around his face and all over his white shirt, almost dried up.

"Come in!" said the prison officer. Inevitably, those feet stepped in with compulsion. Obeying the prison officer who was not at all friendly to her.

His head looked up as he was about to board the prison car. Two police officers armed to the teeth and wearing bulletproof vests were ready to escort a mute girl. How scary is a girl whose clothes are soaked in blood?

The girl didn't look scared, instead, she threw a cold smile at the two police officers. "No need to smile, sit there!" One of the policemen ordered. Then she sat down in front of the two scary-faced policemen.

What had a twenty-year-old girl done? She looked like a normal girl. There was nothing on her white face to indicate that she was a criminal. It was just that her face was almost covered in dried blood spots. She looked more like an innocent girl. But why did she have to be escorted by two policemen and two prison officers who had just boarded?

"WAIT!" a woman shouted from a distance. Her body was wet from the rain. Her clothes were dirty from the splashes of water and dirt. "Stop the car!" she shouted again and stopped in front of the convict car carrying the girl. His arms were spread wide, blocking the road.

"What the hell is you? Do you want to die standing in front of the car?" said the driver, looking annoyed. He honked at the car to move out of the way. "Hey... Mom, move from the front! You're going to die standing there!" snapped the driver.

"I beg you, let me see my daughter. I want to meet the girl you arrested!" she pleaded stubbornly.

"Your daughter? Do you mean the girl who can't talk?" the driver asked. It was as if he was teasing the gloomy-faced woman. But she looked very seriously at the driver.

"Yes, sir! Please let me meet my daughter!" she said confidently.

The driver snorted. "Alright, I'll tell the officer at the back first!" The driver got out of the prisoner's car. And he walked back to car. While the woman remained silent with her arms outstretched.

"What happen, Sir?" asked one of the policemen on duty.

"There's a woman who wants to see her daughter, sir! She won't leave until she meets this girl!" the driver said, glancing sarcastically at the downcast girl.

"So she still has a mother?"

The driver nodded.

"Well, let's let her meet her daughter for ten minutes so as not to disrupt this trip!" suggested one of the policemen.

"Yes, sir! I'll tell her!" The driver hurried to the back and spoke to the woman in the hijab. "Please go to the back, ma'am! But only ten minutes, no more!" the driver said firmly.

"Thank you, sir!" the woman hurriedly walked to the back. The girl was already standing near the steps of the car.

"D-Dina?" the woman called hoarsely. Her voice was almost lost when her eyes found the girl standing with her hands cuffed. The woman hugged her while crying. "Why does it have to be like this, child? Why do I have to see you like this? I'm sure you're a good child, just like I raised you to be a child that I love," the woman's grief overflowed. She sacrificed so much to raise that girl. She loved her so much after her parents were burnt down.

The girl was silent. Not a single word escaped her lips. But her eyes spoke differently. There was dew dripping from her brownish eyes. The woman released her embrace, looking once more at the girl before her.

"Remember, dear! You are still my daughter, my good and cheerful to you, dear. And remember one thing, I will love you forever!" she added.

"Time's up!" said the policeman guarding the girl. "Let's get on! We have to get out of here!" he continued to impress the girl. Soon, the girl kissed the woman on the forehead in front of many people and the two policemen guarding her.

The hands that had been gripping each other tightly, slowly loosened and then moved away. The girl climbed back into the prisoner's car. The woman's blank stare seemed to hint that she would lose the girl.

The wheels of the car began to turn slowly after everyone had climbed into the car out of the house where the crime occurred, where the girl was found holding a knife and covered in blood on her hands and almost all over her body.

The girl bowed her head, her mind in turmoil. She felt innocent, what should be required of her? She realized that she was holding a knife in the middle of the victim who was lying with several stabs in the chest. Or did he not realize what he had done?

She couldn't remember even though she tried to recall it all.

"Actually, what's happening to me? Why don't I have the slightest recollection of the things I've done?" She said in her mind.

Then without being asked, her memory again disturbed her who was reluctant to remember it all. Many bitter events must have happened to her in the past, so bitter that it often traumatized her and made her lose awareness of herself. She sometimes also hated what was happening inside her.

What exactly happened to her life back then? And what kind of craziness did she do to be treated harshly by people?

****

To Be Continued.