This shall be my last gift to you

In a small village called Appleton lived a mother and daughter. It was the imperial year 1820 and the month of February. Appleton was famously known for the variety of apples it navigated in the Rocky Mountains. The houses were a few meters apart, and the fields were filled with apple trees. 

The mother's and daughter's families lived in a little cottage with an A-framed roof. It was a two-story wooden house with a small porch, and the rest of the land was filled with apple trees and a magnolia tree. 

In the early morning, the sun brimmed through the windows and woke the little girl named Luiza from her slumber. She twisted from side to side and gently parted from the blanket. Partially awoke, she sluggishly got off her bed and went downstairs to wash her face.

The delicious aroma of apples and cinnamon captured her attention. Her footsteps were rather wobbly, but she managed to run towards the kitchen. The kitchenette was confined and made of wood.

In the center was the back figure of a woman, her hair tightly tucked into a bun and an apron tied around her waist while she stirred the liquid using the wooden spatula. 

"Good morning, Mummy!" Luiza said. She stood still by the door, vigilantly watching. Loretto turned around and smiled at him. "Good morning, Luwy! Did you sleep well?" 

Luiza gave a nod. 

"That's good. Now go outside and get freshened up; the breakfast is almost ready." 

The young woman lunged outside and turned on the tap. The water was cold. Her hands cupped below the tap and splashed the water on her face. The bonnets of the mountain were uncapped, and the sun rays directly kissed the leaves of the magnolia tree. Intrigued by the beautiful display of nature, she dashed towards the tree and took hold of a flower that was about to fall to the ground. 

"Mummy! Look what I found!" She carried a white magnolia in her hands with a bright smile on her face. Her eyes squinted into a crescent moon shape. 

Loretto was wiping her hands on her apron. Her eyes narrowed at the flower before her, and she commented, "It's so beautiful." 

"It is, right? Our backyard is filled with this flower, and it looks splendid! I hope we can have tea in the afternoon under that tree, Mum." Exhilaration seeped out of her. 

"Also, Mom, this flower is for you." She got on her tiptoes and softly placed them in the back of Loretto's right ear. 

They then sat on the rustic dining table. An apple pie, a loaf of bread, and milk were present. 

"Happy birthday, my dear. May you live a long and happy life." Loretto wished and handed Luiza the knife. She was agitated at first, but the hopeful eyes of her mother made her bring her hand forward and cut the pie. Delightfully, her mother clapped. It was a small celebration, but despite that, Luiza felt warm and fuzzy in her heart.

She felt blessed, and she did not understand why people would pity her for not having a father around. Was it truly as important as people often pressed on? Perhaps in the eyes of others, she had a piteous childhood, but to her, she seemed to have not missed out on anything. 

"Luwy," her mother called her. Her palms were tightly pressed by her mother's palms. 

'Um?' Luiza slightly tilted her head in confusion. 

"This shall be my last gift to you." The sanguinity left Loretto's face, and her face hardened. Luiza would have questioned, but all of a sudden, her vision started to get blurry, and her body stayed motionless. Loretto grabbed her daughter's body and carried her to the bedroom. 

"I am sorry," she whispered, and she left the room. 

~

"Mommy?" Luiza whispered. The bed felt cold, and she raised her hands to feel the other side; it felt empty. She squinted her sleepy eyes and brushed them with her hands to see clearly. No lights were lit, and it was unusually dark. 

"Mommy?" She shouted, feeling a little nervous. It was her birthday; surely her mom was not pranking her, right? 

She slowly got on her feet, lit a candle nearby, and lunged towards the wall, where she pressed on the magical device made by her mother. In a few seconds, most of the rooms were brightened.

She blew out the candle and checked all the rooms, but there was no sight of her mother. 

Night had arisen, and Luiza felt scared. She started shouting for her mother in every room, but she was not there. The countless thoughts of what if took over her, and the fear of losing the only family she had brimmed her eyes, and tears fell.

The entire night, she whimpered. She let out a silent cry, and at dawn, she headed to the main bazaar to ask around. Her eyes were red and puffy. Her appearance was dull, and her perplexed state was very visible. 

"Excuse me, Aunt Maria, have you seen my mother?" She had a hoarse voice. The dark circles underneath her eyes were prominent. 

"Oh dear, I am afraid I have not. Did something happen, dear?" The elderly lady, who was in her mid-forties, stopped and asked in concern. Luiza's eyes were cast down, and her palms were clutched tightly to her dress. 

"Well, it's just that my mother has been missing since yesterday," she replied. "Oh, dear," the woman said, wishing to hug the little girl. The nearby neighbors who listened to their conversation started whispering to each other. 

"My my, where could a mother go leaving such a young child without any notice?" 

"Indeed, look at the poor lass." 

"Well, what can you expect? A pair of mother and daughter living together without any relatives or a father. She was very questionable from the start, especially since they did not seem poor either." 

"But a child should not face such grief." 

They start to whisper. Luiza's hands only tightened more, and she could not raise her gaze. She had become the talk of the town.

~

In all her life, she resented being slandered, and as though she walked through a nightmare, the little town she lived in thoroughly slandered her mother, more so while taking pity on the child she left. 

'Hippocrates' she cursed under her breath while walking like a corpse. The happy family and the dreams of living with her mother till she was old had all been shattered.

Each day she got less and less sleep, her existence rotting away as she neither dressed well nor took care of herself. 

As a last resort, she entered the service station that was established to serve the people in the forms of legal administration, taxes, protection investigation, and scholarship. 

Although it was a helping desk provided by the kingdom, the working men there were known to harass women. The people from the village warned all the women and children to stay away from there, but Luiza had no choice. 

It was present at the center of the Appleton bazaar. It was a three-story house painted sky blue. With her ragged appearance, she entered the office. The floor was made of marble, and the room was luxuriously decorated with the finest furnishing. 

She entered the room where complaints were filed. She took off her shoes, walked on the rug, and stood before the man. 

"Good day, young lady. How may I help you?" The man seemed to be in his late thirties. There were a few wrinkles on his forehead, his hands were fairly rough, and he had a sinister smile. 

"Mother, my mother has been missing! Can you help me find her? She has been missing for three days now!" she grieved. Her exhausted brown eyes stared at the officer. The room reeked of cigarettes. 

The man before her stared at her and said, "Well, we sure can help you find your mother." He started to write something on a piece of paper. In a while, he spoke as he stood from his chair and advanced towards her. "I would need your signature here." He flipped the paper from his desk towards her side. 

He closed the distance between them. His chest was directly behind her; he gently placed his hands above hers and made her lean towards the table. She sharply inhaled; her eyes glared at him, but she did not say a word.

He helped her sign the document, and once they were finished, she tried to move about left, creating a subtle distance, yet his hands were firmly pressed on her shoulders. His fingers started to crawl from her hands to her waist. Her breath hitched, and she felt disgusted by his touch. 

"What are you doing?" She spoke in a demeaning tone. Her eyes hardened, hiding her accelerating heartbeat and her frightened mind. 

"I am only fulfilling the basic requirement before we investigate. You even signed on it," he said with a smug. His hands started to feel her waist, and she tried pushing his hands away. The color on her face drained. The man dragged her to the couch nearby and pinned both her hands. 

Her breath paced, and sweat began to form around her forehead. Her eyes were moist, and she tried to curl into a ball, but the man was stronger, and his hands forcefully tried to reach her thighs. 

"NOOOO! Don't!" she screamed. Her leg kicked his chest, and he slammed against the other side of the sofa. Her feet quickly got to the ground, and she scuttled outside the room. The lobby was filled with workers and not a single customer. They all eyed her from head to toe. A glint of excitement formed on those men's faces. Her hands and legs trembled. Breath hitched while

A malicious grin of delight adorned their faces as one of them lunged in her direction.

She moved to the left just as he was going to grasp her.

With a twisted lip, he lifted his eyebrows and asked, "Playing hard to get?" savoring her anxiety. Then he took hold of her arms, held her firmly, and pinned her to the wall. His hands swiftly unbuttoned her back, and another man started to tear her top.

She attempted to push and kick the group of men, but her efforts were in vain. They took apart her top and left him with only a chemise. Their hands were all over her waist, bosom, hips, and thighs. She felt cornered. 

"Please don't! Please, I beg you!" She continued to kick and sob. Despite the tears in her eyes, her presence entertained them. She was afraid.

"Now," said one of the men, grabbing her hair and pulling it. "Let's make use of this unripe slut." Her hands trembled. Her face was a crying mess. Her breath became shaky. She was utterly terrified. She felt lost and hopeless, for no one would come to save her. 

The man who had been gripping her hair suddenly felt his hands burning. One by one, the others begin to burn. Luiza was unable to contain her balance any more. She wanted to escape somewhere, but she was petrified. In such anguish, the mana inside her became unstable. 

"Ahhhh!" she screamed as the man let her go. She curled herself into a ball, and her cries released immense power.

The individuals who wished to use her had vanished, and fear had replaced them. Their bodies were all set ablaze. They began to cry out for aid as their entire body caught fire.

The entire building had caught fire. Nobody managed to get away. The men cried for help and attempted to pull her down, but before they could get close to her, their entire bodies turned into ashes. 

A man flung open the door. Luiza barely got a glimpse of him. He wore an expensive suit, and she whispered "Help me" before she passed out.