Two

Sun rays come as nature's easel, giving brilliant colour to what was hidden even under the passing starlit night. Dawn brings a sunlight crown, smiling upward at the black heavens, feeling how the passing night welcomes her more with each minute and hour.

Crystal coughed as she sat up, removing dirt from her body. Her head seemed so heavy and her throat felt dry. Holding her head, she looked around where she was and saw she was close to the highway. She knew exactly how she ended up there. For once in a long while, she felt she had slept better than she had ever done and to think it was just beside a highway. She felt something she never thought she would feel.

She felt free.

Getting up from where she had slept for the night, the little girl looked around, trying to know where she was at the moment. Figuring that out in seconds she started to walk, not knowing where she was going but anywhere but that hell she had lived in was better.

Her hands went to the back of her head, hissing as her hand made contact with where it hurt her. Bringing her hand to her vision, she saw blood. It would have been from when she had fallen on the ground due to the fall when her foster mother had pushed her.

Sitting down once again, she tore a part of her very big green gown and used it to tie her head, wanting to stop the bleeding. Wrapping it around her head, she made sure it wasn't too tight or too free.

And then she continued her journey, not knowing where she was going.

She still thought it was a dream...not believing that she was free. She did not have a choice but to walk till she finds a better place to stay. There was no way she was going back there, her foster mother will probably skin her alive.

For three days she walked, not knowing where she was going. When she felt hungry she begged for food, and a few generous people gave her food you eat. No one wanted to even show her hospitality or help her. It made her more aware that she was alone....in this world.

But surprisingly she felt at peace, she was lonely but her life now felt more heavenly than the life she lived in that hell. Everyone she met felt irritated by her smell and looks.

But she did not mind.

She was happy....happy to be free.

Even if she had been raped by a group of boys during these three days' journeys, who did not even have mercy on the fact that she was just a little girl, it did not matter to her. She was used to it.

She was used to that life.

It was her life.

She sat close to a building on her third day out of the streets, planning to retire there for the night. Shivering from the cold, she tried to blow air on her hands to keep warm but it was of no use because the night was so cold.

Lying down on the dirt, she let her mind wander to the things she missed.....

She could not get any.

Her school life was not that bad, having always taken her academic life seriously and done well to the best of her abilities. She had always dreamed to be an independent woman, she never wanted to live in hell anymore. She had always topped her class in every subject.

How will she be able to study and fulfil her dreams now?

Hugging her legs closer, she closed her eyes as she tried to get some sleep. She fell asleep but minutes later, someone woke her up.

"Hello, little girl," The woman said as she squatted to her level, making Crystal scramble for safety.

"Don't worry little girl, I will not hurt you. Are you lost?" The woman asked, her eyes depicting concern which made her confused.

Why was the woman concerned about her? She did not answer, taking this woman's appearance critically. She seemed nice and beautiful.

"Are you lost, little girl?" She asked again.

"Yes" Was her reply. She did not want her to know she had run away from home just in case she was taken back. She never wants to go back. Anything but go back there.

To go back to her torturer. Sometimes she thinks that her torturer imagines herself as some demon of another realm, yet in truth, she is a patsy of the devil.

"What is your name?" The woman asked as she stretched her hand, wanting to hold the little girl's cheek but instead, Crystal moved away. Years of torture had made her always flinch when someone made a move to touch her.

"I promise I won't hurt you" The woman assured softly as she raised both her hands, proving to you this little girl that she does not have any plans of hurting her.

"Crystal," She said, looking into the woman's eyes.

"You have a very beautiful name. I know you do not trust me but I want to take you to a place where you would be taken care of. The streets are too dangerous for you to roam about in. Follow me dearly and I promise I will not do anything to hurt you"

Crystal looked at this woman. Why does she want to help her? Should she trust her? What if she takes her to another place where she would be beaten and maltreated just like the hell she had run away from?

"Trust me, Crystal. It is not safe here" The woman said, stretching out her hand to take Crystal's. She knew she had nowhere to go and since this woman seemed so nice, she would follow her. If she takes her to another hell again she will make sure she runs away from that place.

Hell....she does not want to go back anymore. Only in a money-nexus world that makes cold emotionality a survival skill can we develop people cold enough to kill via torture.