Chapter One: Exodus

Mrs. Lee lay on the hospital bed semiconscious. She had been bedridden for the past three months and could feel her life slowly seeping away. Sunny sat next to his mother holding the sun shaped rag doll she made for him. Sunny held onto his mother's hand and clenched it in his little hand. He looked at his mum who smiled weakly at him; he couldn't help but smile back.

Mrs. Lee had stage four cancer and was currently laying on her death bed. And as for Mr. Lee, he didn't care one bit. When he was told that his wife was soon dying he didn't even bother to visit her. And Sunny would not have found out if he wasn't eavesdropping at that time. Sunny had spent the whole afternoon with his mother and though it was soon approaching dusk, he wasn't ready to leave her side.

Mrs. Lee continued to smile at Sunny as her eyes slowly became heavy. She closed her eyes and her breaths become non-existent. Sunny felt a teardrop roll down his check. He didn't know when and how but he was crying. He lay his head on his sun shaped rag doll and cried on it. After about an hour he stood up and wiped his tears with the sleeve of his shirt.

"I will respect your final wishes mother," he thought to himself as he turned away to leave. Before Sunny stepped out of his mother's hospital ward, he turned to have one last look at her. She lay peacefully on the hospital bed; free from all the worries of the world she left behind. Sunny fought back his tears and walked away.

As he walked down the street he hugged his rag doll tightly. He moved quickly to his home but instead of going to his house, he branched off to his neighbour's home. Sunny had only one friend, the girl who lived next door, Amanda. She was a petite little girl with bright hazel eyes and a fair complexion. She had long wavy brown hair that reached her shoulders.

He quickly ran to Amanda's residence and fortunately for him, she was home. He pounced on her and the both of them fell down. Amanda pushed Sunny to the side and could see that he was in tears. She dashed into the house and came back with a notebook and scribbled some words on it. When she showed it to Sunny, he finally saw what she was scribbling.

"Why are you crying" is what she wrote on the notebook. Sunny grabbed her pen and wrote a reply next to what she had written.

"She is dead, my mother is dead."

When Amanda read what her best friend had written she covered her mouth in shock. Amanda had to fight back her tears. She and Sunny had grown up together and she knew how the latter was attached to his mother.

Since Sunny was born dumb, his father thought of him as a curse in their bloodline. He often mistreated his son and kept demanding for his wife to bear him another one. Unfortunately though, Mrs. Lee could not conceive again. This made Mr. Lee believe that both of them were cursed.

Mrs. Lee on the other hand loved her son dearly. She even made him a sun shaped rag doll with a beaming face to always remind him to be happy; with or without her.

Growing up, Sunny had no friends. He was always mocked for not being able to talk and carrying around a rag doll like a little kid. Everyone kept a distance from him except for Amanda. She was his first and only friend till date. She knew that he only had two people in his life and today, he lost one of them, who happened to be the most important one of the two.

Amanda embraced Sunny and he cried. She could no longer hold back her tears after seeing her friend in immense pain. She also found herself crying. The both of them cried in each other's arms till it became dark. Sunny got up and walked to his home. As soon as he entered the house, he was welcomed by a plate to his face. The plate shattered on his face and some of the glasses cut him. Fortunately, none had come into contact with his eyes otherwise he would have lost his eyesight as well.

Sunny was in pain, but that pain could not measure to the one in his heart. He had just lost his mother and this man did not even care about that fact. Instead, he was back to torturing his son. Sunny couldn't bear it anymore and ran out of the house.

"Get back here you piece of trash," Mr. Lee yelled as Sunny continued to run. Sunny could tell that his father was drunk; that meant he would not be able to chase after him. That was good news to him.

He hid behind a tree and when he saw his father enter the house, he got out of his hiding place. He walked to Amanda's house and climbed up her bedroom window.He knocked gently and Amanda opened the window for him to enter. When she saw blood trickling down his face, she ran downstairs and came back with a bowl of warm water and a towel. She cleaned his wounds gently and treated them.

She grabbed her notebook, scribbled on it and gave Sunny to read what she had written. "What did he do this time, and why were you bleeding". Sunny wrote a reply and handed her the notebook to read.

"Don't worry about me. I'm okay but I don't think I'll be going back to that house again".

Amanda looked up and could see her friend smiling weakly at her. She smiled back and hugged him tightly. Sunny jumped out of the window and ran into the darkness. "Take care Sunny," she whispered to herself and she watched his body blend into the darkness.************