CHAPTER 1

She couldn't believe how cruel the world and its occupants can be. She had been hearing that child scream and beg for her daddy not to hurt her and she wondered how a father can hurt their little princes. At least, her own father had never raised his hand on her or hurt her in any other way. Not even raised his voice at her. How can a child scream like that because of her own father? Where was her mother? Or at least, anyone who could help her? Clearly, the screaming girl was in extreme pain. And she had been screaming for some time now. At least she had a healthy strong pair of lungs. Alexis had been increasing her pace and now she was on a full sprint. Turning the bend, she came to an abrupt halt, her blood running cold.

She was in a room that was almost bare apart from a few dining seats and a dining table. The room was otherwise bare. The view before her was the cruelest thing she had ever witnessed before. A child of around seven years was lying on the table, her cute face twisted in pain as she screamed her lungs out. Blood was dripping down the table. A man was standing very close to the girl, his back to Alexis. From her point of view, she could only make out the girls' face and the man's back. She could easily tell that he worked out and had a well-toned body just by looking at his back. How could he be that heartless and put his strong hands on such a small girl? But she knew. The way his big muscles tensed and relaxed accompanied by his movement and the fact that his ass was out told her all that she needed to know. But why did this cruel scene seem so familiar, like something she had witnessed before and not even once?

Pure unadulterated rage like nothing she had ever felt before filtered in her system making her blood boil. In two angry steps, she was standing next to them. She punched him with all her might but somehow her punch never reached him. She tried again but her hand froze in midair and could not move no matter how hard she tried. She shouted for help, for the man to stop hurting that innocent girl, for anyone to intervene, she wasn't sure what she shouted for. She just did. But her voice came out muffled, strained, and weak. What the hell was wrong with her? She had a fine pair of lungs accompanied by her training in the forces but she couldn't throw a simple punch and now she couldn't even shout for help? She felt as useless as salted fish while she watched the man ram mercilessly into the child as she screamed.

"Yeah, scream for me baby", he grunted and Alexis saw red.

Her training kicked in and she decided there and then she was going to kill that pedophile in the cruelest way possible. There was no way she was taking filth like that to police custody. A man like that one didn't deserve to breathe the same air as the rest of the world. She will cleanse the earth from filth like him and she was sure she would enjoy killing him even though she had never killed anyone before. Unfortunately, she was being held back by invisible chains and could only keep struggling while hopping for a miracle.

And a miracle happened. Running footsteps could be heard outside the door and Alexis turned just in time for the door to fly off its hinges and a woman fly into the room. She was smaller than the man in body and had a weather-beaten face and calloused hand like someone who worked the fields with her bare hands for a living. She was shorter than him by far and wasn't his match in any way but all Alexis thought was 'thank God, mother came'.

Then it hit her. Mother? Who was this woman? Because clearly she was not her mother, neither had she ever met her before. If she had, she would definitely remember her. She radiated power like a leader and her face had traces of the beauty she once possessed before life happened. Alexis had always prided on the fact that she had superb memory. She could definitely never forget a face like hers.

The woman rushed past her and kicked the man off the girl with one kick. All Alexis heard was a pronounced 'whoosh' and a body crumbling on the ground next to her. And then the child was curling in on herself as the woman screamed obscenities at the man while looking at him the whole time. The man stood up shamelessly treating Alexis to the disgusting view of his member that was at the moment still spilling his seed on the floor. Now Alexis understood why he had been caught off guard by the woman. He had been just about to come when he was thrown off.

"Is this what you do behind my back you animal?" she screamed. And the man had the grace to look apologetic.

"It's not what you think. I can. . . ", she was interrupted by a slap that whipped his face to the left. She was petite yes but she packed a mean punch.

"I will make sure you rot in jail for this", she declared and his features twisted. Alexis had never seen a person's face look that ugly before.

"I cannot go back there. Over my dead body". The woman was shocked.

"Have you been in jail before?"

"Yeah", he admitted it so casually like it was no big deal. The woman's face contorted in fury.

"You are going back"

"No"

Things went downhill pretty fast after that. The man produced a knife from somewhere and started advancing towards the clueless woman who was bent over her crying child with tears of her own and was busy reassuring her that everything will be fine. She tried warning her but she couldn't find her voice. She was literally screaming at the woman, telling her to watch out because he had a knife but her voice was nowhere to be found. Horrified, she watched helplessly as the man bent and harshly whispered in the woman's ear. She jumped and turned around just in time for the knife to bury itself deep into her heart. Her wide shocked deep green eyes flickered to Alexis and it was like at that moment, they were begging her to avenge her death and her daughters' rape. And as the woman's body swayed and danced to the tune of death, the child's wails could be heard from miles away. It was the sound of pain, anguish, loss, and grief, a very heavy burden for a seven-year-old to carry. And it was the saddest tune Alexis had ever heard.

Alexis woke up with a start to loud screams and the shrill sound of her alarm ringing in her house. She quickly looked around only to find herself in the comfortingly familiar green that was her bedroom color. Pushing her sheets off her body, she jumped out of bed in search of the source of the offending shrill screams. She clamped her mouth shut when she realized that she was the one screaming. It was just a bad dream, she reassured herself and the shrill monstrosity assaulting her ears now was her alarm clock trying to wake her up for work. Sweat ran down the side of her face as her heart palpitated in her chest. She quickly silenced the offending alarm with one unnecessarily strong punch. She was heaving like she had just run a marathon and somehow her lungs couldn't get enough air in. Her pajamas were crumbled and drenched in sweat and her bed looked like a war zone.

Scrambling to get ready to leave for work, she couldn't for the life of her understand why she kept having those weird scary dreams about those specific people. Unbidden thoughts and questions were racing through her mind as she brewed her morning coffee, drank it, and started getting ready to leave. And then a new terror hit her until she stopped cold in her tracks. The man in her dreams looked exactly like a younger version of the dog owner they were supposed to go interrogate today. Could it be the same person? How was he related to her? And why the hell did that woman have the exact same shade of eyes just like hers?