Prologue

10 years ago....

Evangeline stared at the moon in the night sky as she hummed her favourite song, Let It Go- the one which mom always sang to her. The sky was beautiful as always. Wispy clouds drifted peacefully and the moon looked beautiful... too beautiful.

She was getting worried. Mom was always home by 8 no matter how much work she had to do. It was already 10 p.m and the food she had prepared by collecting scraps was already cold.

'Mom must have a lot of work to do,' thought Eva and quickly dismissed the thoughts from her mind. She quickly ate the food, which as always, could not satisfy her hunger and went back to worrying about Mom. That was better than doing nothing because when she did nothing, her mind took her back to that horrible night two years ago when her father walked out on her mother and her.

Eva, now 10 years old, did most of the household chores while her mother earned money by doing odd jobs, which would help them afford their rundown house in the less respectable part of New York and eat some food.

Another hour passed. It was 11 now and her mother was still not home. Eva grew extremely anxious. Not even the gorgeous moon or the disturbing stillness of the night could distract her now.

All of a sudden, she heard banging on the door. Releasing her breath, which she didn't realise she had been holding, she ran to the door.

"Mom, why are you so..." her words died in her throat when she saw that it was not her mother but two policemen standing there.

Her heart started beating furiously in her chest and she felt goosebumps on her arm. Everything was seeming ominous to her now but surely she was imagining. Nothing could have happened to ber mother!

One of the officers, who was bulky in stature, stepped forward and asked, "Are you the daughter of Marilyn Campbell?"

Unable to answer, Eva merely nodded her head.

"We're sorry for your loss," was all they said.

Eva felt numb all over. The sensation was as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water on her. She could faintly make out the words- alone... dark alley... drunk men... rape... knife... stabbed... dead. Her mother was dead. The everything went black.

When she woke up, she was in a small white room. Everything there was white. She pushed off the thin sheets from her frail little body, got down from the bed, swayed for a moment and sat back down.

Suddenly the events from the previous night came flooding back. Surely it was all a terrible nightmare. She would call out for her mother and she would appear with her beautiful and kind smile.

Eva began calling out to her Mom hysterically but when the door opened, it was not her mother but an old nun with wrinkled face who stepped inside.

"My child, this is an orphanage. Didn't the police tell you what happened?" the nun said. Eva refused to believe her and asked, "Where is my mother?"

The nun smiled sympathetically and said, "You can call me mother."

There was deafening silence when the nun left the room.

Eva began crying hysterically and some time during the process, she fell asleep. When she woke up, she cried again. This process continued for a week and Eva barely ate any food.

One week later, the nun finally entered the room and said, glaring at Eva, "You've been crying non-stop for a week already. We won't tolerate this attitude anymore. Stop behaving like a spoilt brat and help around in the orphanage."

Then the nun stormed out.

Eva stared after the nun vacantly. Her words vaguely registered in her head but Eva didn't want to be weak anymore.

Eva opened the door with a bang and ran outside. The night sky was eerily similar to the night on which she received the news of her mother's death. As she stared up at the night sky, she declared loudly, "You can't mess with me anymore. I will be strong!"

Then, more softly, she pleaded to the God she didn't believe in, to the moon in the sky and the vast expanse of the night sky , "Please give me love."

Suddenly bright light flashed in front of her eyes and she wondered at the back of her head if the moon was granting her wish. Then everything went black.

When she woke up, she was told that she fainted due to less intake of food. As she stared glumly at the spotless white wall in front of her, her 10 year old self could only come up with her reason for fainting and it was not lack of food.

She thought that even the heavens and the moon, who had been her best friends for so long, were saying that there was no love for her. A few treacherous tears escaped her eyes and she furiously wiped them away. That was the last time she would cry.

PRESENT TIME....

I awoke with a start and sighed, "At least this time, the nightmare was not as bad as the usual ones which involve scenes of my mother getting killed or raped," I mumbled.

With that, I returned to the restless world of nightmares.

My last fleeting thought was- That was the naive, innocent Eva....

This is the new, strong Eva.

............

HI GUYS!!DID YOU LIKE MY STORY? IF YOU WANT TO READ FURTHER, THE STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED TO CHAPTER 7 ON WATTPAD. CHECK IT OUT THERE. HOWEVER, I WILL UPDATE REGULARLY HERE AS WELL.

BYE MY LOVELY READERS!!!

LOTS OF LOVE,

DELINA.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***