“MISS Lionhart, try speaking even just a word,” her doctor instructed. But to no avail. Raven just stares at nothingness. Don’t even feel herself that she existed.

The doctor shook its head because their patient still had no improvement in its inability to speak. But she’s back to sanity. Its only problem now is that she still doesn’t speak.

“She’s still not talking. Her trauma is really that hard,” said the doctor to the nurse next to her. They stared at the stunned Raven as she sat on her small bed.

What really made her like this? What made her life turned upside down? Well, that started 7 years ago…

Flashback…

“Raven, can you give this to your uncle Bob, next door?” said Raven’s mother. Her mother gave her a tupperware that contains food that her mother would like her to give to their neighbor.

“Yes, mom!” smiling young Raven replied. She took the tupperware and was about to walk out the door when her father called her, who had just come down from the second floor of their house.

“Oh, where are you going, Raven?” he asked her as he continued down the stairs until he could get close to her.

“I’ll just give this food to Uncle Bob,” she replied with a smile.

“Ah, is that so, oh okay, be careful, okay? Come back right away so we can have dinner,” her father said with a smile. He pats her head and watches her open and close the door.

Raven immediately went to the nearby house, just across from their house. Carrying the tupperware, she knocked on the door of the Lincoln family. The head of the family immediately opened it for her.

“Good evening, Uncle Bob!” Raven greeted the man who was just the same age as her father.

“Oh, Raven! What brought you here?” the man asked. Raven pulled out the tupperware that she had hidden from behind her.

“Tadaah! Mom told me to give this to you, Uncle Bob. Mom, cooked that!” Raven exclaimed, and the man laughed because of her adorableness. He took the tupperware from Raven.

“Oh, tell your daddy and mommy thank you. Nice timing and we haven’t had dinner yet,” Bob said with a smile.

“Who’s that, honey?” Bob’s wife calls.

“It’s Raven! They gave us some food,” Bob replied. His wife immediately approached them and Raven immediately greeted.

“Good evening, Aunt Mary!”

“Good evening too, Raven! Thanks for this. Tell your mom that we’re going out tomorrow, okay? It’s late, Bob you should accompany her,” said the lady. Even if their house is just opposite each other, each house is far away. And a vast forest is behind Raven’s house.

“No, I’ll be fine, Aunt Mary! All right, I’ll be going now! Bye bye!” Raven said goodbye to the couple.

“Be careful, Raven!” Mary shouted after her.

Raven smiled as she walked home. She has nothing more to ask for in life. Her only wish in the past was to get adopted by a family that will love her like their own child. And her wish was granted. The Lionhart family is precious and treats her like their own child. Her mother was not as capable of conceiving, so they opted to adopt a child. And she was the lucky one they chose. So she has nothing more to ask for, but to be an obedient child to her parents. But what she didn’t know, what she would come to their house, would be the reason to drag her life down again.

When she opened their door, she immediately called her parents. “Mom, Dad! I’m back!” she shouted softly. Her forehead frowned when no one answered. And she could hear a sound as if something was chewing.

She immediately walked to their dining room to see if her parents were there. But what she saw petrified the young girl.

Both of her parents are lying on the floor, bathing in their own blood. And there were three creatures hovering over them. They haven’t noticed her yet. But as she’s a young girl, she cried her mom and dad’s name.

“Mom… dad…” she said in a horrified tone. Her eyes are open wide while it’s resting on her parents’ dead bodies. But the creatures who’re hovering over her parents’ bodies turned their attention to her.

Raven flinched as their red eyes landed on her. Raven doesn’t know what kind of creatures they are. But that’s not important anymore, as they’re scary to a young girl’s eyes.

One of them growled, and Raven saw its long fangs. She retreated, intending to flee from there. But before she could do that, three creatures ran toward her and jumped at her.

Flashback ends.

That was the last thing Raven remembered about what happened. She lost her consciousness and when she woke up; she was in the hospital. And since then, she can’t talk anymore and all she does is shout. She was driven to madness. So they admitted her to a mental institution.

And now, 10 years later, she’s finally getting out of the mental institution. But it was in the orphanage where she’d fallen again. Because she has no relatives to go back to. The people who had taken her in and considered her as a real family tragically died.

Raven has given up with her life. She no longer cared what would happen to her. She stopped hoping that she will soon have her happy ending. Because she was broken, inside and out. She doesn’t want to hope and fail again.

She’s done on how cruel fate is. The only thing she wanted was a family that would love her as their own. Yes, that happened. But it was quickly taken away from her. She’s no longer hoping that that wish of her will come true. Because she has tasted how cruel life is.