233 ANNE’S STORY
Death is not as scary as you think, but life is.
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The little girl, around the age nine with long, black and disheveled hair, was walking around the people that were way above her age. She walked alone among the adults, looking all wary.
She would look over her shoulder every now and then, and then try her best to avoid people around her, as if by touching them, they would know what kind of black soul that she had or what dirty plans she had running in her head.
She didn’t have any other choice. She didn’t want to do this, but life was so cruel and hard for a little orphan girl like her.
This era was not kind to someone as helpless as her. It was the time when you were not an important person or from a prestigious family, even if you had died on the side of the street, no one would care until a night watchman found your dead body and took you away like garbage.
No pride. Nothing.
The little girl was hugging her hungry stomach and saw a small tavern that sold boiled sweet potatoes. The smell wafted over made her mouth watery and her tummy couldn’t stop growling. She was starving.
She stood there for so long, just to stare at the sweet potatoes and licked her chapped lips, trying to imagine how it would taste in her mouth, but imagination alone couldn’t console her growling stomach or satisfy her hunger.
.....
The street where she was standing was very crowded and there were a lot of people trying to buy the sweet potatoes, so they lined up around the tavern, blocking her sight from the delicacy.
Therefore, out of instinct, the little girl took a step closer, to smell the sweet scent again. And another step closer. And another, and then another...
Until she was literally in front of a barricade of people, who were buying the sweet potatoes. Some of them who noticed her scrunched their noses in disgust or stared at her as if she was some kind of infectious disease that should be avoided.
However, the little girl was too busy trying to see the sweet potatoes again, but to no avail, thus she moved closer and closer and finally, by some miracle, she was already standing in front of them.
The little girl was in awe and the next thing that she knew, she had two sweet potatoes in her hands. They felt so warm, hot even, and her palms felt like they were being burned, but she didn’t really care about that.
Only one bite.
However, before she could bring the sweet thing to her mouth, someone yelled at her harshly, which startled her.
“Hey! Put it down!” The man yelled at her and raised a wooden block, threatening to beat her, while there were two more men, who were glaring at her before they charged at her along with the man with a wooden block.
She didn’t know what to do and her instinct told her to run away. She needed to run now or else, they would kill her.
In her panic, the little girl ran holding the two sweet potatoes in her hands. She tried to run as fast as she could. She knew every street in this city like the back of her hand and she knew how to escape them.
However, the three men also knew this city well and they were running faster than her.
Therefore, it didn’t take a long time before they caught up to her and cornered her in an empty alley, with no way to escape.
The little girl tried to climb an iron fence there, yet in her panic, she just couldn’t hoist herself up. At this point, the two sweet potatoes in her hands had been long smashed and even forgotten.
“You little brat!” The man with the wooden block came forward and swung it across her legs hard.
The little girl fell and screamed in pain, curled her body and tried to touch her painful leg. She felt like her bones were being crushed. It was so painful, until her hunger was forgotten.
“Please, stop... I am sorry,” she whimpered, crying, begging them to let her go.
However, when they saw the two sweet potatoes that were now lying on the ground and could no longer be eaten, let alone sold, they were enraged.
They saw red as they started beating the little girl up.
She didn’t know how long it took for the painful punches and kicks to feel numb, but when it did, she thought to herself that her life would end over two sweet potatoes that she didn’t even manage to eat.
If she knew it would end like this, she would have just eaten them anyway, since her life came to an end.
The little girl breathed deeply and lost consciousness. Those men left her in this dark alley, thinking they had given her a lesson, which was akin to a death sentence for her.
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She was unconscious until a drop of water fell on her cheeks, then legs, and arms. Soon, precipitation drizzled down from the night sky. The lights in this alley flickered and a man walked into this part of the dirty city.
His tall body towered above the small child. He was drenched in the rain, but he didn’t seem to be bothered by that fact.
“Wake up, Anne,” he said in his rough voice. His dark blue eyes stared at the little girl named Anne and he dropped to his knees to check on her.
Anne felt someone was close to her and finally opened her eyes. She whimpered in pain and gasped for air. This was the most miserable moment in her life.
And those dark blue eyes were the first thing that she saw when she regained consciousness. Those dark blue eyes were beautiful.
Cold and dangerous, but beautiful nonetheless.
She found herself staring into them.
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*Read my new book: KISSED BY THE DARK ALPHA*
Alpha Micah Donovan’s second chance mate.