A Call That Changed Her Entire Life

"Ah!" Anna uttered a great cry of pain, but with lips tightly shut, she refused to tell the men where Beryl was.

Puzzled by her refusal to cooperate, the men frowned in anger, then one of them viciously kicked her hard in the chest. Gasping in pain she spewed forth a stream of blood.

Hiding behind the statue, Beryl watched the scene of abuse in helpless terror. Frighted out of her young mind, she almost let out a scream of horror, but she covered her small mouth with her hands, holding back the expression of fear. She could not risk being found by the thugs again, and tears of desperation beaded her marbled cheeks.

Anna seemed to be aware of Beryl being in sight of the drama, and she looked in her general direction, silently mouthing, "Go, go..."

"Anna..." Beryl murmured choking on her tears.

She wanted to save Anna but she knew with certainty that it would be futile, as she was too small and weak to fight off the muscled bandits. If she tried to help, she would simply be caught again.

Finally, she then accepted that she couldn't save Anna or her mother if she was caught by those men.

With a grim little swallow, she looked into Anna's worried eyes and, gritting her teeth, turned to run away.

'Anna, I promise I'll find Dad and he will save you!' she vowed solemnly in her little heart.

She ran as far as she could, her chest hurting from the breath burning her lungs. Not knowing how far she had come, she could only hope that it was out of reach of the bad men. Her legs trembled with exhaustion and she panted for breath.

Finally able to breathe a bit better, she looked around and found herself at the side of an unknown road, and the realization struck home that she was hopelessly lost.

What should she do now, to find her father?

After all, she was only five years old, and despite having a good memory, she hadn't been everywhere in Jingshi City, and she had no idea where she was now.

There were no passers-by around to ask for directions either.

She stood staring blankly at the black road with cars speeding past, and looked with longing at the head-lights that flew past only to dim on the horizon. Fatigue made her eyes ache and she felt weak.

Before she completely despaired, she suddenly saw a familiar black luxury car. Fixing her eyes on it she saw her father, Jacob, sitting in the back.

'Thank goodness. Daddy's come to find me!'

Excited at the thought of being rescued, she ran towards the car as fast as she could, yelling, "Daddy! Please stop! Daddy! Daddy!" She finally screamed in desperation.

as the car was traveling at high speed and quickly disappeared from

tried to run faster to catch up as she continued screaming and crying, "Daddy! Daddy, stop the

up to the speeding car, and she didn't stand a chance

to the road with her knees.

"Daddy...

hear me?"

minibus driving up behind her quietly. A man with a mask stepped out

a powerful set of arms which grabbed her from behind. Struggling to her feet she was swiftly incapacitated by a handkerchief soaked in

which invaded her nose and throat. Struggling like a frightened deer under the hunter's cross-hairs achieved nothing, and she soon lapsed into an anesthetized unconsciousness. Closing

toy, he swung her limp, rag-doll body over his shoulder, and then carried her to the vehicle. The balaclava hid his face and the cruel scar of a smile. Getting into the

opened his eyes, which were bright with remembrances, and

was driving the

into Jacob's mind. He frowned and commanded, "Stop

to Jingshi City from D country, he had become even more secretive and his motives were a mystery. Even his face remained a

out at once. With determination he walked back and looked around as if searching for someone.

he seem to have heard someone

in his ears again

and the steady stream of traffic, but saw no-one that could have called

inside, he lifted his hands to press at his throbbing temples

some reason, he felt weak and that he

ridiculous feeling! I'm Jacob and I

me, that is weakness. Letting someone in, is weakness. I won't let it happen, ' he thought, rehearsing the words like a mantra, as if secretly trying to convince himself.

...

unconscious as the minivan reached the suburbs. Looking about to be sure that no-one saw them,

man proudly asked, "What about this kid? She is beautiful and lovely. I think she's

looked carefully at Beryl's delicate little face and nodded approvingly, "She's a real beauty. I think she will fetch

too much anesthetic. Take it easy. She will

"Okay."

breathed a sigh of relief and took Beryl

know where she was. Then, as her vision cleared, she saw the girls

sensation in her head, looked around and

of her own age whispered, "Because we're going to be sold. Everyone here