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Prologue
Douglas, Isle of Man
18 August, 2005
'Today I made the biggest discovery I will ever make in my entire life. Nothing will ever beat that, no matter what' was written in delicate handwriting on a piece of paper. A policeman picked it up and presented it to a detective, who rose an eyebrow. He placed the paper inside an evidence bag and handed it over to the other detective on the scene "From all the stuff around the apartment, and now this, I'm starting to think that maybe the miss that lived here took her own life." The other detective said and moved towards the kitchen. Benjamin sighed and kneeled, spotting something behind the couch.
His eyes widened when he realized what it was "Frank! Call an ambulance, now!" He shouted to his partner, making the latter jump and take out his phone instantly. Benjamin whistled to another policeman and together they moved the couch, revealing an unconscious young girl. Placing his fingers on her neck, he held his breath, and hoped. After a few moments he managed to feel something. A Faint pulse. Benjamin started giving instructions to the policemen around while Frank placed his free left hand on his forehead "We need an ambulance at our location, stat. We have an unconscious child here, she appears to be around nine-ten or so." He said, looking nervously as Benjamin did everything he could to make sure the kid kept living.
Two minutes after Frank turned off the call, the young girl begun opening her eyes slightly. Benjamin noticed and quickly instructed a policeman to bring him more water before looking at her "Hey there. Don't move, I'm only here to help." He said with a calm tone as the policeman brought him the water and he started to wet her face and then gave her to drink some, only to see her spit it out. Benjamin nodded at this, knowing that making sure this way that the girl wasn't dehydrated was important "Can you try and tell me what's your name?" He asked, but the girl appeared to be in some sort of shock. He kept wetting her face and let her slowly drink a tiny bit of water.
Several minutes later the ambulance arrived and the girl was taken by the medics. Benjamin walked with them to the door of the apartment before looking back at his partner "Frank, look for anything behind the couch, where we found the girl! If this is also a case of child abuse, then I want to find proof as fast as possible." He told him before leaving, and Frank nodded, turning to look at the spot the couch was previously at, and wondered how did the kid get there.
On the Ambulance, Benjamin kept looking at the girl, who kept looking directly above her. The medic with him looked at Benjamin "Detective, do you know her?" He asked, and got a shake of head as an initial response. A couple moments later Benjamin looked at the medic "I get the feeling I will get to know her a lot better though, considering how I found her." He said, and suddenly noticed the girl looking directly at him. He gave her a gentle smile and she blinked twice before looking back at the celling of the ambulance.
This was going to be a long day after all. His wife wouldn't like it one bit.
_____________________________________________________
Several hours passed, and Benjamin waited in the room with the young girl. By now they managed to find out the basic details about her, and many more about her mother. It didn't look like a good situation at all. From what Frank could find, the mother, Maria had several cases of mental breakdowns that started when she was twenty. She had been in mental institutes at least four times, and during the third time fell in love with a staff member. They had two kids together, but when Maria had the biggest breakdown he had ever witnessed, he put her back in a mental institute and took both kids under him.
It has been a year since Maria was released and she managed to talk to her husband to see the kids once a month. This weekend the older boy did not come due to a fever, so she only got to see her daughter, and from what it seems, Maria had another breakdown, injured her daughter by pushing her behind the couch and wandered off somewhere. They had begun looking for her, but the husband was certain they would not find her. It usually took a couple of weeks before she was found.
Benjamin looked at the daughter, who was after a surgery due to an internal bleeding she had suffered. Her father did not come due to not wanting to leave his sick son alone, especially when his wife was unaccounted for, and requested from Frank that they update him on any development, and that he will come to the hospital as soon as possible.
As he looked at his cellphone, waiting for an any kind of update from Frank, Benjamin heard a sneeze. Looking up at the bed, he was surprised to see the young girl was awake "Bless you." Was the first thing that came out of his mouth, and the girl's eyes widened. She looked at him for a brief moment before pulling the blanket above her head and from what he could tell, she turned to face the other way "That's not very polite." He said, but nothing was heard from her until she sneezed again. She then poked her head out until her eyes were out as well.
"Could- could you please-" The girl finally started speaking ever so slightly, and it took a moment for Benjamin to notice the barely poking out hand that point at the air conditioner "Sure thing Serene." He answered, making her eyes widened once more and a moment later she vanished under the blanket once more.
After he turned the air conditioner off, he turned to look at the bed again. He managed to spot an eye peeking on him before it vanished under the blanket again "Serene, I feel like it's rude that I know your name and you don't know mine. My name is Benjamin Redford, but you can call me Benny or Ben." Benjamin said as he sat back down on the chair next to the bed. There was a bit of movements under the blanket, but Serene did not show herself "It's also rude to hide when a person is talking to you." He added in a polite tone.
Several minutes of silence passed, with Benjamin waiting patiently for Serene. Eventually, the young girl peeked from under the blanket once more "B-Benny?" Was heard in a rather silent voice, and the detective nodded while bending over, so his head was closer to the bed.
"My mommy said I'm the child of dead."