Chapter 1
“Where is the money!?”
The first thing that welcome Maia in their house is the voice of her father asking, or more likely getting the money that she earned that day.
“I don’t have it yet” Maia tried to lie on his father, but to no avail, her father already knew that she already got her money.
She doesn’t know where her father gets the information that she will receive her money today, but he’s great at some point.
Maia is working in a fast food chain near their house. Her mother passed away when she was still a child, and doesn’t have any siblings which leave her and her father living alone. Her father wasn’t really threating her right.
A slap landed on her left cheek. It is not the first time that her father hurt her physically, and it makes Maia feel numb of all the beatings. It feels like a normal thing that happens every day in her life.
“You dared to lie to me? How dare you!?” another forceful slap landed on her but this time it is on her right cheek. Her both cheeks feel numb, she can’t help but to tell herself that he’s her father.
‘Great! A free blush on’ Maia can’t even talk back on her father because of respect and fear she has on him. ‘He’s still my father’ that is what Maia always reminding herself every time he hurts her.
Her father is once a great and the best father a child could even dream of, before. He started to change when her mother died for unknown reason. He always beat Maia up until he is already satisfied.
Maia dipped her hand in her pocket to get all the money she got in there and give it to her father. On the other hand, her father seems to have a better mood when he sees what Maia handed him. Maia’s father drink a lot and sometimes she will saw him walking out of a club with a girl beside him.
Her father leaves the house as soon as he gets the money that he wanted. Maia, on the other hand went straight to her room to clean herself and hide the money that she hid from her father earlier. She was saving money for her education, she wanted to finish college and get a permanent job. That was her promise to her mother.
Maia heaved a deep sigh and went to the bathroom to freshen herself up. It’s already dark but her father is still outside, who knows what he’s doing at this hour.
Maia noticed that these past few days, her father seems to be busy of something. He barely went to their house, he seems sober and looks fresh these past few days. After cooking their dinner, she ate alone. When she finished cleaning the kitchen, she went to her room to spend some time before going to sleep. Maia decided to entertain herself with her phone. She started browsing in her social media accounts and look for a work online with a higher salary than she have now.
After a while, when Maia feel sleepy, she went to the kitchen to drink some water and to check if her father already got home. Maia was welcome by the dark kitchen and a silent atmosphere, a sign that her father hasn’t arrive yet.
After drinking some water, Maia decided to sleep and not to wait for her father. Maia has a work to attend tomorrow, she stopped studying when she was in college due to lack of financial support and her father won’t stop on telling her to stop.
Maia woke up early to prepare for their breakfast but she noticed that the food she prepared for her father was still there. It is the first time that her father stays outside the whole night. Maia feel worried for her father’s safety.
Nevertheless, Maia still cooks for the two of them and prepare for her work. It is Saturday so she expected that the fast food chain will be packed up. Maia is a waitress in the fast food chain, sometimes she helps in washing the dishes, she works for herself and for her father.
Maia, for some unknown reason, was a little nauseous that day. She wants her shift to end sooner and went home to check after her father. He is the only family she has and after all the things she experienced, she doesn’t want to lose her father. ‘He’s still my father after all.’
When her shift ended, Maia hurriedly went home. She saw her things being thrown in the ground by a woman she doesn’t even know. Maia went to the woman to stop her from throwing her things, thinking that the woman is stealing their things, her things. Maia went stiff when she saw her father with her bag leaving her room.
“What’s this?” She asked her father. He looks at her before walking towards the door.
He just throws my remaining bags before walking inside my room again.
“You cannot live here anymore” The woman said while looking at her finger nails.
The woman looks strict to me. She has black curly hair that reaches her upper back. She also wears a bloody red lipstick that made her look more sophisticated. The red dress hugged her body that shows curved and more skin than usual.
“What do you mean I cannot live here anymore?” Maia asked her. This house was bought by my mother with her own money, how come I cannot live here anymore? They cannot do this to me, I don’t even know this woman, and the respect I have for her earlier vanished as I learned about my situation.
I will be homeless anytime soon if I didn’t do something about my situation right now.
“Who are you?” I asked her with disgust on my face that I don’t even bother to hide.
“Me? I’m the real wife of Alfonso” Alfonso was the name of her father.
Shock is evident in the beautiful face of Maia. ‘Real wife? What is her mother then? A mistress?’ what the woman said send Maia’s mind in turmoil
“You must be kidding me” Maia said out of disgusts.
The woman pull out a couple of papers and throw it in front of Maia. The papers are marriage certificate and a birth certificate. Both papers have her father’s name on it. They even have a child.
Her father went out of her room laughing with a girl, she must be their child. Maia scans the girl’s appearance. The girl wears an expensive dress that almost reaches her knees, with a pair of heels. Her father looks so happy that Maia never seen before, she felt a sting on her chest.
“Your still here?” her father asked her harshly. Out of despair, Maia runs outside their house with nothing on her hands. All she thinks that time is to escape the painful reality.
Maia felt betrayed by her own family, by her father.
Maia runs until she catches her breath. While breathing heavily, she looks at her surrounding, she’s in the forest she’s not even familiar with. Maia tried to walk farther hoping that she would meet the end of the forest, but she sees nothing but trees.
Maia was lost in the woods, she’s sure, she can see nothing except from the woods that she keeps on passing by. She kept on walking passing trees that almost look the same.
She’s about to pass another tree when a howl of a wolf startled her. The howl sounds so powerful that makes her feel tense. She looks again at the forest but see nothing but the huge trees.
She stops walking and feel the cold breeze. It’s already dark but Maia is still in the middle of the forest. Maia felt a little nervous, she didn’t know the place and probably, she’s lost
She heard a sound of a heavy steps before a big wolf appear in front of her. The wolf holds the dominance based on her huge steps, he looks at her like a predator lurking his prey.
A huge gray wolf is in front of her. Before the thought sink in her mind the wolf produce a loud howl that makes Maia lost her consciousness.