My road to freedom

The dangers within

My road to freedom 

Chapter one: The dangers within

Hi. My name is Onnica Chrystal Wheeler. I am a 24 year old mother of a beautiful Vietnam-born three-year old boy. Pax Thomas Wheeler, my pride and joy. I adopted him about a year ago. The moment I saw him, I fell in love with him. He wasn't scared of me, unlike the other kids. I remember he came up to me, touched my face and smiled. I was taken aback, somehow he reminded me of Timothy Wheeler, my late son...he would have been 8 years old now, bless him. Anyway, this is my story:

I took the same route every day from work to my small apartment. It never changed, I never changed. In fact, if for some reason the road was blocked due to construction or whatever, my life would change drastically. My life was a routine. Wake up, brush teeth, take a shower, eat breakfast, go to work, survive work with as few incidents as possible, go home, eat, watch T.V and sleep. I had no friends and that did not bother me at all. I couldn't make friends, in fact, I allowed no one to come close to me. Everyone who was ever close to me was taken away from me. I didn't want it to happen again.  

"There is no more work for you to do here Onnica, you could go home", Max Vercetti said. When I made no movement, he said, 

" With all these constructions, you will barely get anything done". 

I stood up from my chair and gathered my belongings slowly. That should have been his cue to leave me alone, but he didn't. 

"I'm heading to Edward & son. I think I pass where you stay. I can give you a ride". 

"No thanks, I'll be fine", I said curtly. 

Even when I said that, I did not look at him. He turned and left. I bit hard at my lip. Something was odd with that guy. Everyone at Wilshire Attorneys ignored Onnica, the girl with the scarred face, but not Mr Vercetti. He paid too much attention to me, and I didn't like it one bit. Mr Vercetti was a divorce attorney at Wilshire Attorneys law firm, one of the best in the field and I was his assistant. In the court, he seemed ruthless. He got ex-wives a lot of money from their ex-husbands such that the ex-husbands were left broke. He ripped apart ex-wives and disgraced them. Whenever I watched him in action, he always left me paralysed. I admired and hated him at the same time.  

Wilshire Attorneys was going through a lot of construction and it was as hard getting out of the building as it was getting in, but I managed it. Once I stood outside clutching my handbag and a briefcase, I planned on what I would do next. I had never left work early and as such, I didn't know what I would do with the extra time. I pondered with my head, but nothing came to mind. I cursed Max Vercetti under my breath. It wasn't his fault that I had no life, but he reminded me of it. I clutched my suitcase and walked firmly, not at all aware of where I was going. I walked for a few minutes. It was midday and the town was a little busy. Since the schools had closed for the September holidays, there were a lot of schoolchildren in the streets. That meant a lot of eyes would be looking at the scary girl, small fingers would be pointed at me. It was always worse with the kids, they did not try to hide the fact that they were looking or talking about me. In fact, one of the kids who lived at the flat where I stayed once asked me why I didn't change my name to Mary, so she could call me scary Mary. I was so hurt, but I smiled and told her old people like me couldn't change their names. Without realizing it, my spontaneous walk was leading me to the park. I could have changed my direction then, but I didn't and so I walked right into the lion's den. It was beautiful. Since it was early spring, the flowers were blossoming wonderfully. I closed my eyes and remembered a 5 year old Onnica "Nicki" Wheeler, running around in pigtails, smelling of lavender. I was at the park with my mom, the same park in Monte Carlo, Monaco. That day, I had sprayed myself with my mom's lavender-scented perfume such that I smelt of it all day. She'd been mad, for only two seconds. She'd taken me to the park afterwards, and let me roam free, free as a bird. Onnica Wheeler was once free. I opened my eyes slowly as tears pushed themselves out. I wiped them and found a seat nearby. It was in the shade of a big chestnut tree at the far end of the park. I loved the fact that it was secluded. Hopefully no one would notice the scarred girl.