Ria. That was all they called her. That was all she remembered. All she knew of her past was that an old matron found a little brown skinned girl at the orphanage gate. Who left her there? No one knows....... but it is a mystery Ria is determined to...
One hour later, Mr. Harber and his daughter were in the hospital. "Mommy!" Sophie exclaimed, running into her mother's arms. A pretty blond doctor with the glasses came out of the examination room to see her husband and daughter waiting in the corridors.
"Hi honey, how was ballet?" she asked after pecking a kiss on her forehead.
"Dramatic," the nine year old answered.
"Dramatic?" her mother wondered in surprise as she looked to her husband who gave her a shrug. "Well......that's.........good. How about, you get us some frozen yogurt from the new machine we have down the hall?"
"Strawberry?" her daughter guessed.
"You know it!" her mom smiled as she watched her daughter walk down the passage.
"Hey.....so how's the girl?" Mr. Harber asked as they looked at the bandaged Ria, through the glass window, lying on the hospital bed.
"She's okay, just a few minor injuries. Bruises and cuts," his wife answered, looking up at him. "I've given her some drugs to help heal a lit qiicker so she should be ok when she wakes up."
"It's good she wasn't badly injured," Mr. Harber replied.
"How did she get into that accident?"
"She was running across the road, after some guy who stole her bag,"
"Lucky thing, the car didn't run her over," Mrs. Harber replied.
"Nah, it was only going under 60km/hr. She's the girl I told you about. The one who gave me back the pocket watch, the other day," Mr. Harber added.
"She is? What a coincidence!"
"So, she only got a few bruises there?"
"From the accident. Yes. But apart from that, I discovered something else.......some, pretty deep scars all over her back," the doctor told her husband in a concerned tone, "They looked like whip marks that might've been taken less than a decade ago. And on her arm and shoulder, she had these tiny circular burns. And from my close examination, they were recently burnt from cigarette butts! I don't know why, but I don't think a girl would wanna put out a cigarette by crushing it onto her own skin."
"What do you mean?" Mr. Harber asked, "You think someone might have done it to her?" His wife gave him a shrug.
"I don't know James, but the marks on her back? They were really scary. Long, still dark and...........cruel," she said as they both turned back to the unconscious girl on the bed. "I wonder what this girl's been through."
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"I'm back!" Sophie exclaimed bringing up some frozen yogurt.
"Oh, that looks yummy! Thanks sweetie," her mother smiled, as they turned their attention to their daughter. "I'm knocking off in a few minutes. How 'bout we head home afterwards to make some delicious pasta!"
