Amelia

Prologue.

Dark, wisps of smoke curled up towards the ceiling slowly, billowing across the ceiling and evaporating into thin air, the only evidence of their existence being the deep, crisp smell of tobacco lingering in the air.

Five men sat around a round, oaken table in the middle of the dim-lit room. Each one looked more serious and focused than the last, their eyes directed downwards at the hands of cards they were holding in their hands that happened to be accompanied by a long, thick, brown cigar.

Every now and then, one of them would take a long draw from the brown stick in their hands, the ends glowing a fluorescent orange and then softly fading back into the same, dim gold it was before.

A few, mutters went around the room as cards were laid down ensued by more draws from cigars and deep thinking. Small, circular, pieces of plastic were picked up and pushed into the center of the table, followed by a few, low chuckles.

One laughed and said a few words to the man who was sitting across the table from him. Judging by his tone of voice and body, he seemed to be egging him on. He must have been, seeing as how not even a minute later, they were both pushing all of their chips into the center of the table.

All of a sudden, the door opened and a little girl, no older than 3 years old, toddled in on her two chubby legs, shrieking and giggling all the way. She clutched a worn, faded teddy bear in her fist, pulling it along behind her. Not far behind her followed a young woman, no older than 20 years old. She was beautiful, long dirty blonde hair pulled back into a simple ponytail that trailed along her back and pristine, porcelain white skin. She was so tired, you could see it through her body language. Her movements were slow and labored. For someone so young, she had too many wrinkles and worry lines.

She was chasing the child that had toddled into the room not moments ago, desperately trying to catch her but it was in vain. The little girl reached the table and grasped onto the leg of one of the men who was sitting at the circular table, puffing away on a cigar.

"Daddah" The child gurgled, a sweet and innocent smile spreading across her chubby face.

"Get off of me, I'm busy." He growled as he kicked her off of him, throwing her straight to the floor.

Her small, tender body hit the hard, wooden floor with a thud. Her icy blue eyes looked up just as they began to glaze over with crystal tears. Her chin began to quiver and the tears rolled down her rosy cheeks.

With disgust the man scoffed and said, "Get her out of my sight. Can't you see I'm busy?"

Without a word, the tired looking woman nodded and scooped the child into her arms, holding her close to her chest and whispering soft words into her blonde curls, soothing her and calming her down. She turned to leave the room until one of the card players signaled for her to stop. He spoke a few simple words to the man the child had addressed as "Daddah", pointed to the toddler in the woman's arms and then back to the table. An eerie grin crept over his face, contagiously spreading onto the stranger he had just spoken to. They both turned towards the child and the woman holding her, the latter's eyes widening in fear.

"No..you can't.."