It's 2 o'clock.
Jewel hasn't fallen asleep yet. She is still obsessed with what she has experienced with her mother, younger brother and herself.
Her mother, Emma, was killed by a serial killer in the city. She was dead, her fingers rolling around making mad of the funeral workers. Her hair was splayed, so her head was white, the funeral workers tried to glued those hairs back but the situation did not seem very good.
Her brother, Nathaniel, was killed by a child addict. He goes every corner every night, looking for children, whether it's boys or girls. Then he raped them, choked them to death. Nathaniel is found in a trash can on the side of the road, with many bruises on his body.
And Jewel, she was raped by her best friend - Jayden. She lays in bed, pink blood stains still sticking on her lap. She sobbed in the dark. He raped her, despite her screaming in the dim light of the apartment. His fingernails scraped her blood, and he kissed her on the bruise. Her body ached, her thighs were red, Jayden would have turned into a beast.
He was a good man before. Jayden had dark black eyes and dark brown hair. He is a big man, chubby. He always treats her well. He studied with her from middle school and met her from there. One day, he saw her studying under a tree in the school. He bought a cold coke and gave it to her. He was with her all afternoon.
"I will preserve virginity until marriage," Jewel said innocently.
"No one can be as clean as to get married," Jayden threw the can into the birds eating bread in front of him.
"I can!" She countered.
"I will see!", Jayden despised.
In the end, he is the one who took her virginity. She bury her head in her blanket, trying to hold back her chills. Jewel is too painful to walk. But she tries, she takes a step down the bed. She falls to the ground, then tries to crawl again, goes to the phone and calls 911.
4 o'clock.
Jewel is at the Seattle police station. A policeman gives a warm expresso cup to Jewel sitting on a bench.
"Thank you," she gently takes the cup with her hands.
"We are looking at your case, it will be done quickly," he looks at her affectionately.
She looks up at the police lines again. So noisy. She suffers from this noise when her family was in Detroit. She was only seven years old. The noise came from the factories next to her house.
Her home was at the edge of Detroit, next to factories and factories.
Jewel runs on green pastures in front of the house. She is playing along with Nathaniel. The two siblings were very close at that time. Together they climb the tree to catch birds. That night, Nathaniel put a sparrow on the table.
"Francis, I caught a bird," Nathaniel exclaims. Emma was still a very beautiful woman, soon to have marries to bad guy. That's Francis. He works as a taxi driver for a small Detroit taxi company, which later be bankrupt. Emma works for a roadside restaurant at the time. They meet on a rainy night.
Emma was standing on the veranda of a pharmacy, she just bought an umbrella. Francis drove to the side of the road, ran into the pharmacy and bought something. Francis came out of the pharmacy, glanced at Emma and sighed.
"Where is your house? Is it far from here?"
"Five blocks from here," Emma stared at the rain.
Francis sighed. "Get in the car, I drive you home, don't let's the umbrella wet".
Francis did not bring Emma back to her house, but to his house. Emma and Francis loved from there.
"Nathan, wash your hands," Emma put a plate of spinach on the table. Nathaniel takes the bird to wash his hands. Jewel quietly eats the soup bowl. Francis is silent, his company is going bankrupt. Francis intends to work for another shipping company. Emma walks out of the kitchen with another plate, Nathaniel running behind her.
"Jewel, the bird was bathed," said the 2-year-old Nathaniel. He talk pretty soon.
"Shut up and eat," Jewel whispers.
The family sit in a gloomy atmosphere, the dark light shining on the dirty dishes. That night, as if every day, Francis whether or not to still have to kiss the children good night. Emma standing at the door, her hands waiting to turn off the lights.
"Good night Jewel, good night Nathan," Francis put a kiss on each of their forehead. The next morning he goes to work early, and do not return later. People say he was died because a car accident, everyone said he was killed by the mafia, but no one found him or his body anymore.
Just knowing that one day, a tall man came to pick Picker's house ring. Emma opened the door. The man silently gave Emma a bearded cape. That's Francis's hat.
Then Emma and her two children, Jewel and Nathaniel, moved to Seatlle after that unfortunate event. Nathaniel came to the point of being killed, still thinking his father was on a mission.
"Jewel, Jewel Picker's?", A policeman at the table calls her. She returns to reality after the good childhood memories. Jewel stumbles toward the table, sit down. The person opposite her was the one who gave her the hot expresso cup.
"Are you Jewel Picker's?"
"Yes," she replied blankly.
"I'm Edward," Edward shook hands with her, "We have synthesized your testimony and will invite Jayden here soon. Now let me take you home. "
Jewel and Edward went out to his car. It's a bit cool. Edward opens the door for her, she sit in the car. The sound of the old engine made her headache. He took her home without a work.
"Thank you for bringing me home," Jewel whispered, her body still covered with blanket.
"You're welcome", Edward laughed.
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