Prologue
A five year old toddler sits on a rusty old swing.
"Push me Daddy! Higher! Higher!" she shrieks.
The man, her father, chuckles and does as the girl says. Her golden curls bounce, and her chubby cheeks flush with delight.
"Anything for my little princess," he replies.
For a few trancelike moments, the two enjoy themselves, laughing and bathing in pure ecstacy. The father then asks,"Claire, honey, I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back okay?"
"Okay," the little girl sighs reluctantly, as if not wanting to end the fun.
The man walks away with the leaves crunching under his heavy soled shoes. A flash of his green trenchcoat is seen as he turns the corner and vanishes.
Claire patiently sits, sitting on the swing. Heavy, dark louds start to roll in. But Claire still waits, starting to get the slightest bit scared and confused. Where has her Daddy gone?
She scans the playground, wondering if he is hiding. But he isn't.
Five minutes later, as the last mother is getting ready to leave, she stopps by Claire.
"Where is your mommy, sweetie?" asks the kind woman, her auburn hair drizzled with rain droplets from the light sprinkle descending from the dull grey sky.
"Gone," a deflated Claire answers.
"How about your father?"
"I don't know."
The next bits were a bit hazy, it all happened too quickly for poor little Claire. The woman had whipped open her cellphone and called Child Department, notifying them of an abandoned child. People came up to Claire, picking her up and buckling her in the backseat of a dark green Volvo. And after what seemed like seconds, they had arrived at an orphanage. It was a flat roofed, dull, musty, red bricked place. Graffitti was written all over it. That would be her home for the next nine years.
Eight years and 364 days later...
