The Rise

Prologue

"Daddy, where are you going so late? " the little girl asked her father looking at him with wide, earnest eyes. Her bouncy red hair framed her childlike face in an adorable manner.

Her father kneeled down in front of her so that he could look in her eyes.

"I have an important work to do, my angel", he said softy " I will try to be home as soon as possible".

The little girl glanced back at her mother. She was crying softly, sniffing every now and then while looking at dad with sad earnest eyes.

"Why is mommy crying?", another question left her mouth.

Her mother rushed forward and enveloped her in her arms.

"I am not crying, Scarlett", she said " I am just...", she trailed off.

Her father came forward and put his arms around their small frames, giving Scarlett's mother a peck on her lips and kissing Scarlett on her forehead. He mumbled some incoherent words in his wife's ear and with one last sad look he made his way towards the front door. Soon the sound of door closing resonated in the room. Scarlett struggled to move out of her mother's embrace and run after her father but to no avail.

"I want to go with dad", she muttered to her mother, panic filling her.

"You can't sweetheart", her mother whispered melancholy. "You can't. "

The girl looked up at her mother's face. She seemed tired. Her eyes were red and blotchy, and had dark circles under them. Stress lines were appearing on her still young face. She seemed beaten and defeated.

Scarlett immediately felt guilty for causing trouble to her mother. She was a good child and she hated seeing her mother like this.

So instead of fighting and struggling in her arms, she faced her mother and bringing her chubby hands forward, she cupped her mother's face. Genevie, her mother, took one look at her daughter and broke down in front of her, releasing all her anger, frustration and sadness in form of tears.

That night Scarlett's father had said that he would return home soon.

Only he did not.