Dr. Matilda Honey has dedicated her whole life to helping children, especially those with The Shining, children with special abilities as she was. For many years, she has actively contributed in Eleven Foundation, an organization dedicated to suppor...
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Shining among Darkness
By WingzemonX
Chapter 11 Bye-bye, Emily
Emily Jenkins did not have a happy childhood. Her mother was a woman with problems; serious problems, to which she used to drag her daughter, conscious or unconsciously. Personality disorders, chronic depression, abuse of inappropriate substances, hormonal imbalances, and many other terms. People wanted to justify her behavior with a thousand and one different reasons, but none was enough to forgive all the damage she done. Even in those moments, close to her forties, every time Emily looked back, she could only feel anger and resentment for that woman, repeating herself that she was much better away from her. She could see it already with her mature and forged mind based on experiences. But, at that time, her perception was far from clear.
Before reaching adolescence, she was removed from that environment and entered to the system. She remembered herself crying every night of the following weeks, longing to return with her beloved mommy. How far a mother have to hurt a child before it stopped seeing her with adoration that almost touched the devotion? Even after so many years, Emily didn't have a clear answer to that.
She moved from one temporary and adoptive home to another, without any being as she wished. When she reached the age of majority and could become independent, she told herself that she would do everything possible to prevent other children from going through the same situation as her, and that was what led her to dedicate to social work; work that at times could become painful and distressing, but had carried out for almost twenty years with pride and enthusiasm... until that little girl came into her life.
Everything started in such a casual way, with Wayne, her supervisor, placing a file on her desk, even after she telling him that she had other thirty-eight open cases. It was the case of a little ten-year-old girl named Lilith Sullivan aka Lily. Her teachers had reported she often slept in the classroom, her grades had dropped, and she was more withdrawn in class and on breaks. After her long, and nothing desirable, experience in family cases, Emily had learned very well that all these things were clear signs of problems at home; and when she visited the Sullivan's for the first time, she was pretty sure about that.
A dense air of fear and anger covered the house. Her parents, especially the mother, looked like two zombies, with lost expressions that hid a dark ocean behind them. And Lily... she was such a beautiful girl, so radiant, and yet so delicate in appearance. She looked like a little doll with a sad face, which could break at the slightest touch.
Emily always felt a special appreciation for every boy or girl she met. However, Lily had something special. As soon as she saw her, she felt a great empathy that had never felt before, and an intense need to protect her from whatever was happening in that horrible house.
And all her suspicions and fears came true that horrible night. The news circulated throughout Oregon, and perhaps throughout the country. Her parents tried to kill her, and in the cruelest way: sleeping her and burning her alive in the oven.
