Annabelle

Annabelle watched as the child ran, down the path, in the pouring rain. The small girl was soaked from head to toe, and though she couldn't see it, Annabelle knew she was crying as she ran.1

She heard the voice of a man yelling, though she couldn't make out the words. A gentleman of about 40 chased after the girl, desperatly trying to catch her.2

Suddenly, the child slipped, screaming. Annabelle tried to run after her, help her, but she couldn't move, couldn't do anything to stop the scene playing out before her3

The man grabbed the girl, kicking and screaming, and brought her deeper into the bushland he had found her in. Screams and cries escaped as clothing flew. Annabelle closed her eyes as the last minutes of the act unfolded, unwilling to watch the child broken.4

She whispered "I'm sorry"'s as the man got up and left, the girl trying to pull together her soaken clothes between sobs. It wasn't the first time she had been attacked by the man, but each time was more painful than the last...5

Annabelle opened her eyes and shook the memory from her head, sitting up on her bed as the morning rain fell. She turned to look in her mirror, seeing the face of the child in her own. The little girl had grown many years since the first attacks, but they haunted her still.6

Sighing, she got up from her bed to face another day, to face the future, though lacking a past of her own. All she had was the past of a small child she thought she once knew.