Chapter 1:

I was running.

I ran through the corridors of our house. Past the living room, past the kitchen, past everything… and with every thud of my feet, my heart beats faster.

I was afraid.

Afraid of what exactly? An animal? A monster? No. It was much more than that. I was afraid of a demon. A demon who torn my life apart, who ripped it limb by limb and burned its remnants until its memories were the only ones left to prove its existence.

A remembrance.

To remember the wound he had inflicted on me. But I don't care about that. No, that was never the intention of that. It's something much worse. It was so that I would never forget that he's a heartless container of human despair that continued to live for the sake of grief and sadness.

I was terrified.

I continued on running until I reached the stairs and turned into its direction.

"Why?" I thought to myself. Why is this happening to us? What went wrong? It was happening so fast that I cannot contain my sanity in place. I continued on running until I saw the door to my sister's trophy room. It was ironic, really. In the past, my parents did everything in their power to keep this place clean and presentable; you can even see your reflection on the doorknob. In the past, not a thing in this room was out of place. Yes, in the past… now, it was a room of torture and of unimaginable nightmares.

I knew what was going to happen. Yet, somehow, I didn't. I was expecting something. Something gruesome that would haunt the deepest roots of my nightmares.

Something was inside the door. I don't want to open it, but somehow, a part of me tells me that I would and I was really tired of having to run always. I just wanted this nightmare to end. So deciding to indulge my exhaustion, I twisted the doorknob and opened the door. Darkness crept everywhere. It was a while before my eyes adjusted to the darkness. But as I looked into the scene before me, my whole world fell apart. Devastation gnawed on my heart, sending chills to my bones.

I was expecting this. Yet, I hoped that it would not be too late.

But it was. It was too late.

Because on the floor, were my parents, dead, and hanging on the ceiling was my sister, a rope tied down on her neck.

I woke up sweating.

I turned my head around and realize that I was in my room. I touched my forehead, it was clammy with sweat. It was just a dream. I laughed. I actually admired myself for not waking up the whole household because of my screaming. I look around my room again. Everything was still the same, but in a way, different. I shivered. It has already been eight years since that happened.

I shook my head to shake away those thoughts and the incoming memories. A single jolt of pain shot through my head, an early warning that says a headache was coming, so I massaged my temples in an attempt to chase it out.

What time is it? I turned my head to the upper right corner of my room to see the wall clock. It says four thirty am. Huh. Ten minutes earlier than my usual time of waking up.

I sighed. I've been waking up earlier this week. And those dreams are the cause of it. I sighed again.

I got up from my bed and stretched. I like stretching. It's like you're ridding all the bad vibes around you when you're stretching. I was on the middle of a really big stretch when I heard the door of my room creaked open and the lights turned on. I was expecting some stranger but it was just John.

"Awake already?" He said. "Oh, I'm sure I didn't overslept." A small smile graced his lips. I raised an eyebrow, and then smirked.

"Huh. So it wasn't you that I was hearing, snoring up all the way from here." I said as I look up just in time to see him blush. I love teasing John. He's just like a mirror that shows you everything he feels.

He sputtered. "That loud, huh?" He said, waiting for my reply. I pretended to think for a moment, leaving him sizzling there until he snapped. "Oh, come on! It wasn't that loud!" He cried. His face was already tomato red.

I looked at him eyes big and all, the perfect image of an innocent girl. "I was just saying the truth." I said.

"No, that was just a made-up lie you created to tease me."

"Well, it was you who started the teasing."

"And you're supposed to be smart and end it!"

"Says the thirty three year old baby."

His eyes widened. "You did not just go there; you did not just go there. Tell me you didn't!" He cried.

My lips parted into a toothy smirk. "Oh, I. Just. Did."

He stared at me, contemplating on what to do. Finally, he put up his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay. I give up." He said, but a hint of a smile was still there. "You know that I could never win against you and yet you still put up with my banter." He walked over to me and ruffled my hair.

"Well, that is one of the perks of being my bodyguard." I said, slapping his hand away from my already disheveled hair.

"Yeah, well, I am guarding the eighteen years old heir of the Cecaniah enterprise." He said.

I walked away from him and went to the bathroom. "Well then, you better get started with your stretch ups because you're so gonna be busy today." I said, fixing my hair in the mirror.

I looked into my reflection and saw big changes on me. I wasn't the girl who has baby fats in her face anymore. High cheek bones define my face; my full lips were in a light pink pout, and I have an elegantly shaped nose. My hair weren't tied in unruly pigtails anymore, instead, golden locks of hair fall down gently to my waist like a cascading waterfall. But my old man and John say that the main asset of my looks is my eyes. They are shaped like almonds and are colored cerulean blue. It was such a magnificent color, nothing worldly can compare to it. And I like it that way. It strikes most of the share holders bone-scared. My eyes are set off by long black eyelashes and perfectly sculpted eyebrows. Yep, no more unibrows for this girl.

"Yeah, because many are trying to kill you, is what you're saying." John said, bringing me back to reality.

I smirked. Being the heir of the enterprise that controls most of the businesses of the whole world is hard already, but being an eighteen year old teenage girl while all that jazz is happening? Now that's tough one.

I heard him move and saw him at the wall beside the open door of the bathroom; he leaned on it and put his hand under his chin, like he was thinking really hard. "Don't you wish sometimes that you can just be a normal girl?" I froze. He must have noticed it because he quickly backed up his question. "No offense, okay? I mean, you're good at your job and all, heck, great even, but weren't there a time that you wished to be a not-so-abnormal teenage girl?"

I stared at him for a minute, making him redder every second, then I bursted into peals of laughter. My reaction must not be the one he was expecting because his shoulders went rigid. But I, myself am surprised into the action I took. I'm not really a fan of laughter; the most I could do is just to smirk. If the people in the company would see me like this, I can just imagine them swearing that the world is ending today. "John, out of all people, I would never have guessed that you would be the one who would ask me that."

He turned away from my direction like he's hiding away from me; turns out he's hiding the fact that he's still in the process of blushing. "Well, I-I—just…"

I look up at the mirror and realized that I was smiling. "No, it's okay." I chuckled. "And no, I did not ever thought to be the 'not-so-abnormal teenage girl' you are talking about."

"Oh," Then he fiddled with his thumbs, like contemplating if he should do something or not. But his curiosity got the best of him, so he said, "Why?"

My body froze. I know the answer to that question very well, I have eight years to think about it and I came up with one. So that my past wouldn't repeat itself again. But he's my body guard and there is an invisible line drawn between the two of us, separating our personal issues, but I want to reveal it to him, not to share it but to erase that invisible line so that we can let ourselves trust each other.

But I am a coward, so I said the excuse I have been using for years. "Because, if I do that, the Cecaniah enterprise would be nothing. And, besides, I can't afford to trouble the old man."

John laughed. "You really care for him don't you?"

"Well, even if he's a pain in the butt, I would save his ass anytime, anywhere." I said with a smirk on my face, relieved that the awkward moment was over.

John laughed again, and then his tone softened. "It was because he saved you from that hellhole, right?"

My eyes hardened. I guess these kinds of moments can't be really helped.

I sighed and closed my eyes. But as I opened them again, memories of my old man coming to my rescue like he's some kind of hero flashed through my mind.

Yes, he can be annoying sometimes… okay, all the time; but he can be the best grandfather anyone can ever have. "Yeah…" I replied, smiling wistfully. Then a thought occurred to me. What if he hadn't saved me from that place? I sucked in my breath.

I guess he felt my distress, because his shoulders were hunched. "You do know that it has already been eight years since that happened?" He said, his tone hardened.

I opened my mouth, and then I closed them again. John sighed, frustrated. "You aren't even her anymo-."

"Are. Still are. I'm still her." He turned to my direction, his crossed arms loosening up. That's not good. I thought. I couldn't control my emotions well in this kind of touchy subject. I put my hand up in the wall beside the wall-hanged mirror. I clenched it open and close in an attempt to calm myself.

"Well then, stop sulking like some misunderstood teenage girl." He said, snapping me out of my reverie.

I looked up at him, expecting some explanation.

"The big boss rescued you when you were still that girl. Don't you think that if he can leave you, it would be easier to do it in the past than it would be now?" He said. My hand slowly unclenched itself and I brought it to my face. I know that. I know he won't leave me. But sometimes I can't help but think that he would.

He sighed. "You know why?"

"Because he can benefit from me?" I said, sarcasm dripping heavily on my words.

"No and yes." He answered. My lack of words filled the silence of not being able to understand on what he meant.

He sighed again. "No, he didn't benefit from you in the family business because he didn't know at that time that you were a genius at this type of work. Besides, all he knew was that he had a granddaughter who needs his help. And yes because you are his granddaughter. Your pranks may surely irked him on the outside but, in the inside, he's full of sunshine because every day he feels that he should be anticipating something interesting now that the house is lively and full of death traps."

I smirked, and then looked into the mirror. I wasn't smirking anymore but smiling fully, genuinely. I closed my eyes and said: "Yeah…"

Even though I can't see him, I know he smiled. "Well then, if you're finished sulking like some emo girl, let's get your day started Ms. Helga Pataki-Cecaniah."

A/N: Review please.