Chapter 31

The Beginning of The End

The first time Gemma Lockhart knew anything was wrong was when she could hear the faint sounds of her father shouting. Her young five-year old body turned around to look towards the two-story house that was behind her while she played in the compact garden.

She loved playing here. Her daddy had built a small doll house and a tree house for her. Gemma loved the plastic doll house by a children’s toy company; complete with her own easy bake oven and a tea set. It even has a little area for her to use as a reading space and where Mr Shuddles, the grey stuffed elephant; sat and kept her company with her tea parties where cheese sandwich’s and orange juice were a plenty. It’s pink interiors made her feel like a princess, and she often leaned out of her small purple open window to wave at her mother who she saw standing in the kitchen window, baking or washing up.

Her little doll house was surrounded by yellow daffodils she h