Chapter 1 ~ Hazel Grace

"Hazel! Hazel! Save Hazel!" A man's shout rang through the air accompanied by the sound of many people fighting and gunfire outside the house.

Meanwhile, the child in question faintly heard her father shouting from behind the door of her room in fear. The pink shades of her room no longer provided warmth. Instead, she hid under the thick blanket on her bed.

Bang!

The little girl's body flinched as she heard the door of her room being forcibly kicked in. Her eyes were firmly closed, not knowing what would happen to her. All she knew was that the blanket covering her body was immediately pulled away and her body floated onto a man's shoulder.

The five-year-old girl tried to open her eyes. She screamed because there were bodies on the floor and blood everywhere. The man holding her realized that Hazel was startled and immediately covered her eyes with the palm of his hand.

"Calm down Hazel. Go to sleep. It's just a nightmare in your sleep." The man's soft voice kept ringing in Hazel's ears and made the girl close her eyes tightly.

The man walked towards an area to secure the little girl in his arms. As his left hand closed Hazel's eyes, his right hand was at the ready with a gun. Firing at anyone who got in his way. Even though he was aware that every gunshot he fired made Hazel's body jump in surprise.

Little Hazel felt her body being lowered onto a soft sofa. She had the courage to open her eyes. She finally came face to face with her savior. She couldn't see his face clearly because there was blood everywhere. On the forehead, on the cheeks, on the neck, and even the shirt the man was wearing.

"You're safe here Hazel. Don't make a sound until your family comes to get you here. Understood?" The man instructed the little girl who was still in shock.

Hazel nodded her understanding.

As the man stood up, Hazel's small hand grabbed her savior's hand. The two pairs of eyes met, one innocent eye full of confusion and the other sharp eye full of anger but soothing for Hazel.

"Uncle, where are my mom and dad?"

"They'll be back soon. Trust me." The man smiled to reassure Hazel.

Then he let go of the tiny handhold and hurried out. Leaving Hazel in a small, dimly lit room. In the back of the room, Hazel also heard the faint sounds of commotion. But the difference was that soon there was a loud boom and the roof debris above Hazel fell. Making Hazel automatically curl up. A piece of debris fell on top of her.

"Akhh!" Hazel opened her eyes immediately. She was breathing heavily and her forehead was covered with sweat.

"Tsk! Shut up!" A woman sleeping on the opposite bed commented on the sound of Hazel's scream.

"Sorry Bella, sorry." Hazel earnestly apologized.

"Tsk, weird girl." The woman named Bella turned over and now had her back to Hazel. Not long after, she closed her eyes again and went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Hazel was drinking a glass of water from the small nightstand near her bed. She wiped the beads of sweat on her forehead and seemed to sigh.

"Huft! That nightmare again," she muttered.

Hazel looked at the clock on the wall which showed that it was still 4am. She then grabbed her coat and walked outside. Along the hallway, she passed doors that faced each other. Behind those doors, all her friends must still be asleep because their wake-up time was still 2 hours away.

Amongst the silence, Hazel walked slowly towards the never-locked emergency exit from the kitchen. She stepped out and surveyed the large building that had housed her for fifteen years. Then, she walked towards the estate that surrounded the building.

Hazel took a leisurely morning stroll, unafraid of the criminals who could attack her at any time, because the building and the vast forest surrounding it were the fiefdom of a mafia family. Not a single crime occurred here because of the great influence of the family name. It was also because there was a high fence surrounding each end of the forest. Hazel usually took a leisurely stroll from the kitchen exit to the entrance gate through these woods.

The arrival of autumn had caused many leaves to fall. Some remained on the trees with a reddish-yellow color. Although the sunlight hadn't fully appeared yet, the beautiful dawn in the sky was enough to tell Hazel how beautiful the scenery of the trees around the woman was. Her small steps continued to walk leisurely along the dirt road mixed with fallen leaves. In the distance, she could see a wider road connecting the entrance to the main door. A sign that Hazel's journey was over.

Although the entrance and exit gates loomed large in front of her eyes, it didn't occur to Hazel to go any further. She didn't want to put her life at risk. Once she heard of a friend who tried to escape, the same day he returned in the form of a dead body. Every person in the main house was planted with tracking chips so there was no escape for them, including Hazel. She realized that her entire life was dedicated to serving a mafia that she had never even met in person.

"It's quite cold this morning," Hazel said as she tightened her white coat. 

"Another day of my mediocre life. Boring, but there's no other way out."

Hazel monologued while looking up at the beautiful sky. It was quite a while until she decided to step back into the main house.

"Wait." Hazel saw a car parked carelessly on the side of the road some distance ahead of her.

Hazel abandoned her intention to go back, her curiosity leading her to approach the car. A black luxury car with glass full of cracks from gunshot wounds.

Hazel's heart instantly stopped beating.

"Did I go too far?" Hazel knew for sure that something wrong had happened.

"But this is still in the main house area, it should be safe, right?"

Hazel was torn between getting closer or going back. She didn't know what would happen next if she was near that car. It could be a criminal, a fugitive, or another evil human that could threaten her soul. The thought of those bad possibilities frightened Hazel by stepping back.

"Arrrggh!"

"Eh?" Hazel was surprised to hear a moaning sound not far from where the car was.

Despite her fear, her curiosity still prevailed. Hazel walked over to find the source of the sound. It sounded like someone holding back pain. Hazel walked towards the car with hesitant steps.

Hazel saw a trail of blood from the open car door into the forest. She followed the trail. The closer it got, the clearer the moans and groans that Hazel guessed were coming from a man. But all at once, the sound stopped.

Hazel took a few steps forward and...

"Aaa!"

Hazel's legs were suddenly like jelly that couldn't support her weight, she simply fell as a gun was pointed at her. The man, who had been moaning in pain, looked alert with the gun in his hand.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I'm not a bad person!" cried Hazel who was still stiff in her seat.

"You, from the main house?" the man asked.

Hazel was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Yes."

There was a sigh of relief from the man a few meters away from Hazel. His body relaxed from its original state of alertness. The man's movements did not escape Hazel's eyes. Moreover, her eyes were focused on the man's left hand which was holding his stomach full of blood.

"Oh my God! You're hurt badly." Hazel rushed over to the man.

There was no sign of resistance, so Hazel went straight to the first aid she had learned. She first tore off her sleeping pajamas to act as a gauze and pressed them against the wound on the man's abdomen to stop it from bleeding.

Moan after moan came out of the man's mouth but he could only surrender to the help from Hazel. Meanwhile, Hazel's eyes didn't stop watching the man's bloodied body.

"There are so many wounds," Hazel murmured in a worried tone.

She also tried to stop the other bleeding on the man's legs and arms. Her movements were so dexterous that the man almost thought she was a nurse. But the fact that Hazel was from the main house would have told him otherwise. She was not a nurse.

Slowly, the sunlight filtered through the trees. Providing warmth in the fall chill for every living thing to start moving. It helped Hazel to see the man's wound more clearly. Meanwhile, the man was now silent, no longer whimpering despite the pain on his face. She saw Hazel's face exposed to the sunlight. It had a dramatic effect and somehow made his heart calm down a little.

"Do you have a phone? I'll call an ambulance to pick you up here," Hazel asked.

"Don't call an ambulance or the police, my men will be here shortly."

"Men?" Hazel wondered who this person in front of her was.

"Hmm, you get out of here."

"But you need to be treated immediately. There's a lot of bleeding going on."

"No need, I can still hold on for a while longer," replied the man who was somehow stubborn enough not to call for help by Hazel.

"Or shall I run to the main house and call the people there to help you? We have doctors and nurses on duty there so you can be treated by temporary medical personnel right away."

"Tsk. Shut up, don't talk so much!" warned the man who was suddenly angry. Little did he know that just now was the longest sentence from the quiet Hazel. She wouldn't talk if she didn't have to. And now what? He was suddenly angry and told Hazel to shut up.

"You get out of here, it won't be long before they get here to help me."

Hazel in her little heart refused to obey this mysterious man's words. But what could be done? Who was she to argue with the man's words. It seemed to be true that there would be people helping her because there were sounds of several cars approaching from a distance. Hazel didn't want to get into more serious trouble. She obeyed the words of the man she had just helped by running away. Meanwhile, the man watched Hazel until her shadow disappeared from his sight.

Five black cars arrived. Many people got out of them and immediately approached the man's whereabouts. At least that's what Hazel saw from a distance. She didn't really leave. She wanted to make sure that the man was indeed getting help. And apparently it was true. Many men in black were carrying the man to the car. The scene happened very quickly in front of Hazel's eyes. Then when the cars were about to leave, Hazel hid her body behind a tree trunk.

However, Hazel's presence did not go unnoticed by the injured man who saw her through the windshield of his car. Although he didn't have time to express his gratitude, in his heart he was very grateful to have been helped by the girl whose name he didn't know.

"Who exactly is that guy?" Hazel asked herself.

She broke her reverie and hurried back to the main house before the overseers noticed her absence. Ah, that's right, they must have known that Hazel had left the main house, she just didn't want to arouse the suspicion of the overseers who would think she was trying to escape if she was out for long.

For fifteen years Hazel had stayed in the main house which was hardly a dormitory for many orphans like her. From childhood until now they were all given training and also basic education to meet the standards of the Reagan family. Yep, the Reagan family. A family whose name was influential in the underworld of New York City. At least that was what Hazel had heard. But the sheer number of people trained at the main house was enough to prove the power of the family.

At least dozens of residents of the main house were trained to become someone who would later work for the Reagan family. Whether it was to be a soldier, a medic, a servant, or other jobs such as a cleaner. All of them will be grouped based on talent and start to be distinguished since adolescence. They underwent rigorous training every day to provide maximum service. Every year, those who are old enough will leave the main house and be ready for duty. Every year, new children enter the main house.

For Hazel, which category does she fall into? Actually, she was also talented in the medical field, but her passion for cooking was greater so she would later enter the Reagans as a servant. She was supposed to help the chef in the kitchen and also prepare some other things. A definite future was waiting in front of her eyes.

Then, did nothing occur to her to escape and mingle with the outside world?

Although it sounded like being confined in that invisible prison, Hazel was strangely quite happy. Perhaps she had fantasized about being a normal New Yorker going about her usual routine. But she never really wanted to make that happen. Besides knowing that there was no escape from this fate, Hazel was content to live every little thing that happened in her life. Living each day with a place to stay and food to eat was enough for her. Not too different from the world out there, everyone needed to work to fill their stomachs. The difference was that she had been trained to work since childhood and had a clear future of becoming a servant of the Reagan family.

"Oh my God! Hazel Grace!" The shrill voice immediately greeted Hazel's arrival from behind the kitchen door.

The woman who Hazel had come to think of as her own mother looked panicked as she came in covered in blood. It was understandable that there were obvious blood stains from the man earlier, as both Hazel's pajamas and coat were all white.

"What happened to you Hazel? Are you hurt badly?"

"Pssttt! Don't make a fuss Stacey." Obviously Hazel didn't want to cause a commotion in the morning and end up being the center of attention. Although not many people were awake yet, the loud voice of Stacey, the butler of the main house, was enough to wake everyone up from their rooms.

"I'm not hurt, I'll explain after this, yes. I'll go change first," Hazel continued, giving Stacey a warm look. A look that meant she was indeed fine.

"Alright. I was waiting for your explanation this morning too. Hurry up and change before the others find out about your condition."

"Alright Stacey."