1 Prologue

Hidden beneath his mother's bed, the boy waited until there weren't any noise in the house anymore.

Then he waited again, for hours. The sun had risen again and the light filled the room.

As time went by, the fear grew in his beating heart. The more he waited, the more he was afraid to come out of his hiding place.

He kept hearing the same sounds in his head. Screams, crying, begging, swearing... Laughters...

His father's loud voice that came from below the stairs, insulting people and ordering his first son to run and seek for help.

His mother who kneeled in front of him to tell him to hide until it was over. Then the door of the room, bursting open. The heavy steps that came near the bed. The harsh voice saying things the young boy could not understand even though they sounded like curses.

Then the sound of a body thrown over the bed and the screams of his mother. The matress going up and down above his small body. The joyful words of a few men standing around the bed.

Until his mother stopped screaming.

The disappointed voices of the men that were fading as they left.

The boy couldn't tell if the noises were real anymore or just memories. But they kept resounding in his head like a never ending nightmare.

He didn't know how much time he stayed there, without moving a finger and never letting a sound come out of his sanctuary.

No one came for him. Not even his sister. The neighbors never came to look what happened in this house. In fact, no one ever spoke a word about the events of that night. It was like it never happened. No family ever lived there.

And there was no boy.