At the entrance of the airport, a flood of reporters greeted Valerie. It seemed someone had already tipped off the press that she was leaving the country and through that airway as well.
Tsk, they were such a nuisance.
"Miss Ross, is it true that you killed your cousin?"
"Miss Ross, did you or did you not bribe the police to release you right away?"
"Miss Ross, there's a lot of news going out about you having a mental illness. Is it true? Are you a deranged killer?"
Valerie ignored everything and simply walked through with the airport guards supporting her and pushing the reporters aside.
'What a nuisance?'
This was a private airway so the reporters were not allowed to go in beyond the door. She walked in with her maid, Frankie, rolling her luggage from behind.
Frankie wasn't just a maid. She was also Valerie's most trusted assistant and she had been with her since they were ten years old.
"Is there anything you'd like me to do?" Frankie asked as Valerie took her seat in her designated spot but Valerie shook her head.
"It's alright. Get some rest."
Valerie sighed, feeling exhausted. Contrary to how confident she looked most times, she was rather exhausted. She decided to relax a bit and close her eyes for a quick shut-eye, hoping to only sleep for an hour.
But she slept rather deeply than she planned and ended up having a dream of her childhood. It was the first time she made her face in the news.
Valerie, at the age of four, watched from a corner how much her Aunt treated their son and daughter with so much care and love. She walked out with the rags she was wearing and glared at them.
As soon as they saw her, her aunt told her off.
"What are you doing here?" Her aunt, Victoria, asked, squinting her eyes at the little girl in disdain. "Have you cleaned up the fireplace like you were asked to?"
Little Valerie tilted her head to the side like she hadn't heard anything, her attention on the two little brats who were happily playing behind the maids.
"What are you looking at?" Victoria asked and Valerie looked up from the kids and asked,
"Aunty, how many workers do we have in the mansion?" She asked but Victoria refused to answer. "If my guess is right, there are over 50 grown workers, working to keep the mansion, both in and out, clean."
"What's your point, you little brat?"
"If we have over fifty grown people to work-" she stepped forward once more. "-then why are you making me, whose hands and feet are so small that I can hardly get anything done on time, work?"
Her red eyes glowed and Victoria's eyes twitched.
"Are you trying to question me? How dare you?"
"Just answer the question, Aunty." Valerie persisted and Victoria found the question of this four-year-old annoying but went ahead to answer anyway. There was no way a little kid would be able to understand the thoughts of an adult anyway.
"It's because I want you to be disciplined and well-trained. You'll be the head of the house when you grow up, so you need to be versed at everything both intensive and extensively." She folded her arms, thinking she had tricked the little kid but Valerie glared at her and mumbled,
"Do you take me for a fool?" She threw aside the broom in her hand and rushed towards her Aunt who got startled and stepped back. "Because you want to discipline and train me? Just who do you think would believe that? If this is a form of discipline then I advise you to start with your kids 'cause I definitely don't need it."
"You little brat!" She raised her hand and slapped her. "Who do you think you're trying to lecture? Just because we took you in, do you think you can act as you want? If we want you to work as a farmer, you have no say in it. If we want you to work, you'll do as we say. Don't start acting out just because I answered a few of your questions."
Little Valerie touched her cheek and raised her gaze to glare at Victoria in a creepy and eerie manner.
"Aunty, you seem to have gotten it wrong. You're not the one who took me in, because everyone knows... This is my house."
Agitated by the words of little Valerie, Victoria lost her temper and asked for a cane to beat some sense into Valerie. And she did, but the little girl never cried and took the beatings. Rather, she hated the two who were watching at the side with smiles while their mother abused her.
"This ought to teach you a lesson." Victoria spat out and threw the cane aside. "How dare you act haughty in my sight? Get back to work. There will be no food for you if you don't finish cleaning the fireplace and the chimney. You're so small so you're the only one fit for the job. Humph."
Valerie got up, her body aching and bruised. She cleaned the blood trickling out of the cut on her cheek with her palm and looked at it. Then, the corner of her lips curled up in a grin and she turned around to her leave.
As Victoria watched Valerie leave with her sloppy little body, she scoffed, feeling she had taught the little girl a lesson but it was quite contrary.
Valerie did not go to the fireplace, she walked out of the mansion, passed through the garden, and headed for the dog hole on the fence. She crawled out and once she was out, the feeling of being free overwhelmed her.
It was like the air on the other side of the wall was completely different from the air on the mansion grounds. But she could not stop to enjoy this feeling and clutched the paper in her hand.
She started walking, not minding the stares from strangers. But she stopped from time to time and asked for directions to the police station.
When she got to the police station, she said,
"Misters, I'm lost."
They looked at her, surprised. It's not every day you see a little girl wearing rags walk into the station. But what they were actually focused on were the bruises all over her body and the red eyes that this little girl had. Red eyes... Only the Ross family had that sort of trait, right?
Well, what did they know?
"Do you need help?" One of the officers asked, concerned for her safety. "Did you get bullied by chance? Who did this to you?"
Valerie rubbed her cheek and said,
"I fell."
It looked like she did not have any plans of disclosing what really happened so they decided to help her get home. If her parents were indeed the ones who did this to her, they would take action.
"Well, do you know where you live? Or perhaps a number we could contact for you?"
Valerie stretched out the paper in her hand and the officer took it. He looked at it and discovered it was a phone number. He looked at the little girl who said,
"Please, call my uncle and tell him Valerie is here."