The Curse Of Eden

*'Collette.'

*'Collette. Wake up monkey.'

*'Collette.'

It was a dream maybe. A distant dream. So soft. And it smelt..... It smelt like cotton candy. Collette felt a warm hand press gently against her cheek and she sank into the feeling. *'Wakey Wakey my little monkey.'

A distant voice that pressed at the back of her head. But it didn't annoy her. It wasn't painful. She wanted so badly to get closer to that melodic tune. Monkey

No one called her monkey except for her mom.

Collette opened her eyes slowly and even though her surrounding was brightly lit, she didn't squint. Her eyes didn't hurt from the sudden illumination. A familiar face smiled at her.

"Mom?" Collette couldn't help the smile.

"Hey monkey."

Collette sat straight, looking at her crouched mother beside her. She felt in a trance. Calmness, serenity, and nothing more.

"Let's take a walk shall we?" Laura asked, extending an arm for Collette to take.

Collette gladly complied and got up to her two feet.

A cool breeze swayed along the grass field they were in. The leaves on the trees struggled to remain on their branches, yet many flew willingly with the air. Collette removed the stray hairs that flew to her face, tucking them behind her ear.

"What's this place mom?"

Laura looked at her daughter with a gentle smile. "It's my happy place. I always come here whenever I'm feeling down."

"You're happy place?" Confusion was evident in Collette's tone.

"Yes. Everyone has a happy place. It's a small world that you create yourself to help get you through life. Your battery."

Collette thought to herself for a moment. She never had one. She always avoided imaginations. Her nightmares always scared her off that part of her mind.

"I have a lot of questions mom."

"Of course you do dear. But I can't promise you to always have the answers."

The sound of running water reached their ears as they walked closer to a river. The water as clear as crystal, you could vividly see the bottom.

"Sit down monkey." Laura patted the ground next to her as she sat by the river bank. Collette immediately complied.

"You saw what happened, didn't you mom?" Collette started.

"What happened what?" Laura asked dumbly.

"To father. You saw it didn't you? You saw what E did."

"Did you ever wonder why up until now the universe didn't unravel all of its secrets? Why parts of this world are yet to be discovered and they are actually very hard to do?" Laura gazed into the water while Collette remained silent. When did mom become so deep?

Laura turns to look at her daughter with meaningful eyes.

"Some secrets are meant to stay hidden. That's how the yin and yang of the universe works. If you take something, you need to give another in return, and sometimes the thing that is taken from you is way bigger and more valuable than what you took."

Laura got up from her place and let off a big sigh. "But then again, what do I know? I'm just a fragment of your own imagination monkey." She shrugged her shoulders as she looked up to the sky. "What?" Collette asked in confusion. The serenity and calmness that this place gave her were slowly starting to fade.

"Mrs. Woods." A distant voice called from behind her but she couldn't find the source.

Collette looked back at her mother to find that she was no longer there.

"Hey, professor." The voice called again.

Collette got up to her feet, looking around her in disorientation.

"Collette wake up!"

Collette gasped as she opened her eyes in a startle.

The greenery she was in turned back to doctor's Newman's living room. She was back in that same chair and Newman's face was uncomfortably close to hers. "Finally! You gave me a scare there." His voice echoed clearly in her mind. "Here, drink this."

Newman pushed an opened juice box in front of Collette. He had already placed the straw in, ready for drinking.

"I don't want any."

"That's not your choice to make. We need to keep you alive." Newman stated harshly as he held her face, forcing the straw into her mouth and slightly squeezing the box. Collette struggled with the liquid that invaded her mouth and throat. She tried her best to gulp down the floods of juice without choking.

§ § §

"God damn it!" Adam's yell howled throughout the whole neighborhood as he smashed his fists against his car.

"Calm down detective, you need your head clear to be able to think." Chief Leone West approached Adam with a sigh.

Adam gave him a brief glance before finding his gaze turn back to the car. "Hey Adam, the team found this." Ken panted out his words from running.

Adam grabbed the piece of paper his partner carried and hastily opened it.

*'It's never too late to fix things doctor. Take Collette Woods, keep her safe until my mission is done. You owe your daughter that.' - E Adam crumbled the letter printed letter in anger.*

"What the hell does he want with her?" He growled.

"Look, he's asking him to keep her safe. He's not going to hurt her. That's a good sign." Ken tried to calm him down.

"Keep a clear head detective." Chief West repeated. "Look at this." He pointed to the last line in the letter.

"You owe your daughter that." Adam voiced it out loud. He looked up at Ken in confusion.

"Newman had a daughter?"

"Not that I know of." Ken shrugged.

"We need to get back to HQ."

They wasted no time as they hurried back to their computer techies.

"Hey Elliot, I need you to search up Newman's family members for me." Adam ordered first thing.

Elliot immediately started tapping at his keyboard and not long after, several documents and pictured popped up on the large screen.

"It says here that he was married in 1992 to Lara Newman. They had a daughter, Nadia Newman. Ermm...but she died a year ago. The case report says that she was a victim of domestic abuse herself. Died on the hand of her boyfriend." "His come we never knew about this?" Adam asked in confusion as he looked at his team.

"Doctor Newman never mentioned anything personal at work." Kristen replied. "Not even when asked. He always kept them to himself."

"Based on the letter, it's obvious that E had already known about it. He used it to manipulate Newman into working for him." Ken stated. Adam sighed in frustration as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Always a step ahead." He takes under his breath in distaste..

"I guess now we know who our mole was." Elliot shrugged his shoulders.

"Find me if his daughter had a house or if there is anything in his or any of his family member's names." Adam ordered and once again, Elliot and

Kristen were tapping away at their keyboards and tablets.

"There's one in his daughter's name. 23 Emmet street."

Adam snatched out his phone and waited as it ringed.

"Alex, get the guys and meet us at 23 Emmet street. Newman and Collette are probably there."