Prologue

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The pain. The pain was endless. Always there. Every day. Every moment. Physically and mentally.

Abbas was exhausted. And suffering.

"I love you," she'd say. "My baby," she'd call him.

Yet seconds later she'd try to skin him with whatever was close to her, she'd cut him deep and let the blood flow. The monster's blood. And no matter how much he cried, he howled, begged, she would ruthlessly press on the wound, making it more painful, bloodier, and unbearable. Sometimes her fingers would tear his flesh then the wound would take months to heal and the scars on his body were becoming numerous.

"It's alright," she would soothe with that smile that wasn't quite one, so scary was she sometimes that he couldn't recognize his own mother's face. "I'll never let you become a monster. Your mother loves you best".

And when he wailed and cried until he couldn't hear his own voice anymore, she'd bandaged and cradled him, soothing him the way she always did when he had nightmares. It was just that recently, the one he saw on those terrifying nights was she, with that frightening smile, calling him a monster and trying to peel off what she called his horrible face.

But now she had gone back to her old self. His gentle and loving mother.

"My dear, beloved child. My beautiful Abbas. Everything is going to be alright".

Smilingly, she kissed his forehead first, his temples after, then his cheeks, and lastly, his nose with that tender and lovely look on her face. She smiled at him. A true smile. A beautiful one. So, despite his pain, he smiled back at her too. His mother was his mother once again –until she spoke.

"Just a little more effort and we will rid you of that blood."

His smile stiffened while his body shook and he whimpered.

"There, there," she patted his back, mollifying her child. "No need to be afraid. The pain won't last." She embraced him tightly, kissing the top of his head. "Pain, pain, go away".

Slowly, delicately, she sang him a lullaby while tenderly stroking his long black hair.

But the pain didn't go away, quite the contrary. The following times she tried to rid him of his monster's qualities were even more painful.

He didn't know when it started exactly. She wasn't always like that. Deep inside, he knew she hadn't always been like that. But recently, he just couldn't remember how she used to be. Yet how he wished, he prayed... to have his loving mother back once again. What could he do for her to love him once more like she once did?

Or could it be... that, that warmth was now something of the past... glowing dim as an ember... to forever be yearned for but ultimately extinguished.

Oh, his dear... mother...

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