Mrs Walter controlled her breaths.
Her heart ached even after all these years because only she knew how much she had blamed herself all these years.
She had regretted each and every day of those three years when she thought of her mother but could not gather the courage to visit her.
Only if she had brought her mother away with her!
Only if she had been braver and went sooner to her!
"In the end, when she no longer could handle it and all her hopes were shattered of my ever returning to her, my mother jumped into the river. When her body was found, most of it was eaten away by the fishes."
The young lady kept on staring at Mrs Walter. Her face gave away nothing but sign of pain was visible in her eyes at the last sentence.
Mrs Walter shook her head and smiled through her tears as she looked up at the sky.
"I have always believed the reason I never become a mother is because of my evil deeds. Probably I never deserved to be one when I could not be a good daughter at first place."
For years, they had tried and since years they had met only disappointment.
Mr Walter had loved his wife so much that it did not even matter to him if they got their own children or not. He was content as long as his wife was there for him. Whereas Mrs Walter felt even more guilty with his thoughts.
There had always been a yearning in her heart to have children. "There was a time when I accepted that I can not conceive. I had thought- so what? I could always adopt."
They had tried adopting but it never worked out.
Sometimes the issue were with the orphanges or sometimes the issues were theirs. "But I soon realised that children always came to the ones with destiny. It was always fate."
They were seated at a small white couches in the pretty and greeny corner of the garden.
The corner was connected to the living room with a glass wall. Mrs Walter composed herself after a silence of a while. "Well, I did not really mean to tell you all this." She spoke with a chuckle.
"The reason I began with the topic is that this world is really cruel. Even your family memebers could turn againts you. I am not sure what you must have gone through all these years but at this point you are on crossroads. You will have to decide which way you wish to go."
"I will be straight-forward, see we wish to adopt you." Mrs Walter rushed to explain, "You will be safer here. If central government took you, they will definitely take care of you but it won't be same. You might be put in rahabilition centre for years snatching several dreams from you."
The central government thought not just for the perspective of the victim but also of others. The victims always had high chances of turning into a criminal.
They had the tendencies to hurt others the same way they had been once.
Mrs Walter had worked as a psychologist for fifteen years and had worked in the organization for almost a decade.
She knew the internal working well. The organization was good at showing as if they did everything only in the concern of the victims but it was not true. A life in there was cruel.
Too cruel.
And the way her heart had begun caring for this young lady, Mrs Walter would not be able to witness her in such state.
"Decision is all yours. In no way, I am trying to force my wish upon you so if it appeared like that, I apologise."
Mrs Walter was not sure how much genuine her request might have appeared.
But at this point, she was at the last resort. To her it was the last time that she was wishing to have a child. It was the last time she was letting herself hope and wish of its possibility.
If this time it did not happen, Mrs Walter knew she would not have it in her to ever hope for it again. It would remain as her unfulfilled desire and with this sad truth, she would die.
Mrs Walter waited for a long time to get any hint of response from the young lady. She did not avert her eyes away from her face to not miss a single change in expression.
But the girl showed nothing. She was not even focused upon Mrs Walter, her eyes were only poited at the sky that had a orange hue in it.
Dejected, Mrs Walter sighed and stood up to go inside. She could feel a familiar ache rising in her heart.
"Crescent."
A soft whisper echoed in the silent surrounding.
Mrs Walter was stunned beyod words. It felt like a fragment of an imagination that was too real.
In disbelief, she looked at the girl, "W-what?"
"I am Crescent."