During a casual hike, a policeman found a half unconscious girl in the forest. He was puzzled by her presence and physical state, but then he noticed something shocking about her, and what he did next was simply amazing.
Damen usually loved hiking in the local forest. This hobby gave him time to unwind, let his thoughts run free, and allowed his mind to heal from the horrible sights he saw every day on the job. However, when he entered a clearing he usually sat in to admire the beauty of the forest, he was shocked by the scene unraveling in front of him. A young woman, barely more than a girl, was lying under a tree in the middle of the forest. She was barely conscious and kept mumbling a few slurred words he couldn’t understand. Damen could see that the girl was in big trouble.
She was white as a sheet and her lips were turning blue. She moaned in pain, but from where he was standing, he couldn’t see any visible wound or bruise. He bent down to check back on her, and that’s when he saw something shocking. His head started spinning, and he had to go through all the rules he learned at the police academy years ago not to panic and flee. So, he took a deep breath and kneeled in front of the girl.
“Okay, sweetheart, I’m here now, and I will help you,” he said, trying to sound more confident than he was. “Can you tell me your name?” She slurred a few vowels, and at her third try, he managed to catch her name. “Ana, you’re doing great, Anya,” Damian said, taking off his jacket and placing it on the ground in front of her. But when he glanced down, he couldn’t help but pale and falter in his words.
As a cop, Damen had seen a lot of things in his life, things that looked way worse than the half unconscious girl in front of him. But if you were to be honest, he had seen just as many awful things during his childhood and teenage years. Damian had grown up in one of the poorest areas of the city. He did not have an easy childhood. His father left when he was just a boy, and he had to become the man of the house after that. But he had a mother who loved him fiercely. His mom worked long hours to support them, but it was never enough.
There were many days when his mother told him that she wasn’t hungry at night and let him have dinner. He knew there wasn’t enough for both of them, and he always left some leftovers for her to have. It was a hard life, but eventually Damian found ways that he could help out. He started doing odd jobs for people like washing cars and walking dogs. But since he was so young, he didn’t get paid much, so he figured out an easier way to get food. His mother knew he was working, so she never questioned him when he brought home food.
Suddenly, he could even afford to bring her some of her favorite treats. The woman was exhausted all the time and didn’t have the energy to ask questions she probably should have because this situation could have ended terribly for her son. Damian had learned that he could blend into shops by speaking to women walking in and out, and they would generally be kind to him.
That way, security wouldn’t be watching him, and then he would slide some food in his backpack when he was between others. He became good at shoplifting, or at least he believed that he did. But often it’s when people are at their most confident that things come crashing down. That day, his mother was sick, but she still went to work. Damian felt terrible that he couldn’t help out more, and he decided that he would grab something from the supermarket that would make her smile. He tried to take some bath products and slipped them into his bag. Just then, a hand grabbed his arm. When Damian looked up, his heart beating out of control, he had to swallow.
A man in a police uniform was looking down at him. He was busted. The boy was beyond caring about himself, but he did not want to hurt his mother by going to jail. He was still so young, but he could have gone on a very dark road from there. Things could have turned out very differently if any other cop had caught Damian, but the man in front of him had a good heart, and he took pity on the child. When Damian told him he was stealing so his mother could live a decent life, the cop understood that he wasn’t just a bored teenager seeking thrills, and he wanted to help him more than he wanted to make an arrest. The man was the first person who went out of his way to help Damian and his mother.
He helped her get a better job in an office where she was paid the same as she used to be for both of her jobs, and the best part was that she only needed to work office hours. This change made a massive difference in their life. Damian started to work as soon as he could, and he knew the police officer was always keeping an eye on him.
He never wanted to disappoint the man who had helped raise him, so he never got in trouble again. He worked hard both in and out of school, still trying to help his mother. Life was still tough, but Damian felt less alone, and that was enough to keep him on the right side of the law. So when it was time to choose a career path, nobody was surprised to find out that he was applying to the police academy. He worked as hard as usual and graduated at the top of his class.
He loved his job and the opportunity it gave him to repay the favor his mentor had done for him when he was just a child. However, he saw a lot of terrible things and often had to take time to relax, forget, and recharge. His personal way of unwinding was hiking in the local forest, and that was how he ended up in this moment, looking down at the mysterious girl who was now bleeding all over the forest floor.
He wouldn’t know it, but Ana too had a challenging childhood and even harder teenage years. She was born to rich parents and grew up in a very rich neighborhood. As a little girl, she had everything she could ever hope for. She was the typical pampered princess who lived in a tower, and just like any princess in a tower, she was trapped there. She was allowed to play with the children of people who were approved by her parents, but no one else.
As time passed, she became excited at the thought of going to school and finding her own friends, but that didn’t happen. Instead, she was given a tutor and remained locked away. Her family chose her clothing and dictated how she acted. There were no choices in her life. For a long time, she believed that this was just how life was, but eventually, she started to search for small ways to rebel and live her own life, like making friends with the people working on their farm or just choosing activities for her free time that her parents would disapprove of. Even simple joys like going out to swim without asking for permission would make her parents frown. She had everything that she needed but nothing that she wanted.
Then, when she was a bit older, they decided that she would go to an elite boarding school. Ana was ecstatic when she got the news. She was finally going to have some freedom. She dreamt of becoming a strong, independent woman and finally living her life. But that changed as soon as she arrived at the school. The school looked more like a prison than the escape that she had in mind.
Life there was even more strict than her house, but at least she got to have some friends of her own choice. Those were some of the best years of her life, but as with most good things in life, they didn’t last for very long. Ana made friends with a girl who was there on a scholarship. She was sweet and fun, and her family loved her. But then Ana’s family came to visit, and they met her friend. Since she was not from a family that they found appropriate, they told the school principal to prevent Ana from hanging out with her. That was the first time ever that she stood up to her family.
She refused to stop being friends with the girl and told them that she had never met anyone as genuine as her. She wasn’t going to give that up. But as a young teenager, she didn’t have much power against her family. One day when she went into class, she found that her friend was just gone. She asked her teacher what happened, and they tried to avoid the subject. Then she realized something horrible. She phoned her parents straight away, and they confirmed her worst fears. They made sure the school threw her friend out and that she would never come back.
Since her parents were huge benefactors and invested lots of money in the school, the board hadn’t hesitated for a single moment before revoking the other girl’s scholarship and sending her back home. Her parents even told her that it was her fault. The thought was heartbreaking. That was the last time Ana rebelled against her family, at least for a long time. She thought that they would loosen their grip when she was done with school, but that didn’t happen. When she graduated and came home, they told her that they would soon arrange a marriage for her. The prospect was devastating. She would never live her own life. Depression was starting to sink in when she met a young man who was working for her father. He was sweet and caring and always found ways to make her laugh when she only wanted to cry. They soon fell in love, but somehow her father found out and fired him on the spot. Ana was devastated. This was boarding school all over again.
As soon as she found someone she liked, her parents found ways to take them away from her. The thought made her decide to rebel again. One day when she was out shopping with her bodyguards, she slipped away. She went to the boy’s home, but when she entered, she found something shocking. He hadn’t been home since he was fired. He had simply disappeared. She knew in her heart that her parents had something to do with it, and she had never been more frightened of them. But this time, she wasn’t just scared for herself or the boy she loved.
This time, she had one more person to be worried about. In fact, Ana was hiding a secret that could cost her everything, but also a secret that gave her everything to fight for. She was pregnant. She knew her parents were going to freak out at the news, but she didn’t want to get rid of it. She loved that boy and she loved their baby, and that meant that her parents were going to take it away from her. She hid her growing bump for as long as she could, but eventually they found out, and when they did, they were furious. They couldn’t imagine any of their friends wanting to marry her anymore.
To them, she had lost all of her value as a bargaining chip. In their minds, she had ruined their lives. They had invested lots of money in her upbringing, and she had repaid them by embarrassing them. She was a disappointment. They wanted nothing to do with her anymore. They wanted her gone permanently. Her bodyguards were given specific instructions. They would take her to the forest and make sure Ana would never be seen again.
These men had watched her grow up, but she knew they were just as heartless and ruthless as her parents. Even in the weak state she was in, Ana knew enough to be scared. They drove her as far into the forest as they could go, then they picked her up like a doll and carried her further. It wasn’t difficult. She was too weak to put up a fight, and suddenly her whole body ached. Her parents’ actions in cruelty had finally broken her. She had no fight left in her. The guards set her down under a tree and got out their guns. Ana closed her eyes, ready for it all to be over.
But when the men looked down at the woman who was barely more than a girl, they just couldn’t follow their instructions. They had seen her grow up. They knew the life she had been forced to live in that golden cage her parents called the house. She barely had a childhood. They couldn’t take her future too. So the guys left her there. They knew it was unlikely that she would survive, but it was the best they could do for her. She was weak and ill, but perhaps luck would shine on her for the first time in her life. So Ana lay there, barely grasping that she was still alive.
All she could think of was the young man who treated her with love and kindness and who probably paid the ultimate price for it. Then she thought of her baby, and though the pain was taking her breath away, she tried to stay awake for its sake. That was when a soft voice spoke to her, asking her what her name was. Through her half-closed eyes, Anya could see that the man had turned pale.
She didn’t need to glance down to understand why. She’d known. She’d gone into labor the moment her bodyguards had laid her on the forest floor, and her whole body had convulsed with spasms that had nothing to do with fear. She was having her baby, and the man in front of her was the only person who could help her.
Damian was panicking. The girl was bleeding badly, the baby was coming, but the delivery was not going smoothly. Ana was almost completely unconscious now. Damian needed to do something, and he needed to do it now. He gently examined her. It had been a long time since he had been trained on how to deliver a baby, but he remembered enough to see the problem.
The baby’s umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. If he didn’t do something, then he could lose both the young woman and her baby. However, he was just out for the day, and he didn’t have a lot of medical supplies with him. He had a small first aid kit and a knife in his backpack, and that was going to have to do. He phoned an ambulance, but it would take way too long for them to get there.
He had to help her now. The girl was so weak that she didn’t help much, but the baby was coming, and she was naturally pushing. The baby’s head was already out, and he had to make sure that it didn’t choke. So he called on all his training and swiftly cut the cord with his knife before helping the baby out with his bare hands. When its little cry echoed through the forest, the policeman openly cried.
The baby was going to be okay, but what about its mama? Ana was still hanging in there, but she was very weak. Damian pressed the baby to her chest so she could feel it. He kept telling her she needed to hold on because her baby needed her. Her breath was very shallow, and she was struggling to keep her eyes open. But thankfully, the ambulance arrived just in time. He was grateful to hand the baby and his young mother over to their care. Still, he couldn’t just forget about them.
They were clearly all alone in the world, and he knew she needed help. Someone had done something to put her in that state, and he needed to right this wrong. So he picked up his own mother at her apartment, and together they went to the hospital. He felt like Ana might need a mother figure to comfort her. The girl was doing better, but she wasn’t out of the woods yet.
She was severely malnourished and dehydrated, and she had lost a lot of blood. But thanks to the doctors’ quick thinking, it didn’t take long for her to start getting better. By the second day, she could hold her baby for the first time in her life. She knew unconditional love. However, she was terrified to tell her story, and for a while, Damian and his mother just gave her the trust and attention she clearly needed. Then one day, she asked them to sit, and she told them all about her life. She was terrified that her parents would retaliate, but she needed to be strong for her child.
Damian looked into the family, and it turned out that the police had their eyes on them for a while. The money they had didn’t come from completely legal means, and they had a lot of deadly secrets.
Ana could tell them about her parents’ movements and their friends, and that was enough to take them down. Her mother fled before they could catch her, but she would never return to the country. Ana’s father was arrested and would spend the rest of his life in prison.
They never even knew that their forsaken daughter was behind their trouble. She was free and she was safe, and the investigation found something surprising. There were some accounts in Anya’s name, probably as the way her parents tried to hide funds since she wasn’t part of their crimes.
She got to keep that money. She would be able to take care of her son and have the freedom to learn how to live a normal life without worrying about money right away. Thanks to that and the support of Damian and his mother, she could build a new life, and she could give her child a life full of the one thing she never had: love.s.
