Prologue

"Aleksandra, wake up!" 16 year old Aleksandra was awoken from her peaceful sleep by someone violently shaking her awake. Immediately, Aleksandra pulled herself up in a sitting position, trying to identify the person who shook her awake. When her eyes were fully adjusted, she saw the outline of her beloved mother, Sofija, standing by the side of her bed and breathing shakily. Her tiny frame was trembling in her long nightdress that fell loosely to her knees, and her hair fell in ringlets over her shoulders.

"Mama, what's going on?" Aleksandra inquired sleepily, looking over at her alarm clock, realizing how early in the morning it was, "It's 4:00 in the morning." Sofija grabbed Aleksandra's arm and swiftly pulled her out of the bed, watching as Aleksandra stumbled around in the dark and tried to comprehend what was going on.

"I know, but we need to leave right now! I packed you a bag full of things you need, and.." There was a small pause. "Please, Aleksandra. We need to leave." Aleksandra took a second to process the situation before realizing the seriousness of the situation.

"Mama, are they back?" Aleksandra asked fearfully, trembling as much as her beloved mother was. A big gang of about 20 or 30 Albainian thugs were scattered in random places around Skopje terrorizing, robbing, assaulting, and even murdering innocent people who didn't comply with them. One of those people high on their hit list was Aleksandra's father, Vanja. He was a sweet, simple man who wouldn't hurt anyone, but he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when he encountered a group of the thugs outside a mall and begged them not to rob him because he just bought a present for his wife. They promised not to hurt him as long as he paid them a high amount of money, which he obviously could not afford, and when he missed the pay date, they came to the Brankovič's house, bloodthirsty and hungry for their missing cash. Armed with baseball bats, knives, and even a couple guns, they weren't going anywhere without their cash and the family's heads.

"Yes, darling, they are. That's why we have to leave right now." Sofija cried, pulling her terrified daughter into her arms. Aleksandra realized how serious the situation was, and quickly grabbed her bag of clothes, hygenic products, travel documents, and a pair of shoes, and looked at her mother for further directions.

"We're going to have to go out the window." Sofija explained, pointing towards the half opened window in Aleksandra's room. Acting quickly, Aleksandra sped over to the window and forced it the rest of the way open. Without thinking, Sofija moved to the window and vaulted out, making a thudding noise when she landed in some bushes below the window.

"Aleksandra, jump!" Sofija called to her daughter. Aleksandra took a deep breath before speeding to the window with her bag, and launching herself out. Her stomach lurched as she free-fell towards the ground, and the shock of hitting the ground rocked her whole tiny body to the core. She wiped away a few stray tears with her free hand and pulled herself to her feet, bag in hand. Right away, Sofija and Aleksandra took off, catapulting across the front lawn and running into the street, only to hear a bloodcurdling scream and a loud thudding, followed by a blaring string of Albanian curses. The thugs had stabbed and killed Vanja.

"Vanja!" Sofija screamed tearfully, falling to her knees on the hard concrete and sobbing uncontrollably. Aleksandra stared at her sobbing mother in pure horror and shock. They heard yelling and rapid footsteps heading their way. Aleksandra knew it was the thugs, and they were coming after her and her mother.

"Mama, come on, we have to go!" Aleksandra cried, watching as her mother didn't move from the ground.

"Go without me, Aleksa. It's too late for me anyways. You have your whole young life ahead of you to celebrate. I am old, like your father was, and I have to join him now. Now, hurry, get away from this hellhole as fast as possible and go to the US of A. You will be safe there. Hurry, there isn't much time!" Sofija cried out, sobbing uncontrollably. Aleksandra reluctantly started to run away, picking up speed as she took off down the street, not looking back at the scene behind her. She didn't know what was going on back there, but she quickly figured it out when she heard a piercing scream and a gun go off, signaling the murder of Sofija. Blinded by her tears, Aleksandra tried to find her way down the street, speeding past stores, restaurants, and clubs, until finally stopping to catch her breath near a large intersection that was desolate and quiet. Wiping the constantly flowing tears from her eyes, she looked up to see a sign that said "Skopje Airport, 17 km" Aleksandra took no time at all as she took off down the road towards the airport.

About 4 hours later, at the Skopje Airport, things were slow. Not many passengers were trudging around, except buisnessmen and buisnesswomen, who had to catch early flights. Very little flights were leaving, except a couple small planes. Everything was pretty quiet and calm. Suddenly, the peace was broken when Aleksandra burst in through the doors of the airport, breathing heavily and crying, bag in tow. Her wavy brown hair was disheveled, bruises and cuts from her fall covered her arms and legs, her deep blue eyes were red rimmed and filled with tears, and her nightdress was covered in dirt and was ripped in places. Immediately, people working at the check-in and some security guards on night shift ran over to her.

"Miss, are you ok? Can you hear me?" One man from security asked her, staring into her tear filled eyes. All Aleksandra could do was stare in shock and confusion at the crowd of people surrounding her. She shook her head slowly without even thinking about what she was doing.

"Where are your parents, darling?" A middle aged, blonde haired, blue eyed woman from the check-in asked Aleksandra.

"Th-th-they're de-dea-dead." Aleksandra stuttered before breaking into heavy sobs and losing control of her emotions. "I need to get out of here. Mama told me to go to the US of A." The security guards were confused at first before they realized what she was talking about.

"Can I see your travel documents?" A tall, dark haired security guard asked. Aleksandra nodded tearfully, opening the front part of the bag and revealing a Macedonian passport. She handed the document to the security guard, who opened the passport to the picture of her face and her personal information. He noticed that a crudely folded piece of paper fell out of the passport and landed on the floor next to Aleksandra. The blonde check-in woman picked it up and unfolded it to reveal a letter written hurriedly in Macedonian. The dark haired security guard began to read the letter.

"Dear Macedonian authorities..." As the security guard read the note aloud, Aleksandra felt her vision start to blur until the people surrounding her were just blurry masses. Their rather loud chatter became quieter in her mind, and she swayed back and forth, trying to regain consciousness, but, after what seemed like an eternity of standing, she finally collapsed to the ground, everything around her abruptly going black.