Demi's POV

I took the piece of slightly discoloured paper from the envelope, and read the neat, italic writing.

My darling daughter, Demetria,

You are 3 days, 7 hours, and 23 minutes old. You were born on August 20th, 1992, at 09.37AM. You were 6lb 3oz, and were exactly 27 centimetres long. I was in labour for merely an hour and a half, before you were handed to me.

You stopped crying when you were placed into my arms, and you opened your beautiful brown eyes. I fell in love with you instantly, and I cried at that moment, because I knew that I wouldn't be round to see you grow up.

I knew that 3 months into being pregnant. My options were; Abortion; or have my baby, and die shortly after. I chose the second option, because I could not kill my baby, especially when I knew I could save you.

I do not want you to feel guilty, it was in no way your fault that I died. Don't you ever think it was. You, my darling, are so worth it. I couldn't have lived anyway, knowing that I had killed my baby.

I am going to die, and when you read this, you will be 18, and I will be long gone. I'm not scared of dying, I'm really not, I'm just scared that you won't have a mother around.

I know now though, that it doesn't matter. Your father is a wonderful man, and he will take good care of you. I know he will. Right now, he has you, he's taken you for a walk around the halls in the hospital, whilst I write this.

When he first held you in his arms, I knew then, that he will be an amazing father, and he will look after you.

You'll grow up, and now that you're 18, you'll presumably be moving out of your fathers house, and into a house of your own, with your boyfriend, or maybe your girlfriend, I don't know.

Your father may or may not have made a lot of money, but I'm guessing you'll be needing money to live from. My money will be of no use to me now. I have had it all transferred, every last cent of it. It has all been put into a private bank for you, my darling. There is approximately $750,000 in there. I had a good job, and put it all away for your future.

I love you, my beautiful daughter. I wish your future, and life to be filled with the happiness and joy you deserve. I will watch over you forever, and no matter what you do, I will be proud of you. I'll love you forever.

All my love,

Mom

xxx

Tears were sliding effortlessly down my face, and I could do nothing to stop them. I hugged the letter closely to my chest, and let myself cry for what felt like hours.

There was a knock at the door, and I let out a muffled 'Hang on'. The voice on the other side of the door was Melinda's, and she announced that she was coming in.

She sat next to me and put her hand out to take the letter. She read it, and smiled at me sympathetically, before handing it back to me.

"Demi, you now know, that your mother was nothing like your father, at least now that thought's gone from the back of your mind." She said with a sad smile. I nodded, and took the letter back from her. "Tomorrow, you'll go to school, then I'll come pick you up early, like, around 10.45-ish. I'm taking you down to the prison which your father is in. It's a 2 hour drive from here, and the meeting's arranged for 1.00. We'll grab lunch on the way, and we'll be back here for around 3-ish." She explained carefully. I nodded silently, and stared at the letter in my hands. I wasn't reading it, just looking at it.

"My… My mom… she thought he was a good man… he was a good man… why? Why would he do that to me if he was a good man?" I asked her confusedly, hurt and tears coming through in my voice.

"I honestly don't know, but you have to know, Demi, that it was not your fault. You didn't cause what happened to you, and I want to make sure you never think that." She said with an honest smile. I couldn't stop myself from crying harder.

No-one had ever seen me like this, no-one except Selena. Even when I was 5, and I first came here, and I was scared. I kept my head down, and got on with it. Now, there were years of un-let-out tears shed.

"Please don't tell anyone that you saw me crying." I said with a light smile. Melinda chuckled, and hugged me loosely.

"I won't, don't worry, and if you ever need to talk, you can just come straight to me, okay?" She asked, like she actually cared. I nodded, and got up to leave.

"Demi, what's up?" Selena asked me from her seat on her bed. She got up and hugged me, before leading me to where we were previously sitting, before I was called down to Mel's office.

"My… mom, I got this letter… she wrote it before she died." I told her, handing her the letter. She smiled slightly, and handed it back after a while.

"Sweetie, I really don't know what to say." She said honestly. I smiled weakly at her, and folded the letter back up, and put it in the envelope.

"You don't have to say anything… please… right now… will you just hold me?" I asked, embarrassment creeping up my cheeks in the form of heat. Selena didn't say anything, she just wrapped her arms around me tightly, and gently pulled me down to lie next to her, where she held me tightly until I felt better.

I looked into her eyes; she was watching me, with love filling her beautiful brown eyes.

"There's something else bothering you. I can tell." She inquired with a wondering smile. I nodded slowly, and propped myself up on my elbow. She removed her arms from around me, and propped herself up as well.

"Yeah… my dad's being released soon, he wanted to meet me before he was though. I said I'll go. The meeting's tomorrow." I whispered, almost inaudibly.

"O-Okay… are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"No, I'm not, I know I'll probably regret going to see him, I just want to know why he hated me." I whispered again. Selena lay back down, and I copied her. She wrapped her arms around me again, and I smiled contently. My eyelids felt heavy and I fell asleep.

We both slept through the whole night, and we were rudely awoken by the annoying beep or the alarm clock on the other side of the room.

It was 6.30AM, so we both got out of bed, I turned the alarm off, and we started our morning routine of; Getting up, showering, hair, makeup, getting dressed, and breakfast. This time though, there was something amazing added into the routine; A good morning kiss.

We walked to school, and arrived just in time for home room. We had every lesson together, and homeroom, thanks to Melinda.

At 10.40, we were both sitting together, in our US History class. We were holding hands under the table, which had so far, gone unnoticed by anyone.

There was a knock at the door, and the school secretary was standing there with a note in her hand.

"Sorry to disturb your class, I need Demetria Lovato, Her care worker, Melinda Stewart is here to collect her." She said in a posh, English accent.

The teacher nodded toward me to dismiss me, and Selena squeezed my hand in a 'good luck' way. I put my stuff in my bag, and made my way down the corridors to the main school office, where Mel was sitting in one of the seats.

"You ready?" She asked.

"Nope, but lets go." I said as we walked out of the door, and to the 7-seater car. I threw my bag in the back, and sat in the front seat.

The car ride was long, boring, and silent. I sat and did my math homework half of the way, and watched the passing cars and buildings the other half of the way.

Melinda was quiet, she didn't know what to say. I wouldn't either.

She stopped outside the prison, and we walked silently inside. Mel explained who we were, and then a prison guard lead me through to a room with a single table, and two chairs on wither side of it.

The guard stood beside the table in silence, and the door opened, revealing a man with short brown hair, and a light amount of stubble. He sat in the desk opposite me, and smiled nervously at me. I didn't smile back.

"Hello, Demetria." He said quietly.