Jasper Hawthorne looked at Shalma Hughes in front of him. Her eyes were completely hollow, seeming like an endless void. He grew anxious. "Shalma! Snap out of it! That's all in the past. It wasn't your fault. You were just trying to protect your mother... Shalma!"
Shalma slowly turned her head. Her gaze remained unfocused as she murmured, "Mom..."
A face on the verge of shattering reflected in her eyes, carrying a despair she had never seen before.
Those eyes stared at her, mouthing the words, *"Shalma, don't make a sound... don't be afraid."*
She had been so powerless, yet she tried so desperately to protect her underage daughter from being defiled. Because of that, Shalma had dashed out from the cabinet where she was hiding, snatched up a nearby knife, and plunged it viciously into the man's leg.
The man collapsed from the pain, crashing onto a pile of sharp glass shards. From that moment on, he suffered severe brain damage and was reduced to a lifelong vegetative state.
