Our Lies

Prologue

"What's your name, little guy?"

Two men in suits crouched down to talk to a boy standing with hunched shoulders in front of them. The boy looked haggard. His appearance was disheveled and his one hand was squeezing the other. He looked uneasy.

"Are you hurt somewhere?" One of the men asked again.

The boy slowly looked up. His eyes met their inquisitive eyes. In the background, he could hear the loud sirens wailing.

The boy started crying. The men in suits felt sorry for him. One of them pulled the boy into his arm and patted the boy's back, trying to calm him down.

"It's okay, little guy. You are safe now. This must have shocked you a great deal."

The man picked the boy up and let his little head rested on his shoulder. His companion looked at the horrific scene not far from where they were standing now. Their subordinates had drawn a yellow line at one side of the highway – some were seen guarding along the line at the moment. A part of the guard rail was visibly crushed and there were people standing nearby, looking like they were shouting instructions to someone below.

The companion looked back at his coworker who was still holding the boy. He let out a groan and shook his head slowly. "There's no way to survive that crash."

They walked to the nearest police car and let the boy sit at the backseat. The man asked again.

"Do you remember what happened?"

Just as the boy was about to open his mouth, someone shouted from the outside. A young rookie was running to the side of the car.

"Sir, there is something you must see!" The young man took out his little notebook and flipped the pages furiously before he found what he was looking for. An ID photo was clipped on top of one of the pages with lines of notes right around it. His other gloved hand showed what looked like a half-burnt ID card.

"I found this down below. It's greatly damaged but I believe it belongs to Dara Dignita. Do you remember that missing person case? Leo Dignita's daughter who vanished 10 years ago?"

The boy stunned at the mention of the name. He tried to hide the tremor in his hands but the inspector, who was still holding his hand from earlier, was quick to notice the change.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"We have to wait for the lab result." The young man said sheepishly.

"And the others?"

"There are only two bodies inside the car. We are still trying to find out who the man behind the driving wheel was. For now, we assume there were only two people in the car at the time of accident. What should we do, Sir?"

"Does anyone else know about this?"

The young policeman shook his head.

The inspector took the burnt ID from him. "Keep this to yourself." He dismissed his subordinate and turned to the boy. "Do you know the people in the car?"

The boy did not answer. He looked past the man in front of him – his eyes staring straight to where policemen were gathering. He bit his lips and clasped his torn shirt tightly.

"Gia." The boy let out his voice softly.

"Huh?"

"My name is Gia... Dignita," The boy said solemnly.

"Dignita? That means you are..." The two men in the car could not hide their surprise.

Gia nodded slowly.

The inspector turned to where a car had crashed and exploded hundred meters below hours ago.

"Are they your parents?"

The boy could feel his eyes getting heavier by the passing seconds and before he could give out his answer, he passed out completely in the car.