Every afternoon, he watched the same old video of his grand-daughter, Angela. He sat on the couch looking fixedly at the screen, staring at his beautiful little girl in her pretty floral dress with her favourite grey beanie on her head and a teady bear in her hand giggling in the arms of his grandpa. Angela looked exactly like a pretty doll with beautiful innocent chocolate eyes with a fair complexion and chubby cheeks of a mid-shoulder length straight dark hairs. A smile came from his face as he watched the little girl from the screen. He was happy as such that it was undecipherable whether those tears in his eyes were happiness or sadness. John has been so broken since the loss of angela that he can't live without listening of her soothing voice. He missed her a lot.

•••
They carried the coffin on their shoulders in the graveyard with sad and dull faces. They all felt their heart breaking into pieces realising the fact that their little angel was gone forever. The father was in front carrying the coffin on his shoulder following the inspector behind and John besides. The atmosphere was sombre and depressive. They gently placed the coffin into the grave and surrounded themselves to start praying.

The siren of the police was heard when John turned his back and swiftly rushed to them.

"We don't want the police here, you can go",he said by waving his palm to stop them. The police took off his hat showing a sign of respect and was about to utter a word when the dad of angela came by saying:

"Please come with me",the police obliged the son and walked with his colleagues to attend the prayer.

"All this....All this is their fault!", shouted John. The Father turned his back and came in front of John when he accused:

"All this is your fault! Stop this charade! if you loved her so much, then you should've taken care of her well!",he replied by clenching his teeth.

"The reason my daughter is dead is only because of you John, Only your fault!",he said by pointing it's finger at the grand-father and then left. John was left speechless and was staring shockingly with watery eyes as the dad walked away. He noticed the inspector who had his right hand around a sling and the bruise in his forehead, staring at him. The words of his son-in-law reached straight to his heart and it felt so heart-breaking and unexpected.

•••

The next morning, John came alone to visit his beloving grandchild at the graveyard. He kneeled down in his knees and stared at the small picture of angela.

A single tear fell from his eyes as he realised how he had lost his precious diamond. He placed his hand in his pocket and took off a small red beanie and gently rubbed his fingers on it.

"I was going to bring this earlier" he said by looking at the picture.

"I troubled your grandma a lot to finish this quickly. Our Angela is growing pretty fast" ,he said with a sad tone and then placed the red beanie next to a grey one. He then grapped the grey one by saying:

"I'll...I'll take this old one"

Just after that, he stared at the picture for a few seconds when he declared: "We love you sweetheart.. and we miss you",he said with a cracking voice. He removed his glasses and wipe up his eyes and then left sadly.
•••

He rode his scooter to the nearby church when he noticed a priest outside.

"Hello",he greeted.

"Hello",the priest greeted back.

"Can you please call him?",asked John.

"Who? Martin? Sure",replied the priest.

"Thank you",said John.
•••

He was reading the manuscript in a loud tone: "Lord we expect your blessings-.." and then stopped, unsure of the next line. He quickly put his head towards the book in front of him to read.

"Father..",he whispered quietly.

"One minute",he replied.

He read the book well and then stretched his body and looked foward confidently like any other priest when he said with a high voice :

"Lord we expect your blessings and request that the departed soul-"

"Father, I'm getting married. It's not a funeral",interrupted the groom.

"Doesn't make a difference" he said.

"There is not much of a difference-"

"What?",asked the groom.

"Soon you will realise that",he said then turned his gaze towards the bride:

"Take a good look at her and imagine how will she look when she grows old. Think and decide",he then turned his head to the groom. The latter blushed back when he said:

"I've decided father, I do"

"It can only warn you", said the priest.

"Mrs. Layna Paul, you ready?"

"Yes",replied the bride.

He then stretched his body again and looked forward to continue his prayer.
•••
John was waiting patiently for Martin outside on his scooter when the priest came:

"John uncle, I'm sorry, he can't meet you today. He had to leave urgently", he said by holding a rosary bead in his hand.

John exhaled then took a quick glance at the church when he said:

"Go inside and tell him that just by changing uniforms a policeman does not become a priest. If he was a real priest, he would'nt have lied just to avoid me."

Martin Gas has been secretly staring at John through the window as he watched him going away on his scooter.
•••

John went back home and went through some stuffs when he found a dusty tape. He took it and rubbed off the dirt on it then played it on the cassette while listening:

"Grandpa! Grandpa!"
"I'm sorry, grandpa"
"I made a mistake"
"I should've listened to you"

"I should've listened to you-"
"I should've listened to you-"
"I should've listened to you-"

The tape wasn't working properly and was playing back the same words repeatedly as it has been blocked. John removed it from the cassette and noticed that it was dismantled. He took his screwdriver and repaired it quickly then played it back on the cassette. He pressed the playing button then listened to it carefully:

"I should've listened to you"
"I shouldn't have taken the other route"

•••

"Ring! Ring!",the school bell rang announcing the end. All the childrens ran frantically to go home.

She happily ran among her friends, bid goodbyes then went by foot for home. She decided to take the other route to reach more quickly.

It was a shortcut that his grandpa used to restrict her of never taking such route as it seemed too obscure and dangerous for kids. But, she clearly denied whatever she has been told and went on walking rapidly with her little bag on her shoulder and the grey beanie on her head with the well-stitched strawberry in the middle.

She was walking quietly when suddenly there appeared a black car following her. The driver was a man dressed in black with a hood covering his face. The little girl was clearly unnoticeable of the car behind her and was walking so innocently by singing some melodies.

She was about to take her right when out of the blue someone grapped her hand, covered her mouth with a handkerchief of chloroform to faint her easily. She tried struggling but as the chloroform reached her nostrils, she lost her senses and went unconscious.

The man quietly put her in a large rusted box then locked her and went back into his car.
•••

"Last time she was seen in her school uniform with a cap on her head, Understand?",he explained to the officers.

"During the afternoon, Rippon Street is almost empty. At around 2 p.m, she was abducted from there",he continued.

"There was an eye witness who saw that black van", said officer Martin.

•••
Memories invaded his mind as he kept listening to the same tape until he felt his eyes closed. John fell asleep.