A boy, not more than 10 years old was lying on the pavement, battered, bruised and near to unconsciousness. People walk by as if they had seen nothing out of the ordinary. Questions were raised in people's head thinking "who would have such a heart to do this to the poor boy?". However, those questions remained a question, not an action. But, it took one lady with the nature of a mother to see and feel the misery with her own heart and mind to finally take an action of kindness.

Some people extend their help only as far as they think it is enough but this one particular lady has a heart of gold that unable her to just stop what she had begun. She took the child in her arms and carried him all the way to the hospital five blocks away. The child was too small and light for his age that she thought that he could only be 8 years old at the most. As she was carrying the child to the hospital, a thousand questions pop into her mind. "Who is his parents?", "Did his parents do this to him?", "If yes, who is he going to live with?". Of course, Clarisse - as that is what her name is - knew the answer for the last question. He was going to live with her.

Layson knew what happened but it was a distant memory, a memory never to remember, in a place deep inside locked away so he does not need to relive the nightmare. Clarisse had been his one and only mother he had ever known to give him the one thing he had been searching for, love. But dare he trust her enough to allow her to enter into that deep dark place he has kept hidden even from himself? 6 years have passed and why does he not trust her? did she not gave him all the love, time and nurture that he needed? Why? Why? Then, the answer came just as suddenly as the question, he did not want it to repeat.

"Why would he not tell me? does he not know that I love him and want only the best for him? To stand up for his right? To protect him?" Clarisse never bugged Layson to tell her what happened. She had done so to give him time to recover. But one day, Layson decided it was time. Enough of hiding, he was tired of it. As he told her, tears were flowing and he kept saying sorry as he though it was his fault. After listening and comforting Layson, Clarisse knew what she had to do. She has to fight for his right. To do so, she had to go back into law. She was once a lawyer but since Layson came into her life she quit and opted for a job as a teacher.

So she started to do research. She tried finding Layson's parents but that proved to be harder than expected. It is as if they often moved around. They have numerous houses but they shifted almost every year. It was not until two months later that she did found where they were. But she was not prepared for what is coming. She found out that Layson's parents were involved in drug and child trafficking.

She should have known, the red flags were everywhere. Layson was abused physically, mentally and emotionally. Even the place, things, and the happenings he told her all pointed to the one reason, but her mind did not want to believe it. It was hard to except the fact that something that horrible can happen so close to home. However, she choose to fight and fight she will, only now with a greater cause. For all the children trapped within that door. She may be a women but she was a women with determination.

She continued with her researched, she wanted more prove to convict these people involved. It came with a price though. She was caught sneaking and intruding into the house and because they did not want anybody to know about their illegal work, they beat her up badly. A persistent women as she was, she fought back and escaped but badly injured. It had gone too far for her to pull back and so she continued her drafting of legal papers that is needed and prepared herself for court. 6 months later with ample training, good health and a courageous heart, she stepped forward to fight for her case.

"Your honour, I would like to start my case by saying that children have equal right as any human has. In fact, they have more rights than most adults. May I add that this children's rights has not been practised by these two person. They look harmless but we never know what may be going on in their minds. Greeds can consume a person so much that they are willing to do any possible thing to fulfil their own greeds" And so she made her case with those opening statement. Days turn to weeks, weeks turn to months and still there is only little progress made for they have covered their tracks good.

Win or lose does not matter as much to Clarisse. To her it's is better that everybody knows these things happens not only in other countries but also close to home. Everyone needs to work together to change the fate of these poor children. But sometimes it takes someone to finally stand up and speak out. Clarisse has opened up her heart to help and she will not stop. The day she decided to help Layson was the day she made changes, how ever small it is, it is still a change and changes are always good. The court proceedings? That is another story to tell.