I take another step away from the stranger. His eyes were a little glazed as he just stared at me.

"You have your mother's birthmark..." he finally said. 

I step back even more. He was talking about my birthmark on the left side of my neck. It always reminded me of a bird and my hand reached up to touch it. It wasn't very visable except in the light of the moon. My heart beated faster from fears. It wasn't because he knew of my birthmark, but because he said my mother had one too. She didn't. Her neck was birthmark free. 

"Who are you?" I ask again, trying to stand my ground even though I felt... empty.

"I'm... I'm you're father." 

A hysterical laugh bursted out of me. The man just looked at me with new emotions in his eyes. Loneliness. Sorrow. But the one emotion that made my throat itchy and made my birthmark burn with a searing pain even though I had seen it in his eyes earlier, this felt different. Regret.

He stepped toward me again. Slowly. Carefully. I didn't back away. He moved slow as I held still. His eyes were glazed with tears. When he finally reached me, he stood 3 feet away but still close, tears were rolling down his face. His hand reached to touch my face and I flinched. An emotion crossed his face. One that I can't describe other than hateful sorrow. 

"How?" I ask, not sure how to word it. How was he my father?

He looked pained as he stared at me. "I-...I'm sorry Valerie."

The name stopped my racing thoughts before filling my mind with new questions. "Valerie?" 

The man nodded. "Me and your mother gave you the name Valerie Maeve Davis when you were born. I-" he stared at my birthmark. "We were so happy when you were born. You were the best thing in our lives."

I listened carefully, trying to find something to stomp away the hope that was fluttering inside me. I didn't want to get my hopes up.

Hope is one of the most cruel things that ever existed. It gives you the most warm feeling, then when it gets stomped out by reality, it's a cold slap to the face.

"My name... is Vianna Sage Quinn." I say standing straight and backing away from the stranger.

His eyes seemed to drown itself with guilt. I could almost see it clawing away everything. Every thought. Every feeling besides itself. His hand curled into a fist and I flinched back even more. He noticed and looked down at his hand and relaxed it before looking at me again. 

Everything inside of me itched to run somewhere else. An urge of importance that I had forgotten about. The reason I...

The reason I was here!