It was late night and MisterHope was sleeping on his bed in his tiny apartment. It had been a very busy day for him, having to take care of the store as well as the work he had to do for Don Albino, so he needed a good sleep. But for some reason he was not able to sleep properly, he kept waking up every few minutes.

But this time it was different.

This time MisterHope woke up shouting "No, Please don't kill her, please I beg you." After waking up still, he hept shouting loudly and moving frantically. After a few moments he got a hold of his surroundings and realised he was having a nightmare. But this was not just any nightmare. This was the nightmare from which he was running for 2 long years. This nightmare was the reason he left his town, only in the hope that it would leave him alone.

Sadly that was not the case as this was no ordinary nightmare, this was his past. A past he had buried 6 feet under the ground. A past he wanted to forget but couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. A past that reminded him how weak he was.

Tears rolled down MisterHope's cheeks, he kept crying till his eyes had swollen and tears had run out. After a while he laid back down on his pillow and kept staring at the ceiling. He had no desire to sleep now, he was now dreaming with open eyes, he was remembering his past.

Somehow the night passes and MisterHope gets out of bed, eyes still swollen and his mind numb. He starts doing morning chores but without paying any attention as he was still lost in his past and his body was acting on autopilot. 

He opens his closet and puts out clothes to wear, after taking a bath he finds himself standing shirtless in front of the mirror which was not very clean. Still there was something that was clearly visible in it. It was three bullet marks. One on his shoulder and two on his stomach. He stares at the marks and remembers that dreadful night. 

He keeps standing there staring for quite some time. Suddenly theres a knock on the door and once he finally comes back into the world of reality he quickly covers himself with his shirt and thinks to himself who it might be this early in the morning.

He doesn't really know anyone in the building and also wasn't expecting anyone.

So he walks up to the door and asks who is it. He doesn't get any reply from whoever it was on the other side of the door. He leans towards the table which was kept just beside his door and opens the drawer and quickly grabs his gun. He unlocks the door and opens a small crack only big enough to see who was this uninvited guest.

As soon as MisterHope opens a crack in the door a large lady bursts in through the door shouting

"How many times have I told you, no more shouting during the night.". She is followed by her husband who owns this building.

MisterHope starts apologising to them for the inconvenience and disturbance he caused them and to other tenents, but the lady keeps shouting at him.

Soon her husband says "We cannot allow you to stay here any longer. You must leave immediately."

MisterHope was in no mood to argue, so he reaches under his bed and pulls out his briefcase, puts it on the bed and throws it open. He opens the almirah and takes out his clothes and throws them inside the bag. There was not much he owned so the packing took hardly 10 minutes.

He picked up his bag gave the landlord the rent he owed for the month and left the apartment building. By now he knew of many places he could rent but he also knew that he would eventually be asked to leave from there aswell. Afterall this was not the first time such a thing was happening.

After thinking for a few minutes, standing below the building he decides he will stay in the empty room he has in the HopeClothing store which he owns.

He starts walking towards the store while on the way he finds a stray cat lying just outside his store shivering, at first he tried to avert his attention fromt he cat but after thinking for a few seconds MisterHope decides to take the cat inside the store with him.

The cat seemed visibly frightened and hungry. After feeding and comforting her MisterHope says

"It's ok MisterCat you are safe now. Your nightmare is over now that you are with me. Let me now tell you about my nightmare."

MisterHope picks MisterCat and sits him in his lap. Then MisterHope finally starts narrating.

It was 2 years ago. MisterHope lived in a town in New England then. He had been married for a year and a half now but still had the glow of a newly married man on his face. He was a hard working and dedicated employee. He was nearing a very big brake in his career and was very focussed on it. So much so that he forgot it was his daughter's birthday this week and he had no preparation done for it.
So to help him out he asked two of his friends who were also his colleagues. Jack and Mark were their names. The three of them had  been friends for almost 10 years now.

Thankfully MisterHope's friends were good at such things as they had much experience in organising big parties. It was common for both of them to throw such parties atleast once a month. MisterHope however was not such a wealthy person.

Finally the day arrived and MisterHope found himself stuck at work. He was sitting in his car when he realises his wife Jasmine must be worrying about him. Also he did not want to be late for his daughter's birthday.
Well, no more late than he already was. So he decides he can complete this job tomorrow and heads home.
When he reaches his home he finds the guests had already arrived and the party had started. He finds Jasmine standing in the kitchen staring at him. He goes to meet her and plants a kiss on her cheeks. He asks about his daughter and is told that she has already slept and was in her room.

He goes straight to her room and stands there starign at her. He says to himself  "What did I ever do to deserve you my little princess."
He keeps looking at her with eyes full of love for quite a while. Then he approaches his little angle and plants a kiss on her forehead.
Then he comes out of the room and joins everyone else at the party.

It was a great night, he danced with Jasmine and everyone enjoyed a lot. But just like all good things this night must also come to an end. 
However it was not a good night at all.

This was the night that was going to haunt MisterHope for the rest of his life. After the party ends and all guests had gone home he finds his friends passed out on the couch. He covers them with blankets and starts heading upstairs to his room with Jasmine. 

"It was a good party right?" MisterHope asks Jasmine for her approval. 

"Yes it was."

A voice comes from downstairs. It was Jack and Mark stading there. 
 

Misterhope and Jasmine come down again and MisterHope says
"I thought you were passed out. Both of you can stay over if you want."

"We are not here to stay Hope. We are here for the file which has all the evidence against Don Gonzalo" Mark says.

"What do you want to do with that file. That is my case and I am going to submit my report to Captain the day after tomorrow. I have enough evidence to put the bastard in jail for the rest of his life." MisterHope replies.

"You see, we can't let you do that. Hand over the file or we will have to kill you and then we will take the file." This time it was Jack who spoke.

Soon, argument broke between the three of them and Jasmine tries her best to cool all of them. 

MisterHope was furious as he has not expected his friends to be some Gangster's pets. His frieds who were now pointing guns at him and his wife.

MisterHope jumps at Mark and soon gunshots are heard and MisterHope looks at himself.  It looked like Mark had missed his mark. But the bullet didn't just go through the roof.

It hit Jasmine in the throat and she falls intantly to the ground. Misterhope looks back and snatches Mark's gun and fires all the remaining bullets in Mark's chest.  Jack backs off and is just standing there. He had not expected things to go this way.

Misterhope looks at Jack who was standing paralysed and murmuring "This is not how it should have went" he kept repeating this.

MisterHope jusmps back to Jasmine and puts he on his lap and says
"Talk to me my love, everything will be alright" he kept talking to the lifeless body of the love of his life and crying all this time.

After few minutes MisterHope looks up and finds Jack standing there with a gun in one hand and baby Rose in the other. He threatens her life if MisterHope doesn't gives up the file.

Misterhope begs Jack to leave his daughter alone and tells him where the file is. Jack grabs the file from the drawer and shoots Misterhope in the stomack twice.

Misterhope gets wounded but he didn't seem to care about it as he now saw Jack turning the gun on his daughter.

He bags jack "No, Please don't kill her, please I beg you. She is just a kid. You are his uncle. Please don't do this."

Jack replies "Who is gonna take care of her once you are dead too." and pulls the trigger. Misterhope holding his wife's lifeless body looks at his daughter now. It was as if his soul has left his body already.

Jack then shoots MisterHope one final time and flees the scene. The bullet hits MisterHope in the shoulder and now he also lays on the floor along with the love of his life and his life herself, his daughter Rose.