Vira's vision blurs. Something sick is rising inside her. A hand turns the faucet on. Her body cries, even though her mind refuses.
Click. Clack. Click. Clack.
The sound of her mother's heels.
She gasps silently. Her heart feels like it's being pierced with a needle.
She hides behind a shelf, pretending to search. Pretending to forget where the book is.
"Honey?" the queen calls sweetly. "Found 'mother's' book yet?"
Vira peeks from the shelf. "Uh… not yet."
"Let me help."
Vira freezes. But her body instinctively replied "Sure! You can help me look for the book 'mother'!"
They search. But Vira can't concentrate. Something haunts her. A memory.
A moment when she was just trying to make milk… under the watchful eye of the storm.
It's back.
And now it's knocking again.
Three chapters. And already, this story is cracked with pain. If you're still here… how brave of you. I can't even read this without crying.I 'hope' this ends happily…
Vira wakes up. Gasping, breathless—as if she hadn't breathed all night.
"What happened last night?"
A sharp pain hits her heart. Not a needle. A screw.
She looks beside her. No 'father.' He's already gone.
She lifts the blanket. Her body is marked. She's naked.
Vira feels sick. Small. Like she could vanish into a black hole.
She limps out of bed. Her 'father' hadn't held back.
She puts on her robe. Heads to the kitchen. Makes breakfast—for herself and for Vireo.
Upstairs, she hears laughter. Her 'parents' enjoying themselves.
She sits. Bacon and eggs. Just enough to fill… not her stomach, but what's left of her to enjoy in this cruel fairytale.
She eats slowly.
Tears fall. She doesn't even notice.
She just… stares into the blue, lost in the shadows of her memories.