(flashback)
"Hey Tashy!" The children giggled at her. Tasha chose best to ignore them all. They were all full of themselves, there wasn't anyone who was left out.
"Oh no, she's ignoring us again."
"Such a weirdo!" Another one said.
In Springdale, she was the one everyone talked about if she just walked past. It was annoying, every single time it happened. A folded note from behind hit her on the head. She felt it, but only tightened her hold on her pencil, almost snapping it in half.
'I will not cry,' she continued muttering to herself. Gently, her lips began to tremble and tears slipped from her eyes, thoroughly against her request.
Her sobs began at first, gentle and silent, but later, she couldn't hear their laughter anymore.
When she got home, she bolted the door behind her and crashed on her bed, still moody. Events of school replayed in her head again and again. She didn't know when her fist began to tighten in anger all over again.
It was the gentle knock on her room door and the sweet voice of her favorite nanny that drove her out of her thoughts. She turned to the sound of the door, totally aware of her belongings hanging in the air around her.
"It's Jennifer, Tasha," Her belongings dropped with a thud.
"Are you okay in there?" Jennifer said again with a very obvious accent.
Tasha's reply was to open the door and crawl back into bed.
"Oh my God, look at the mess you made in here."
" Everyone hates me Jenny, I might as well take it out on what I can," Tasha told her.
"Oh my sweetheart, they don't hate you," Jennifer sat on the bed besides her.
"You know that's not true," Tasha replied.
"They're just jealous, y'know."
"Jealous of what? It's not like they know I can do magic," Tasha said.
"And they shouldn't know," Jennifer said. "That's your secret, that's what makes you special and unique."
"But I don't want to be special. I want to be like the rest of them," Jennifer took the hair that fell on the eleven year old girl behind her ears.
"Remember the story that I told you a week ago?"
"That doesn't happen these days, there's nothing supernatural here. Just me and my crappy self," Tasha said to her.
"Do not worry, my love, one day you'll finally believe all that I have been saying. You'll find out," she cupped Tasha's chin. "that there's more to it. Believe me, when I say that there is, okay."
Tasha nodded.
"Now, now, Anna's been hovering around the door, scared to come in. I'll go get her now,"
Tasha nodded and brought her blanket closer to her chest. When Jennifer left to get Anna, her mind couldn't help but play back to the story she was told.
Werewolf? Pfft, almost ridiculous. But there was a shift in the air that night when Jenny was telling the story to Anna and her that night. As if it was so true.
The door opened again and Anna walked in. They locked eyes for a bit but Anna continued further into the room to take off her uniform.
"I'm sorry," Tasha's voice rang in the silence.
"For what?" Anna said after a while.
"For locking you out,"
Anna went to bed instead. "I'm telling Mrs. Williams, I am switching rooms with Yvonne, then you can't lock me out anymore."
When Tasha didn't reply, Anna shut her eyes, blocking out everything.
---
"You have magic Tasha," Jennifer whispered to her, touching her chin affectionately. "It's not a curse, that's what makes you special."
"But I don't want to be special, I want to be like Phina and all the other girls." She said to Jennifer.
"Oh my sweetheart," Jennifer cooed at the 7-year-old Tasha. Tasha was lucky everyone dismissed the event like it never happened.
..." No you can't play with us," Theo said, snatching the ball she had managed to grab when Anna couldn't catch it.
"We should just let her play with us, Theo," Anna tried.
"Why?" Sky said. A boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. "Mrs. Walter said she was weird, remember? We don't play with weirdos," They all burst out in laughter, including the girls that played on the swing.
"But I am not weird," she whispered to herself mainly. "Nanny Jennifer said I am special,"
"Yah we know, you're special alright." Theophina yelled from where she stood on the swing.
Her fists began to tighten in anger. Distant thunder roared above but they were all oblivious to it. All except Jennifer, who had been watching from the window. She was quick to find her way to the playground.
"I am not weird!" She screamed. This time, the thunder that struck was enough to send them in shock.
"Alright children, it's about to rain, it's best we go inside and out on something thick for the cold." Jennifer said to them, grabbing the ball from Theo.
"But we just began," Stephen complained.
"Not now Stephen, go inside. Inside, everyone, now!" They began to move in without much complaint. But they still spoke amongst themselves.
"She scares the hell outta me."
"I told you she was weird," someone said. Maybe it was Sky. She wasn't sure because they were already inside the house.
"Come Tasha, let's go in" Jennifer said to her before grabbing her hands and leading her inside.
The rain that began was very heavy, diminishing the sound of giggles coming from each of the children's rooms. They already had dinner and headed off to bed early to whirl away the time. It was just 6:30pm.
"I told you to never lose your temper like that?" Jennifer warned.
"Why won't they let me play with them? Why won't they let me?"
Jennifer sighed and covered her properly with her blanket instead. "Good night," she said to Tasha before walking away and shutting the door behind her.
(Ends)
***
'Tasha...'
Tasha frowned in her sleep unconsciously. 'Tasha..." The voice called again, but this time, she jerked awake.
It was morning already, she noticed. The chirps of birds, enough to bring a smile to her face.
'Tasha..'
She turned to the direction in which she heard her name. The same voice again, the same voice that led her here into the forest. The same voice of the woman in her dream, telling her to come home.
She got up and placed her sleeping things in the bag she had been carrying for the past 2 days.
Walking in the direction she was called, she met an old cottage. She looked around for anybody but the only thing she noticed was smoke emitting from the woods that probably had been burning up the previous night.
The aroma that struck her immediately when she opened the door of the cottage was one of food. Tasty and very inviting.
"Anyone home?"
When no one replied, she helped herself in, shutting the door behind her. There was no furniture apart from a rocking chair that sat before the fire. Someone old must be living here, she thought. The house was decorated with a few flowers. It wasn't dusty or filthy or showed signs of an abandoned house. Her fingers felt the edge of the chair and then-
"Who's in here?"
Tasha turned in alarm, sticking the kitchen knife she had stolen from her orphanage home into the air, directly pointed at the source of sound.
Standing before her was a woman looking very much in her forties or even younger with herbs in her hands. Her stare alone made Tasha unsure of her stance. The woman sniffed the air softly, perceiving the sweet aroma of food.
"Is breakfast ready?" The woman asked instead. Not affected that a stranger was standing in her cottage. Aaliyah walked passed her to drop the items she held in her hands. "Yes, it is." She answered herself when she opened her pot of pottage.
"Who are you?" Tasha asked.
"I should be asking you that instead. That isn't the exact word I was expecting, being that I own the cottage you stand in?" Gently, Tasha lowered her knife. "You should think more before holding something you can actually use."
"I might not be good at fighting, but I could do you harm, if I could," Tasha said.
"With what you have, yes, but with what you hold, you wouldn't even get very close."
"Do you know me?" Tasha asked, confusion flashing over her features.
"Yes. Tasha, am I not correct? And you have magic." Aaliyah said to her, smiling when Tasha frowned in confusion.
"Come have something to eat first," She said, but Tasha hesitated. "Do not be afraid. We need each other to survive and I won't make a mistake of causing you harm for the same reason." Aaliyah said. "Feel free, I insist."