Two girls sleep soundly on an old bed, it's mattress filled with old hey and is more lumps then bed, the frame and posts are maid up of old cedar that has splintered and bent from years of use. They hold each other close under their thin blankets, to keep each other warm through the chill of autumn. Wind blasts through the cracks of the old cottage with little gentleness or care for the two girls sleeping.

As they sleep oblivious to the world outside their minds, things watch them from across worlds, they watch at their peaceful sleep, they watch their dreams, they watch their lives.

They have watched them from the moment they were born, watched as the girls took their first steps, as they learned to run, as their mother tried so desperately to crush their souls and control them, as they become themselves.

They watched it all, never stepping in or saying something, just watching, letting fate choose their paths. And as they watched the girls, they waited, waited till the day they would take them away to a new world, a new destiny.

//Belladonna//

I wake up to the sounds of Nia singing, her voice is like a the sweetest candy melting into your ears, sweet and pure, it's beautiful. But after you hear it everyday for nearly 18 years it gets irritating, especially when you yourself have a voice that sounds like a cat who just got stabbed. As she turns around to reach one of her old pins, not really paying attention, she jolts back in surprise when she sees me awake, with my usual sourpuss face.

"Your awake earlier then usual today Donna" she says with a smile on her face.

I try to give her a smile back but my face is resisting the attempt, and instead of a nice small smile like I wanted, it ends up looking like someone is trying to pry my mouth open by the corners upward. I can only imagine it isn't pretty, but Nia laughs at my attempted smile, her laugh warm like the rest of her.

My sister is the embodiment of lovely, she screams warmth and love, which only adds to her beauty. She has warm skin, like she lays in the sun all day. Her hair is the colour of a new born fawns with strands of gold woven into it, her eyes the colour of warm chocolate melting, and her lips the colour of a warm pink sunrise. She is everything I am not.

If she is warmth and love, I am death and cold. My skin is pale like snow, my hair dark as burning coals and my eyes a blue so pale it looks like cracking ice. We are two sides of the same coin, even in our personalities, she is everything you'd expect her to be, kind and warm hearted, always sees the good in people. I on the other hand not so much, I see the world for what it is, cruel and cold and unforgiving.

As Nia's laugh dies down she looks at me with a smile on her face, even though we are so different, I love her more then anything in this world, and would do anything for her, as she would for me. This time when I try to give a smile, my face doesn't resist and I give a small smile back.

"So I'm heading to the book store soon, I thought you might want to join me?" She says to me with a knowing look on her face

Every since we were a children we have always loved to read, she loved reading books of fairytales, where a prince would one day come and save the princess form some evil villain. I liked to read books of adventures and far away lands, so I could imagine what it could be like, if only for a moment. So when she walks out of our room, I get up and start to get ready as fast as I can.

I open my drawer of the wardrobe and look through my dresses, which there aren't a lot of, but I find the one I want, so I slip my old tattered night gown off and shimmy into my dress. It's a plain dress that I've worn a thousand times before, but it's still better then walking into town naked. I run my fingers through my hair trying to get all the knots from it, which isn't too hard, my hair is long and wavy, it reaches just above my hips.

I strap on my old boots that have a couple of small holes in them, then I'm out the door. I walk down the hallway to the front door trying to be quiet as possible on the old creaky floor, I really don't want mother to see me, and I really don't want to talk to her. I tip toe my way to the door grabbing the handle and preparing to swing it open when I hear her.

"Belladonna, where are you going?" She says in her usual bitter and angry tone.

I turn around and see my mother sitting down at her herbal table, she makes her money by making potions and elixirs for people, poisons too, her favourite and specialty. Her mouth is in a frown like usual, my mother was once a beautiful women but her anger and bitterness has wrecked her beauty. I look almost exactly like her except younger, I have her pale skin, dark coal hair, long lashes, sharp face, and cold eyes. Only I few things I got from my father, my ice blue eyes, my full pouted lips and bit of a softer nose, still sharp but softer then my mothers.

I have never met the man who has given me these things, never known him, he is a mystery to me, but I know my mother hates him like no other. She speaks of him when she's drunk, only then will she speak of him and she never even says his name. I remember when me and Nia were young she had gotten very drunk once, she had spoken of him and she had said….

"Have I ever told you about your father girls?" She looks down at us and squints her eyes as if looking for something, but she continues on.

"I suppose not, well when I first saw him I knew I was in love, he was so handsome and dashing" She sighs and looks off like she's thinking of it now.

"I did everything and anything to get close to him, and I did, I made him fall in love with me, we were so happy" she smiles to herself.

"But it didn't last long, a girl came along, so pure and pretty, she stole him from me" she bangs her fist into the table in anger, like it had just happened moments ago and not years.

"After he was gone I found out I was pregnant with you two, I never told him, I wouldn't let him take you away from me, as he took my heart" She smiles to herself as if in victory, some small victory she finds in taking us away from him, of depriving us of a father.

I'm shaken from my memory's when I hear her repeat her question, but with more annoyance in her tone this time, more anger because I haven't answered her yet.

"Belladonna, where are you going?!"

"I'm going to the library with Begonia" I say stone faced to her, my mother doesn't like emotions, thinks their weakness. She's been bitter and angry ever since my father left her, so she's taught us since we were young, to not feel, to ignore it, and push it down so deep inside us that we don't feel it. I listened to her, only ever showing and feeling emotion to Nia, only with her do I feel safe enough to feel.

I feel nothing for my mother really, she's pushed her hatred and anger and bitterness onto us so much that the only thing I feel for her is mild annoyance and resentment. My sister is the opposite of me, she feels everything, wants to feel everything, while I listened to our mother she did the exact opposite.

She looks at me, at what I'm wearing, how my hair is done, what shoes I chose, then she looks back up at my face, assessing and judging, finally she speaks.

"Don't be long, I need you and Begonia to pick herbs for me in the forest" is all she says before returning to her work, ignoring me now. I give a sigh of relief internally. I open the door and walk out, closing it behind me with a big thud, I take a big deep breath of the forest air and release it. I look up and see Nia waiting for me patiently, holding a small basket in her arms with wild flowers in it, she smiles at me and says…..

"Ready?" She says in her usual sweet voice.

"Ready" I say, glad to be getting out of the cottage, and away from our mother.

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Hi everyone, first off I wanna thank you all for reading this, second off I just wanted to let you guys know this is my first attempt at this, so there are probably gonna be some mistakes, but I'm trying my hardest to do a good job, so please let me know what you think as I continue Dark Loves Light!

Thank you!!!