Morning arrived. The first rays from the sun dropped anchor on a large tower outside the window and oozed through the extended curtains into the little girl's room. It gave a sense of ardency from the stormy weather of last night which elicited a fresh breeze.
"Mama, how long will Papa stay outside? I am sad" Harriet looked at the reflection of her mother through the large oval mirror hanging on the wall of the small room. She followed the delicate smooth hands of her mother as she was brushing her hair, separating a few strands to braid and adding the flowers they had taken together from a field nearby. Advertently, she swung around to embrace her mother's face in her palms.
Something was missing.
The spark in her mother's eyes was lost. No morning kisses? No sweet smile? Most importantly, no color on her mother's skin.
"Mama, are you hurt anywhere?" Harriet pulled her mother's face closer in quest of a bruise or anything to decipher the dead spark in the woman's eyes. The little girl scrutinized yet found nothing amiss. But she was certainly sure of - she must be wrong. Was she? Asked Harriet to herself.
Harriet had no idea of what had happened to her father. The reason for her mother's gloominess.
Marinette while still staring deadly, subconsciously began treading the ends of her daughter's hair with the brush. The woman was still traumatized by the incident of the previous night.
"Dear, your father is resting. He is with your grandparents" She murmured under her breath. Harriet on the other hand, fought with her brain to understand her mother's unconventional words. The little girl became confused as to the gibberish murmurs escaping her mother's lips. It was unlike her, which gave room for suspicion. Harriet was young, but not stupid.
"But they are dead. In the sky as stars, you told me. Why is Father with them?" Harriet furrowed her brows together as she was expecting her mother to explain. Back in her senses, Marinette gasped discreetly when she almost exposed the truth about Gabriel. Her eyes were ready to give out the fear. She stared at the bright accusing eyes of her daughter and scolded herself in her mind.
Harriet must never discover the truth. Even if she had to take it upon a burden to the grave.
Marinette smiled charmingly, the kind her daughter recognized, but the girl felt something odd with the tender smile. Marinette said, "I mean your father had to travel to get more ingredients for the bread. Harriet must love to taste more delicacies that are different, right?" She pecked at the girl's cheeks.
"Ingredients from dead people?" Harriet pointed out, furrowing one side of her brows. By the dreadful look on her mother's face, Harriet was sure something had happened. She drank in the appearance of her mother, trying to unveil the secret been hidden from her - but what could a child like her get from just staring at a person? She thought with a pout.
The world of the adults was complicating and liaison.
"Dear" Marinette faked a thin smile. The woman had soon choked up to her lungs from the indecent retorted words of the little girl. But she continued to speak, regardless "You see, it'll take months or years before your father returns home..."
"What! Why?" Harriet interrupted fussily. She precipitously shoved her mother's arms away from her shoulder, which in turn led to the flowers threaded behind her hair, getting thrown off and the woman caught off-guard. Instantly, the girl flew to the side, her arms crossed around each other, giving her mother a terrifying glare.
"Baby, you are mature enough to understand right? Father is a businessman, who needs money to cater for the family. A year or two is nothing - after all, it is a way of returning you to good health. Don't you want that? To be able to play with kids of your age circle at last. To attend school by the church tower like others? To relinquish in the freedom, you'd get. Don't you want any of that, dear? I am sure you do. Mummy knows you well" Marinette sweet-talked to the girl.
"Ah, then if Mother knows me, she'll know I put Father first before any of these things. Is money more important than me! This is ridiculous" Harriet screamed, almost piercing the ears of the older woman "Let me die then!" She deadpanned. Her ears burned, and nose infusing invisible smokes.
"HARRIET!" The woman raised her hands to the child, just a few feet away from slapping her daughter's petite face. As she was aware of the mistake, Marinette gasped, mouth covered, face paled as white as a sheet, and her eyes red from the crime she nearly committed. She saw the look of betrayal and hurt marred on her daughter's face and that broke her heart. There was a lump in her heart that seemed to refuse to fade.
"Harriet, baby, Mama didn't mean that" Marinette coaxed, walking closer to her child. But as the words left Marinette's lips, Harriet let a tear slip down her eyes, before she turned her back against her mother and ran out of the room, castigating the door in outrage.
"Harriet, come back, please. I am sorry. I never meant to..." Marinette pleaded for. She pursued her daughter out of the room, but as she moved forward to catch up with the child, she failed to sight the sewing machine by her left, which she collided with her feet by mistake. The impact of the heavy machine made her drop on the face, creating a slight cut onto her forehead.
"I am sorry, Harriet. Y-You are the only one I have now" She mumbled "Gabriel has left us behind."
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With everything as clear as day, the sunlight fell into the land of Aetherwatch, where the townsfolks had gathered in their shops, lamenting over the disaster of the storm and about the ruins of their properties.
Marinette Chowbury flickered her blue eyes across the street, passing her fellow villagers, who were daunted by the mishap the rain had caused to their shops the previous night. When she walked, she could hear voices cursing at the heavens. She heard a deep, melancholy voice remark behind her, saying "Good riddance! My shop is damaged. How do I feed my home? This forsaken town!" which she sighed to, deeply in her heart. They may have lost some worthless items, goods, or cattle, but none compared to the pain she had been emancipated.
The loss of a human. A life.
The freezing air blew past her face, to her loose honey-blonde hair that was raffled behind, and scattered over her face, blocking her view. Marinette flinched from the pain in her head when she untangled her strands. Her dress, a piece of green poorly fabric and overskirt laced with half-partial sequins was donned. Though her dressing looked compatible, she didn't. As she crossed the road, walking on the padded street to the other side, which lead to the main town of Aetherwatch, she lowered her head refusing to meet the wretched gazes of the townies. She needed no one's fairly pity. Even though the walls had ears, she was quite dismayed by their knowledge about her husband being massacred by the Vampire Lord. That was how news spread in Aetherwatch.
Aetherwatch was a small local town - the smallest - in the city of Heathmoor, known for its dignity and prejudice as it was being colonized by the creatures of the night. Well, not entirely as humans fraternized with them. Before any of this colonization, there had been a truce between the people in Aetherwatch and everything remained subdued as it should be. However, as these nightly creatures obtained both political, social and economic power, out of their greedy pleasures, they decided not to connect themselves to the lowly humans; whom they referred to as the 'Catalyst of manipulation'. Instead, they provoked a war - which resulted in all of the humans being caught in death. After the deathly battle, nothing was left for the humans. No homes. No family to call their own. No properties. Everything of theirs died during that war. Their integrity. Their self-respect and even their face.
Before then, Marinette was a kid when she too lost her parents at the hands of those bloody creatures. They had not shown mercy to her parents, and they fed on their blood until they withered to dead flowers as if they were some fruitful juices and not a being like them. As a kid, Marinette lived with her grandparents with retaliation in her heart, hoping one day, there'd be someone who'll avenge her parent's death. Days turned to months, and months became years. In those years, Marinette had turned into a beautiful maiden - one that even the creatures of the night lusted for. At first, the young maiden had planned to manipulate those beasts with her beauty, but despite her plot, she had fallen into the hands of a baker - a kind man, hardworking and good-looking.
They had been in love at first sight. When her grandparents acquiesced to their marriage, they did go ahead. It wasn't up to a month yet when one of the lords in the town asked for her hand in marriage. When she refused, they massacred her grandparents mercilessly. Marinette, finding her life a farce, was often determined to end it. That was not until, the pregnancy of Harriet - The child that bought her euphoria. She and her husband, Gabriel, took into hiding from those monsters. And after the birth of the little girl, Harriet, they were the happiest parents in the world. They were content with life-like those castles with happily ever after, but sadly, theirs never had it.
One day, Harriet got ransacked by a dark witch - one that was very known to eat children in the town of Aetherwatch. Marinette had wept for months and was convicted of sicknesses for the loss of her daughter. Gabriel put all his efforts into bringing his wife to good health, but she never did.
"Oh, Lord! Marinette, our daughter will be safe. I know she is" Gabriel had told her that day on her sickbed. He washed her up, fed her, clothed her, and gave warmth whenever she needed it. Gabriel loved her.
A few days later, there came a loud knock on their door and that was when their daughter was returned. How? It mattered measly to them. Why? They cared less. However, their happiness again was cut short when little Harriet became pale, nearly to death. Her blonde baby hair had begun to turn into silver strands, which they were worried about.
A local chaplain informed them that her soul was corrupted - something the dark witch had done. The young girl they had only reconciled with not long ago, was after a difficult heart issue. If she wasn't properly treated, a day would come when she would never wake up to their world anymore. Marinette was heartbroken. They had little or no money and the occupation of her husband was not thriving enough. Needless to say, they did their best. Sold out all their expensive properties, yet it couldn't provide the amount of coin needed.
Despite the hardships, Harriet survived. Her health was becoming promising and if it went like that, the poor child would be able to fit into the ugly world they lived in.
Feeling insecure as she strolled down the crappy road, Marinette became frustrated as she could not find her daughter. Usually, when disputes like that ensued, her daughter drove herself either to the backyard of the field or the church. But the little one was in none of these places.
"How can you break your mother's soul like this?" Thought Marinette sorrowfully.
"Mother meant well for you"
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Hello. Good news.
I have been contracted which means more concentration and more updates. Finally, a contracted author. My dreams are prospered.
I made a goal for July.
1) Dedicate all my efforts to this book for my readers. Be attentive to corrections and update regularly as promised.
2) I would give lots of mass releases. Please support by voting, using your powerstones. Send lots of gifts. Give golden tickets.
3) When we enter any of Webnovel's rankings, I will give two mass releases. Before I lock the book, I'll take our couple's main leads growth to the highest and make sure we all get hooked on this. No slagging. No laziness. No impatience. I am sure I will manage with your support. I know it.
4) As we know that BOD is in the WSA contest. I checked the list and realized we are lacking behind. It is my fault for the slow updates and late arrival, but I trust we can come up. To be eligible as a winner, please vote for me. Help me. This is my first time in a contest. Please help me.
Thank you.