Village Of Shadows

Donna Beneviento

Donna Beneviento was always a special child. Loved and cared for in a strange way by her very peculiar parents, now famous doll makers.

From a very young age she developed an introverted personality, which was mainly due to the scar on her face.
This, coupled with her family's strange and distant settlement, caused the parents of the town's children to resent her, causing her to make no friends.

Reserved and shy, little Donna simply isolated herself quietly in a corner, away from all the other children, with an extremely paralyzing fear that one of them would hurt her.
Only the welcome company of her beloved doll Angie, a cherished gift from her father, made her happy in any way.

But that changed, the day a new boy arrived in town.
A Miranda's son, Jason, was his name.
The foreigner, the other children whispered, surely having heard their parents whisper it.

Jason, like her, was not liked by the other children.
But unlike Donna, who, despite her self-isolation, did care about it, did care to know why those kids were shutting her out.
He didn't really care, in fact, he didn't care, there were worse things, he said to himself.
Things like losing a sister.

Jason was a fearless young man, and extremely curious.
Which led him to want to meet the strange girl with a doll, which his classmates whispered about behind his back.
With confidence, he made his first attempt.
Mother always told him he should make friends.
Two are more than one, he told himself.

Jason would later remember that his first attempt had been a very bad one, the girl had simply rejected him outright, but not in the way he expected.

-"Leave us alone please". She begged her imperiously.

The boy immediately frowned, until he noticed the tight grip the girl offered the doll in her arms.

Fear. He thought.

He looked at her again, and she sank deeper and deeper into place, squeezing his wrist even tighter.
Jason frowned again, as he gave her space, determined to try again tomorrow.

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Donna was having the worst day of her short life.

In just a couple of minutes all her peace of mind had gone down the drain.
Her partners had taken her precious doll Angie away from her, and, if that hadn't been enough, they were just now passing her off to each other.

-"Please". She begged, as she tried to reach for her beloved Angie, but everyone turned a deaf ear.

A girl advanced towards her, stopping her in her tracks, and Donna had naively thought that maybe it would help her, but it was the opposite.
The girl pushed her hard, throwing her to the ground, and if that act, that humiliation had not been enough already, with a look of utter disgust, she spat at her.

-"Freak!".

Donna immediately burst into tears, closing her eyes, she began to pray to any god in existence.
Begging, pleading that, when she finally opened her eyes, everything that was happening, would have been a mere figment of a horrible dream.
She longed for everything to be all right, she begged for Angie to be in her arms.
She just wanted peace and quiet.
She wanted to go home.

When she finally opened her eyes, she could see that her prayers had been answered. But in a way she hadn't expected at all.

A boy, the stranger, was standing in front of her.
Donna, having him so close, could see his features well, managing to see that he had a black eye, but, in spite of that, he was giving her a bright smile.
In his arms he carried Angie, his beloved Angie.