The Girl in the Dark

Beginnings

This fic has been in development for a looooong time and I'm so excited to share it with all of you! This one won't be as long as some of my other fics, but hopefully I can update it more frequently, if that's the case!

Trigger warning: This chapter contains abuse and violence, read with care.

"I'm going, now, Cassandra!"

The four year old looked up from her doodling to meet her mother's matching eyes.

"Have a good day, Mamma!" She grinned.

"Cassandra, for the last time, call me Mother! I thought you were six, not two!"

She'd forgotten her age again.

"I'm five." She whimpered, clutching a crayon in her palm.

"Oh, for goodness sake, stop with the ridiculous pouting, it's very unbecoming!"

"I'm sorry m-mother."

Her "mother" huffed, before marching out of the cottage, locking the door behind her, keeping Cassandra confined to it's walls once again.

The girl sighed sadly, but continued to scribble away at the flimsy paper.

"Ow," she whimpered.

Her arm was hurting again, as was her head.

Her mother called her clumsy, that was why she was constantly bumping her head, twisting her ankles, spraining her wrists. It was all her fault.

Cassandra looked up at the clock above the mantle. It was time for her chores.
She hopped down from her chair, turned the key on her little music box and smiled as the tinkly melody filled the cramped space. She hummed along with it, as her broom glided across the dusty floor.

She never used to be able to turn the key, it had been too stiff for her, but she had grown stronger and had quite the knack for it, nowadays.

As she swept, her tired eyes couldn't help but glance up at the locked window.

Mam- no, Mother, said that they needed to keep everything locked up, to keep Cassandra safe. Apparently, there were ruffians, thiefs, bandits, killers and kidnappers out in the world, yet the little girl couldn't see any. All she could see was the beautiful forest outlook, covered with trees and ...were they called flowers? It all looked so amazing, much better than the dull, old cottage.

A small squeak pulled Cassandra from her thoughts. She furrowed her brow, as it got louder and more frequent.

She followed the squeak, to underneath the stove, where ma-mother, or sometimes herself, would make the disgusting, hazelnut soup for dinner.

She peered under the oven and saw two, wide eyes, blinking back at her.

"Hello?" She called, reaching her sore hand under the stove, gagging at the feel of sticky cobwebs, against her fingers.

She gently took hold of something fluffy, that squeaked in annoyance, as she pulled it into the light.

"Hello there," she tried, running a finger through the fluffy things' fur, "I wonder what you're supposed to be?"

She'd never seen whatever this was before. It was fascinating!

The thing looked at her in confusion, waving it's skinny tail around.
Cassandra tried to go through all the animals she knew in her head, the ones mother had told her to look out for.

Snapping turtles, wild dogs, large sharks and sneaky badgers.

Maybe this thing was a badger? It had been quite sneaky, she supposed, but it definitely wasn't dangerous. It wasn't hurting her, in any way.