The Girl

Before

Hi there curious reader. As luck would have it, you're reading this (sort of) book. I guess you could call it a historic fiction kind of read but who knows whether it's fiction or not in another world. No one, that's who. Now, before we start the book I just want to go over a few things. One of them is that the names of the important characters will not be said until it's relevant. The reason behind this is for both a upcoming plot twist and for the character's own safety. So, for now, the main protagonist of this story will just be 'the girl', which is very ordinary for a child who is anything but. Another point is that, not to worry, but it will all make sense in the end, I have that planned and the ending, I hope, is really good and will tie up any questions you are left asking. Either way, I hope you enjoy reading and I (the narrator) will be checking up on you every so often to see if we are on the same page with everything (that was a pun because it's a book.)

The little girl dragged her doll behind her as she held the hand of her mother while they walked through the streets of the Austrian Empire in 1829. The little girl was seven years old, just turned seven actually. The girl, like most, has a mother and a father who loved her. Her father was a Serbian Orthodox priest of the church and her mother was just like any other at the time, a housewife. 

The girl's mother was out buying grocery's and took her daughter with her, they were just heading back to their home. 

The girl looked up at her mother "Mummy, can I visit dadda in the church today, I'll be real quite I will." 

"Okay sweets, just promise to be real quite, he is prayin' to the Lord today, absolute silence is needed to reach our God."

The girl nodded in agreement, pleased that she would get to see her father earlier than most days. Seeing their house in the distance, the girl let go of her mothers hand and ran towards it, clutching to her doll and a bit of oregano that her mother made her carry. The girl ran into the house and threw the oregano onto the wooden table, short after her mother came in, chuckling at the girls obvious excitement. 

"Well, isn't someone excited to see her father, go grab me a bowl from the counter then you can leave to see him." The girl didn't answer but instead smiled and did as she was told, kissed her mother on the cheek then ran out of the house and in the direction of the local church. 

It is a good thing that the church was just down the block or the girl's mother would never let her go alone. When she reached the small path leading to the church doors, the girl slowed her pace due to passing into a place of worship. She patted down her hair and stood up straighter, clutching her doll and started walking like a respectful lady of the time. The girl opened the church doors as quietly as possible and slipped in without notice from her father who was kneeling in front of a few candles and a shrine to Jesus or whatever (don't tell anyone she said that, but the matter of fact was that the girl couldn't care less about religion which is considered blasphemous especially for the daughter of a priest). The girl silently walked up the aisle and kneeled beside her father, he glanced at her but nothing more before he went back to repeating his Hail Mary's. The girl mumbled an Our Father prayer then got up and walked around the pews of the church before giving up and saying what was on her mind to her father. 

"Father, may I go upstairs to play in the attic." The girl felt a rush from directly disobeying her mother and breaking the absolute silence rule but she tried not to show such emotions in the presence of her father, who would probably be upset at her interruption. Her father looked up and stopped his prayers which meant that the girl had most likley done something terribly wrong. 

"Never ask me that again, that place is forbidden and you know it, now go." Father said with an unearthly calmness to his voice.

"But fathe-" 

"GO!" he shouted and pointed to the door, the blood rushing to his face. 

The girl ran out of the church as fast as her small legs would allow me, scared to face her father's wrath even further. 

When she got home, she saw her mother cooking in the kitchen and quickly ducked out of the way to avoid talking to her, the girl would do it in the morning when she had the patience and a calmer mind. The girl ran and jumped into her covers, tears brimming her eyes. The girl's father had never acted so fiercly towards her before, he always had such kindness to him, like he could do no harm and to have her father act so harshly baffeled the innocent girl. Either way, she knew to never ask to go into the attic or certain punishments would befall on the rather shaken girl. And with that thought, the girl fell asleep and didn't think about the attic for the next week. That is, until something happened.