The Seven and The Hidden Child

Chapter 45

The ending is very rushed because I lost a lot of text and had to rewrite the entire middle and ending. Sorry if it's not great, i know it's definitely not up to standards.

Mother's Forest

Long ago in a small cottage along the edge of a flowing blue river, a young girl lived alone with her mother. She spent her days in the forest surrounding their small cottage picking flowers from the path and gathering fish from the river. Her mother always greeted her every morning with a smile before the girl went off to pick flowers and gather fish. 

One morning, the girl sighed loudly during breakfast. She was tired of doing the same things every day. She always picked flowers and gather fish while her mother went off into town to sell fish and flowers at the market. 

On that morning of wonder, the girl said, "Mother, why must I stay here to pick flowers and gather fish? I would like to go into town with you."

The mother replied, "No dear. If you come into town with me, then who will gather the flowers and fish to sell tomorrow?"

The girl was satisfied with the answer her mother gave her. It made perfect sense. If she didn't collect flowers and fish, they would have nothing to sell. Without the money from the market, her mother would be unable to be bread and eggs for breakfast the next morning.

So she went about her day gathering flowers and fish.

That night, her mother brought home a treat. She gave the daughter a book of tales about princes and princesses.The girl read all night, taking herself to a brand new place full of magic and love. 

As she read, the girl had an idea. If her mother agreed, then she would be able to go into town while someone else picked the flowers and gathered the fish. 

"Mother," the girl said while they ate their bread and eggs during breakfast, "What if I marry?"

Her mother was shocked. She said, "Dear, why would you ever need to get married?"

"Well," the daughter replied, "then we would have someone to pick the flowers and gather the fish. If I marry, then I can go into town with you."

"My dear, are you unhappy with you life? Have I not given you enough to be happy?" Mother asked.

"No, Mother. I love my life. I just wish I could do more than picking flowers and gathering fish," the daughter replied.

The mother, angry with her persistent daughter, left the cottage to go sell flowers and fish. After mother left, the girl huffed and puffed, she walked back and forth across the cottage, refusing to go and fetch the flowers and fish. She was angry and upset. Her mother did not trust her to handle her responsibilities and experience new things. 

Against her mother's wishes, the girl picked up her shawl and draped it around her shoulders. She left the cottage and set off into the woods, following the path she had seen her mother walk down so many times before. The path was lit up with torches, branches hanging low. 

The forest was beautiful, full of green trees and grass, birds and squirrels. But soon the beauty disappeared and the forest changed into a wretched place. The leaves on the trees darkened and the branches hung lower, at more jagged angles. The path became made of dirt, twigs and tree roots tripping the girl as she walked. The sounds of birds and squirrels chittering in the trees faded away, soon replaced with moans and screams. 

The girl hugged her shawl around herself and ran, hurrying through the strange and scary forest. She ran and ran until the thick bricket of trees opened up, revealing a bright light. The girl stumbled out of the forest and looked up to see the bright sun overhead. Around her, a village of bustling people. 

The girl smiled and skipped out. She had a single goal in mind, a goal that would ensure she could always go to the village. She needed to find someone to pick flowers and fish, at least on days where she wanted to go to the village. 

She spent her day, running around the village and talking to people, asking them to come do her job for her. After much asking and an equal amount of refusal, the girl found three kids, around her age, who agreed. They smirked and laughed and whispered as the girl took them back to her cottage. She didn't run through the odd, creepy forest, feeler safer now that others were with her. 

Back at the cottage, her mother hadn't returned. The girl rolled her eyes. She had been unsuccessful in locating her mother at the village. She had hoped to be able to convince her mother to let her stay, but when she couldn't locate mother, she resorted to finding someone to do her job. 

"This is my home," the girl said, leading them inside.

"How quaint. What's it made of?" The tallest of the three, a girl with straight blonde hair, asked. 

"Oh, well, I don't know. Mother made it with her mother. One day, she'll help me build a cottage of my own!" The girls answered, smiling to her new friends, "I think its wood, but I cannot be sure."

"Interesting," the black, messy haired boy said. 

"You know, it's very dangerous to have house made of wood," the girl with brown, curly hair said. 

All three of them stood, putting their weight to one side. 

"Why is that?" the girl asked. 

The blonde girl laughed, her laugh anything but pleasant. "Sorry for lying to you. But we've already been shunned from seven villages. Where else can we find such daft souls other than the woods?"

"What do you mean?" the girl asked. 

The blonde girl didn't answer, and neither did her friends. The black haired boy and brown haired girl tilted their heads and left, walking out of the cottage. The girl shook her head, asking them to stay. They had promised to help her with the flowers and fish. She frowned, not knowing what to do. 

The blonde placed her hand against the wall fo the cottage, stretching her arm back, twisting it in a way that had to of been uncomfortable. She whispered a series of strange words, keeping eye contact. From where her hand was placed, fire erupted against the wall, spreading out to the roof. 

The blonde girl walked out, slamming the door behind her. The girl eyes widened as her home was enveloped in flames. She ran forward, to the door, and grabbed the handle. She pulled, but it wouldn't open. The handle's temperature became increasingly hot until she had to let go. Weeping, she went to the windows, but they were closed too. 

Her friends had betrayed her, locking her in her own cottage, caught aflame. She fell to floor, crying and calling for her mother. The flames danced closer to her and she wept, soon overtaking her body and burning her alive. 

Mother came home hours later to find her cottage burned to the ground, the body of her daughter inside. She screamed and wept in agony. In front of the cottage was a photograph of three kids in front of the cottage in fire. From that day forward, Mother hides in the woods, waiting for the three who killed her daughter to come back. She has a secret dungeon where she keeps the children who she think are responsible for her daughters death. 

She never leaves and she will never give up until she kills the two girls and one boy who signed their own deaths.