Stolen Essence - Aster North Page 0,191

her. Instead, he created those peculiar sounds through his fur-covered mouth and held her in the air. The girl didn’t understand what was happening, and she began to cry.”

“Does he hurt her?” Grace asked quietly, and her question sounded more like a statement as if she already knew the ending because that’s what happens to little girls.

I shook my head. “No, he didn’t harm her, but he did hand her over to a different creature with a colorful fur. It bared its teeth, but the girl didn’t feel threatened. She couldn’t figure out the sounds, but they were soft, and they relaxed her. The colorful creature let her down and handed her something round. The girl stared at it, then peered up at the colorful creature. What was she supposed to do with it? She sniffed it, squeezed it, and broke it, but she still did not understand what it was for. The colorful creature clucked, and the girl looked up again. The colorful creature held one exactly like the girl had. It put the round thing to its mouth, bit the disc, and chewed. The girl tentatively did the same, surprised that the food almost melted on her tongue. It tasted wonderful, and so she devoured it, shoving it into her mouth faster than she could swallow.”

Grace’s brows furrowed. “So they fed her? Why? Are they people?”

I nodded but held up a hand. “The colorful creature took the girl to her cave, and over time, the girl learned so much. She learned that they were people, and they lived in a town, in buildings called houses. The woman who’d taken her home cared for her and was very kind. She even allowed the girl to make a place for her bird in the room given to her. The girl was pleased. She wasn’t cold any longer, and she regularly ate without much work for it. Oh, and the books that the woman read to her were amazing. The girl couldn’t believe that so many things existed, and she was grateful for the woman for warning her of fantastical monsters and telling her of great heroes. Of course, she didn’t care for the colorful fur they made her wear. She hated clothes, but she wore them to make the woman happy. Eventually, the woman took her to a different place, one with people the same size as the girl. The woman told her she would learn new things, like reading stories on her own. Perhaps the girl would make friends, she said.”

“So, the girl started school?” Grace asked.

“She did, but she didn’t learn the new things that the woman spoke of. She did not make friends. Instead, the children were cruel, making fun of her scars and blue skin. None of them were blue, so they called her mean names and pulled her hair. The teacher told her she was stupid and would never learn to read the books as she so desperately wanted. So, the girl ran home, tears streaming down her face, not understanding what she did wrong.” I paused, allowing Grace to linger on the picture of the poor child.

“But it wasn’t her fault the children were so hateful,” Grace objected.

I ignored her words and continued. “The woman wiped the girl’s tears and told her that sometimes, people are afraid of anything different. When they are frightened, they are cruel and want to destroy that thing. The girl still didn’t understand, but when the woman made her return, she went.”

Grace’s head jerked up, her face a picture of horror. “She sent her back?”

“She did. Binal after binal, the woman saw her off to the school, and despite the woman’s claim that they would grow to love her, they never did. The girl tried everything, scrubbing and painting her skin to rid itself of its color, learning to speak as they did, playing their games, and giving away her food. Then the girl aged, becoming a beautiful young female, but even that could not dent their hatred. The girl often thought of returning to her true home, to the place where she was alone, but she couldn’t leave the woman. Not after all she’d done for the girl. Not when the woman was sick, so she stayed and endured the abuse. Eventually, the woman died, leaving the girl with no one to balance out the bad. The girl, now a woman herself, left, but instead of returning to the forest, she set out for another town. On her

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