Chapter 1
Jacqueline tossed and turned, but it didn’t help escape the piercing morning light. Squeezing her eyes tighter, she sighed. Another ordinary day for an ordinary peasant, Jacqueline was born with nothing and knew that she would die with nothing. Of course, this wasn’t always the case.
When she was a child, she always dreamed of fantastical creatures, such as fairies and unicorns. Oftentimes, she would pretend that the forests outside of her village consisted of magical trails leading to a hidden world, one where she lived like a princess. In this fairytale land, she dreamed of finding herself a handsome prince and living happily ever after with him. However, her childish dreams were still never enough to pull her out of the dark reality of the increasing famine across the land, which progressively got worse with every passing year. Her father passed away when she was twelve years old, which ended her childhood fantasies for good.
Every day since she devoted her life to helping her mother keep their dairy farm afloat. With every passing year, she was gradually hardened and numbed by her life. She felt like a hollow shell, an incomplete being, which would live each day for the rest of her life as if it were the same as the last. It was because of this outlook on life that she no longer cared about what was to become of her. She had given up on dreaming of a life beyond her farm long ago, accepting that her fate was just to work her life away until she withered up and died.
Jacqueline was hard at work milking her favorite cow, Snowflake, named after her soft white fur. She was born when Jacqueline was a little girl, and the two had been best friends ever since. But due to Snowflake’s aging, resulting in her not lactating as much anymore, Jacqueline had to work harder to milk her. She felt as though she was squeezing and pulling on Snowflake’s utters harder and harder with every passing day due to the minimal amount of milk being provided. “Come on, girl,” Jacqueline begged. “I know you’ve got more than that in you.” Snowflake turned around and gave a look in which it seemed that she had actually understood her plea.
Suddenly, a loud noise startled Jacqueline. She looked over to see that one of the cows had fallen to its death. This was becoming a gradually increasing occurrence, as more cows were dying every year. At this rate, Jacqueline wasn’t sure if she would live to see each passing month. She, along with everyone else in the village, was starving. People barely had enough to feed themselves. And since the cows’ dairy was Jacqueline’s main source of income, she barely had enough to sell, leaving her with no money to buy food.
Jacqueline’s mother, Flora, ran into the barn. When she saw the dead cow, she shook her head in frustration. “Goddammit, not another one,” she sighed, making her way over to inspect the dead bovine.
“Should I send for the butcher?” Jacqueline asked, approaching her mother. Whenever their cows died, they fetched the butcher to come to retrieve the carcass with his cart, and he paid them for his newly acquired beef in return. Even though he couldn’t afford to pay them much, every little bit helped.
“Yes, go do that.” Jacqueline turned around to leave when Flora stopped her. “Or better yet, maybe you can find some single, strapping young men to help.”
Jacqueline rolled her eyes. Her mother loved to bring up the subject of suitors and marriage every chance she got. “Mother, please, not now.”
“Jack, look at yourself. You’re young, you’re beautiful, and these are things that won’t last forever.” Jacqueline was indeed a beautiful young woman, with golden-brown hair and piercing green eyes. Flora, however, was the exact opposite of her daughter in every way. Her dark hair and eyes contrasted with Jack’s naturally bright ones. Her skin had a naturally pinkish tint compared to Jack’s light bronze skin. While not necessarily fat, Flora was rather plump and stout, her features smooth and round compared to Jack’s sharp, defining bone structure and thin body. Yet even with her naturally good looks, Jack stopped caring about her appearance years ago, as she felt that there were more important things to care about.
“If you don’t find yourself a husband soon, you’ll be old and alone before you know it. I don’t understand what it is you’re waiting for.”
“I’m not waiting for anything. If it happens, then it happens, and if it doesn’t, oh well.”
“And just how do you expect it to happen if you never go out and socialize?”
“Because I’m more focused on taking care of you and the farm.”
“Darling, we’re not going anywhere.”
“You don’t know that. This land keeps wasting away and dragging more and more of us with it. Besides, it’s not like I have any friends to socialize with.”
“That’s because you spend all of your time working here. You need to spend some time taking care of yourself by going out and having fun. That’s how I met your father.”
“Were things this bad back then?”
“Well, no, but-”
“So given the circumstances, you can’t compare. You could afford to spend time away from work. I don’t have that luxury.”
“Jack, if you won’t find a husband for yourself, then at least find one for the farm. You want to talk about keeping it running, if you don’t provide any offspring to take this place over when we’re gone, then it’ll really fade away.”
Jack let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, I’ll be on the lookout.” This successfully shut her mother up about the topic, and she made her way into town.
