Prologue
Perhaps, I was doomed from the very moment my existence encumbered this earth. I did not belong. I have always felt this deep in my bones- in my essence. The crops wilt at my nurturing and the livestock develop illness at the next sunrise after my distribution of feed. I am a wretched child. “Unable to perform even the basics of your born duties,” the woman who bore me would say. “A waste of resources and a curse upon the Daniellen family,” my father would affirm.
That is why I am banished to this annex. It is why the townspeople know little of my continuance. If not for the tiniest amount of the ancients’ royal blood that courses through my veins, I would have been disposed of before I ever had the opportunity to squander in this depressive hole of an unkempt shed. I have given up hope of finding my place in this world. Throughout the ten long years, I have crept along the cold stones of the abandoned building erected just beyond the hillside. A safe distance away and out of sight from the estate and the rest of the Daniellen family, I have lived silently. “For the continued prosperity of the great Daniellen name,” and as such, to not inconvenience my beloved parents.
I eat the scraps that are thrown my way, thrown upon metal trays held by the trembling hands of whatever poor housemaid has been forced to deliver my sustenance. According to the hushed whispers I hear from behind the meek and rotted wood of the annex walls, my skin is a poison to others. The slightest touch brings death by the next morning.
“Shhh… leave the tray by the doors and come right back here.” A female’s soft voice whispers from the hill’s side of the dilapidated building. “Don’t let your curiosity get you killed, Bernadette.”
“But… I don’t want to go alone…” Bernadette cries through her snot-heavy nostrils. “Plea-“ More muffled pants sound as they approach hesitantly.
“Shut the hell up and get it over with!” The other woman yells under her breath. “Just don’t let her see you, and you won’t be touched.”
“But why can’t we just leave it in the yard!” Bernadette cries a little louder this time. Her voice is shrieking and unwomanly. Still a child then, I presume as I continue listening.
“Shit!” A loud clank follows the outburst just before the woman groans, “Fuck! Let’s get out of here! You better not say a word about this to your lady.”
Hastened steps fade through overgrown weeds as I drag my weak body up from the creaky bed and shuffle across dirt-covered stones. I lift the handle of the once transparent windowed door before twisting it slightly and breaking the invisible seal that hasn’t felt the caress of fresh air since this same time yesterday. The door screams on rusty hinges as a sea of fresh air contaminates the safety of my nest. Tsk. On bare toes, I round the outer corner of the annex, wading through knee-high grass. The sun pierces my eyes as if telling me that I know I am unwelcome in its embrace. But in defiance, I reach down toward the tumbled food on the ground and pick up what is salvageable- which turns out to be a mere hardened roll and a few chopped vegetables from the soup that lay splattered among sharp blades of greenery.
Again, to my dark room, and the safety of my old creaky bed, I swallow stale bread using the mushy vegetables as a means to moisten on its way down my barren throat. Again, no one thought to bring water to my oasis. And again, I will be forced to drink from the moss-covered bird bath in the corner of the overgrown garden. But that will come later, for now, I just want to go back to sleep.
