* Chapter 1*
— Welcome To Town —
In a far away kingdom across mountains and rivers was a little town by the name of Owswell. Its inhabitants were not even up to five hundred people, that is how small they were but they were fine with it and did not even want to increase their number. Yet, that town was full of mystery, and the people were one of a kind. They all new each other's family and history for centuries, so much that they did not even need signs, name tags or street names to find their way around town.
It was so that when new people came to live there, or that tourists came to visit, it was impossible for them to find their way and navigate without having a guide, someone to ask or someone to show them around. Everyone knew knew things about everyone, there were no secrets among them... Or so they believe because some managed to have some pretty dark ones. Rumors and stories spread like something else in that village.
It was so, that the day the Skats came into town and the mayor himself asked the townspeople who were present that day to accept them as one of their own, in the count of an hour, the whole town was aware. From what they looked like to the house they were welcomed in was known to everyone in Owswell.
Though, for the first time in a long time, their curiosity died down fast and no one had the courage to ask questions. They were waiting for the mayor to answer their doubts and explain what was going on with the newcomers... But it never came.
That is why, five years after their arrival when their house got caught in a fire, nobody even bothered to bring a drop of water to extinguish the destructive fire. They just came, as if a show was taking place and it needed spectators.
When the Skats arrived in town, it was just a husband and a wife pregnant with their first child looking for a place to have a fresh start. They were a quite yet bizarre family, the husband was a tad wierd and had anger issues but the wife was a lovely neighbour ncnad their daughter, born three months after their settlement in the town was an adorable child. True they were not very communicatif with the people, much to their displeasure, the family liked to keep things for themselves and tend to keep their nose out of other's business. For a town where everyone knew everyone's dirty little secrets... It was not very appreciated.
They had quite a happy family life until... That fire broke out of nowhere and changed their lives forever... For the survivors that is. That fire had caused the family important members: a wife and mother and an unborn son and brother. It left the remaining members devastated, so much that the father left his only remaining family member soon after. No one knew where he went nor why and no one never heard of him since. He just left one morning and never came back.
For the little girl he left behind when he disappeared, she tried to survive, go one living the best she could. But in was hard to do in a town where you are hardly accepted with a doubtful background history full of mystery which no one understood. And when people did not understand something, they tend to speculate, and when their speculation leads them to the worst case scenarios which tends to violence most of the time. Leading them to fear and hatred and what is the best way to express them? Through violence of course.
And that is what happened to the poor girl left behind. She was bullied by the kids and the parents pretended to know nothing about it, and if they could, they even made matters worse. Not even one soul came to help and the girl had nowhere else to go as she new nothing but that town and her parents had told her that the world outside town was a dangerous one. So she did the only thing she could, she stayed and everyday told herself it would get better with time but the thing is... It only got worse. She then understood that she was only lying to herself to get by. But she continued until she felt nothing more and time went by, even though she could reply to their brutalities she did nothing of the sort and they saw her as weak and helpless and their interests in her eventually died down the following years.
Townsfolks called her the cursed one, Judy lonely, fire Judy, dirt Judy and many more awful names. Though all those nicknames mattered not to Judy. Because she knew very well the name her parents gave her was none of those. But maybe one did bother her: outsider, witch she never understood the reason behind such an uncanny word that suggested many things. That word was unrelated to her, for starters she was undoubtedly a citizen of the town, so why call her an outsider? She did not know.
She never left the town either, since the day she was born up to now, she only gazed at the outside world from afar, always wondering what was there but never setting foot there, unlike some other in the village. Judy could do with the other names, they were just words from people that knew nothing of her. But "outsider" she had a hard time swallowing that one alone for it was denying her roots. And that, she could not settle with.
Though Judy Skats was not just your average typical young girl. No, she was the only redhead in her village, and probably the only one most of the townspeople have seen in their lifetime. It was her hair that won her the nickname: fire Judy and also maybe the fire incident that changed her life.
She had long curly hair that she would always keep in braids, despite the look of people when she passes, she was proud of her hair, she loved it so much, it was her pride though she did not remember either one of her parents having red hair, her father had black hair and her mother was a blonde. Though she had hoped her brother would also be a redhead, she never saw his hair color.
Everyday was the same.
She would wake up in the morning, by the first sound of the neighbor's hen. It was kind of a ritual for the both of them, a way of communicating, she even considered him her only friend in that town and talks to it sometimes when she feels like it. It would stand on the white painted fence limiting his owner's farm. Shouting as loud as it could and moving left to right until it would notice Judy, as if it was his cue to step down and walk away. For it, it had done its job for the day.
Feeding animals that she would either find, save or been given to by pity was one of the things Judy would find herself doing everyday.
She also mauld people's lawns for money, take care of farms, clean up houses and such. In short, she was willing to do things no one would even volunteer for or even new such things existed.
Sun down, she would be covered in dirt, in mud and who knows what else, from witch she got the name dirt Judy. Though it wasn't a nice name, it was reasonable and acceptable to be called that when you are covered in dirt and mud from working all day. Chores finished, pockets full of pounds, food, medecine, useful things, she would head home.
Life as it is for Judy Skats wasn't sad, happy nor horrible, at the end of the day she would say "Another day well used" Yes, for her, it was only a question of survival and only survival, nothing more nothing less.
