The snows fall.
They keep falling and falling until layers form. The fallen girl from the cliff had meticulously survived from the odd height under the heaps of snow after a fateful blizzard last night.
Wrong to say. Barely alive. Her vision returned and went out like a dim lamp in a stormy weather. Her blurry blues invoked pity from the living and unliving beings in the universe in her witness.
Anyone who sees her might laugh off and call her the Snow maiden she heard from the grannies in the village lulling young children with.
Unmistakably, she had been laying on a side of her face she can no longer feel. Her skin was whiter than the sheep in Betty's farm.
For an instance, she had become one with the unfeeling winter like a bride separated from her destined one.
For her the world was cruel, wasn't it?
Too cruel. In her dreams, the memories of laughing, smiling with her village people kept replaying. The Renewed hope only brought the greater destruction.
Did I deserve this?
Maybe, if I die, everyone will be happy..
She was an orphan; abandoned at birth by the doorstep of a stranger one summer. She grew up in Sumire. She was the beacon of life in that village. Her cheerfulness and kindness had captivated the people there.
She truly belonged there. She lived in the dust and air of Sumire. She truly belonged there.
—With everyone she cared for.
With her friends she played with since her childhood.—With the nice uncles and aunties who sneaked her snacks or did her a favor or two once or twice. She was happy with everyone.
But she was mistaken.
No one truly thought of her as family.
Just yesterday she was dragged out of her grandma Mint's hut in the crowd.
She can remember the sneering looks of impatient and apathy on the faces of people she knew.
"Oi, What's stoppin' ya? It's Chief's order. Get the girlie out." Uncle Paul, the slender fisherman spat out tobacco.
Another man whispered to the other, "Let's do it before that hag returns."
The villagers had gathered there. The children were kept out. The very kind lady nextdoor, "Honey, this is for your own good. We raised you, remember? Good Children pay back their parents. Be good." Mrs. Kona grabbed her shoulders and said with a forced smile.
Uncle, aunty...what are you saying...?
"But I don't want—" Her eyes locked onto Max. Her face lit up,"Ma—" but it didn't last.
The brunette boy who'd always bring the girl marsh flowers. He had a guilty expression, for which he quickly dashed away. She was now genuinely frightened out of her wits.
Agatha nudged the village chief's son-in-law Victor, "Give her to us, women. We'll prepare her. You, men, prepare for the palanquin."
Not a shred of pity did the poor girl receive. At first, she was cooed and coaxed. When the amount of her pleading exceeded the limits of their patience, they bit back at her.
"Don't be ungrateful! Remember who fed you!!"
"You'd be the same as a stray dog if it weren't for us!"
"Can't you do a single thing for us?!"
"Ungrateful brat!"
The poor girl was dolled up. Undressed by force. Her lips were smudged red with rouge. She was swatted on the head for being disobedient.
"Please! Don't do this to me!! Aunty, it hurts—"
In the end, her tongue was slit in a grooming ritual with a nail under the excuse of 'The deity likes silent brides!'.
AAAAAAAAA—!!!
The laughter of the women got indelibly ingraved into her mind. There, she was writhing in pain, and they were making light of her and kept mocking her.
"A little pain can't kill a bull, lassie."
It took another turn when she ran out barefoot to find her grandma in hopes, she'd be protected by the old woman.
Smack. Hit. Kick.
Ironically, she was caught by the group of Samuel and brutally thrashed on the spot and brought back by the hair.
" Did you have to hit her so badly?!!" Agatha scoffed, "What if the deity DOESN'T like her?!" at the fools having ruined the makeup.
Moore shrugged with an incoming scowl,"Lil bitch almost cross the raft." Crossing arms, " Luckily Shepherd knocked the hag out. She was coming all at us with a stick."
Soon Victor came with shackles and put shackles on the sacrifice, "Such a wild runt doesn't deserve palanquin. Teach her a lesson on foot while some of us can ride a donkey or two." In the end, she was thrown off the cliff as a sacrifice.
Why would anyone care for me?
Her incomplete life flashed before her eyes. Before her visioned dimmed, she was dragged away by a dark shadow that couldn't be more human. Maybe, getting taken by a beast was in her fate after all.