Chapter 1

Lucella

Paris, France 1349

It was pitch black out, the stars twinkling in the sky. I sat on the cool cobblestones in the dark ally, under a balcony, shivering as the rain poured down. My hair was drenched and my clothes soaked through. This was the second time my stepfather has thrown me out this month, I was waiting till he kicked me out for good, it was only a matter of time. A few tears slipped down my face. I missed my mother, she had always been there for me, now I had no one. I had no brothers or sisters, and there were no other relatives that I knew of to take me in. I was truly alone, I wasn’t used to that, and I didn’t like it. Slowly I picked myself up and make my way back to the main road. The rain had slowed to a slight drizzle. I trudged down the muddy road, not necessarily wanting to go back home, my stepfather, Derek, was not so pleasant when he drank, and that was becoming very frequent since my mother died. Before her death, Derek had been quite pleasant, he was nice to me and didn’t beat me. But now he hated me, I suspected it was because he resented me, he had loved my mother, and I looked almost exactly like my mother, at least that was what people said, but I suppose it was true, we both had the same long honey-colored hair, pale ivory skin, and small thin petite shapes. The only difference was that she had stunning emerald eyes, and mine was a strange golden yellow. I assumed it had come from my father, where ever he might be, my mother almost never talked about him, but she had mentioned he had left when I was young. That didn’t mean I liked them though, they were weird and people always gave me strange looks, like I would bewitch them or something. After a few minutes, I stopped in front of my home, a small brown brick building, barely two stories, we weren't necessarily poor, but we were far from rich. I approached the wooden door, then slowly opened it, careful not to make a noise. The lights are still on and I saw Derek fast asleep on the couch surrounded by a few bottles of beer. I silently snuck past and tiptoed upstairs and dashed into my room, I shut the door softly and tugged my drenched outfit off, slipping on a nightgown. Then I collapsed onto my bed, tugging the sheets around me for warmth. I sighed, tomorrow would be a new day, hopefully, a better day, but somehow I doubted it. I curled my legs into my chest and closed my eyes.