Amazing. It all worked out perfectly. The hinges on the giant door had rotted away, making it surprisingly easy to push over. It made Alice’s body hang gracefully in the air as the door stood at an angle.

The fallen door had jerked her body up at first, making her dangle like a ticking clock’s pendulum. Tick. Tock. Her body swayed each time a nearby lightning crashed and roared like fireworks celebrating my brilliance. It mesmerized me.

But Alice had regained consciousness again. How unfortunate, for her that is. I intended for her to die peacefully enough with a fast snap of the neck. Yet, she began to flail around instead. A totally useless effort, I must admit.

She grabbed at the noose wrapped snug around her neck. Her face turning redder. And even redder in this coldness spread throughout the ruined church.

Even her paltry neck turned red with the amount of blood her sharp nails drew. Washed away by the rain, dying her vulgar dress a sweet shade of red.

Her grunts and cries pierced through the sound of rain and thunder and reached my ears. How come she still had so much life left in her? I considered doing something to silence her until the golden circles started to appear again. Popping around Alice’s neck. Turning her already vibrant face a shade of purple. They were helping me suffocate her even more.

“You idiot! You are only making it worse! Haha!”

A laugh slipped out of me when I saw that the eternally glowing circles dug into her neck. A necklace of gold that was desperate to show of its brilliancy.

“How does it feel! You’re the one killing her, not me! It’s all your fault! I won!”

I taunted her. Taunted the Goddess that always looked so smug and dignified. Then, one by one, the circles disappeared. Plip, plop. They popped away like bubbles filled with golden glitter.

Alice’s arms stopped moving. Same with her legs. And her face full of fear. Like a ticking clock that hadn’t been wound, everything about her stopped moving. Dangling pathetically from the Goddess’ arms.

What sweet satisfaction! What sweet victory. I found a way to successfully kill someone!

“Ha ha. Ha ha! Ha ha ha!” The solemn thunder painting the background of my victory filled me with unimaginable glee. The pittering rain drummed a celebration march! Giving me the center stage. If only I could take a picture of that pathetic expression as a keepsake, my Goddess.

I spun around the church. “I won!”

***

“Honey, wake up.”

“Hmm?”

Gale’s body shook as something rustled him. This felt familiar. Even the deer with the magnificent antlers felt familiar.

“Gale get up!”

“I’m up, I’m up!” Victoria’s hand was raised in the air. A second later and that would have been plastered across his face. “What is it? Is this about Esther again?”

His wife’s anxiety had gotten better lately. Her nightly trips to their daughter's room to make sure she was sleeping had abated a bit after all. Every night like clockwork, she would slip away from their bed in the middle of the night and only come back after an hour or so. Gale didn’t want her to do that.

He had tried to convince her to sleep more upon noticing her increasingly deeper eye bags, but the result from his nagging was detrimental to them both. Filled with anxiety, his wife would toss and turn around in bed, letting no one get a wink of sleep. Even wrapping his body around her did little stop her movements.

She lowered her hand. “I can’t find her!”

“What do you mean? Shouldn’t she be sleeping?” Children like her had to sleep to grow taller.

“Gale! This can’t be happening again!” A bolt of lightning lit up their room. Victoria looked haggard.

Flinging open the door to his daughter’s room filled him with nothing but dread. She really was gone as his wife said.

Damn it! Who the hell did it this time! Why did his daughter always disappear in the middle of night! The incessant clacking of the rain against the window filled his head, making the already chaotic situation worse.

“Victoria, ring the alarm! I will go ask my father for help!”

Gale ran like the wind in the hallway. The hallway that was unnecessarily longer than it should. What benefit was there to have such a large estate? It only made the distance connecting the rooms farther than the youngest son wished for.

The carpet laying limp under his steps crumpled as he rounded corners upon corners until he finally spotted the door. About to open it without knocking, it turned outwards unexpectedly. The Duke stood in the doorframe and stared at his son panting up a storm.

“What is this ruckus you are making in the dead of the night?” He found it hard to sleep with all the thunder roaring around his domain. What a terrible night, he thought.

“Father, I need you to mobilize the knights!” Garius had planned to shoo away his son after opening the door. Galen had often asked him for something in his younger days. Somethings that were always inane and ridiculous.

However, the way his face looked right now was unlike those times. No anger, no sulking. Only concern and determination filled the once boyish face. He was a proper man now, and who was he to reject a request from such a man?

He pushed his son out of the way and began to walk. “Tell me about the situation on the way, there better not be another war breaking out.” Garius marched in the direction of the barracks, where the knights and his trusted commander were currently holding watch.

“Huh? Why would– Esther is missing!”

Garius raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Why would his granddaughter be missing at this time of the night? There was even a storm brewing outside. He thought about the girl’s hand. And that story he heard.

A silent rage boiled inside him. “Did this happen last time too?” A look at his son’s face was all he needed to guess the situation. “Pick up your sword then.”

In the middle of the roaring storm, a blanket of lamps spread itself, not letting a single piece of darkness remain. All the knights in the ducal house were mobilized, combing through all the nooks and crannies of the property. To search for a single person.

Even with their soaked clothes, not a single man complained as they knew the reason why their sleep had been cut short. Perhaps to make up for the failure of protecting the Duchess, the knights moved faster than usual.

“Why don’t you use your magic to find her?” The Duke looked at the map of the surrounding area. “Search the hill next!” The commander repeated his father’s command, bellowing loud enough to cut through the harsh rain.

Gale grit his teeth. “There’s too much noise to use it.” Why was his magic so useless when it mattered the most? It was impossible to discern whose trail he was seeing when they all gathered together like this.

“Gale, I think I know where she may be!” He turned to the sudden yell of his wife. She was soaked from head to toe. Her hair flew helplessly in the wind.

How did she get here? She didn’t even change out of her night gown, only holding on to a thin shawl. He ran over to wrap her up in his coat.

Her teeth chattered. “Please search the church!”

The church? His instincts kicked in. Call it a gut feeling or whatever, but he knew his wife was right.

“Father! Order the men to surround the church! I’m going ahead!” Grabbing his sword, Gale ran toward the forest.

The church in there had been one of his childhood spots. He would always find himself sitting in there whenever something had bothered him that day. Whether it was his father or his siblings, it didn’t matter. The church was magical, always managing to calm him down.

Everything was opposite today however. Anxiety welled in his heart as he traced the familiar path toward the church. His father had even followed his orders, not even grumbling once.

The rain whipped his face as he picked up the pace. Two faint trails were beginning to show themselves, one of them gray, the color of his daughter. He went after it immediately. Sliding under a branch, jumping over wet tree roots, and dodging the lightning.

Crash! It hit the tree in front of him and snapped off one of its thick branches. It began to fall towards him, blocking off his path.

“Out of the way!” But it did little to stop his rampage through the forest. With one swift cut, the branch in front of him, the tree two feet behind that branch, and even a protruding stone on the ground taking a gander, were cut in two by his sword.

Dashing through the opening he made, the thunder roared even louder than the falling tree. It lit up his path too, in blinding flashes. Then he saw it. A golden glimmer between the trees reflecting the lightning. It was leaning against the trees, trying not to trip over itself.

“Esther!” He found her.

“Oh, dad!” She waved her hand in muddied clothes that were a smidge better than his wife’s. All soaked to her bones, his daughter was standing between the trees. Smiling brightly at him. Her purple crescent moons seen clearly each time a new roar filled the sky.

***

Karrie would always say that my mom was several times better than her own. I agreed each time because it was simply true.

Victoria was prettier with her unblemished fair skin and silky smooth hair like golden strands. She wasn’t too thin nor too thick either, and had a gentle voice and face. This didn’t mean that Karrie’s mom was some hideous person or anything. She was just, you know, average.

However, standing here hiding my hands behind my back, I bit into my lips. Gone was her gentle voice, gone was her gentle smile, and gone was the gentle mother who would always give me a hug.

Victoria was standing there with her wet hair hangind limp over her face. A familiar face which I never wanted to see her wear. I averted my gaze back to my shoes. They were dirty. Flecks of dirt were sticking to them.

“Esther!” My shoulders jumped. “What were you thinking! How could you- How could you think to run out in this weather! You could have gotten seriously hurt!”

Her voice rang in my ears. “Mom…”

“I don’t want to hear it! You had no reason to be outside at this time! Do you know how terrified I felt when you weren’t in your room again!?”

I felt my throat seize up.

“What were you thinking!”

My body was burning. Everything itched. My head was foggy.

“Is it your intention to always worry me?!” I didn’t like this. She was being scary.

“You are going to ruin me!”

“M-mom I didn’t—”

“How am I going to pay the bills now?! The water! The electricity!” She yelled and yelled. “All you had to do was pour him a damn drink, it’s not that hard is it?!” Her short black hair whipped around as she shook.

“But he was making me uncomfortable…”

She yelled even louder. “So what! You don’t think I feel uncomfortable every damn day?! I had to even pay off my own boss!” She was grabbing at her hair. She had used a lot of time to curl them this morning. Now it was all messed up. I had messed up.

“AHH!” Her yell shook me to my core. She had grabbed the half empty bottle of alcohol sitting in front of me and slammed it against the kitchen wall. The remaining liquid dripped down, making the already dirty walls even dirtier.

“How could you not even entertain one single guest! You’re such a failure!”

I tried to look at her. “M-mom please calm d-down.”

“How the hell am I supposed to calm down! You think it was easy getting that job, huh? Do you have any idea of the things I had to do?!”

I crawled to her legs. “Mom… I’m sorry…”

She grabbed my hair. “Let go of me! You and your father! You must think life comes easy, don’t you! Disgusting parasites!”

“I w-will do better next time!” I had to help my mother. She was always working so hard. That’s right, that’s all I needed to—

Smack! “There is no damn next time!” My head hit the messy floor.

Why was it always so messy?

“It’s gone, the whole job is gone!”

I could get a part time job, I could go recycle the heaps of trash. I just needed to get some money–

“Get the hell out of my house!” My body got dragged as she grabbed my arm towards the front door.

“Mom, please don’t throw me out again!”

But she didn’t listen. “I should have never had you!”

She didn’t mean that. I just had to wait a little. I just had to wait until she opened the door again.

“Mom, let me in please! Please open the door!” Whether my hands were red from the cold night air or from me banging on our locked door, I didn’t know. I just knew that my mother would let me in soon.

Her screams were muffled behind it. “It’s all ruined! Damn it all!”

“I swear to do better! Please!”

She would let me in soon.

“Mom… don’t abandon me…”

She had to.

I don’t know how long my fists were banging on that door. I just hope our neighbors wouldn’t send a complaint to my mom the next day.

Maybe I should stop.

But then it opened, as I always knew it would.

“Oh dear, what’s wrong?”

“Heh, you’re back…”

“Of course, I’m always here for you.”

Her warm arms wrapped around me. She would always do this after calming down.

“I didn’t mean to worry you, mom…”

“I know you did, I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

“It’s my fault… it’s all my fault.”

“Don’t say that, you’re my daughter.”

“Please, hic! …Don’t abandon me again.”

“Huh?”

“I’m sorry mom, I will do anything, please give me another chance!” Why couldn’t I just pour them a drink. Their poisonous eyes meant nothing.

“Sweetie, what are you saying?”

Fill their cup with that disgusting liquid.

“I will help us get money! I will help you at work! Hic! I will get a part time job somewhere!” I tried to smile. I needed to.

“Esther, what are you saying?”

“You won’t have to worry about me anymore! Just don’t throw me out!”

It was horribly cold out there.

“Gale, something is wrong with her!”

“Mom, please don't throw me out again…”

“Esther!” My body shook.

“Damn it! Someone go fetch the physician!”

“It’s scary outside…”