A Stroll Around the World

9. Terria's Story

I am bad at coming up with names. I always welcome new names suggestions.

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She was a commoner.

The daughter of a lowly farmer in the village of Mocrose, now a small town next to a city. An only child without a proper family. Married to a man who bought her with money. Treated lower than scum on his boots.

It started when she was seven. In that year, the heroes had just driven back the monsters. Before their deaths, they fought each other- and left the villages to fend for themselves against the remaining monsters.

And the monsters started to grow even more rampant. They killed near the village, even captured a couple of women, raped and pillaged, and the nobles-they did nothing. They never did anything. They just watched.

A couple of young men were sent of protect the village. Terria still remembered her mother and father- he was a healthy young man then- rush to help everyone pass the winter. Her mother sewed leather together to make some sturdy clothes so that the villagers could stay warm during the winter. She was often away. Her father pulled aside some time after the harvest to cut down wood to help barricade the village and build fences.

Everyone's faces were grim.

She stayed at home, never peeking out, looking after her younger brother. He clutched a sanded wooden toy horse, oblivious to what was happening.

"Mommy? I'm scared." Terria remembered saying.

Her mother gave her a tired hug. "It's going to be okay, sweetie, we're all going to be fine. Just wait inside the house, okay?"

"But where are you going?"

"Into the forest. You see, sweetie, a lot of people are hurt. Mommy is going with Daddy to find plants to help them."

"But Mommy?"

"Mommy is going to come back. I promise."

And Terria waited. She waited inside the house, only going outside to use the outhouse or bring in well water. It was lonely day by day, and she withstood it. She trusted it would all be okay. Because her Mommy promised.

Then one night, her little brother ran away.

She remembered him, scared, crying together with her. She tried to comfort him, but it didn't work. He just kept crying.

"Where did Mommy go?"

"She went far away, into the forest. Mommy told me. She's going to come back. She's going to come back. And we will all be safe."

He was only five. Terria searched all around the house for him, but he was gone. She couldn't find him. She wanted to go look for him, but she couldn't bring herself to. The forest looked so scary and dangerous. She tried to ask for help, but nobody had enough time. They were all busy, tense. They told her to go inside her house. Steeling her nerves, Terria looked for her brother alone, but a few feet inside the forest was enough to make her terrified.

She came back to the house.

One day, her father came back. Without her mother.

Life was never the same after.

Her father started to beat her-he didn't drink. They didn't have the money for it. He beat her every time he saw her, and Terria knew why. She looked just like her mother. Terria wanted to see her mother again, too. And her brother. Her heart hurt every day. She was lonely. She knew her father was also hurt. So she stayed quiet.