A Grimm Life

New Life

It was a long trip. We journeyed by taking some kind of airship which made me wonder how far this new home was supposed to be. I remained silent for the whole trip, afraid of being punished before even arriving at our destination. 

I look out the window and my eyes widen at the sight. Outside of the city below us, the lands were coated with some sort of white grass or something. I had never seen this before. My shock grows larger as I see a floating island! How was that even possible?! 

I do my best to contain my shock and lower my gaze back down to my feet. A few minutes pass before I feel the airship land. Once the doors open, the man leads the way out as his daughter walks alongside him. I lag behind the duo, being careful not to overstep any boundaries. Upon leaving the ship, I'm met with a giant building. Larger than anything I've ever seen before. Gulping, I quickly follow my new carer into the building.

After stepping inside, I scan my surroundings, stunned by the lavish lifestyle. There was a clear theme of blue and white which complimented the lobby quite well. A large staircase stands in front of me with two different branching paths. The man turns to me with a disgusted glare. 

Man: Your jobs will consist of doing everything anyone tells you to. If I demand you to clean, you clean. If my wife demands you get her a drink, you get her a drink. Outside of doing what anyone tells you to, you'll be expected to make breakfast, lunch and dinner for my family. You can have whatever scraps are leftover. Oh! And your bed. That'll be in the basement. I expect you to get started immediately. 

He grabs Winter by the hand and immediately walks up the steps, leaving me alone. As they leave, Winter turns her head to look at me with a soft smile, as if trying to lift my spirits. Eventually, they walk out of sight and I look around the lobby, wondering where everything was. It would've been nice if I was given a tour or a map or something to help me find my way around. I sigh and explore the ground floor, searching for the kitchen. 

From that point on, I was a servant for the Schnee family. Every single day, I was given a bunch of jobs to do. I quickly learnt that the Schnee family was... Not the nicest of people. The man who took me in, Jacques Schnee, was emotionally abusive to both his own daughter and wife. Willow, Jacques' wife, was an alcoholic and made some... "Intense" requests from me. 

When I didn't do a job to their satisfaction, I was beaten down to the point of near unconsciousness. And then I'd have to clean up my own blood and tend to my own injuries. But... I wasn't always alone when it came to this. One of the human servants that worked here, a man called Klein, was a kind and gentle soul. Of course, he wasn't allowed to help me, but he broke that rule time and time again. He taught me how to better patch my wounds up with the bare minimum tools. And he always managed to sneak a bit of food to me, keeping me from starving to death. 

He wasn't the only one. Winter often made the "order" to play with me in her room. We were kids so it wasn't an outlandish request. I had to admit, if Winter and Cinder had met, I bet they would've been good friends. The Schnee daughter was sweet and innocent to the point every time I came back with a bruise, she'd always lighten the mood with a gesture such as a hug or a kiss on the bruised area. Winter and Klein were the closest things I had to friends now. Despite them being good to me, they could never replace Cinder. I missed her too much. 

But after some time, a few months, Jacques caught onto my growing friendship with Winter.

Before I knew it... 

I was discarded